poor service. i can longer recommend santé as my favoritespokanerestaurant 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 sent back the 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 me back my 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.