ma'ono fried chicken & whisky

the seattlerestaurantweek was coming to an end and we wanted to go somewhere before it ended. i just couldn’t wait for fall for the next edition. i picked ma’ono fried chicken and whiskey because it was the only place with an earlier reservation available. all others we wanted to go to were after 8.00 and we know that lil v won’t be the most cooperative table companion at that time. i will have to say that the experience was meh at best. i ordered off the srw menu and aj had the ma’ono saimin – a pork broth with noodles, fishcake etc. he seemed to enjoy it a little. i had the hearts of palm salad as the appetizer, which was honestly the only thing on menu that i liked. it was sort of very refreshing and sweet and earthy all at the same time! i did not care much for the stuffed tofu. the dessert was good but it was a whole lot of it and we did not even get to finishing half of it. we also got their famous fried chicken to-go. aj had it for lunch the next day and though he liked it, he

i had been awhile since we'd done brunch.  luckily, seattle is filled to the brim with brunch options.  it was a rainy saturday and we were feeling a little bored and house bound.  so it seemed like a good time to eat out and grab some brunch from arestaurantwe've never been to.  sometimes just experiencing a new place, like a restaurant, can help you beat the winter blues by mixing up your routine a little.  we decided on ma'ono in west seattle because their menu looked good and there were several dishes we wanted to try.  it was a packed house when we arrived and i didn't think to make a reservation.  good thing for us several tables were getting up so we only had to wait fifteen minutes.  our children were acting up and continued to the whole meal.  the servers were gracious though and nobody seemed too upset by their behavior.

the name of therestaurantthrows you off a bit, but this hidden gem serves up the best fried chicken i've ever had. i believe they broast it but i could be wrong. they serve up whole chickens with delicious sides you can order as a meal for your table. they run out so be sure to reserve your chicken ahead of time. 

if you are looking to dine on fabulous fried chicken definitely stop in you won't be disappointed.

tl;dr: order the goddamn rolls. i don’t care what else you order. everything is good.

when people talk about ma’ono, they always talk about the fried chicken. well, i’m a natural born hater, through and through, and i’ve gotta say the fried chicken was one of the worst things on our table.

that being said, we ordered seventeen things, and all of them were spectacular. do you get what i’m saying here? fried chicken was the worst of the best. everything else was better, and fried chicken certainly wasn’t bad.

the best of the best was easily a tie between the rolls and the saimin. the rolls were the best combination of food adjectives; light, dense, huge, not filling. how were they both light and dense? i don’t know. i truly can’t wrap my brain around the idea that these rolls are real. that’s how good they are. they are simultaneously light and dense in a world that doesn’t allow that to happen. how are they both huge and not filling? i don’t know. these rolls are fantastically huge. absolutely gigantic, and yet, i could eat piles and piles of them. they must have paid off the same people lay’s did, because they are like potato chips in that you can eat them forever without feeling the slightest bit full.

after that how could i possibly recommend the saimin? well really, nothing can top those rolls. i think i’m actually doing myself a disservice here by having this be the third article, because honestly, after those rolls, nothing matches up. grass just isn’t as green anymore, the sky isn’t as blue, and babies aren’t as cute. they’re so good, they’re depressing.

if you must follow up the rolls with something other than another plate of rolls though, the saimin is your best bet. the broth in that bowl is as close to gravy as broth gets. fatty, rich, opaque, it’s a beautiful masterpiece of liquid, but the real star of the show is the soft-cooked egg. it’s marinated in soy and sesame, which doesn’t sound especially spectacular, but when you bite into it, it just feels right. it feels like all eggs should be marinated in soy and sesame. these eggs are living their true egg destiny.

if you really want to fat (and you should), go for the banana cream pie. i geek out over dessert menus and ma’ono was no exception. even though i was absolutely pushing the limit by ordering a seventeenth plate of food for the table, i had no choice. banana cream pie is a fantastic indicator of how good arestaurantis, and ma’ono hit it out of the park. not only is there no fake banana flavor to be found, but there were cacao nibs in the graham cracker crust which were addictively crunchy, and the whipped cream that topped the entire slice was freshly piped on, which was just about enough to send me into convulsions right there in the booth.

the only regret i have about ma’ono was that i didn’t get to try more than seventeen things.

posted on april 10, 2015 by hiyezz i’ve been to ma’ono before they became ma’ono and was excited to return for brunch (they were formerly known as spring hill). we tried making reservations but it was completely full, but they had open bar seating. there were 5 of us and it seated 8 so we tried for that. we arrived a little earlier before they opened (9:30a) just to ensure we’d get seated. thisrestaurantis located in west seattle just down the street of the infamous bakery nouveau. atmosphere : the first thing i noticed were the pretty light fixtures in the middle of the restaurant. they have a ton of tables, good for large and small parties with booths along the side. there were 2 or 3 large tables that were for sharing or larger groups. we sat at the bar which was at the corner and had seating for 4 on each side. pricing : brunch items were on average ~$13. they’re known for their bottomless mimosas for $12! service : the bartender was always there so service was quite fast if we needed anything. food : fatty saimin – everything i could ever want in my saimin. soft boiled eggs, fish cakes, nori, cabbage, bacon, and pulled pork. delicious flavor!! not too salty either. this is a really big portion and you will definitely be full by the end of this dish. i just wish there was a little more broth. pork loin ham benedict – i thought overall this was an okay dish! everything was done well technique wise – poached eggs were runny, nice hollandaise sauce, crisp english muffin, flavorful potatoes, smokey ham. however, i was just not wowed with it. i mean it was good! don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t mind blowing.   apple malasadas with vanilla cream and cinnamon sugar. this was definitely a wow! chunks of apples were inside the donuts and the flavors were all there. i would highly recommend trying this if you come. overall : to be honest, it was a little difficult trying to pick a more traditional breakfast dish. i resorted to the saimin (as my back up) because i wasn’

best fried chicken ever. we were at therestauranta couple months ago and raved to everyone how good the food and service was. best fried chicken anywhere. going back tomorrow night , bringing friends. looking forward to an awesome meal.

über salty: check your blood pressure. salt scale - 10 is the highest (it's like eating a teaspoon of salt straight from the spoon). warning: stay away from the small plates- stick with the fried chicken, and maybe their noodle dishes. this should only be a fried chicken and whiskey restaurant. as most other reviews state the chicken is popular because its the best thing on the menu.

ordered the brussel sprouts with apples - swimming in bacon grease, cooked to mush, burnt, and so salty that the apple wedge sweetness was completely missing. salt scale a 9/10. would i ever eat this again? no. gainsborg in greenwood sprouts rock not to mention local 360 sprouts in downtown seattle or 8 ounce burger sprouts in capital hill.

ordered the edamame - salt scale 5/10. messy red coating had only a super salty paprika like flavor. i added a squeeze of lemon for a bit of acid just to get them. i've only found spicy edamame at fourrestaurantin melville ny that had a nice inviting flavor. eat at a japaneserestaurantif you want edamame in seattle.

ordered the kimchi. it came in an interesting picking container. although it appear fresh it was again extremely salty (5 of 10) and odd and flat tasting. it appeared to be missing a key kimchi ingredient fish sauce which would have given it depth. maybe the heavy salt masked the fish sauce. i could only eat 1/4 of the serving.

and finally the tuna poke. it was served with nearly burnt peanuts and heavy sesame oil based sauce. if it weren't for the nearly burnt peanuts and salt it might have been good (salty 5 out of 10).

by the way i love salt to bring out key flavor in a properly prepared dish but this was crazy. i think my blood pressure. rework the small plates and i'll revise my review.

not up to expectations. my husband and i read about thisrestaurantin an article and it's reviews on urban spoon. we ignored the "didn't likes" saying that we can only make a judgement ourselves. it was disappointing. we started with what is advertised as a california roll with dungeness crab. our waitress explained it is their version of a california roll "de-constructed", which isn't rolled in seaweed. rather, the ingredients of it come in a bowl with the seaweed on the side. perhaps we should have told her we didn't appreciate raw fish. don't hate, just not one of our things. it's why we ordered a california roll as it traditionally doesn't come with raw fish. well, this one does come with raw tuna and that was missing in her description. so, we pick around it. a different server walked by, clearly making note of the tuna picked out, and audibly said to a co-worker, "did you see that?". ok, i know it's strange to sushi lovers to pick out the raw fish, but also found her comment unprofessional. how about their fried chicken? you must order a whole chicken. there are no other options. with the chicken comes plain white rice, kimchi, and 2 dipping sauces. perhaps this is all part of the hawaiian theme? to us, it was a somewhat strange combination. the chicken was decent. i wouldn't rave about it though. luckily for us, our server took note of our pickings of the appetizer and took it off of our bill. that part of the experience was nice and we appreciated it.