sante restaurant & charcuterie

the staff here was friendly and didn’t constantly bug you every five minutes, additionally they were knowledgeable about the menu. there was no rush to push us out the door either. everything was delectable, and i would return here again. on a even better note, when i went there, i was an hour early on my reservation and they still got us in, even though it was completely understandable if they had us comebackfor the time of our reservation.

enjoyed an amazing dinner here early on a friday night, greeted and seated promptly and politely by the hostess. our server arthur was amazing and explained the key dishes and all of the local sourced fare and beverages. the charcuterie board was amazing, every bite and combination of carefully curated meats, cheese, fruit, etc tasted like heaven. we enjoyed the special pasta dish of the evening with locally foraged morrell mushrooms and halibut with tomato risotto. everything tasted amazing and the service was spectacular. was pleasantly surprised by the "palette cleansing" bites served before our starter and entre. would highly recommend the bartenders choice for drinks based on your drink preference of sweet, fresh, etc and alcohol type garnished and sourced locally as well! overall amazing experiance and will be goingbackagain soon for sure!

so wanted to like sante. contrary to some other reviews, service was spot on. our waiter knew the menu and was attentive but didn't make us feel like we were being hurried. but..... for price, servings are skimpy. on the charcuterie plate, a couple of the sausages were desiccated almost to the point of being jerky. flavors of the entrees were across the board. the carbonara was good, with the creamy/eggy/salty combination that results from a good use of a good bacon. but the braised beef -- dry and stringy. only reason it wasn't sentbackis that it was the wife's order and she doesn't do that kind of thing. so, positive for high aspirations and imaginative cuisine. deductions for inconsistent execution.

poor service. i can longer recommend santé as my favorite spokane restaurant until jeremy and kate hansen seriously review and rectify their service standards. what should've been an enjoyable and special valentine's day dinner was ruined by the utter rudeness and impertinence of our server, shawn. our dinner began without a welcome or a greeting and literally with the words "you have two choices..." his attentiveness thereafter was lackluster at best, and when he forgot our intermezzo and we had to interrupt another server to point out the omission, no one, least of all shawn, apologized. we were told there was a miscommunication with the kitchen and were served our intermezzo instead with our main course. at this point, shawn did comp us a couple of glasses of wine, but i didn't want the alcohol at that point and sent it back. it would've been nice if he had given us an option on drinks instead. his demeanor became surly by this time, and he insinuated that i should've appreciated his gesture (for his mastake, mind you). half-way through my entrée i lost what remained of my my appetite, and by the time dessert was served, i asked another server for the bill instead because at that point we couldn't finish the meal. i have never felt so disrespected as a customer. maybe it's because we're a gay couple, or maybe he assumed we didn't have the money to spend because of the way we look, but whatever assumption he made about us tainted the entire evening. when we sentbackthe desserts that he hurriedly placed in front of us without even explaining their details, shawn flippantly said "suit yourselves, that's ok, i can eat them then." when we asked to speak to a manager to give feedback about our experience, shawn insisted that he was the manager and put up more of an affront. when i protested, he refused to let us pay the bill at that point and handed mebackmy card as if that were our intention, and told us sarcastically that he "hoped we enjoyed our $270 meal (much more than the actual price of the dinner). is this the standard of service that jeremy and kate hansen want to exemplify through their ventures? i seriously hope not. this was our third, and sadly, will be our last, valentine's day dinner at santé. for special event dinners such as valentine's day, i would suggest that jeremy and kate continue working to improve the timing of the courses with the house and the kitchen, as they have struggled with this issue all three valentine's day dinners we have attended. they also need to fire shawn. simple as that. as for the menu: it's not as innovative as it has been in years past, and quite frankly, i had such a distaste for shawn that the cuisine didn't really appeal to me this year. the chef essentially repeated last year's menu (seared muscovy duck, wagyu beef), but used a less-quality fish (sablefish) this year.


-----20 feb, 2013-----

excellent choice. my fiancé and i chose santé for our special valentine's day dinner. we decided on ordering from their special valentine's day menu, which consisted of several plates accompanied by wine pairings. we were delighted with our choice.

from the amuse-bouche to the dessert course, the plates made for a memorable meal. on the menu were such offerings as tempura-battered fried frog's legs and rustic rabbit sausage, which excited the palate. the accompanying choices of wine for each plate gave a lovely finish to each item.

i appreciate that santé uses fresh, locally-sourced ingredients and regional wines for their menu. that was part of the appeal when choosing it for our special dinner.

service was good, but not great. our waiter was either too soon or too late with the wines for each plate. we had to remind him on one occasion to fill our glasses. he did compensate by offering us a complimentary glass of prosecco and a dish of basil ice cream, both of which were superb.

overall, we could not have chosen a better restaurant for our day. santé is doing it right.

very dissatisfied.. i read about this place and it sounded impressive. i had a very nice evening planned that was suppose to be a rekindling of love and new beginnings. well it started out with the french onion soup. it had at least 1/4 inch of oil layering on top, kind of like broth that had not been skimmed yet, terrible. then my dinner, duck was cold, well done, and it should never be well done. the so called beet dumpling like things were tasteless and cold in the middle. i sent itbackand my guest had to eat his whole meal so it would not get cold and i sat there waiting for mine. this pretty much was the dinner deal breaker. so in that said it was a bad meal and i will never eat there again. i'm not someone who is a so so critic, i'm a chef of 25 years. this is a restaurant that should have exquisite food and it was terrible. at least dinner could have been comped.

meh.... i don't understand sante. we have been going there for close to 4 years. we have had great food, ok food, mediocre food. we have had great service, ok service and poor service. we boycotted them for at least a year and wentbacka few months ago and were pleased. tonight we had pretty good food and poor service. it was surprising. i am not sure when we will gobackafter this one.

it seems they have one main wait person and a lot of "help." the problem with this is no one seems to know where their roles end and someone else's role begins. our waitress never introduced herself by name, and never once asked how our food was, and we had 3 courses, so she had plenty of opportunity. i think she felt if she walked by and we needed her, we would 'holler... and we didn't, so i guess she never bothered to ask... and it got a little strange.

i ran out of wine and she never asked if i needed another glass. she never once described the food in detail as most professionals would do. the person who brought our salads and amuse bouche did a great descriptive job, but the main waitress never described the menu and when asked what the beef or fish or pork was, she merely said "new york steak" or "coho salmon" never bothering to mention the preparation. at some point we began to feel slighted, in spite of a bill of $150 before tip.

my husband had pork and enjoyed it. i had a chicken roulade and didn't think it was great.. certainly not $24 worth. the salad was delicious and the gnocchi was ok. i think we are taking another year off. at least.
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not great. i get tired of all the hype over sante. have been for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. none have me anxious, to go back. every meal lacks substance, and none have been worth the price. i think they need to stop coasting on their reputation, and seriously getbackto work in the kitchen. it's just not worth the price, and the last meal i had there, (last wednesday night) with several friends was really hampered by terrible service.

had a beautiful quiche and salad for lunch yesterday and wentbackfor a fabulous dinner tonight. if you are a risotto fan, you'll be in for a treat! delicious! lots of fresh local ingredients and great staff!

very memorable meal. i can count on one hand the times i've had a meal that comes close to dinner sunday night at sante in spokane. unforgettable scallop appetizer, beautifully presented pan seared trout, a lentil dish that we couldn't get enough of, basil ice cream - some of the tastes of a memorable evening. thoroughly knowledgeable service went way beyond expectations, wine was superb - very happy out of town family of guests left sante - and we hope to bebackthere some day. thanks to all!

uh..... one last comment after reading several other comments...you would think the staff that is hired is staff that would make the patrons want to comeback- not avoid going because of the crappy attitude they receive from the staff.


-----24 apr, 2012-----

dislike. i had been wanting to try out sante for a while now. had an opportunity to have lunch there this past saturday after picking up our packets for race for the cure. i had the quiche lorraine with side salad. the quiche was okay but the salad really lacked. the greens in the salad had seen better days and there were numerous pieces that were brown and wilted. not something i would serve my guest. my daughter had the chicken terrine sandwich with side salad. had we known the meat was pretty much bologna (texture, taste, look of) with herbs we would of passed. the grilled veggies made it easier to go down. her side salad was also wilted and brown. i think what turned us off the most was the staff. no one came around and asked how our meal was. no one refilled our water (until we were done with our meal and water glasses empty). the young man that seated us (tall, blond hair) was very nice, smiled and seemed to enjoy his job. our waitress left much to be desired and was pretty much rude. her customer service skills were terrible. no smile or hello. no chit chat and not even a stop by after the meal was served to see how things were. either she didn't like us, her job or both. the lunch was a waste of money for sure - but it was time well spent with my daughter on a beautiful day. i guess i just like to be treated the way i treat others. didn't happen at sante - well except for the young man that seated us.

the best restaurant in spokane. my wife and i just had a marvelous dining experience at sante's. so many things were done well that you can easily skip over the minor problems. first of all being served a chef's tasting after you sit down is always a plus for me. on the night we went there it was duck prosciutto on top of melon. the duck was lovely not overly salty, and with a nice smoke flavor to it.

my wife and i had the goat cheese crepe appetizer, and the sauerkraut with homemade sausage both of which were wonderful, we then had a salad that was served tastefully in a square bowl, and it was light and refreshing with the dressing served where it should be, on the side.

after the salads we were served an intermezzo, oh the joy of cleansing one's palate before embarking upon the main course was wonderful, why more restaurants don't serve this is baffling to me.

for entree's my wife had the tofu while i had, very uncharacteristically for me, the ny steak. the flavors were well balanced, the steak was actually cooked perfectly (gasp).

the food was great, the ambiance unique and finally someone plays some good music to dine by in a restaurant. we will beback- good job.

what a great place!. we loved the small restaurant feel with awesome food and personalized service. we will definitely beback:)

food/service is always great! the duck hash is the best thing i've ever eaten in spokane. laidbackvibe but wonderful service.

delicious!. i had a late sunday lunch here and fell in love with the place. ordered several small plates which were delicious and filling - you could definitely fill up while spending under $15, especially if you order a cup of soup for $4 that is incredible and filling and another item or two. i have had their cured meats previously and recommend the duck prosciutto - my vegetarian boyfriend even tried some of the meat and enjoyed it. the server was incredibly helpful (and wasn't rude when i mispronounced something). i will definitely bebackto try the more pricey 3 course meal.

yuk!!!. wow, what a horrible dining experience... we'll never gobackthere again... service was a mess, oue table wasn't even clean when we sat down and the owner chef jeremy seemed to be in not very good mood that night as we heard him chastising an employee close to the dining floor... the food was over priced and mediocre at best...

we've eaten in french restaurants in seattle and new york and this by far pales in comparison.

we will never bebackto sante again, no way!!