Mollusk

I love this place! This was a brewery that kind of snuck under my radar for a while but now I finally got a chance to try Mollusk!
I just got done going to Elysian Brewing’s 20^th Anniversary celebration at the Seattle Center and thought Mollusk would be a good finale to the evening.
I was fairly hungry and so I picked out the nachos in their menu. Out in the Pacific Northwest nachos tend to be huge! These were but they were more of a vegetarian variety which was perfectly fine with me. The nachos were more set up like a salad and instead of melted cheese on tortilla chips there was blue cheese crumbles mixed in with puffy chips. Along with that the nachos were garnished with two kinds of peppers and some other ingredients to make the dish complete. I also got a side of guacamole for the nachos which was great! There was a small dash of lavender in with the guacamole and those little bites with the lavender really made the dish stand out! All the food was incredibly fresh!
For dessert I had a gourmet Ding Dong with garlic in it. The garlic was not too overpowering and complimented the dark chocolate and the salted caramel sauce quite well. Wonderful food!
Now onto the beer!
I saw various options that I really wanted to try. About five of them! So when put in a position like that where there are so many that I want to try I do samples. It was a perfect thing to do!
The beer is experimental in approach and that is what I’m always looking for in a brewery.
The beer I sampled was the Biru Sencha which was a Green Tea lager (delicious!), the Rose Petal Red (wonderful!), Infinite Peach Amassing which was a Peach IPA (delightful!), Wild Citrus which was a sour ale (yummy!) and a kind of beer that I have been holding off for a while… an oyster stout, The Briny Deep. I’m not a big fan of oysters and I haven’t entirely made peace with them in beer but this oyster stout really woke me up to the fact that I was missing something really good!
Mollusk was quite a find and I’m really going to make a point to come here as often as I can. The beer is wonderful as well as the food!

This place has a lot against it — it’s in a weird location, has a nondescript name, and it’s unclear whether it’s a brewery or high end spot, etc… It was also pretty empty. And something about the space feels ‘off.’ Anyway these are reasons that Mollusk was never high on my list of places to try. I must say that all the randomness comes together in delightful ways. The menu is eclectic but everything tastes good, lots of flavor. Good mix of veggies and meats. And the beer is very different. They don’t rely on 7 IPA varieties, rather interesting blends. I really liked the green tea lager, for example. I’d recommend giving this place a try, even if you have to seek it out.

I liked the place. Not a big choice in menu, but all of what we ordered (nachos, Seattle dog and wings) was quite good. Nice atmosphere, good service.

What a wonderful find! Mollusk was recommended by a good friend. My wife and I were looking for a fun restaurant experience that would break free from the ordinary. While many of the reviewers here seem inclined to pursue traditional simplistic provisions, we thoroughly enjoy diversity and above all else, excellent ingredients! Mollusk has both.
The food was great. We started with the baked oysters then moved on to the Nachos Picasso and a Seattle dog. The baked Oyster was perfectly spiced and rivaled the best Oysters I’ve had at the Alder brook Resort on the Hood canal. The Nachos were very tasty and while not a traditional nacho, the ingredients were perfectly paired together to create a flavorful ensemble. The best dish however was the Seattle Dog. This isn’t your normal polish dog loaded with mayo, onions etc to be consumed after a nite of drunken fun in pioneer square. The lamb sausage is made fresh in house and is perfectly paired with onions, peppers, and a spiced sauce. Without a doubt, the best dog I’ve had in a long long time!
Where Mollusk really stood out however was the outstanding beer selection. Cody, the brewmaster, is doing amazing work! I sampled several of the beers and I can honestly say I enjoyed the selection more than any of the Fremont/​Ballard breweries I’ve visited. A great pairing is the Oyster Stout and the baked oyster appetizer!
Overall, we had a great experience. From Rachel, the extremely friendly host to the excellent beer and mixed drinks, Mollusk did not disappoint. If you want to to have a fun filled eating experience, come check this place out!

I went to Mollusk today, the owner Cody and his wife are both super chill/​friendly people. There is cook named Austin, very nice guy. The beers are a bit different and so is the menu, but hey, that is their angle and what makes them unique.

I am sad to see the reviews for this place are not super. Here’s my take:
The really, really good:
*Epic Ales’ brewer, Cody, knows what he’s doing — the beer here is really outstanding. I am so impressed by the consistent quality and breadth of options on tap.
*The beer cocktails are also delicious! I had the BEST old fashioned (made with beer) I’ve ever had here.
*Solid happy hour — 1 – 2 bucks off drinks, some decent food options.
The not so good:
*The atmosphere is a bit strange, I agree. It feels upscale and trendy, but the menu and beer don’t really match. I can see how people might get thrown off by the disconnect.
*The menu could use some focus, as well. I think they need to decide what kind of food they’re going to do. For example, they have some very bar food (fries — delicious), some bar snacks that are a bit fancier (arrancini — omg, so good), and some more chefy dishes (octopus waffle). It makes for a confusing experience. Then on Sundays they have pizza that is pretty mediocre. I think they see this as a perk, but it just makes for an inconsistent experience from visit to visit.
My recommendation to the diner: go for the beer, have a beer cocktail, and give some feedback to the owner about the food.

We had brunch here the morning after my sister’s wedding. It was a nice mellow atmosphere, and we felt very taken care of by the staff, who even made me fresh squeezed orange juice. The food was delicious, as were the cocktails.
We will definitely be back for dinner.

Tried Mollusk for brunch today since we live in the neighborhood. At first glance the menu was off-​putting and every dish seemed to have an ingredient we’d never heard of. We tried a fried rice dish and omelet that were both really good. The spring omelet had great flavor combinations and I was really pleased with my choice.
French press coffee was delish as well.
My husband wished the rice had a bit more flavor (I thought it was very flavorful) but at every bite of it.
It was sad to only see a few other groups there during what should have been a busy brunch time!
I’m going back for the kimchi Bloody Mary

The food and beer are great, but their ambience needs some work and I think it will only take 3 small changes to fix that: First, get rid of the TV– if you want to attract people for large sports events buy a projector and screen and only pull it down when necessary. I think it was stuck on NASCAR commentary last night. Secondly, dim the lights a little bit– it felt too sterile. Third, music needs to be changed. It was all depressing 90’s grunge music, not the best for a Friday night outing after a long week. Do you want your patrons to stay longer and leave feeling good, or leave quickly and cross that off the list for Friday night outings? There’s so much other good music that you can select to round out the ambience.
Fix those three items and people won’t want to leave the Mollusk.
Cheers,
Z

Went here this past Sat with 3 others from my dining club, Seattle True Foodies, and we had a great time. Contrary to some of the initial reviews, I think they they are now hitting their stride, and living up to the reputation of Gastropod. We ordered many dishes and several samples of different beers, and everything was great.
We started with the waffle okonomiyaki, which was big, but just right for 4 to share, and we all actually liked it better that the traditional Oko style. Our only complaint was that it left us hungry for more of the yummy crispy-​candied pork belly pieces that were on top of it.
Next up was the smoked monk fish «Dim Sum», which basically a deconstructed hum bao. It was a pillow soft steamed brioche bun atop a sauté of smoked monk fish and bitter greens — very good, and good to share — otherwise all the carbs in these tow dish would easily fill up 1 or 2 people.
Next was the squid stuffed with curry rice and Chinese sausage atop squid ink beurre sauce. Amazing delicious!
Next:
— House made watercress tagliatelle, with English peas, fiddle head ferns, razor clams katsu and smoked branzeno — I cannot remember what was in teh sauce that this was all bedded on, but the whole dish was wonderful.
— Beef Cheek «Baklava» Corned beef cheek pieces wrapped in philo dough, and baked. They split it open and serve on top of cider braised red cabbage. There is no describing how rich tasting this was — simply amazing.
— «Fish and Chips» After being blown away by all the other dishes, this was seemed «just ok» It’s a piece of hamachi kamma, that is wrapped in threads of taro, then quickly deep fried. It was still very good and we fought over every last bit of it, but taste-​wise, it was like having hamachi kamma in any good Japanese restaurant.
For dessert we tried the «Ding Dong» and the «Mochi» I did not try the Ding Dong, but it was a dark choch cake, that had black garlic in the crème filling. The «mochi» is not a mochi at all, but some other sort of tasty semi-​soft cookie thing atop the best part, a purée of Foe-​gras and shitaki mushrooms, swirled with home made caremel sauce. Soooo good — we wanted to lick our plates!
A few words about their beers: Drink them, they are good, and they have many to choose from, all brewed in-​house. I am sure you will fine something you like. For me, my fav was the «Gentle Darkness» Stout, followed by the Rye Cream Ale
All in all, I highly recommend going back! I am giving them a 5 star, for the category of Gastropub

My trip to Mollusk makes me long for Gastropod. Gastropod had good measures of style and substance, at Mollusk, style has triumphed over substance. This may be best symbolized by the new logo, which features an otter rather than a mollusk. Apparently the sister of the one of the guys did the artwork and she couldn’t come up with a cute mollusk, so you get the mollusk otter switcharoo.
This switcheroo theme is echoed in the menu, where you can order DIm Sum for $ 7, but you don’t actually get dim sum. Instead you get a single, smallish humbao with no stuffing. So basically, a piece of steamed bread. There are also Four Curried Chicken Wings for $ 12 which have no curry taste, but they are sort of chocolatey from the Nutella that was used to prepare them. You could also go for the Fish and Chips for $ 25, but there are no chips and not much fish. Tasty, but for $ 25? Hmmm…
Back in the Gastropod days we would spend $ 50 or $ 60 and say «We should come back here again. Last night I spent $ 100, and I have not much enthusiasm for a return trip. The beer is still good, still interesting, but not as crazy as the Gastropod days.
The background music they were playing was good and the place was pretty quiet and good for conversation, but you’ll get that from places that are less than half full. The staff was good, but not so good that I was inspired to tip them beyond the mandatory 20% tip that was automatically added to my bill. And yes, you’ll get tagged with that whether you’re in a large group or not, so beware.

This place is so bad I am writing my first review while I am eating, Not sure where to start, a south eastern place hmmmm, $ 22 curry medium meal, really u call that curry, save the money catch a cab go eat at a Indian restaurant/​Sri Lankan/​And you will still save money.
Ok next curry wings oooo that sounds good, let me order it. Came to the table, dammm why does it smell Nutella, dam it the menu had Nutella in the last line, not Nutella wings, it said curry wings, why bother read the rest, how does curry and Nutella go along, really.
Not even going to bother to explain further it is a waste of time, was a waste of time.
Save yourself some time go drink real beer at real place and decent food from some Wr else
Edit: Had to come back to say this, 20% service charge, whattttttttttttt totally not right… 20%

Staff was courteous and polite. Restaurant is clean and tidy. But something about the food was off.
We came for happy hour, and I love that their happy hour times are longer than most restaurants in Seattle. We ordered, hamahama oysters, the fritters, the Poutine, and the burger. It just wasn’t what I was expecting.
Oysters, freshly shucked. $ 2 each, and this was the best thing about my meal. Fresh with lemon on the side. Our fritters were dry and on the bland side, the arugula salad that accompanied it with cranberries was what I wanted more of in that dish.
I was really disappointed in my Poutine, the gravy was watery but I enjoyed having mushrooms in it. The taste was off, I’m used to a different texture and creaminess to the gravy. The taste didn’t match what was on the menu.
Burger was burger. With fries on the side. Next time will add $ 5 foie gras to it.
I thought it was convenient to have the 20% already added into my bill, but getting my receipt with another line for extra gratuity was too much/​rather obnoxious. I didn’t like that concept at all.

Myself and 4 of my girlfriends came here for dinner on Saturday night and we all left a little confused from our dining experience. Please note our service was exceptional and the reason this review gets two stars is because none of us have any desire to come back and eat the food.
The menu was somewhat confusing and needed fairly lengthy explanations of what to expect the dish to taste like since the names would lead you to believe you were ordering something entirely different.
We split the nachos picasso, poutine, and fresh oysters for appetizers. I can’t quite get behind the rice chip style crackers they used as nachos and it was more of a delicate squash dish. The poutine was made with a mushroom gravy which was served underneath the fries vs. over them and hardly any cheese. Oysters were fine.
We then ordered the Malawi Curry Chicken wings, Chinese Long Beans, Chicken Curry, Sumatran White Nut Curry, Fish and Chips, and Baked Oysters. We struggled with the fish and chips since it was hamachi collar and taro slaw — why name it Fish & Chips if it isn’t anything like the dish? The brussels sprouts were over cooked underneath too. The Malawi chicken wings tasted like chocolate chicken wings with a fancy name. Both curry dishes were decent as well as the long beans and baked oysters (although salty).
I think if the menu descriptions were changed and they simplified the dishes I think they would have a happier crowd. The ambiance is pretty cool and it seems like a place that could have potential if the expectations were managed accordingly — unfortunately we just felt like they were trying to hard to be different.

Just wrapped up an awesome meal @ Mollusk– our party of four took on most of the menu and left with smiles on our faces & bulges in our bellies.
A few of our favorites:
*Nutella curry chicken wings
*Octopus waffle
*Long beans w/​soft egg
And…beer!
Don’t be fooled by the other so called ‘gastropubs’ and opt for Mollusk the next time you’re looking for a foodie-​worthy drink & dine experience!

Gastropod is now closed – thankfully we had a meal there before this one opened.
Waffles always win me over and this place wins for Gastropod waffle of the year. It’s stuffed with veggies, layered with tender octopus… yes octopus and waffles… who would’ve thought! And then topped with savory thinly sliced pickles. Yum!
My other highlight of this dinner were the Nutella chicken wings. finger lickin good! I think these will make it on the cover of Seattle met magazine for 2016.
The pot pie crust was nice and flaky… the steak was nice and juicy but a bit small for the price.
Overall the Asian fusion was deliciously amusing — one of a kind menu… Surprised that it had dim sum on the menu tonight. It would be fun to see the specials on the menu next time.

Man, I wanted to like these guys. I really did. I saw them opening and they really have a good service. By seeing them opening, I felt the owner’s excitement.
But the deal breaker for me was the «embedded» 20% tip on the bill. I felt pressured to accept. It’s not that the service is not good (it is good!), but I wanted to have the chance to choose how much I want to give. Or, they could do how I remember they did a few weeks ago: the 15% tip was included on the base price, so you don’t have to do quick mental maths to figure out how much you will pay.
I really wish they change this 20% tip thing. This will potentially attract a lot more customers.

I’ve been following Epic almost since it opened down in SODO before it was Gastropod. I want to give it 5 stars, the design deserves 5 stars, the beer deserves 5 stars, but unfortunately when I went there (about a week ago), the service was mostly not acceptable.
Now, before I rant about the service, I will reiterate that I mean it when I say the beer deserves 5 stars in my opinion. Right now they are primarily serving sours I believe, and I tried just about every single one on the menu. Be warned, my favorite beer from the old Epic lineup is the Solar Trans Amplifier with chamomile & ginger. If you’re looking for a delicious unique beer experience, DO IT.
Now, I must include a rant about the service… there was literally more staff than guests in the restaurant & bar. There was a tall angry man that appeared to be in charge, barking orders at, and being very rude to, various staff right in front of customers (virtually right in front of our table). He was running around almost as if he was fantasizing that his restaurant was busy and bustling. I really, REALLY want to love this place. But the attitude of said angry-​man permeated through the staff.
I fully intend to revisit and update my review. I don’t generally post a review after only one visit, but this was particularly bad.

Went back here last night for drinks and some small plates, and it was great. The staff very friendly and knowledgeable about the beer and ciders they serve. I got the sampler of the pumpkin pie goose and cherry tart both sour beers. I loved the cherry tart, a great sour beer. We also had Cidre de Bretagne Brut cider, which was really good. Not super sweet like most ciders, just a nice earthy flavor.
We had the Rapini as a small plate, which I wasn’t sure about because I am not an egg fan. But I was so happy with the dish. The vegetable and egg worked so well together, with the right about of spice.
But What below me away was the cheesecake desert. OMG! I was licking my plate by the end. With the fortune cookie crust and the jack-​fruit on top. It was so good. My boyfriend who isn’t a fan of cheesecake was blown away, and couldn’t get over the Jack-​fruit as well.
So happy to have them as an addition. They also just released a happy hour menu from 330 – 5 Mon –Friday, which is awesome!

So I work in the area and have been anxiously waiting for this place to open. I haven’t been to gastropod but I’ve heard its good and their beers have a following. I felt like all my coworkers were all going and talking about it so I said to myself that I needed to go, today. I went with a friend and got seated promptly. I heard about the menu before and so I have no surprises when I looked at the menu because its not your typical bar fare… not by a long shot.
Warning, prices include tip, it says it on the receipt but the prices are a bit higher than your typical bar fare.
Its like an Asian fusion place that serves great beer (at least that’s what i’m told). They just received their liquor license on Friday so they didn’t have a full bar but that’ll change in the next couple of days. I will have to come back to try their beer and dessert because I was too full and my friend had to go to work. I got the nachos which comes with fried chips (reminds me of shrimp chips, the flat ones) with an avocado sauce, roasted squash, peppers and blue cheese. it sounds weird but it worked, I liked them. I also tried the currywurst and it was full of flavor, the bread was toasted and had a nice flavor and the veggies it came with were good. I know it was brussels sprouts but we couldn’t figure out the other vegetables, we guessed daikon.
One thing about the menu, my friend got the currywurst and they asked if they wanted the sauce on top or on the side. My friend said on the side. Its an extra $ 3 for a side of curry sauce and sour cream. I would of thought it would of been included since they asked a question like that. That’s very unclear and $ 3 for a side of sauce and sour cream? hmmmm… but other than that, service was great, food was good. I’m not sure if I want to spend $ 25 on a dinner entrée here but hopefully they will fix their menu to make it more affordable so that anyone in the area can come here for a quick bite to eat and drink a beer.
This place has potential and can’t wait to see it evolve to a great neighborhood spot
Growlers (48oz) are about $ 12 which isn’t bad at all. Might have to do that.