Review of Union

We read the Seattle Times review of Union and were quite intrigued, so we stopped in for lunch. The place was hopping, which was a good sign, but having to wait for several minutes by the doorway before so much as a hello was a bad sign.

Soon we were seated. That was a good sign. The menu was short and simple, more of a mixed sign. The lack of seafood, a less than good sign for a restaurant focused on Northwestern cuisine. We started with a fairly good selection of cheeses, and decided to try some wine.

Here is where things fell apart. We tried every red by the glass, and the very best of the five wines we tried was barely drinkable. We tried two of the whites, and both were appalling. We asked our waitress for advice, but she was new to the list. We asked the head waiter, who served as the sommelier, and he admitted that we had a problem. There were at least two wines he didn't even think it would be worth our while to taste. We considered ordering a bottle or a half bottle, but we were so taken aback by the wines by the glass that we dropped this idea.

So, we gave up on ordering wine.

By now our main dishes arrived. We ordered a lamb chop and a pork chop, and they were indeed nicely cooked. That's about the best we can say. They were OK, nothing special. The vegetables were terrible. The sweet potato was just a big chunk, steamed, unseasoned. The fingerling potatoes were tender, but bland, and the spinach would have been better with some garlic, or something.

We tasted a bit more and left.

It was getting on, so we did some shopping and had dinner at Oceanaire. We recommend a similar strategy.

Review: 29 January 2004