This review is quite overdue given my love for restaurants and food. Lark has been open for quite a while and we had plans to go there quite a few times but it never materialized. It is in a lively strip of 12th avenue (corner of Spring street), right by Seattle University, and is surrounded by lots of other establishments. The space is lovely but unfortunately I cannot rave about the food or wine list.
First thing first – the wine list is tiny (probably about 15-20 choices for red wine, less so for white and very few options by the glass), and no I am not a wine snob, but I did feel the list was not appropriate for diverse clientele. Prices ranging from $40 to $120 limit the selection even further as different people have different financial abilities. After having some wine on bar stools (and not by the bar) while waiting for our table, we had the hostess graciously spill wine on my husband’s pants and on my coat but that was just an accident though the rest of the service was not professional enough in my opinion.
Now for the food, the Yellowtail carpaccio I heard so much about… nice and fresh with some fennel and green olives leaving a pleasant aftertaste but… the quality of the fish was not produced by the restaurant so the credit I am giving this dish is minimal. Its not that it wasn’t good, it just required minimal effort from the kitchen. The Foie Gras terrine was mediocre in my opinion, too much fat and not enough liver, it came with candied black olives which I found to be interesting and some sliced rhubarb which was slightly out of place when combined with the olives. I also had a chance to taste the Nettle soup, a distant memory from my childhood, it was nice. Out of the warm dishes we had the pork belly which in my opinion was superb, the best dish in the whole meal, just melts in your mouth! Dessert was fairly plain (they ran out of three out of five or six desserts by the time we got the menu), a rhubarb crostata with lemony mascarpone – very very basic for a place that gets so much attention and praise – it would have been a lovely dessert on a farmer’s market somewhere but not in a restaurant with such reputation.
Overall, I do not intend to go back, but I am planning to go visit a few places down the street :)
WWW: http://www.larkseattle.com
Address: 926 12th Ave, Seattle Tel: (206) 323-5275
For the love of food 