Southlake Grill

Part of the «grill» chain (Eastlake, Green Lake…).
Half price Sundays are the way to go. Maybe happy hour is worthwhile. Nothing is worth it at full price.
Salmon sandwich is pretty good.

Welcome to Generica, aka: The Southlake Grill
It doesn’t really matter what you order, it all pretty much tastes the same.
Half price no longer justifies what has become horrible service! I used to be able to tolerate the already poor service standard but over the last few visits they’ve hit rock bottom. Madd Pizza is next door!

It’s like a Denny’s.
So don’t expect to blown away with culinary fantastic-​ness. They try to innovate a little beyond the typical diner but it’s still diner-​quality. Sometimes that just what you want, right?
And everything is half-​price on Sundays!

Nothing really else to add. All the food is delicious and the waitstaff are friendly.
The burgers are fantastic
Their Buffalo Chicken Salad is AWESOME
Their fries… shoe-​string and delicious!

Great Happy Hour deals, easy location to access from freeway.
Favorites: Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, Seafood Chowder, Sweet Potato Fries

One special, two specials, three specials, four. I don’t think I can take it anymore. Seriously — this place has so many specials, even overlapping ones on the same night, that I can’t keep them straight.
I’ve been here enough times to feel like the food’s just fine — but doesn’t really do anything special for me. Service is usually good and they put up with my kid (always a plus), but they occasionally do that «disappear when it’s check time» thing that drives me ape-sh*t.
I guess I’m down a star from last time after having gone here enough to feel progressively more disappointed. Maybe less time spent inventing the umpteenth-​special-​offer and more time inventing a tastier menu?

We have been coming here since it opened and have been through some ups and downs. As a regular customer I am very pleased to say that things are on the upswing again. New owners with a positive service attitude are making a big difference in our overall experience.
New special items like crab rangoon, barbecue ribs, ahi salad, etc are all very good.
I would recommend sitting in the bar area or outside on the patio. The bar staff are all very friendly and experienced. Good place to watch football on Sunday’s with two nice size TV’s and half price drinks on the weekends. No half price food on Sunday’s anymore, sad but understandable.

I was really hoping this place would be awesome since it is so nearby my office. Ughhhhhhhh.
Food: yuck. Costco hamburger buns. I literally could microwave up something better in my own kitchen. The «thai peanut burger» (doesn’t that sound ridiculously exotic and deliciouis?!) was about on par with a McDonalds cheeseburger. Boring food.
Staff: Our beer took 10 minutes to arrive. the waitress was extremely cute, which was aboutu the only reason I didn’t walk out of the place midway into my meal, and it was a SLOW SLOW night.
Price: South Lake Union prices for carnival qualitty food. YEAH BOTTOMLESS FRIES! (too bad they are shrimpy little freezer fries). $ 11.99 for my patlry, ugly, unfulfilling little burger. Just because we residents CAN afford it, does not mean its pleasing to pay premium prices for crap.
Atmosphere: Ohhh its soo hip and trendy. Anybody who says this is a fresh transplant from somewhere in middle America. This is a charictacure of what a trendy seattle place should be. I got the feeling I was sitting in a strip mall in Belllevue, except I was in south Lake Union.
Not great food! Not going back!

Great location, but having now been several times because of it’s close to work I can say with assurance, the food could be so much better and the staff more attentive.
The fish tacos were horrible at my last visit. The fish was tough, the salsa way too sweet and corn syrup tasting and the sauce tasted like pure mayonnaise. I have enjoyed the steak salad.
In the realm of service, plan on asking for your check well in advance at lunch or happy hour because it takes forever to get it, this too has been consistent.
The outside patio is very nice.
Inside I’ve experienced smelling a strong odor of dirty «ish» sanitizer smell — what I’ve associated with the towels used to clean the tables and booths — maybe change the basin water?
I guess I’ve also had too much experience working as a server over the years!

So this is very sad to me, how this place has gone down hill. I have gone before for lunch and it was always pretty good. The service is so bad it is comical. The food took FOREVER. We watched TWO parties at other tables that came in after us, sit down, never get served, get up and walk out. They survive on location ALONE.
Here is the worst part: after FINALLY bringing out our food, one of my coworkers got the ‘light lunch’ option that looked like cafeteria food, and it had a hair in it. After about 15 minutes and having to practically tackle a staff member, someone came and took it away. Then the manager came out to say that there are no blonds in the kitchen, soooo… So, what? She made it up? No apology, just, «We have no blonds.» Isn’t that a bit more disturbing then? There were no blonds at the table. What are you implying? That you are not only a poor costumer service representative, but also an idiot? Yes! All I have to say is, get it together, Southlake Grill, YOU SUCK!
Any good review written here is probably written by the staff.

Too many things went wrong during my first visit to Southlake Grill that justified me rating this place a subpar 2 stars instead of a mediocre 3. Went here on a beautiful weekday to enjoy lunch with my mom and what we ended up with was a burning desire (literally) to get out of this place.
We came in during the peak of the working lunch hours, but surprisingly it wasn’t crazy busy. This explained my facial expression of slight annoyance that there were no waitstaff around, either to serve their other patrons or to help us get seated. After waiting for what felt like eternity (reality was that we probably waited about 4 min), someone finally materialized behind the bar to seat us and give us menus. When I thanked him for the menus, he didn’t say anything and walked away. Rude flag #1.
As we decided on what to eat, I looked around and noticed the décor which was pretty nice. Nothing spectacular, but the place looked clean and tidy. The waitress that took our order was pretty nice and her warm smile made me think perhaps my hunger was making me overreact to our greeting about 5 min. earlier. But then, I noticed that (our waitress aside), the man that initially walked us to our table as well as one other waitress that were helping other customers didn’t smile, show personality, nothing. It was like they were autobots whose only emotion was disdain that they had to work on such a beautiful day. Case in point was when I got up to use the restroom and had approached one of the fembots to locate one. I politely asked where it was located and she blatantly ignored me as she poured drinks. Rude flag #2.
We both ordered the ahi tuna salad with wasabi vinaigrette and I thanked my stars that I asked for the dressing on the side. The dressing was pure wasabi and no vinaigrette. I am a girl that loves her wasabi, but when pouring a generous serving over a bed of lettuce and seared tuna, it tends to singe my nose hairs. Even our waitress admitted that they are going to change the recipe for the dressing due to the excess wasabi. Nonetheless, we sniffed our way through the salad because the ahi WAS delicious and because we didn’t want to have the only friendly waitress to turn over to the dark side. Needless to say, by the end of my lunch, my eyes were tearing up and I had trouble breathing. But, after the heat calmed down and my vision came back, I realized it wasn’t so bad.
I probably won’t come back here.

This is a great room with excellent food.
A bunch of us decided we needed dinner, and we headed over to this place. It’s a nice, open room, with another more private space above (would make a great party — hint). We got there and it was pretty slow, so we were seated promptly and got a few adult beverages while we perused the menu. Our server, Lauren, was very attentive (she’s hot, but don’t tell her I said so, okay) and also suggested some dishes for us (which turned out to be excellent suggestions). I ordered some kind of pasta with sausage and shrimp (spicy) which turned out to be just enough and dead on hot (and tasty). One of my friends ordered some cocoanut shrimp, which also were excellent. Throughout the evening we had no problem getting service, yet we never felt rushed or hassled. We closed the place (actually we were there until after closing) so we were comfortable and well taken care of.
Upstairs deserves a mention — there’s a separate space, with lots of music themed art and plenty of room to hang or mingle. It would make an excellent late evening party place IMHO.
Parking was a breeze (we got there after 9:00) and there were no problems with pan handlers or anything like that. In essence it was very European, kind of a relaxed «hang out in the Euro bar» with five star food added. It helped that one of the other guys picked up the tab (the rest left a judicious tip).
Apparently the man who owns this also owns the TDM franchise in Seattle and another place up in Greenlake. This place is nothing like either of those — again, much more of a continental feel.
If you have a small group and are looking for some tight food and a relaxed atmosphere, I recommend that you give this place a try.

My buddy jorge has gift certificates for this place. We come here for late night happy hours. And the occasional bar crawl candidate.
Great place for a burger and a game with buddies.
The food is typical bar flair. Mac and Cheese, Coconut Shrimp, Fish tacos. Almost same as the other bar and grills in this chain.
In the winters the dining room gets packed. They are quite quick with service. In the summers the outside seating is where its at. They also have a little fire place on the patio too.
It’s a great place for a meet up with friends with gift certificates.

This restaurant is part of a small local chain. They have other locations on Eastlake, Greenlake, and in Lake Forest Park. I believe all locations have the same menu or at least they are very similar.
I’ve been a few times to Southlake Grill. I’ve only gone on Sunday for their ½ off the menu deal. For that price it is a worth while place to grab dinner (or any other meal for that matter, since the special lasts all day). The burgers and sandwiches come with bottomless fries.
One trick I suggest is to go with company and if at least two of you plan on getting a burger or sandwich have one person get the fries with it and the other can get pretty much any other side they want (veggies, salad, rice, mashed potatoes… you name it). That way everyone at the table can still get as many fries as they want (as long as you share).
The food is okay. I highly suggest it as a place to grab food on Sunday because of the discount; otherwise, it’s nothing special.

During the holidays, we were given a certificate for use at any of the ‘neighborhood grills’.
We chose Southlake, as we had been to the mediocrity that is Eastlake and snooty Greenlake, which in retrospect, offered a 33% chance of bleh. It earned the bleh award, with a special commendation in gag.
The service was spotty, forgetful and we had to send two things back for FAIL.
The walls of our booth were spotted with food and grease spots, like someone had repetitively sneezed lunch on it and no one had wiped it.
The initial drinks were strong, the fruitiness fresh. However, getting additional drinks took a signal from everyone in the group as little waves/​smiles/​comehithers went ignored even with full eye contact from manager and servers. ?
Our party had:
Basic ¼lb Angus Burger — overcooked and bitter sauce which was asked for on the side, but still was slathered messily all over.
Salmon burger — This is SO not a piece of fish. It is a premade preservative rich patty, which should be outlawed in the PNW.
BBQ Angus Sliders — These pleased the ordering party, good sauce & tender beef.
Basic side salad — pre-​packaged mix & run of the mill balsamic.
Seafood chowder — Tasty albeit served in a miniature bowl, which should have been advised as we asked server if it was an entrée size.
Marionberry pie a la mode — Absolutely DISGUSTING — flavorless crap, it tasted old, smelled like a fridge, the thick crumbly bread crust was soggy and leather on the edges. It was obviously microwaved and abused in the kitchen. Sad, as it is ‘home made’.
The smokers right outside the door on the patio are grossness embodied.
Grateful it was a certificate meal.

came here before another spending spree at the REI flagship store which is just around the corner. Overall I liked the place. Had the fish and chips which was actually some of the best I have had in town! go figure! And if I am not misinerpreting the menu, they have bottomless fries, meaning all you can eat?! I am sold. The service was good and prompt. Wouldn’t mind coming back if I am tempted back to REI again…

I feel the need to add that the SLUG is located on a non-​smoking block and they allow people to hang out in the outdoor seating area and smoke. I notice it frequently when I walk by the place. Not cool.

This place was GREAT! I was going to lunch today with a friend and I wanted to try somewhere new… time to Unilocal it out. My friend had a coupon for $ 15 off at Southlake Grill so we decided that would be the spot. The place was easy to find and there was parking right outside. Yes, typical Seattle you did have to pay to park (I really do miss parking lots). We were greeted right away and as we walked to our table I made sure to check out everyones plate. The quesadilla looked huge and delicious and I noticed a good amount of fries with the burgers and sandwiches. Ok, I’m into this place!
We decided on a glass of wine with lunch but of course couldn’t make up on minds on what we wanted. Our server, Erin, was totally cool about this indecision. She asked if she could bring us a taste. WHAT? Of course you can! She came back with 4 glasses! It’s like we did our own little wine tasting at Southlake Grill. Awesome that she was so patient.
My friend ordered a grilled vegetable salad with dressing on the side and Erin (our server) helped me pick the jalapeño mac and cheese (it was a toss up between the mac & cheese and a grilled cheese sammy). Her salad looked fabulous with big grilled veggie and not just a bunch of lettuce BUT it came out and the dressing was not on the side as ordered. Erin actually caught it before we had a chance to say anything. No worries, she took it back and had a new one really fast! She was apologetic and just really nice!
Our food was good, service was great, we checked out the upstairs room and got the scoop from Erin on renting it out for private football parties, etc. It was a great spot. There happy hour gives deals on food AND alcohol. On Saturdays they have half price drinks all day and on Sunday is half price food all day. How cool is that?
We hung out and got a second glass of wine and chit chatted. Erin made sure to keep checking in on us. We had told her when we ordered we had the coupon but were surprised when the bill came she had covered a round of our drinks… maybe because of the salad issue? Maybe because she was just super cool? I dunno but I’m“m going back!
I would go 5 stars if they went ahead and got a parking lot (sorry, but we hung out long enough that we should have got a parking ticket and that is just annoying) AND they need to get Ciroc Vodka. All those drink specials — they need to get my favorite. Either way, this place is pretty darn fabulous!!!

Went here last Sunday for breakfast… Well, we originally wanted to go to Portage Bay b/​c we heard that this location is less crowded than the U-​district one… but it was packed as well. Damn!
Anyways, we saw some ppl eating outside and thought we should give it a try. Apparently, this place is a chain that also include siblings Eastlake Bar & Grill and Greenlake Bar & Grill.
We ordered some pretty standard breakfast stuff. The bf got 2 eggs over easy with sausage and I got the salmon egg benedict. If you’ve been reading my reviews… you’ll probably figure that I really like egg benedicts =) Both dishes were meh to me. Over easy eggs were fine… you can’t screw that up. Sausage was a bit too dry… made us really missed the fennel sausage at Serafina’s. The salmon on my egg benedict was edible but I think they were farm-​raised salmon and maybe that’s why it was kinda tasteless. Eggs and hollandaise sauce was also meh. Basically, I would say that the quality of food here is just A-​Ok. Edible but not great.
One saving grace for our meal was that it was half off on Sunday. We were quite surprised and delighted when our bill came out and it was only $ 16 bucks.

Okay. First things first. Do not order the food here. It is shit, and you will pay dearly for it. I have learned this lesson over and over again, seemingly ineffectively each time. Tonight may have been the last straw, and what it took for me to finally learn this lesson. After weighing amongst the set of equally tasty-​sounding-​yet-​uninspiring menu items I’d deemed acceptable in terms of cost versus expected enjoyment and value, my $ 11 shrimp po’boy (slightly oddly called a «prawn po’boy» on the limited-​time «prawnapalooza» menu) was served on dreadful bread that interfered with the meager po’boy experience inside by being devoid of moisture content, and served with a side of room temperature, stale, freezer-​bag fries.
An unwitting, well meaning, and later-​arriving companion ordered the $ 10 calamari appetizer, offered as a gesture of good will to the rest of the table, since he’d ordered and simultaneously received his own entrée. I’m normally quite a fan of calamari, but even the offensive price aside, I can’t actually recall a worse execution of this staple appetizer that I’ve had, and I’m not one to say this lightly. It’s entirely possible that somewhere, somehow, I’ve had worse calamari, but amongst those dishes that I can consciously recall, this bland, rubbery, and damp oily preparation ranks at the bottom.
If you’re not careful, you’ll also pay mightily for your beers. A pint of Guinness, for instance, will set you back $ 6, or $ 7 if you’re inclined to a custom called «tipping.» The draught beers have been inconsistent in carbonation and flavor in my experience.
This would all be enough for me to forever relegate an establishment into the bottomless pit of shall not return, and indeed, elements of Southlake Grill offend the very fabric of my being. However, in spite of this, there exists a set of redeeming qualities that shall ensure that I’ll occasionally pop into SLG.
For one, their space is great. If it’s a nice day, the patio is exemplary of how such a day should be enjoyed. It’s generously sized and set in a cozy part of South Lake Union – the same block as REI, but on less trafficked Thomas, rather than Yale. However, please refrain from using the sculptural heater in its center as an ashtray, you effing cretinous troglodytes.
If it’s not a nice day, the tall ceiling and full wall of two-​story windows will provide enough daylight to feel cheery even on the most Seattly Seattle days.
Specials are good enough, too, to curry occasional interest. For example, Tuesday plays host to $ 2.99 drinks. This applies to beers, wines, and cocktails. I’m sure there is a plethora of exceptions to the $ 2.99 offer, but for what my companions and I were quaffing tonight, which included beers and cocktails, it seemed to apply to everything. Well, except the non-​alcoholic drink, which was actually $ 0.01 more. Heh.
Apparently on Monday evenings, you can get a «three course meal,» including soup or salad, an entrée (chosen from a set of around five), and a dessert, for $ 15. I’ve already established, I think, that I’ve found that – for me, anyway – your mind will write an check of expectations that the menu here will be unable to cash. But perhaps you’re of a different mind, and indeed there are those who’d call themselves if not fans, then at least agreeable to the offerings here. And perhaps, if you’re one, you’d be well served to dine here on a Monday evening, when you can get a complete meal for less than the cost of any other day’s mahi-​mahi fish tacos.
The service here has been, well, mainly friendly. In fact, some of the staff here has on occasion seemed unusually gregarious. This isn’t a complaint, and it didn’t weird me out – I’m just not necessarily expecting it, though it is in fact nice to encounter. Other staff I’ve encountered here has been less inspired, and once, approaching smart-​alecky, and not in that lovable scamp way. But staff can be very transient, so I don’t harbor any kind of preconceived notions of what kind of service I’ll receive here, so it’s mostly a wash. It is fair to say that most of the time the service has been, at very least, good enough. Sometimes better.
As much of a bone as I have to pick with various aspects of SLG, I shall return. However, I’ll not be without the hard-​won knowledge I’ve acquired through various previous visits here. As with most any situation, so long as I am equipped with the requisite knowledge and can manage my expectations, there’s no need for me to ever feel cheated or wronged. After all, if sitting on the patio with a couple friends or coworkers after a long day, enjoying the transition into twilight while sipping a $ 7 Guinness is what I deem appropriate, then everyone ends up a winner.
But, really, eat at home first.