Epicurean Edge

Top notch customer service and a fantastic selection of knives!

So I came here for sharpening and loved the store the staff is amazing and polite the salesman showed me an amazing vintage case knife. I came back a couple days later and bought the folder, and their sharpening is crazy sharp. All around an amazing place to shop or just hangout.

I had a really good experience here today. I had a pretty good idea of the gyuto i wanted when i went in, and was surprised by how good their selection was. I was walked through a lot of different options by the salesperson, and I found him to be extremely knowledgeable of the varying materials and their pros and cons of each for my purchase. I’ll definitely go back and would recommend this place to a friend.

Awesome place to find a blade whether you are in the kitchen as a hobby, job, parent, or lover. The Mussie helped me and took the time to show me how to hone a knife. I will come back for my future blades.

If I could give a negative star I would. I have a background in retail and come from family of professionally trained chefs. Not only do I have a background in both previously mentioned fields I also inform myself on being a well educated consumer.
My boyfriend had mentioned that he wanted a stone to sharpen our Wusthof knives. After researching different options I decided it would be a a good idea for us to shop for one together so that he could get exactly what he wanted.
After walking into the store we were greeted by a polite sales associate. He asked what we were looking for and he suggested that we buy 5 different stones ($ 80 each). When I asked about the Wusthof tri stone another sales associate interrupted and said that it was a horrible product. I politely explained that the tri stone had received great reviews on numerous different websites and was surprised to hear this.
He then began to belittle me to the point that my boyfriend had to step in. We quickly left and could not believe how we were treated
If you are going to be a knife specialty shop, may I suggest YOU LEARN how to talk to your customers. You will attract more customers with honey than you will with vinegar.
PS spent the same amount at Sur la Table as I would have with you as soon as I left your store.

The knife selection is excellent and the sales clerk was fantastic but the owner was so hard on him for making a small mistake that it made the whole experience so much less enjoyable than it should be. My sale goes to the sales clerk, thanks for being patient and helpful!

I recently started working as a line cook and quickly learned knives are the most important tool a cook or chef has. My friend who is a sushi chef recommended Epicurean Edge. The only knives I had prior were old hand me downs. I took them in for sharpening and was told they would be done in 3 days. The staff was very courteous and helpful. They walked me through what to look for when buying a knife. They also taught me all the proper knife care needed to make sure your knives last. I spent an hour and a half just looking at all if their beautiful blades and knives. The staff happily answered all of my questions and seemed genuinely happy to be there. I ended up buying 2 knives which I couldn’t be happier with. They are now the best in my collection! When I picked up the sharpening the knives were razor sharp, they had fixed the broken tip on one knife, fixed all of my chips, and removed all of the rust. My set is like brand new thanks guys!

I have bought three knives here. They are all outstanding quality. The staff here has extensive knowledge of knives and the knife industry. I have always received excellent customer service. Doing business here is a pleasure!

Went to this place looking to buy a knife sharpener, and ended up leaving before punching the guy behind the counter. I had a few simple questions which he refused to answer, even after I decided to purchase a $ 40 sharpening stone. I left the sharpening stone on the counter after he ridiculed me for asking questions. I had to leave the store before he saw my worst side. I could have saved myself the grief by, going to Fred Meyer and purchasing an electric knife sharpener in the first place, but I didn’t know that was the direction I needed to take. If these people were smart they would have pointed me in that direction themselves; instead, they made me an enemy.

worst retail experience ever. went in to take a knife i’d purchased there, only 2 months prior, to be sharpened. time came to pick up the knife and i was told, because it was less than $ 10, i had to pay cash. «sorry,» they said, «but we get charged a huge fee by the bank for less than $ 10.».
sorry, but how is that my, THE CUSTOMER’S, problem? i ended up buying a $ 6 (crappy) edge guard because i live in seattle and don’t know where my bank’s location in kirkland is. the service when i bought the knife, when i dropped it off for sharpening and when i picked it up is such that the customer should feel grateful that they are there to serve you. never again!

Omg quite the attitude if you didn’t go to knife college I would avoid this place. Was in the market for an everyday all purpose knife ($ 150) for my mom. Was told that doesn’t exist. Shop keepers need to be superior is fascinating. I would have liked to have left with a knife and not feeling like a complete idiot.

I was very excited to visit this store after seeing all the great reviews. There were a few specific knives I wanted to look at but wanted to see their wide selection of alternatives. Upon entering, there was a woman and a man (who I recognized from photos on their web page, as the owner) at the counter. The woman greeted me and asked a few times if I needed help. After browsing a bit, I told the woman the type of knife I was looking for and the price range. I asked to see the few I had in mind and then asked her for her suggestions in that price range.
She was basically completely unknowledgeable about knives. Even with regards to the alternatives she selected, when I asked her about the type of steel, blade angle, for the different knives– she had no idea and each time had to go to her computer to look up the information. In fact, several times, she could not find the information, while I, going to their website/​catalog had already found it even before she returned! She didn’t feel that my top choice knife was the best option, but when I asked her why she thought the alternative (more expensive) were better knives– she gave very vague responses as to types of metal, heat treatment– but when I asked about specifics, she could not give me any answers. As she was basically no help at all, I asked if I was able to try out any of the knives– she responded with a bit of condescension «well, then they would be used knives». «return policy» is basically exchanges /​credit only for unused knives.
The man (owner) did not offer to help/​offer any information at all during this whole exchange.
Although they have an amazing selection here, given the lack of any useful information I was able to get, I’d much rather get my knives from William Sonoma, Sur La Table, or Amazon!

I can honestly say that visiting Epicurean Edge was the worst retail experience of my life.
Two friends had asked me to drop off their knives for sharpening as I was going to be in the area. I brought one of my knives as well.
The lady managing the shop was rather unfamiliar with knives and, I would be told by the owner the next day, unqualified to be giving estimates or inspections for their sharpening service. Yet she was the only one to set up the sharpening.
The knives themselves were sharpened fairly well. The «sharper than new» statement they use would be rather optimistic. They are fairly sharp. They could be better. I don’t doubt the bladesmiths here can sharpen knives well but you don’t pay $ 250 for 9 knives to have them sharpened fairly well (and damaged in the process .)
My knife was, without consent, given a thinning procedure along with the sharpening. This cost a total of $ 50. For one knife. In the process they completely removed the stamp, a significant portion of steel and significantly altered the blade. It’s no longer recognizable. As my first significant knife purchase 10 years ago, that’s not something I would have approved of. If it was so badly damaged that it required $ 50 of work why didn’t they say that right away? I could have put it somewhere for nostalgic sake and had $ 50 for a knife.
The owner steadfastly maintains it was a perfect sharpening job. He was quite rude and insisted that it was his sole discretion to do as he liked with knives brought to him for sharpening and that asking permission would be logistically too difficult. Those are his actual words. He said that calling customers to ask permission for unrequested work doesn’t make any sense and isn’t something they do.
He also let me know that choosing to expedite my order, for an additional charge, obviously would result in inferior work. Again, actual words.
He also told me that his support staff was unqualified to assess knives and it was the sole discretion of their 4 am «bladesmiths» what would be done to a knife.
Would I have expedited an order if I knew that gave a pass on inferior work? No. Would I have permissed the aesthetic destruction of my oldest knife? No.
This is a turn and burn business. All 9 of the knives show sigificant scratching from rushed sharpening. The one knife with a rubber handle was badly gouged from improper storage.
If you want a knives sharpened with no regard for the actual care and appearance of the knives, and you want to pay A LOT of money with undisclosed fees added at their complete discretion for it, this is your place.
Be careful walking in, though, as both salespeople were carrying knives around the cramped shop without guards, at hip level with the blades pointed forward. Seriously.

Do these guys know their stuff? Yes.
Would I ever come back here? No.
The owner is unscrupulous and clearly doesn’t care about customer service.
We were looking for a knife for a friend and the employee there was very helpful and spent time with us looking for a knife. The knife that was picked out was a little over our budget but we thought we’d buy it first so that we’d have something and if we changed our mind, we could return it. They didn’t offer up any info on their return policy but we did ask and my wife and I both understood that as long as we didn’t use the knife and if it was in original packaging, we’d be given a full refund within 7 days.
20 minutes later, after thinking about it some more, we decided that we wanted to return the knife. The knife was in its original packaging and we hadn’t even touched it. We walked into the store and let the employee know that we wanted to do a return. He went and got the owner and then disappeared into the back without coming back again, presumably aware of what was coming next and too embarrassed to be present. We were then informed by the owner that we could only get store credit back and not a full refund. What? Really? That was not what we heard and he kept telling us that we heard wrong and clearly we were mistaken since it says on the receipt «No refund» and that we signed the receipt so too bad. Okay, who reads the small print on the receipt when they sign it? Especially after they specifically asked about the refund policy of the store. I would understand if we had the knife for a few days and it clearly looked like we had messed around with the knife, but we just bought it 20 minutes ago… We were not maliciously trying to give them a hard time in fact, we went to them in the first place because we wanted to help out a small business. Boy were we wrong!
The owner insisted that we either get store credit or pay a 10% restocking charge — this restocking charge (in addition to their return/​exchange policy) wasn’t posted anywhere so who knows whether there really is a restocking charge. He said that we had to pay for the time his employee spent with us (15 minutes) to find the knife as well as the visa charge (which we know is not 10%). What? We have to pay for talking to his employee?
To be as fair as possible under the circumstances, we offered to pay for the credit card company fees but that was not sufficient for the owner. He in turn called us rude and said things like he didn’t want us as his customers. We were frustrated, yes, but definitely not rude as we genuinely wanted to work things out with the owner.
The owner would not budge despite us feeling like we were knowingly deceived. Store credit or a 10% restocking fee. Well, since we knew we were not ever coming back, we chose the 10% restocking fee. Unbelievable. If they have such a policy, they should tell you upfront before you purchase, ESPECIALLY if the customer asks you for it. Telling people that they signed on the dotted line and too bad is just bad business. This owner cares more about the few bucks he can get from bait-​and-​switching his customers than running an honest business.

I have been a customer since 2004 and have never had less than superior service at EE. I now live 45 min away on a good day and it is well worth the effort to get my knives sharpened. I first learned of EE when I was in culinary school from a student who showed me his knives he had sharpened there. Amazing. I purchased a Japanese chef’s knife there that is of such quality that it only needs sharpening once yearly. Compare this to my clunky Henkels knives that were never as sharp in the best of circumstances.
So, cut to the chase. Yes, quality costs more, and the customer can decide the value. For me, this is a tool of not just practical, but also esthetic quality. My Chef instructor was impressed and even took his knives to EE for sharpening. After I began using my quality knife, I have never cut myself once in 10 years. The knife goes where you place it, requires near zero pressure to cut, so does not slip due to dullness and increased pressure. This a little reported advantage of high end knives

Absolutely amazing knowledge from Daniel and selection of blades from handmade Japanese kitchen knives to hard use tactical knives. You can find commercially available folders from Spyderco up to complete custom $ 20,000 Japanese swords made of 4 billion year old meteorites from another galaxy.
Daniel spent a lot of time on education and listening to my needs.
His knife sharpening service is highly atypical. He is a a best of breed world level sharpener of any type of knife. Take a look at his selection of sharpening tools, including 10,000 grit Honyama Japanese sharpening stones.
Best of all, he extends a discount to USN members! Thanks!

I’ve made a few purchases at EE but my most recent one had prompted me to post a review.
I was in the market for a custom folding knife from a particular maker and finally tracked him down at EE. It turns out they move more of his knives than anyone else in the states. I had called in and asked if they had anything that wasn’t on their website. Madison helped me out a ton letting me know what they had in stock, shoot me a couple crappy cell phone pictures, and explaining the different features before I made the trek up to Kirkland, which thanks to I-​405, can always be a chore.
I showed up and spent the better part of an hour getting my grubby hands on as many as I could, making sure I was absolutely certain with my purchase before I left. Everyone is super patient and super knowledgeable. If you want to pick up a knife for your «knife-​nut» or chef, this is the place to go. Give them a budget, tell them what you or the person you’re buying for is into and let them have at it.
Superb customer service, great options, easy to find location, it doesn’t get much better.
Thanks Daniel and Madison!

Knowledgeable staff and a great selection of japanese knives.
If getting a high end knife here, though, triple check the edge to ensure that it is pristine. One of my knives, unfortunately, was not checked well enough when shipped to me and they refused to replace the knife, saying that I must have damaged the edge.
I’ve purchased, or had gifted, 20 or so kitchen knives from here and only had this experience once… but it was a rather negative experience.

These guys really know their stuff. Just getting into the industry, I can definitely say I walked out of Epicurean Edge with more knowledge on knives! They have such an awesome selection of knives, and I’m not talking about your Macy’s house knives.
If you need knife sharpening, knife bags, they got it all here!

Here’s the sitch: I’ve got some knives and they needed sharpening– they aren’t fancy knives just simple knives. I didn’t really know where else to go to have them sharpened and since this place was so well experienced, I took them some scissors that had a nick in the blade. 2 knives and 1 scissors cost about $ 50 but oh the ability to cut through everything is amazing. My first night with my new knives, was like an informerical in my house, cutting stuff just for the fun of it. Dull knives are so much less fun.
The store is stocked plum full of all kinds of knife stuff– seriously any knife you could possibly need is there. My one reason for not giving 5 stars, the service is ok, a bit awkward. I felt a little silly getting my ordinary knives sharpened here, when they specialize in fancy pants knives.
Onward and sharpen.