Williwaw

First time for everything. I work downtown, haven’t been in yet but keep hearing bits and pieces regarding shows and such. One of my co-​workers stopped in for brunch on Saturday and said the brunch was awesome. Alas, no brunch on Friday, but we had a pretty awesome French Dip and Char Sui Bowl. Looks like we have added another location to our rotation… See you again Williwaw. Server’s name was Juan, quiet but attentive, good vibes.

I chose to visit Williwaw today and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Amy C. was my server, and was polite and attentive. I had the Build Your Own Grilled Cheese, and my lunch partner had the French Dip. Williwaw must be something right, because our food arrived hot and nice portions. After speaking to our server, she explained the confusion about people wondering about event venues/​restaurant, Blues Central and the new weekend brunch. It’s nice to know all that there is to offer. I plan on visiting Blues Central next.

The food and service were just ok, but the place as a music venue is absolutely fantastic!

It appears everyone is having the same experience. I wanted to check the reviews to see if maybe I was crazy, but like I said as my food was being sent back to be reheated, «the jury is still out»
Ordered the Pork Yakisoba… came with cold Pork and uncooked noodles. Another person with our group had the Shrimp Yakisoba… same thing, it was sent back with mine. The plates were warm tho so the heating lamps are working.
Stay away from this place… I have more I could write but this place doesn’t deserve the time. Please learn from my mistake of going here. All the reviews here are trying to help people avoid a waste of money and time.

I went to the Hopsin concert on ³⁄₁₁ and the feedback was so bad the my friends and I left. I asked for my money back and I was given the promoters number so I think we all know how that’s going to go. I digress, the sound was so bad that Hopsin stopped performing a bunch of times. At one point he asked is williwaw bought their sound equipment from walmart! Williwaw should feel embarrassed for how that show went. They say they have one of the best sound systems in the state for a venue of their size but it sure wasn’t last night! So if your interested in seeing a show there ask which sound system they plan on bringing and using. Your concert experience will depend on it.
piss poor williwaw. piss poor.

Cool environment, mediocre food, pathetic service!
We waited 45 minutes for two sandwiches and tomato soup, turns out they were out of tomato. Rather than ask if we preferred a different soup or perhaps a bag of chips, they decided we would rather have mushroom soup and a sandwich that was used to soak up the spilled broth. It was a huge disappointment, we ate it because we were starving and had already waited 45 minutes.

I wasn’t impressed. Food was ok. I got the build your own grilled cheese and it was more like grilled bread with cheese, turkey, avocado and tomatoes. The cheese was barely melted.
Took forever to get our check. Nothing I’d write home about, much better places in this area to eat.

Great location! but the food was awful. Don’t order the woks or oysters. One of the sauces that came with my meal was still frozen. It is extremely expensive too! felt robbed after eating here. I may come back for a drink or concerts (again, this is a fantastic location & the guys working in the speakeasy are fantastic) but stay away from the food.

Bad service. Confused staff. WAY overpriced. $ 18 for a «New York» french dip that barely had meat on it. My friend had a cuban that had one thin slice of pork on it. Both sandwiches were cold. See photos for the pathetic sandwich.
Also some special whisky drink was around $ 12 that was about a half shot of Jameson’s and lemonade. Not again.

This place is dazzling! The barkeeps can whip up some mean drinks!
The food is decent, hence the 4 stars, but the menu has something for everyone.
Live music on the weekends usually.. And a old fashioned speak easy upstairs, you just need the password.

This review is for the rooftop. I was here late afternoon/​early evening in September, while they were still building out the inside. First, the roof is gorgeous; I loved the décor, the views, and the heaters. I had a boozy iced coffee, which came in a glass jar and really hit the spot. For dinner, I selected the ribs, which came with a side salad and baked beans. Altogether, it was a great evening and I could really see this being the spot to be when the weather is nice. My server was super friendly and attentive. This also appears to be a pet friendly venue.

I don’t know what this place is. Rooftop bar, concert venue, restaurant, speakeasy, …WTF?
I went to the restaurant personality on a «show night». Do you know what that means? Mamma Mia was in town, and restaurants are typically PACKED! Crickets at this restaurant.
What’s the food theme here? Sheesh! Rice bowls! Pick your rice/​noodle, pick your meat, pick your heat level. IDK what mad scientist is running the kitchen, but totally missing the mark.
So, there’s a phone booth in the main restaurant. You pick up the phone, a guy answers, and you tell him the «code». If you pass the test, you get invited upstairs to the speakeasy. I didn’t pass since they were at «capacity». My server offered to take me up for a tour anyway.
The place has a couple of empty tables and open stools at the bar. I guess that’s «capacity». I stayed for a drink, and left.
Make up your mind what you want to be, and I might come back. Until then… enjoy your narcissistic personality disorder.

I can see what they’re going for but I think they need more time to hit their stride. I work a block away from here and have heard quite a bit about the place. Owned by the same people that run Humpy’s, Flattop Pizza and Subzero it’s definitely got plenty of money to throw at the project. I’ve been walking passed the construction site for the last year on my way to get my morning coffee and for all that work I have to say… meh. Maybe I just had high expectations but the place is just really average. There’s literally nothing here I would go out of my way for. The stripped down industrial look is kind of cool with lots of concrete, bare lumber and wire frame lighting fixtures. It feels like you’re walking onto a factory floor with dining tables scattered through out. The waitress assures me this look was intentional and not just a half finished renovation if you were wondering. The old fashioned brass colored phone booth is definitely a nice touch. Sadly though, the aesthetics are the most interesting thing about this place.
They advertise themselves as a «multi-​faceted gathering space» where you can meet people, grab a bite and be entertained. Pretentious advertising aside, it feels a little disjointed… they’re just trying to have mass appeal to all target markets but end up being kind of blah in all aspects. The place has a Steamdot coffee shop at one end, a dining area in the middle and a concert stage/​dance area at the other end. I went to one of the concerts and the concrete floor just makes the acoustics terrible. Also, the concrete doesn’t make for a very good dance floor. There’s patio roof area which I haven’t had a chance to see since it’s winter but I hear it’s really nice. During the weekdays Williwaw caters to the business people that work downtown (myself included) with Steamdot coffee and the restaurant section. The coffee is alright, depends on your opinion of Steamdot coffee I guess.
The food was a bit disappointing and probably just overly ambitious with too many options, none of it is done very well. Half the menu still isn’t available because they don’t serve breakfast yet and from what I understand, don’t have the brunch service up and running yet. Every time I’ve been there it seems more like a soft opening than a restaurant that’s been up and running for several months now. The wait staff still seems unsure of the menu, they struggle with who has which table and aren’t very confident with what they’re doing. Granted, it takes time to get firing on all cylinders but they’re taking way longer than they should given the resources from the other businesses. All I can think is they’re stretching themselves too thin trying to cater to the maximum amount of people possible.
The first time I went I had the Garlic Shrimp stir fry wok bowl which was surprisingly bland. It didn’t help that it was luke warm at best, likely because the ingredients were just thrown on top of cold noodles. So half of it was stir fried, the other half was just par-​boiled noodles or something. The «BYOGC» (build your own grilled cheese) was good but short of just not grilling it, it’s kind of hard to mess up a grilled cheese. I still have issue with the fact that they don’t serve it with tomato soup (I know, right?). My girlfriend had the Muffaletta sandwich but said it tasted like it was previously wrapped and just came out of the fridge. If people think your food tastes like leftovers… you may need to address that with the kitchen staff. I know a Muffaletta is sometimes pressed but that wasn’t the case here, it just wasn’t very good. A friend told me he liked the «Bird’s the Word» sandwich with smoked chicken so that’s another item you won’t dislike… so that’s good I guess.
I don’t want to write them off entirely. I think with a little staff training, more focus on what they do well and not trying to appeal to every possible target demographic… they’ll be much better off. Also, just take the stir fry wok bowls off the menu… or stir fry the whole thing. As it stands right now, if it wasn’t right next door to my office I’d probably never go out of my way to eat here. Frankly they’re lucky to have a prime location in the center of all these office buildings in the downtown area.

It’s hard to make an actually bad meal and the dinner we had here was awful. The service was slow. The food was completely flavorless and the concepts were odd.
On a Friday night the massive space was open and empty. We sat at the bar and waited a long time before flagging someone down and requesting menus. After looking over the menus another bartender came by and took the menus from us. We had to flag down another server to order. Horrible hipster condescending service.
We ordered a Thai beef salad a French dip, Thai beef bowl and zucchini fritters. All was completely devoid of any flavor. The Thai beef lettuce wraps were just beef and wilted butter lettuce. The beef was not seasoned at all; no salt, nothing; no lime no spice; no salty, sour, spicy or sweet; just badly seared beef.
Each dish had potential but was flat and poorly executed. I was really surprised that you could make dishes so bland. We asked for something to kick up the flavor and the cute but busy and condescending bartender brought us a ghost pepper sauce. Someone in the back had spent time to make an inedible hot ghost pepper sauce but neglected to add any seasonings at all to the food coming out? Ridiculous.
Top knotted, bearded hipsters and pretty skinny jean people will love sitting here, not be bothered by severs or having to eat anything.
But people who like food will want to avoid this place.
The location is great and the space is built out well. It’s huge and open and has great communal tables. It’s a real shame the food was so exceptionally bad.

This place is alright. Even though it’s open for lunch, I don’t think it’s quick enough to be a lunch hour spot, which is too bad given the apparent simplicity of the meals. I’ve had their stir-​fry wok bowl and every time my first choice is out of stock. Same goes for cider or wine orders. If you want, they can get the stir-​fry quite spicy, which I know folks in this town are searching for. I’m looking forward to having drinks on the rooftop during the summer, but from what I’ve experienced in the restaurant I’m not holding my breath on quick service time.

Okay– so my boyfriend and I have been here on a few different occasion. This place is relatively new to Anchorage and obviously trying to find its ‘scene’. During the summer they had a beautiful rooftop bar area where you could go, sit, chat with friends, and have a few drinks. We got the chance to stop in and visit the rooftop area once this summer. The general décor of the rooftop bar is beautiful and the view is worth stopping in for. With that being said, the servers were a little lost– they didn’t know the drinks or the menus. They forgot to give us menus and were very slow to take our drink orders and deliver drinks. We had three different servers approach us, none of which knew that we’d already been approached by someone else. The drinks were served in mason jar glasses, which was a bit weird and didn’t really fit the ‘finer’ aura of the rooftop area. Most of the people were dressed relatively nicely and it seemed like a business-​meeting place for downtown working locals (as there were many people dressed in work attire, suits, etc.) Now that it’s winter, the rooftop area has been closed down.
The inside area is nice– but again, it’s kind of confusing trying to figure out exactly what they’re going for. They have a bar area and restaurant style tables. The drink selection is minimal and the menu itself is weird. There aren’t really any traditional bar food options and the options that are available are so unique that you’re not exactly sure what to try. It’s unique– and if you want a unique dining experience, this is a place to try. With that being said, if you’re looking for some place where you can just relax, have a drink, and order a small and simple meal– this may not be the right option. I don’t drink alcohol, but my boyfriend does and he wasn’t really impressed with the drink selection. It’s your typical array– but nothing special.
Some times the service is slow, other times it’s a bit more on par. Because the place is new, I’ll give the staff a break. But I do feel like they could be more well-​trained and organized in their service. They’re not necessarily prompt or very good at greeting people right away. Some servers are better than others, but none seem to have a great grasp on what’s going on around them. Again– this is probably largely due to the fact this place is very new and everything within the business is still getting settled.
On the weekends they have a dance floor and music. The dance floor is merely cement and I’m not sure if that’s on purpose or that’s because it hasn’t been fully remodeled yet. They do feature local talent, which I really appreciate. Any place that supports local musicians is a win in my book, and that did earn it a higher rating than it would have gotten had it just featured DJs.
The place has so many different things going on that I’m not sure what ‘crowd’ it’s trying to appeal to. In a way it seems like a unique date-​night place with the fun menu options. But at the same time it feels like a place where people go after work to settle and have a few drinks with coworkers (and in that case, the menu doesn’t seem to work). But then on the weekends it turns into a dance club with live music from local bands. It’s advertised towards younger crowds (I think), but I feel like older crowds would find it more appealing. It’s just an overall new establishment that hasn’t really found its footing yet. I’ll continue to check in and watch as the business develops– and update my review once they’ve gotten a bit more… organized. Until then, I’m not super impressed and just overall confused by the concept of the place.

Good beer, good cheese, I think we came on a bad day however as the service was remarkably slow.
Our server told us it was their first day serving breakfast, so I look forward to trying this place again when they have worked the kinks out.

For some assurance of the validity of my claims, I literally created an account on Unilocal to post my experience at Williwaw.
Arrived here around noon on a Saturday for lunch. After walking in the front door, there was no indication of open seating or a «wait to be seated» sign. We had to locate a staff member to find out it was open seating. After sitting down, it took about 10 minutes for someone to come to the table to bring menus and take our drink order. We ordered water which took another 10 minutes to be delivered. When the water came, we asked about a few sandwiches on the lunch menu, to which we were told that 3 of the 10 available sandwiches were out of stock. We then ordered a monte cristo sandwich, which on their menu is described as:
«„Monte Cristo … $ 12
Hawaiian sweet bread dipped in egg batter and grilled to perfection, layered with ham, turkey and cheddar, served with a side of guava jelly
Served with a cup of soup, chips, or potato salad“»
Sounded good. It took about 20 minutes for the sandwich to come out. When it arrived, the sandwich was literally nothing more than a poorly executed grilled ham and cheese. There was no way it was Hawaiian sweet bread, and no way it was dipped in any egg batter. Nor was it grilled to perfection. The entire sandwich was room temperature, the cheese was not melted, the ham was near cold, the turkey was not even there, and we did not receive a side of guava jelly. We had to wait another 5 minutes to see ANYONE that worked at the restaurant to flag them down in order to ask for the side of guava jelly, which took another 5 minutes to be brought out. The side cup of soup was a «homemade spicy mushroom» which was barely even warm. After debating the risks of sending food back at a restaurant, we stupidly decided to try it. The taste of the mushroom soup was actually decent if you could get past eating room temperature soup. The only way to make the sandwich edible was to smother it in the guava jelly. (Hopefully you can see the photo I took of the lame excuse for a Monte Cristo sandwich)
After choking down the soup and sandwich (split by two people) our waiter came back over and asked if we were ready for the check. We said yes. It took about 10 minutes for the waiter to bring the check over. (These wait times sound crazy, but I assure you, they are very accurate.) As soon as the waiter dropped the check off, I instantly gave him my credit card in an effort to speed the process up. About 5 minutes go by, and a different man (who seemed to possibly be the manager, being dressed in jeans and a button up shirt with authoritative keys dangling from his pocket) came to the table with my credit card and receipt and said, «Here.» and just dropped the clipboard with my card and receipt on the table, and walked away. Wow. What great interpersonal skills. We signed the receipt and left.
To be fair to the waiter, it looked as if he was the ONLY waiter on duty for the ENTIRE restaurant. At around noon on a Saturday, there were about 12 – 15 tables with hungry customers. The restaurant itself was a very nice atmosphere in downtown Anchorage, with nice tables and a clean setup. However, with all of the other available dining options in downtown, I would suggest staying away from this place until they have had some time to get their stuff together as a new restaurant. We dine out a lot, and this was definitely one of the top worst dining experiences we have ever had. Wish I could say better things, as I love having new businesses/​restaurants show up in Anchorage, but not today.

Wow, so glad Anchorage has spot like this! There is nothing quite like it in town. If Bernies is Anchorage’s back lawn BBQ, Willwaw is the party on the roof.
You’re on a roof, in the thick of downtown. They got firepits too. (the roof, the roof, the roof is on fiiiiiireeee!)
Anyway, the place is brand new. It’s from the folks that brought you Humpy’s/Flattop/Subzero. Currently (8÷17÷2015) only the roof is open on a consistent basis (read: good weather), but there are two stories beneath it that will eventually open as well.
I didn’t have any food here (kitchen was already closed), but I did have a «Humpy’s IPA». The bartender told me it’s contract brewed by Denali Brewing/​King Street with «their recipe». Anyway, it was outstanding.
I’ll definitely be back to try some food, and to check on the progress of the other levels.
See you soon.

Anchorage needs more places like this downtown! It reminds me a lot of venues/​bars in Chicago and Denver, which makes me really happy that there is a place like this here now because I love rooftop bars!
I’ve been anxiously waiting for this place to open since they first started construction, I work a block away and walk past the building every day.
Today I was out walking around, trying to decide where I wanted to go for lunch, when I noticed that all the doors to the building were open and the fencing was removed, so the curious me just walked in! Turns out they’ve been open for the past week and if you’re observant enough to look past all the construction stuff still outside you’ll notice a small chalkboard sign on the side walk saying that the «The Roof is open at noon every day (weather permitting)»!
The Roof is awesome! Great views of downtown, fire pits, lots of seating, good music, friendly service, delicious food, and tasty beers on tap! They have a small lunch menu and a decent sized dinner menu.
I ordered the Portabella burger with a side of their coleslaw. The burger was flavorful and tender and the slaw was crispy and fresh! It was a good lunch size, a little pricey, but unfortunately, everything in Anchorage is.
My server, Bill, was super friendly and was excited to share everything he could with me. He informed me that the downstairs venue can hold 800 people for shows. Steam Dot will be opening and have a place on the first and second floors located right on the corner of 6^th and F. The Roof will also be open in the winter for special occasions (they plan to have heat lamps); they have plans to open for the New Years fireworks and other special events. Bill also said that smaller 1 – 3 person bands are able to play on the rooftop during the evening.
I know I’ll most likely turn into a regular here, it’s so easy to stop in for lunch or swing by for a drink/​dinner after work. I can’t wait to see a show here either, looking forward to seeing what type of bands they can book in the future!