staple & fancy

order wisely!. we went with a group of six and had no choice but to order the tasting menu (that in itself seems a little odd)
the appetizers were great - the pastas were not. al dente doesn't equal chewy and flavorless! the main course was branzino (deboned not so well at the table) and pork. i was surprised at those two selections as many people don't eat pork and aren't big fish eaters. dessert was lovely. my overall impression was that i would have been happier ordering off the menu. if i go again it will be with fewer than 6 people!servicewas good.

another amazing night at s&f. lucky to have gm jesse as our server and made the night even more special since he shares his passion for food, wine andservicewith each guest. amazing food (albacore and gnocchi our favs) and great wine list. can't rave enough!


-----15 dec, 2012-----

one our favorite places, we go back again and again. the chefs menu is the best value in town and makes for a leisurely dinner full of different flavors. if you go often enough, just be aware that the chefs menu can be a bit repetetive. wish they changed it up a bit more. great drinks!!

really busy. sat at the bar andservicewas great. food average.

well worth a visit for drinks+. sit at the bar. greatserviceand care. highly commendable in a usually busy afterhours atmosphere! barteep really professional and personable.

fantastic!. wow! what a wonderful meal! and theservicewas impeccable! we were daring and went for the chef's menu. we highly recommend it! 4 courses for $45 and no thinking involved. we love the surprise element when the food came out. and it's all good! can't wait to try his other restaurants.

great for the adventurous eater.. had the chef's menu that included plenty of small bites for appetizers, smoked fish & tuna crostini, octopus salad, whole roasted sardine, beef tongue, roasted pardon peppers, crudo of fish, and the burrata. some of these were a little too out-there for our taste. every time i have fresh sardine i think it will be good, but i just have to admit i hate it! it's just too strong for my taste. hubby just couldn't bear eating beef tongue. the octopus was well dressed, but a few pieces a little chewy. loved the crudo, burrata and the roasted peppers. after we got through the appetizers it was more traditional fare, but very good. pasta course was potato gnocchi pork ragu. the hint of mint gave an unusual, but enjoyable twist. the main course was an excellent pork loin, cooked perfectly. dessert was an apple crumble.serviceand ambience is very good. just be prepared for a vibrant scene and to try new things.

agree with just ok :-(. we were so excited to try s&fm based on the reviews and left feeling underwhelmed. we started with the smelt - heard it was amazing - not so much, just okay and if you're not into fried whole fishes pass on this one as it won't change your mind. for our entrees we had the ravioli and short rib with gnocchi. neither were very flavorful, not bad just kinda bland and the in-house pasta was so, so. it didn't melt in your mouth like really good home-made pasta should. the two good things - our wine and theservicewas excellent. overall for what we spent here we could have spend the same or less and had a truly amazing meal somewhere else. what's even more disappointing is we had a similar lack-luster experience at tavolata - we were was really hoping s&fm would've have been different.

just ok. we did the chef's menu and i was prepared to be wowed but we just weren't. a few of the appetizers were great, a few were ok and a couple we just didn't really like at all. the pasta was very average. then for the main course we were served the mackerel. it was good but wasn't amazing by any means. theservicewas fine but they didn't seem over friendly or go out of their way to be nice. they just did the basics. i would not to the chef's menu again. it was a lot of money to pay for a mostly just ok meal. perhaps i would go again and try to find the items that we did like on the ala carte menu.

i’ve been to staple and fancy three times now, and have had excellent meals andserviceeach time. i guess this isn’t surprising since i also enjoy tavolata, how to cook a wolf and anchovies and olives, ethan stowell’s other seattle restaurants.

promising but needs some polishing. excellent appetizers and entres. deserts rather less so, but then i've not got much of a sweet tooth

what needs work isserviceand ambience. the meal was nearly ruined by very, very loud and inappropriate music - late 70s disco at about 120 decibels. old, converted warehouse space suffers from acoustic problems to begin with, so pumping dated noise into the space produced a real downer. when ask, wait staff said kitchen staff choose the music. they may have great culinary taste, but they sure don't know how to create a pleasing dining experience with sound.

service, though pleasant, was a bit amateurish. wait person carelessly poured a new wine selection right into half full glasses of a different wine. profuse apologies but no comp offer to correct the mistake. a bit ofservicecoaching is clearly in order.

i'll try again, but only once more. there are too many other great places to waste time/money on s&fs rough edges if they can't file them off soon.

three times there and great food and great hospitality!!. staple and fancy is terrific. we have been three times and each time we have ordered the pre-fix menu. really wonderful and diverse food. twice we have sat at the bar and the bartender was such a delight which gave us a fun experience. each time we have been the staff has been wonderful and accommodating. even when we showed up as a walk-in they took our name and told us they would call if anything opened up in the next 45 minutes. they called when a reservation did not show up 20 minutes later. amazing hospitality and service. quite an accomplishment as a new restaurant. what a relief that there is another restaurant keeping the same quality ofserviceand hospitality as volterra since bastille is such a poor example ofserviceor hospitality.

perfect!. we (3 of us) selected the option "hand your menu back to your server and let the chef create a meal for you... etc".
fantastic... so many wonderful bites, i was so full, wine and food (4 courses, but there were several appetizers and 2 entrees, so we were spoiled!) all for under $100 per person. the pork shoulder was one of the best meals i've had. ever.servicewas exceptional, friendly and professional. my only request is that they ditch cafe vita. so not to the standard here. all 3 of us wrinkled up our noses at the green under-roasted espresso.

not great, not even very good.. went to staple and fancy expecting a good meal since it appears to be so popular. right off the bat, we found that theservicewas slow and not pleasant or very helpful. we ordered the family style supper. some of the courses were interesting and good but others were not good and the chicken entree even came to us undercooked. we complained but never received any response from the kitchen. needs improvement.

stunning food .... it was the first friday this much anticipated addition to ballard's burgeoning restaurant scene was open. we'd snagged a 9.45pm table and were excited just to be able to get in.

let's get a couple of little gripes out of the way. we had to wait at the hosts desk a little longer than was comfortable and, along the same lines, some of theservicethroughout the night was a little on the slow side.

but omg, the food more than made up for. my partner's mussel brodo was an appetizer worthy of being an entree in both taste and substance. the controne beans gave it substance and the jalapeno some heat ... a delicious combination.

the chanterelle mushrooms and zucchini were sublime, topped with a beautifully fried duck egg with a generous shaving of parmesan as well. had the kitchen closed down at this point i would have left happy.

as it was my partner's halibut entree and my grilled beef loin didn't disappoint at all. with beautiful grill marks but moist and cooked to perfection, the halibut was probably the best i've ever tasted. one suspected it was undercooked until the realization that just about every other restaurant must have been ever so slightly overcooking theirs!

the beef loin was similarly tasty, grilled to a succulent medium-rare and accompanied by dried tomatoes, tiny mushrooms and pearl onions.

sadly, the wonderful food and good wines left us with no room for dessert ... but there's always next time. the prices are so reasonable for such good food that the hard part will be resisting temptation to go there often. with wine available by the half-glass as well as the glass or bottle, it makes sense to take advantage of some great pairings.

we look forward to many more meals at staple & fancy in the weeks ahead ...