McCormick & Schmick’s

Came here years ago with my girlfriend and sat at the counter by the kitchen. The food was delicious, the staff was friendly and we had a wonderful time watching the activity in the kitchen and chatting with the chef as he prepped and talked about his food. It was a perfect night. I’m bummed that this location has closed.

Terrible, hostess was nice enough but after a 20 min wait to sit down, we didn’t see our server for another 20 mins, we left avoid this hole at all costs just go to Ivars they are happy to give you good sea food.

I want to like this place, I do, however it must of been a night that servers called in sick because our gal’ was slammed busy, took forever to get service, tried the vittles for happy hour, the fire cracker shrimp had nothing whatsoever to do with fire, a cracker, a fire cracker or anything else like that, battered fried in a jelly sauce is what they were, slightly cold and meh…

I enjoyed my dinner here but really felt like if I knew I was going to drop THAT much cash I would have picked a better option. The food is good, but in my opinion not quite worth the price tag.

After getting a little lost on First Ave (boy there’s a lot of panhandlers!) we stumbled on McCormick and Schmick’s (I had only heard of them from Alaska Airlines, who had a promo with them some years back). What a classy old-​style steakhouse! The service was «serious» and extremely attentive to our guest who has a severe shellfish allergy. The seafood offerings were fresh and portions were realistic! Well mixed cocktails which seemed enhanced by the low-​wattage light and wood panel décor. A little dated, but a nicely preserved time travel experience.

Lunch for 9 today. Overpriced for what you get. My bill after tax and forced gratuity was $ 31 for 5 shrimp, one small piece of salmon, mashed potatoes and several green beans. Hmmm…
It seemed like the waiter didn’t really care much — we weren’t told of any specials, no dessert menu offered, we had to ask for bread, my salmon wasn’t Cajun style as requested, and a simple ‘no ice’ request for my water wasn’t passed onto the bus boy. It seemed as soon as the waiter heard I wasn’t ordering a drink, he stopped writing and moved on as if I wasn’t important anymore. He passed out the meals wrong, and just said ‘oh, pass it along’!
We had 18% auto-​added — never really understood that… they even charged tax on the gratuity!
Saw our waiter once upon ordering, then again when the food was served and then when the bill was presented… didn’t ask once how our food was.
Big Plus though — he split our check out very quickly when we asked.
Better places for me to spend my money next time…
UPDATE ¹¹⁄₁₅
An Executive of the corporation called me to discuss my concerns. Some of them he explained to my satisfaction and I thought he was very sincere while still supporting the restaurant’s methods and food. He graciously offered a gift certificate to make up for the experience. I appreciated that. I may go back to Happy Hour… heard good things about that…

All good things come to an end, which describes McCormick on 1^st Ave.
Showed up on time for my reservation for 2 @ 11:00am. Going to Seahawks game so plenty of time for breakfast — or so I thought. Ordered minutes after being seated. ONE HOUR LATER there’s still no food. And it wasn’t just my table either. People next to me said a cook called in sick and they could not keep up. Now it’s 12:15, we’re still not fed and have to leave to make kick-​off. Extremely disappointing.
Now I understand unavoidable things happen. However what I found equally disappointing was the lack of follow-​up customer service. Rather than flame about this on Unilocal,I went to mcCormick’s web site and told them about my experience. I was expecting a reply, really hoping for an apology. Maybe the absent cook manages the web site in his spare time because 6 days later — no response.
Extremely disappointing on so many levels.

Came here for Seattle Restaurant Week (SRW), our lunch reservation was for 11:45am.
Having looked at the menu beforehand, my friend and I already knew what we were getting. We were so excited for the mussels! But… poop. Our waiter told us they weren’t available. I assumed it was because we were eating at an earlier lunch time and maybe their shipment of mussels weren’t there yet? Bummer.
For the appetizer, I got the calamari, which was a decent amount. It was mixed with fried carrots, artichoke and celery. For my entrée, I chose the Andouille Sausage and Shrimp Mac and Cheese. Pretty good! The cheese wasn’t very strong, so I don’t know if I would call it «mac and cheese» per say. The shrimp was definitely on the smaller side but still tasty.
For dessert, I had the Double Chocolate Brownie a La Mode — good presentation, tasted fine. Service was a bit slow, but it may have seemed that way to us because my friend and I were on a lunch break, so we were already rushing ourselves. All in all, the food was just right, but not mind-​blowing. Maybe SRW dinners are better :).

My Mom and I both got sick.
Booooooooooo hisssssss! Hubby and I went for lunch a few weeks ago and had a really nice meal with good service. So when Mom came into town, I decided to forgo all the cool Seattle specific restaurants and go to this place. Really bad choice… They showed us that it truly was another corporate chain.
We should’ve gone to Place Pigalle, or Maximillen’s, or Art, or Taste… or any place else.
Our server was Richard and he was awful… He made us wait forever for everything. and he only had a couple of tables. In fact Mom and I both ordered the almond trout with sauce on the side, and after waiting 30 mins for the food to come out they BOTH had sauce on them! When we sent it back and perfect replacement came out in Under 5 mins!!! How is that possible that it takes 30 mins to cook, unless your order is wrong– then It only takes 5???
The food was soooooo not fresh and had so much disgusting oil on it that Mom and I were both sick… literally throwing up sick.
This was horrible. If it were possible I’d give them negative 4 stars.

Trevor makes the best Old Fashioned. It’ll kick you up and down, left to right, but ultimately lead you back again to where you started, safe and sound.

We don’t have a M&S in Hawaii, but I’d heard of this chain many times before, so when learned it was just down the street from where I was staying in Seattle, we had to try it. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to any of the hype. Our fish was overcooked, the tables were sticky from not being cleaned, and the service was weak, to say the least. The best thing about the meal was the dessert — I did enjoy my upside down apple pie.

There are so many things wrong with this place.
First off, the hostess seemed trying to hard to be genuine. She reminded me of a robot. It wasn’t bad, but a little scary and offputting as a first impression. She had to have said my name 1,000 times just to get us to our table. Anyway, this is the least of it.
We were seated and not-​very-​immediately greeted by an elderly man server, who’s name I unfortunately cant remember. He asked us if we were ready to order dinner… and he wasn’t kidding. We said we’d like to get our drinks in, and I got a fizzy cocktail and my husband got a Monopolowa vodka drink on the rocks.
The waiter says, «OK, but on your receipt the Monopolowa will show up as a Ketel One.» Except… Ketel One is naturally WAY more expensive than the Monopolowa! My husband said, «No way, I don’t want to pay that much» (Not because we’re cheap, but because its just not worth as much, and my husband much prefers potato-​vodka over other types). The waiter just laughed and asked if we wanted our appetizers! We demanded that he go and figure out the prices… in which he just came back with our drinks! When we asked he just sharply said, «The manager lowered the price of your vodka.»
Eventually, the manager did come over and we explained our situation (that if we were being charged for a Ketel One, well, he’d rather have Ketel One!) and the manager said its, «Because Monopolowa isn’t in our system, but we adjust the price after to a cheaper price.»
Fine.
My cocktail was good. My appetizer (the crab tower) was actually quite delicious. My husbands appetizer (the shrimp cocktail) was wayyy heavy on the horseradish, but he liked it. Those were the ONLY 3 THINGS that were good about our meal. This place would have ONE STAR if it weren’t for our appetizers and my cocktail.
For the price and the quality, our dinners were subpar. My stuffed salmon had decent flavor, but it was so tiny! My husbands experience was the same.
We’ve eaten in a lot of fine restaurants, and we understand that smaller portions are part of the deal. The issue with McCormick’s is that the QUALITY of the food does not in any way shape or form make up for the small QUANTITY of the food. I felt like I was eating Olive-​Garden level food, but paying twice as much and getting half as much.
We didn’t even stay for dessert.
Anyway, in the end, I’m just glad that we had gift cards that left us only a $ 50 dollar bill. I feel we actually paid what we got.
PS– The Monopolowa? It showed up on our bill as Monopolowa…
So, we simply just hope its not a way to upcharge people for a not-​as-​popular vodka…

There is a quite high gratuity fee when you have more than 8 people. I guess they couldnt count because we only had 7 people and we were still charged the fee. I realized this after looking at the receipt when I got home.
This was the first time I have been here and got the shrimp pasta for $ 22. When it came it was a little cold. There wasn’t that much food, I think it was 7 pieces of shrimp and a small amount of pasta. I was still hungry after I was done with my mea; (for the first time, I normally dont finish all my food) The sauce it was in was pretty bland. The only thing I really liked was the free bread we got before we got our food.

Came here for Happy Hour one night and they have your standard offerings for HH. Once you step into the bar, you can definitely tell it’s a «Gentlemen’s» Bar with dark wood throughout and sports related memorabilia on the walls.
The service was prompt and professional and the food was decent. The beef sliders were flavorful, but the magherita flat bread was lacking flavor for me. My wife had the cheeseburger with fries — which was a nice and filling.
Prices are very reasonable, ranging between 3 – 6 dollars depending on your appetite.

Came to Seattle late after my Boltbus trip and had little food with my boyfriend here. We sat at the lounge area and the bartender was really awesome. Unlike the ordinary bartenders, he was really outgoing. Being a tourist, its nice to talk with locals and see what’s to do and happening.
Food: Happy hour started at 10PM but we got there at 9:30PM. So we waited a little while before ordering. I got sliders ($ 3.95) that came in three little burgers with onions, cheese, and beef. Also ordered a Heineken ($ 5-​ish?). It wasn’t the most filling food I’ve had in Seattle, but its full enough to finish my night off.

My first day in Washington and a stranger on the street suggested I go to McCormicks. I went with my cousin around 2pm on a Friday and it was pretty slow. The waiter was very, very attentive and friendly. He suggsted we try the crab cake to start since it was popular. I never really cared for crabcakes but when it came out, i was stunned and please; stunned because there was only one square piece of crab cake and i was pleased b/​c it actually tasted wonderful!
For my meal, I ordered the Stuffed Atlantic Salmon and my cousin ordered the special swordfish (which I jokingly said «starfish» to the waiter). I finished all my meal b/​c the salmon was so awesome with a hint of flavor. The mashed potatoes were pretty bomb too. My cousin said his starfish was pretty good and I tried it and it had the texture of a chicken but it was ok tasting.
Overall, what I ordered so far was delish and the service was wonderful! I think I’ll actually try to go to a McCormick’s in California (I live in CA) since I was so pleased with my experience.

I came here with a group of people for a friend’s birthday dinner. There has got to be about 15 of us, so gratuity was already added. Now, I know the rules, I abide the rules but when service is overlooked, I do have a say.
Getting in there alittle late, people had to move a couple seats over to make room for us. The waitress (I forgot her name) came out with the others who were there before us their food. Getting mixed up while we told her we had to move aside. She rudely said, «Oh, not a good thing when you guys are splitting bills» (That I understand) Then she goes off and said «Welp! I guess all on one bill then!» (In a rude way) — So I turned to my friend and asked «Why was it necessary to be a b****» and my friend turned and said «That’s because she got her tip already» And her overhearing this, she said «Yupp! 18%!» And laughed.
Okay, I should have said and done something that day. Either report it to her manager or even ask for her tip to be taken off. But I didn’t. But regardless. For a nicer restaurant. I feel there should have been better service.

Fuel… Must get fuel…
In my on-​going journey of simply trying different places, it is here that I ended up after work one night. Hmm, HH or the dinner menu? I wish I tried the late HH, but I went for the dinner menu…
Oops…
Oh well…
I was seated at a nice booth table [with good upright back support :) ]. A fitting date spot, I thought — being surrounding by dark wood and this lone, encased-​light source at the wall on Table’s End emitting a subdued ambient light.
Skimming, skimming, skimming… gimme the Kobe Burger: medium, please. That was very tasty and I think my stomach had a happy ending. *burp*
Must go back to try their Double-​H.

The average rating of 3.5 stars really balances the apparently awesome HH deals and the not-​so-​awesome dinner experiences. We only stopped by because we had a $ 100 gift card and wanted to use it in one go, so we met up with and treated our friend Eric S. The décor is nice but has a vibe of trying a bit too hard to be upscale. We were seated at a nice enough booth, but the fish «artwork» that look like pages taken out of a fish anatomy book have got to go.
The three of us started with a dozen-​oyster sampler. The BCs were pretty good but nothing to write home about. The Penn Cove, which I didn’t really like at Elliotts, still didn’t impress me here. The ones from Deer Creek were my favorite — nice and briny, but mellows out a bit sweet. The Cranberry were decent but so small that it was hard to taste the flavors of the muscle amidst all the sinew and whatnot.
My entrée: herb roasted scallops with asparagus and mushroom risotto. The scallops were seared nicely with a beautiful caramelized color, but the herbs overpowered the natural sweetness of scallop. I love thyme, but there was just so much of it! The risotto was undercooked, although I guess that’s better than mushy and overcooked. The mushrooms were good — I identified the crimini and there was a flatter one I couldn’t quite figure out. Oyster mushroom perhaps? Definitely not chanterelle, but the same shape.
I had a cocktail with dinner as well, the cucumber gimlet. The Hendricks caught my eye, but there was so much triple sec that it drowned out the cucumber flavor. We skipped out on dessert as just about all of the appealing-​sounding ones were 86’d for the night.
Our server was friendly, but the food does not justify the prices they charge.

Overall not a bad at all. Atmosphere has the right amount of class that still allows for a casual experience. Service was good but having been spoiled by El Gaucho the night before, my evaluation may be a bit skewed. I ordered the Kobe burger, turned out pretty well and no real complaints. My friend ordered the chicken caesar salad, which I will tell you was not worth the $ 20. Nothing struck me as great, so it’d be fair to say I would venture to undiscovered restaurants before returning to McCormicks again.