Silver Fork

I’m so sorry this place is closing. As people have said before me, many times, «This is home.» The Silver Fork has a true family feeling. It’s full of warm people and the music I grew up with. The food never disappoints — best grits I’ve ever had. I heard a friend say, «Oh, it’s just diner food,» but it’s truly good, American, food from home, the way it’s meant to be made. Families can eat here without children being merely tolerated and without adults feeling like they’re in a children’s restaurant. It’s home.
To add insult to injury, it’s being replaced by not just a gas station (one would think we had a sufficient number of gas stations on Rainier, wouldn’t one?), but by a Safeway gas station. Cheap, box store gas does harm to your car and doesn’t get you as far. A morning at the Silver Fork gets you on the right foot for the whole day.

Posters you are all entitled to your opinions; that’s the reason for this forum. But you pseudo wanna be NY Times critics. Cut it out! Silver Fork is a joint that if you are missing the cooking you’ve grown up with, this is the spot! The atmosphere is the draw. The music, the people. OK, so it’s not upscale in the way it looks, but who cares, you want a view and chichi environment, there are plenty of places you can go. But, don’t knock what you don’t know! Those of us that have grown up in the area know what this place is all about. It will be missed. And although I’m on the other side of the water, my roots are deep in Mt. Baker!
Too bad the place closed. Just what this town needs, another gas station! :(

I’m sorry that Silver Fork will be closing its doors. It’s a cool spot that has its obvious regulars, who are looked after by the staff here. My waitperson was hilarious! She asked me how I liked my grits and of course my immediate response was with a question: «How do you like YOUR grits, here?»
She said, «With sugar! Lots of sugar!» Hm. That’s one way I’ve never had grits, so that’s what I did ^_​^
Man, these might be the best grits (condiments aside) I’ve ever had. They are coarse, chunky, and you feel full of grits before you even finish swallowing. And you know what? Grits are pretty good with sugar and butter on them!
I’ve also had the chicken and waffles here. It was A-​OK, but nothing too memorable. I got two small pieces (wing-​size pieces) on top of my waffle and I paid about $ 11. The price seemed high for what it was. But you know… I would pay $ 11 just for those grits haha
Anyways – nice food, relaxed, family environment. I better hurry to get one more taste of the grits! With sugar ;)

Here it is: grits. The real deal, too. I’m reformed trailer trash from the south, and I know from grits. If you like grits, or want to find out if you do*, go here. And do it fast, because they’re on the way out. *SAD FACE*
Hint: Think cous cous, strip out pretense, add salt, pepper, butter, and two eggs over medium (or over easy. Just make sure there’s runny yolk, or you’re doing it wrong).
Loves loves and loves it lots.

I know everyone comes here for the breakfast but tell me why I stole one of my 6 year old’s chicken wing and I was in love! It’s nicely breaded and nicely seasoned. I think that lone chicken wing beat my breakfast any day.
I’ve been here a few times and always ordered breakfast and it’s nothing out of this world. It’s typical stuff you’d expect from places like Denny’s and Ihops but definitely with more heart and soul. THAT’S why I come. The people that work here are amazing and have amazing spirit and some of the best customer service I’ve ever encountered.
Their location is also the best. I don’t have to travel to Broadway or Renton to find breakfast food. I can throw on a hoodie and throw my hair up into a messy ponytail looking like I just crawled out of bed (mostly I did) and take a seat and be served.
Downsides include long waits for food and uncomfortable seating but I’m not a petty person so I don’t really care. And grits. Everyone talks about the grits. My boyfriend orders it and says it’s so good and because I am Asian I still don’t know what it is despite being told a million times what it is.
I’ll be sad to see it go =(

I really wanted to love the food here, especially since I live around the corner, but I just couldn’t. I had French toast, hash browns, and bacon; the husband had Another Treat (bacon, eggs, waffle — $ 7.75). We left with our appetites satiated but not much food-​talk to do. The French toast tasted like it’d been made in a large batch like they do at summer camp and had been sitting around waiting to be ordered. Everything else was fair, edible, but not particularly flavorful and lacking anything special.
The people who work here are fun and friendly — not over the top on checking in but often enough to get what you need. This is a neighborhood joint so if you frequent, you’re likely to get ro know some faces.
The restaurant itself is pretty rundown. A lot of springs in the old booths have given way to the weight of Lord-​knows how many customers. The menus are peeling apart, dirty. And the silverware also brought me back to summer camp — probably the cheapest stuff a restaurant can buy (but who cares about the silverware anyway?).
If I go back, I’ll definitely have to try a different meal to see if I can figure out why so many people give them 4-​stars.

Creamy and delighful grits! I never knew I liked them until I tried theirs. I really home they stay in the neighborhood.

I really enjoyed coming here. We came here on a Sunday to have brunch. The food served here is like a typical diner like Denny’s. We came on the recommendation of eating the grits here. I don’t think I’ve ever been excited to try grits, but it had a creamy texture which reminded me of porridge.
I ended up ordering the regular bacon, where as some of the other people in the group got the hungry man country fried steak, and a turkey burger. The size of the hungry man steak was pretty huge. I think that is worth of sharing between 2 people, or if you’re really a hungry man (or woman) should could eat this.
The staff was really nice and friendly. I would love to come back again.

We visited here for lunch today and while the place is a little run down on the outside and inside, we enjoyed the food. My cheeseburger and onion rings were fairly standard diner fare (but good), but my husband raved about his eggs, bacon and waffles and both of my kids enjoyed them as well. We don’t live near there, but if we did, we’d probably go back. You may not say «wow!» when you eat here, but it’s a solid choice.

Amazing. Always. It’s a local gem. Been going here since 2007 and have never had a bad experience. Yep, sometimes they’re shorthanded and you gotta wait a few minutes. The food is always worth it. The service is fantastic. They play great music. And if you’re lucky, you may just overhear some words of wisdom from any one of the groups of elders talking about life, love, politics, and more.
I have a lot of love for this joint, and I’m sad that they’re being pushed out by Safeway. BOO. We don’t need another gas station. We need this family-​friendly, soul-​touching food and energy.

I live so close to this place and have never been here. Finally I came and tried this place. Very very busy place, especially since everyone knows they are closing in April. I came here on a Saturday brunch time, around 11:20. It took about a 10 minute wait, and we were finally seated. Very friendly, warm and an inviting restaurant with family wait staff. I love how they are very approachable and personable.
I thought the food was just average. I got the country fried steak, and it seemed very small, about $ 14. It was probably 6 oz. I also got the yummy potato salad, mac n cheese, and greens. My brother got a soul burger which was delicious. Bacon, patties, and hot links. It was good. About $ 11.
Overall, food wasn’t the best to me, but I’m willing to try again.

I am so sad to announce this place is closing in like a month :-(Safeway is building a gas station…
What will I do without my chicken fried steak and over easy eggs with Texas toast.

Good food, very friendly service, very inexpensive.
If you order coffee, they bring you a carafe so you’re not waiting on service to freshen your cup.
Nothing spectacular but the grits were tasty, make sure you order them with cheese for extra flavor. The chicken fried steak was good as advertised but the brown gravy tasted like the powdered stuff, not made from scratch.

This place has the nicest wait staff I have ever seen. I have been to a lot of restaurants in my life.
With that said, they make excellent chicken friend steak– brown gravy, perfect eggs and my omelette was tasty. I went here the second day of my trip to Seattle. Yum, yum, yum. Good coffee too!

The Silver Fork’s Soul Burger is reason enough for a Seattle road trip.
Seriously best burger I’ve ever had: beef patty, bacon and hotlink sausage crammed between to buns = maximum drool factor. Delish!
They have lots of southern and soul food favourites including classics like chicken fried steak and grits.
One gets the impression this is a real family run affair, but you don’t really need to be related to be family. Genuinely friendly service.
I’d add that the music played is best I’ve heard in a greasy spoon with lots of classic soul and R+B. Well worth the visit to the Seattle burbs.

Real, regular old school food. No fancy concoctions, just basic good food. Awesome waffles, links, hash browns and eggs. I’ll be working my way through the menu on future visits… including their famous grits and chicken fried steak.
Absolutely outstanding service. Could be the some of the best I’ve ever had. Genuinely friendly, attentive and all around awesome. You feel like a regular on your first visit and that they’re glad to have you there.
Comfortable and very clean atmosphere that brings me back to places we ate growing up. Lots of older neighborhood guys who obviously have been regulars for a long time. People chatting from table to table. A true neighborhood meeting spot.
We’re super lucky this place exists and is only 5 blocks from home.

This is my new favorite breakfast spot in Seattle. In this town of faux diners and cutesy Tinkerbell menus, Silver Fork is in a class of its own.
I live 2 blocks from my other favorite breakfast spot on Capitol Hill, but in the name of trying something new and with a yearning for a real diner, I went for a drive. My gut told me I’d find something along MLK or Rainier Ave. At the corner of Rainier and Charlestown sits this gem of a joint.
Staff: every step of the way, my experience here could not have been better. From the server to the busser and the guy who topped off my water, everyone was so warm and friendly I almost wondered if it was really happening. And it was not of the «kiss the customer’s ass» variety, but of the «we’re nice people and this is how we do it» variety. This is painfully rare in Seattle.
Place: looks like it’s been here a few decades but it is impeccably clean and the open kitchen leaves nothing to the imagination. Booths and tables, lots of big windows in front but there are plenty of places to sit in the shade, which is nice if you’re hungover like I may have been.
Menu: nice and simple. No farm-​raised Merlot-​braised lamb confit on a Farmer’s Market gluten-​free vegan-​friendly croissant with a side of something involving truffle or otherwise carmelized and reduced here. I had the ham & cheese omelet with grits, side of hashbrowns, sourdough toast and coffee. I got enough coffee to pour my own 4 – 5 cups and stayed hot. Everything was awesome but can we talk about the grits? BEST GRITS IN THE HISTORY OF GRITS. So nice, so tasty, so smooth, like a big stick of buttah.
Clientele: varied, I sat among probably four generations and as many ethnicities of friendly people, all enjoying themselves and relaxed in this delightfully cozy place.
Sounds: I didn’t look for a jukebox so I’m not sure if it’s that or what the place is playing for us, but I heard Sam Cooke, some old soul and r&b, gospel. Perfect, my favorite music and perfect for breakfast on a slow Sunday,
Complaints: none.
I can’t wait to come back and try the chicken fried steak, and at dinner time for the pork chop.
If you’re bored with Seattle’s tendency to bring the sizzle without the steak, and want a true down-​home experience where the food, the people and environment are real — and real good — do yourself a favor and go to this place.

I admit I was skeptical at first, because it didn’t seem all that inviting from walking by during the night [and day] after work. Well, recently, I came in for some breakfast before work and waited for someone to notice me… hello? After a few moments, a gentleman at a booth, whom I’m pretty sure was a regular, told me I can just grab a seat anywhere. The pleasant tone he spoke in made me feel welcome right away. Shortly after being seated, a lady came for my order. She seemed nice the whole time and when I asked questions about being a grits newbie. I take a few minutes then order grits with 2 turkey patties…
Whoa…
Dude, this falls somewhere between like oatmeal and like cream of wheat!
…nice!
A couple of gentlemen came and went whom I’m almost certain were also regulars… I hope to become somewhat of a regular, too, ‘cuz them grits and turkeys patties is some good stuff, yo! And… definitely felt better chowing here than at IHOP or Denny’s, etc.

Oh YUM YUM YUM! The GRITS are to die for!
I had been searching Unilocal for grits… just had a hankering for some one day and found Silver Fork highly rated. I bookmarked it and whilst driving through the South end with a grumbly stomach I remembered Silver Fork so we made a bee line for the restaurant.
The inside is your typical diner feel, the staff was friendly and courteous and seated us promptly. We both ordered the Light Meal which consisted of 2 pieces of bacon, 1 egg, grits, and 2 slices of toast — all for $ 5.50. The entrees came quickly and was exactly what I imagined I would get for the price I paid.
The heavens opened when I put the first bite of grits in my mouth. They were creamy, flavorful, buttery, and just outright the best grits I have ever had. Whether they are authentically Southern is beyond me as I am not an expert in that field. All I know is that they were divine and I would make the trip back here just to eat another bowl full.
Their food is 5 stars and when it comes to me the food is what matters.

For lovers of the classic greasy spoon! Or in this case, the greasy fork!
When I am feeling a bit self-​destructive, I go searching for country fried steak or maybe a chicken fried steak. The differences are up to debate but from what I understand, both are battered in some way and either deep fried on pan fried, but chicken fried usually has the white creamy gravy. If its slathered in brown gravy then your looking at a country fried steak. Regardless, both are hell on the old arteries and love handles. I love it anyways.
The best part of this place is the ambience and reminscent of the homestyle diners back in Detroit. No frills, no pretentions, basic honest fare. The crowd from what I gather from the friendly banter with staff was 90% regulars. Service was exceptionally friendly and I felt very much at home.
Stuff I got:
Country fried steak (hungry man sized) w/​eggs over hard, extra crispy hash browns and wheat toast. Coffee ($ 14.75)+($ 1.70)
–this was definitely a country fried steak as it had brown sauce on top. A farily large portion (12 inch x 5 inches) deep fried. Flavor was okay. Not spectacular.
The hash browns although small in portion was done nice and crispy as requested. The coffee order came with a small carafe of coffee so no lag time in warming to be concerned about.
Food:okay stuff, will try more next time (3 stars)
The place: love it! (5 stars) friendly and comfortable, down to earth. Like a bowl of grits or mac and cheese. The kind of place I want to be a regular at. I will be back!