The Rhododendron Cafe

My wife and I with our granddaughter were looking for a quaint and quiet place to have dinner. We stopped by the Café and what a nice surprise!
My 4 yr old granddaughter is somewhat picky in what she will eat and we couldn’t find anything she liked on the menu, this despite having a wonderful array of choices. Not to be daunted Chef Chase came to our table and spoke to our granddaughter in a playful manner asking her what she would like and generally making her feel very special. They agreed on scrambled eggs with Ice cream for desert. :-) With a big smile and a «don’t worry I’ve got this handled» Chef dashed to the back and presto came out with the eggs along with some orange slices and grapes, (which during their conversation Chef found out were Sierra’s favorites).
My wife and I couldn’t have wished for more. With a squeal of delight and Ice Cream fingers on the mirrors Sierra had a great experience too!
We really loved the Tomato Basil soup! (to die for alone!)
We prepared to depart after our fill but Sierra would not have any of leaving without getting to Hug her «Personnel Chef» Chef Chase.
What an all around Great experience! If you are looking for something special in you can’t miss coming here!

Was there last night. I had been curious about the place since I live in the neighborhood and walk by it almost every day. We were there and ordered. It all appeared to be nice. But, we waited and waited and waited. Finally, we had to ask where is our food. The waiter said that they had to go out and buy some cheese for the Mac and Cheese. We waited over 45 minutes for our meal. Then when the M&C arrived, it was not cheesy. It was dry — not what a M&C should be about. One other person at our table ordered some fish. He liked it but asked for the menu after. He compared the stated ingredients on the menu with what he got. They were very very different.
IMHO, they should have done something for us for how long it took. It would have been nice to say we are out of M&C or it may take longer would you like to order something else.
Not going back for sure.

Wandered in when we needed a break from a long day at the hospital. As vegetarians, we often find menu choices are limited or non-​existent, but The Rhododendron had several choices and even accommodated our special request. Wait and kitchen staff couldn’t have been nicer. The result was a relaxing and delicious lunch. One of the best sandwiches we’ve had in a long time. We’ll definitely be back. Can’t wait to try their breakfasts.

A charming café with vaguely European feel. We had brunch today on the outside patio. Fantastic coffee (⁵⁄₅) in a large mug, with a Bloody Mary chaser (4.5÷5). The biscuits and gravey was terrific, as was the «waffle-​witch» complete with warm maple syrup. Our waitress, Carolyn, was particularly nice and helpful! Come to this café if you’re looking to avoid lines, have great food, and enjoy a lovely Continental meal.

I have been at Virginia Mason Hospital for 27 days & needed to clear my head and find something close that still makes me feel a bit fancy, yet keep my casualness going. Voila-​this café.
I only had two appetizers, dessert & coffee but the clam chowder alone is enough to make me stop in again. The beet salad was refreshing & fresh. I felt like they were just carefully picked from a garden as they were three distinct colors & flavors.
The half baked cookie ice cream is probably best shared for two, but it was yummy & I indulged. As I’m here taking care of my mom, the gooeyness of the chocolate chip cookies melting in the ice cream took me back to my childhood got a bit.
Bigger isn’t always better, but in Seattle with a cup of Pike’s Roast drip coffee bigger is better.
This is exactly the night away from hospital cafeteria food I needed.
And just in case you worry about wait staff they are professional & kind & thorough. One waiter sat down patiently with an elderly French woman that spoke no English & did everything to make her feel comfortable & help her communicate her needs. It was touching & fun to watch;)
Ok. Just got the Mac & cheese on my 3^rd time there-​not worth it. More chili powder crust stuff than cheese.

Nice and quiet very pleasant .
food is good.
the only thing they don’t have the expresso machine.
I loved the potatoes and salmon.

OMG!!! I like to think of myself as a grilled cheese connoisseur of sorts. So you can pretty much take me at my word that I know a good grilled cheese. «Good» does not describe this grilled cheese. I literally fantasize about this sandwich. The bacon jam is the most wonderful addition to this yummy sandwich (my boyfriend added it to his burger as well… which was also yummy). We came here because we were at the hospital visiting family and now I make it an effort to come up here on my lunch break. Quick walk from downtown and so worth the uphill walk!

«Where’s Kelsey», grumbled the waiter as he smashed his fist against the door and walked away.
I too would have liked to have known where Kesley was as perhaps had she shown our service would have been better.
We selected this location as they were offering a special for Seattle Restaurant week and took reservations. A Sunday time in the evening was chosen to visit. We arrived a few minutes early, found parking in a nearby pay lot (not the safest place, but adequate) and walked over.
The staff was friendly and as the place was nearly empty, they agreed to see the two of us early while we waited for the rest of our party. The location was quiet and not really busy given the amount of staff present. Our waters were initially filled and then things started to get stale.
They were out of a menu item, which impacted our choices. The waiter delivered half of the appetizer and forgot about the other half till we asked about it (a good while later). Eventually our actual food orders were taken (we opted to order from the regular menu given the missing items from the restaurant week menu) and we then started to wait.
Sometime prior to starvation food was delivered and consumed. Water levels continued to shrink and the service got worse. My other half experienced a bout of food poisoning prior to departure (something was wrong with her meal). We attempted to locate someone to complain to about the service and food.
On going to look for a waiter (we had to get up and leave the table) the one we did locate was busy — looking for Kesley.
Dissatisfied, we opted to pay our bill and leave as it was getting dark and the location isn’t one to hang around after dark.
I would not visit this place again.

We went here for Seattle restaurant week. We loved the setting and the décor… the outdoor patio seating was particularly nice. Our opinions on the food were mixed. In general, the portion sizes felt really small, which was exacerbated by everything being served on giant white (empty) plates. Based on photos from other people, this may just be the case during restaurant week? Our black cod and braised beef dishes were all right. However, the cheesecake had an odd cardboard/​plastic taste that was off-​putting. As such it was an OK dinner, but don’t know if I’d actively choose to go back.

Our recent al fresco lunch in the courtyard was delightful! The current revised menu proved to be a vast improvement from that of the initial opening days at the Rhododendron. Our selections from the many choices offered for lunch/​dinner proved to be excellent, both in quality, zesty taste and imaginative ingredients. A place we’ll return to often from our convenient First Hill location.

They’re now open for weekend brunch!!! We had brunch here and the place was empty at 11am on a Sunday! Our waitress said they just opened for weekend brunch 2 weeks ago and nobody knows!!! The patio was open too. We sat in a sunny area by a window and checked out the neat antiques. I had the waffle sandwich and it was awesome with the pepper syrup. Husband had biscuits and gravy and that was also super tasty. Service was fast and friendly. Go check it out!!!

Secret quiet gem… Get over yourself if being attached to a hospital is your issue for you coming to this place. I enjoy dining and love when I find great food with great prices and friendly staff. Beef short rib outstanding, beet salad — fresh and well balanced. Beer and wine list well done and fun cocktails. If you want a quiet unpretentious weeknight dinner out its a comfort place to come.

Been here a couple of times now. They just changed up the menu with some great new additions. The braised beef short ribs were excellent and I love their rhody burger with the bacon jam. Super tasty. They also have a killer house made cheese cake. So delicious!

My boyfriend and I stopped into the Rhododendron Café while in First Hill to visit friends. They got tied up and were running late, so we stopped in to get a bite to eat. It was awesome. I used to live in First Hill and could honestly not find much in the way of full-​service restaurants in the area. The one’s that are here are just so-​so. The Rhody sits in the lobby of the Inn at Virginia Mason, which gets amazing light and the antiques are so cool. They have a full-​service bar and great happy hour prices. I had the skillet mac and cheese, which was so delicious. My boyfriend had the meat loaf sliders and he loved them, as well. They have a pear margarita that is just fabulous. If I still lived in First Hill, I’d be here all the time.

The Rhododendron Café has re-​opened its doors after being closed for 2 years! A face lift, and new menus have been updated, and they are now open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Sadly, this fine establishment has been closed. The Virginia Mason management thought a sandwich counter, exactly like the 4 others within a 1 block radius, would be better than continuing to be the only good and decently priced dinner spot within at least 3 blocks.

An alternative to hospital cafeteria food.

Update: This place is now closed. I was told the hospital is opening up a new café in the same space.
My wife thinks it’s the best food in Seattle. The atmosphere and owner are nice. With the hotel setting it sort of feels like you’re eating at a nice village inn.

Oh Rhododendron. I so wanted to like it here.
It is an easy walk to my place, they boast a simple but intriguing menu, and it seemed reasonably priced for your offerings. But taking my whole experience here, I don’t know if i’ll bother coming back again.
I didn’t mind that it was located in a hotel, that is basically located withing Virginia Mason. The combo of kitchen smells and so many tables full of nurses in scrubs had my brain thinking I was in the cafeteria of a retirement home. I pushed these thoughts out of my mind when I saw the orders coming out of the kitchen — large green salads, tall sandwiches, soups… it all looked good. So, I waited and waited and waited until finally getting acknowledged for being there and then waited about 5 minutes more before getting seated. A group of four left while I was waiting because they had been there for so long without a table getting open.
Sat down and immediately ordered a cranberry iced tea. It was tart, sweet and refreshing. A quick perusal of the menu and the weekly pasta special caught my eye. Italian sausage with a butter sage sauce? I may be a sucker, but I do love my carbs and that sounded lovely and filling on a gray rainy afternoon. Order was placed and then I waited some more. And some more. Sure, the wait was little on the long side, but they were busy so I was fine chatting away and sipping my tea while I waited.
When our meal finally came I was in for a surprise. Where… was my sausage? This order couldn’t be right, this is chicken. The waiter disappeared so quickly that I didn’t have time to ask him about it, so I shrugged and decided to try it. This pasta did absolutely nothing for me. Bland. Boring. One note. Swimming in butter (with no hint of sage) with equally boring and gloopy chicken throughout. I stopped after two bites and waited for our waiter to return. Which he didn’t. After flagging him down from across the room I find out that «oh yeah, we are out of the sausage so they used chicken instead.» I sat there frowning, wondering why he didn’t tell me this when I ordered the dish. They did offer to switch it out for something else on the menu — but I had already wasted so much time waiting for a meal that I disliked that I didn’t want to bother waiting even more. Feeling guilty over wasted food, we had the pasta boxed up –which again we waited forever for. A 15% discount was applied to the bill for the «confusion.» The least they could do– but still. From the moment I stepped into the door everything just went down a hill of disappointment so steep that I don’t see myself returning anytime soon.

The setting is kinda cute, the outside courtyard area especially. I’m giving this place a rating based on it simply on being a restaurant aside from the fact it is actually a part of Virginia Mason. Though I’m not experienced with a lot of hospital restaurants, I imagine this one is 5 stars in that sense.
I ate here… lord, 6+ times within about a month’s time because my boyfriend was completing his residency at VM and he basically had a ‘meal plan’ he had to use up. The food items are diverse and changing and all sound reasonably tempting. But, I would say everything I ate was seriously lacking flavor. The blandness would hardly be tolerated at a ‘normal’ restaurant; I assume it’s because it’s in a hospital with lots of old people, their friends & family and patients and the like eating here.
The service was very good every time I was here for lunch and dinner. Nice, friendly people and prompt service. Even offered us bottles of wine to tap out the meal plan. This meal plan has consequently been cancelled because I think someone took them up on the wine offer.

The Rhododendron sounded so interesting from the reviews that we just had to take a look at it. We got our act together and managed to go there for dinner. This restaurant is located inside the Inn of Virginia Mason (hotel). Also, it is immediately next door to the Virginia Mason Hospital What does this mean? We found out it means no parking anywhere and the restaurant felt like a very nice hospital café. The pictures on the website flatter the restaurant but inside the hotel it felt a little less charming. The food was very good for hospital or for a restaurant in close proximity to a hospital. However, I’m not sure that the food was so good as to make a special trip and fight for a parking space.
We had the Mediterranean Chicken which was good. We liked that they gave a double helping of broccoli instead of the side of potatoes. I think that this was a ⁴⁄₅
Then, my daughter had butter and cheese pasta. They somehow forgot to make this and our daughter who was already starving had to wait all that time after they served us for them to start preparing some pasta. There was nothing special here except that the food came way later. ²⁄₅
Then we had a garden salad. The description was better than the salad which was pretty boring. ³⁄₅
Lastly, we had the Rhody Burger with cheese for over $ 10. Once again, not a very special burger, just a higher price. ³⁄₅
The service felt also a cross between being at a restaurant and being at a cafeteria. There is a large disconnect between the webpage which really makes you feel that you are at a very fine restaurant and you might be concerned about dress code and then you enter reality where they have dressed up something that felt less.
Overall a 3 out of 5 in our opinion.

Don’t go there for breakfast unless you get up early, you will be turned away.

A real surprise. Located in the Inn at Virginia Mason which itself is attached to the Virginia Mason hospital. Unusual relationship but the food was very good. Customers were either elderly or hospital staff for the most part. Nice but older styled environment with window out to small courtyard off lobby of the Inn. Had an omelet with Swiss cheese, tomatoes, spinach and bacon. Perfectly prepared and delicious and cheap at $ 8.25. It came with seasoned, roasted or fried, red potatoes which were not greasy at all. Yummy. Also served with Country White Bread which was perfectly toasted and buttered. They only reasons for the 4-​star rating are the coffee while plentiful could have been stronger and my cup had a few grinds floating in it. Also, they didn’t use onions in any of their meals so I couldn’t add it to my omelet. Really, really good otherwise.

Hidden gem. Literally. If you are trying to get here without leaving the hospital, it’s on the equivalent to level 8 — not level 1 that might be indicated on some of the signs in the elevators. Just follow the signs and arrows to the Inn at VM, and you’ll get there. If you’re coming in from the street, well, it’s right there. Can’t miss it. Then it’s just a gem.
This is a great alternative to the cafeteria fare that’s offered in VM, which isn’t that bad, honestly — but the food here is a big step up. The cheeseburger was cooked to order, and was extremely high quality. No fries with this burger — it comes with chips or potato salad or cole slaw, but you won’t miss the fries as the burger is the show. I’d come back, for sure. If you’ve got a friend or relative staying in the hospital, it’s a no brainer. Spend a few extra bucks and eat here. You’ll be glad you did.

I am reluctant to write this review because I’m afraid that it will become to popular. This place is tucked away in a lobby of an inn and you would miss it if you weren’t looking for it. Cozy inside, quiet and very attentive staff but not overly so. Our meals were great American dishes with no frills, nothing overly fancy here. We had 2 dinners, 2 drinks, salads and cheese cake all for a very reasonable price, I think about $ 60 or so. I highly recommend this if you are in the area and want a quiet place to dine.

Check this place out! Good food at a good price.

A hidden gem of a lunch place right here on first hill. bordering on swanky but really just a nice sit down place that has cloth napkins and elegant table service.
Really part of Virgina Mason, but a great quieter place to go have lunch.

Located in the lobby of the Inn at Virginia Mason. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Decent food at a good price. I had french dip and a salad. It was really good and was around $ 7. Cute outdoor seating. We ordered dinner for 9 of us and the bill was about $ 110. Not bad.