« Prev

Slog

Next »

Stellina

I’ve been to Cafe Stellina a dozen or more times for lunch. I’ve never had anything but great service and the food has been uniformly good. I don’t recognize the restaurant described in Bethany’s review and, er, ECB’s measured response to a letter in this week’s paper responding to Bethany’s review.

Cafe Stellina — the food is good, the service is good, and reviews are subjective and opinions are personal. I like Stellina and I’ll be eating there again.

Comments (38)

1

Dan's totally fussy, and his praise is hard-won by any restaurant that gets it.

Obviously, dining at Stellina is something of a crapshoot, but what's amazing is how steadily Stellina treats patrons on different sides of the divide: Dan has had only pleasurable experiences, Bethany had three dud experiences in a row.

Fascinating, and kind of amazing...anyone else got a Stellina opinion to share?

Posted by David Schmader | April 26, 2007 2:48 PM
2

Perhaps Cafe Stellina doesn't cater toward the noveau white trash crowd. Maybe they should add bacon-wrapped hot dogs and Frito chili to their menu. And PBR.

Posted by DOUG. | April 26, 2007 2:54 PM
3

If I wanted to go to a restaurant & have the exact same experience every time, I'd go to McDonald's. I didn't have the misfortune of having the experience that Erica or Bethany did when they went. Nor did I have an earth shattering experience, I had a really nice server, that paid excellent attention to me.

Posted by maria | April 26, 2007 3:01 PM
4

I'm on Dan's side; been there several times and have no complaints other than that the lunch items are priced a few dollars too high. When I dropped in for a late-evening glass of wine with friends, we were pleased by the attentive service and peaceful, unpretentious atmosphere. I chalk Bethany's (legitimate-sounding) complaints up to the new kitchen still working out its kinks. For me, this piece raised the question: What's the point of printing a bad restaurant review? I'd rather read about the places Bethany thinks I should patronize.

Posted by Amy Kate Horn | April 26, 2007 3:03 PM
5

I think we'd all rather read about places worth visiting, but what should be done with the places that aren't good? By the time we learn that a place has earned what will be a negative review, a writer has been sent to eat there twice--should we just absorb the cost of the food and the kill fee for the writer, or should we warn others from making the same mistake?

Posted by David Schmader | April 26, 2007 3:11 PM
6

@4, @5: If you guys think a restaurant is bad, I want to know. I may still decide to go, but at least I'll go in with my eyes open.

Posted by S. Ben Melhuish | April 26, 2007 3:13 PM
7
Perhaps Cafe Stellina doesn't cater toward the noveau white trash crowd.

Ouch.

I've ony eaten at Stellina once, and the food was pretty good. But the service was really disorganized. It was a busy night and they clearly just didn't have their game down yet. They didn't know where to seat us, waitrons in different sections weren't communicating, and nobody seemed to know which kind of seating was supposed to be used for what.

They were nice about it, and I don't really need to be led around by the nose to enjoy a dining experience, but I know some people do and I can see how it would be irritating to someone.

Posted by Judah | April 26, 2007 3:14 PM
8

I've been there several times and have had uniformly good food and service.

Posted by Transit Man | April 26, 2007 3:17 PM
9

when i think about food (which is all the time), i only want to think good warm thoughts. when i write about food, i really only want to write about good things i remember, things that nourish me in more than a literal way. but this just isn't possible in the real world. i have never eaten at stellina, but if i felt the experience was one so poor that it made me think bad food thoughts, i'd say so. shit like that shouldn't slide.

Posted by angela garbes | April 26, 2007 3:17 PM
10

Doug @ 2, ROFLMAO

Posted by Transit Man | April 26, 2007 3:17 PM
11

Amy Kate makes a great point. I would much rather hear about good places I didn't know about than about how a place is bad. I'm always looking for new places to eat. If I knew every time I opened The Stranger I was going to find where the best places to dine are I would probably be looking to The Stranger more often for food advice.

Posted by I like to eat | April 26, 2007 3:21 PM
12

I've been to Stellina many times for lunch - both sit down and take out, and I have NEVER ONCE been disappointed. Although I have tried other dishes on their menu, the item I keep coming back for, the eggplant sandwich with sesame aioli, is other-worldly. Ditto for the beet salad. Additionally, I've received wonderfully friendly, warm and attentive service each and every time I've been in there. In fact, even when I'm ordering to go the waitperson or the owners invite me to sit down and relax with some delicious bread and hummus while I wait for my food to be prepared. The last time I was in they gave me a goddamn set of silverware to take with me because they thought I'd enjoy the meal more with proper metal utensils. Teri and Mike: I apologize, I still have that set of silverware but I promise to return it soon. In fact, I'll bring it with me the next time I come in for your delicious eggplant sandwich and beet salad!

Posted by Juliette | April 26, 2007 3:24 PM
13

I'm sure I'm not the first person who has recommended a restaurant to someone only to have them complain about food, service etc. Often, these same people highly recommend a restaurant that just bores me.

I recognize we have different tastes and I try not to take it personally. If it's a pattern, I stop recommending places to that person and I don't listen to their future recommendations.

Suggestion: Everyone who is bothered by the review who hasn't tried Stellina should go there. If you like it, trust Bethany and ECB in the future. If you don't, the opposite.

Posted by D. | April 26, 2007 3:38 PM
14

Sorry for the typo, if you like it, never trust them again. If you don't, well.. you get it.

Posted by D. | April 26, 2007 3:39 PM
15

I went w/ Dan.

Had bowl of soup that I actually pushed to the corner of the table after a few spoonfuls.

I am not a finicky eater. I eat everything.

I don't think I've ever pushed a bowl of soup aside.

Posted by Josh Feit | April 26, 2007 3:43 PM
16

Leave it to Seattlites to complain about critics (?!) being mean.

Posted by keshmeshi | April 26, 2007 3:46 PM
17

If a local band or filmmaker complained about a negative review, you would not start getting all introspective about whether you should ever print negative reviews of movies or music. Food shouldn't get a free pass either.

If you only print positive reviews, they're no longer "reviews"... they're fluff pieces.

Posted by giantladysquirrels | April 26, 2007 3:49 PM
18

Mr. Schmader @5:

I'm with Amy Kate Horn - ignore them. Your reader is looking for a good place to eat, not a place to avoid. And no mom and pop restaurant deserves to be humiliated in front of the entire city based on one person's opinion.

Posted by Sean | April 26, 2007 3:51 PM
19

Worst breakfast experience ever -- Cafe Stellina.

Most pretentious menu -- Cafe Stellina

Good luck finding anything remotely edible at this place. The staff was friendly though...

Posted by Emerson | April 26, 2007 4:08 PM
20

But I don't think the original review was even mean. Do any of you? Really? Seems like it's trying to be genuinely helpful more than anything.

Posted by sniggles | April 26, 2007 4:16 PM
21

I would love to be warned of places to stay away from. Then again, all restaurants have the capacity to be hit or miss.

Example: After several awesome (and cheap!) meals at the beautiful new La Spiga, some friends and I shared the absolute worst dinner we've had together in years. The duck risotto appeared to be a reduced Campbell's tomato soup with one random duck bone in it. A few weeks ago, the same meal -- with more risotto and actual meat -- was damn delicious.

And for everyone keeping Crave in business with effusive praise, all 5 or so of my dining experiences there have ranged from "so-so" to "2-hour wait for a cold waffle."

Posted by Horatio Sanz S3rif | April 26, 2007 4:17 PM
22

GLS at #17 is absolutely right... Without editorial credibility, a positive review means nothing...a negative review means nothing. You have to define what is good, what is bad and be willing to print both.

Obviously, there's more pressure on an advertising based publication not to upset their revenue base...to never print bad reviews or else lose out on advertising dollars. Well, why not just print good reviews about everyone? If you never define what you think is bad and never share negative opinions, what basis can anyone trust a positive opinion?

Worse than that, if a publication can't bring itself to publish negative reviews...what ELSE would that publication be willing to compromise? What about not publishing a news article dealing with something that a business might not find "helpful" for them? What about running by all of their advertisers what opinions THEY find acceptable before their published?

If you're going to review ANYTHING, you have to define what you like and why...and what you dislike and why...

But D at #13 is right--you can read a review about something and still make your own decisions. Just because a Stranger reviewer likes or dislikes something doesn't mean that opinion is an absolute truth.

I know that when it comes to films, I can be guided away from films based on a positive review or guided to films based on a negative review--based on the reviewer and their opinions.

Have a backbone (and/or a stomach) and use reviews to help you make your own decisions--not simply adopt someone else's opinions as your own.

pg

Posted by pgreyy | April 26, 2007 4:19 PM
23

bethany's reviews are the only ones in town that i read because they are so terrible. the best part of the review is her god complex, "At one point, I advocated politely saying nothing, letting you be. But this meant, probably, letting you cease to be."
really? i don't know how all those places that don't get reviewed by her survive! bethany, you better get to work, there are restaurants on death row, waiting for your reprieve!

Posted by d | April 26, 2007 4:41 PM
24

Here are some ideas:

- Go multiple times. If a place is too expensive to do this... hey, maybe that's not a place you should be pushing on your mostly-working-class readership in the first place, eh?

- Have multiple people go, 2-3 people with differing tastes, and have them write a point, counter-point article on the place.

- With the above ideas in mind, try to write an article that mentions the positives and the negatives of a place, rather than a predominately positive or predominately negative piece. If a meal was poor, try and find things about the experience that were good, or as recommended above, go back again or send someone else.

It is a shame to have a place receive an undeservedly good or bad review that basically stands for the next few years based on one visit by one particular reviewer.

Posted by Gomez | April 26, 2007 4:51 PM
25


Speaking of nothing, I once had an extremely wonderful and romantic dinner at an unnamed downtown Italian restaurant. A perfect evening.

A year later, we went for my birthday with the same person and had a horrendous time. I couldn't believe it was the same place. The pretty mood lighting of the previous visit was replaced by garish cafeteria lighting, the service was rushed and impersonal, and the dish I ordered (the very same as last time) was terrible.

So you never can tell.

I think Stellina has had enough; who else can we dish on? Ha ha, DISH! har har....

Posted by eat | April 26, 2007 4:55 PM
26

Yes, restaurants are hit or miss. I've had very up-and-down experiences at La Spiga, too, but the balance has been positive. It's rare that I hear so many consistently negative things about a single place as this one. However, some people swear otherwise, and I suppose it's possible that the five experiences people have described to me, combined with my own experience, aren't representative. Then again, they're all I have to go on. If I continue to hear great things about Stellina, I'll definitely go back.

Posted by ECB | April 26, 2007 5:18 PM
27

It's fact, Stellina is inconsistent. They should work on that.

Posted by chris | April 26, 2007 5:48 PM
28

There's no reason to give a bad restaurant a good pass. I think the problem here is a certain Stranger snark that can creep in to a review and while entertaining (especially for the author), wit at the expense of responsiblly reviewing a small local business cam be truly damaging.

I don't know Stellina but obviously from the various opinions posted here there's some complexity to the issue of reviewing them. Complexity may not be as sexy as snark. But sometimes reviewing is not sexy. Even for the Stranger

Posted by hornrim | April 26, 2007 5:48 PM
29

Hell, I'll eat there just because ECB hates it.

Posted by calvin | April 26, 2007 5:56 PM
30

I heard that this one time Cafe Stellina like totally peed on the Times, and then it went and beat up some of the gays, and then it bought the Sonics and made them play in Bremerton. It must have been wasted or something.

For real.

Posted by dirge | April 26, 2007 7:10 PM
31

Anything is better than Coastal Kitchen!!! Enough said. How drunk was ECB when she ate there? Might have impaired her impression of the place.

Posted by gameboy | April 26, 2007 7:39 PM
32

Dan is relatively recognizable. It is possible he might get better service than the rest of us, simply by virtue of being "THE Dan Savage."

This is why restaurant reviewers are not supposed to be familiar faces.

(I've never eaten at Stellina so I have no opinion about their food or service.)

Posted by litlnemo | April 27, 2007 6:21 AM
33

Bethany's review wasn't snarky or gratuitously mean; it was written in the spirit of somebody who had high expectations that were not met--were not even close to being met. She had loads of constructive criticism for the restaurant. She went into incredible detail about the flaws she encountered. She wrote with piercing clarity and honesty, as a good critic should.

I finished the review thinking, I hope Stellina's owners/management read this and take it to heart and try to improve. (Not that I'd ever go there; it's out of my price range.)

Bethany ain't just out of J School. Over the last few years, she has proven herself to be The Stranger's sharpest critic, no matter the subject. (She is also the paper's most elegant literary stylist, but that's sort of besides the point.) The slams she's taking in this thread are unjustified and misguided.

Posted by oye como va | April 27, 2007 8:46 AM
34

@33--Thank you, Bethany's mom.

Posted by Sumo | April 27, 2007 9:16 AM
35

hey, Stellina guy: if you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen!!!

i (heart) bethany jean clement!! (except when she raves excessively about Liberty)

OT: the horrid, new Subway sign on 15th HAS TO GO!!! HOW THE FUCK IS THAT MONSTROSITY LEGAL?!?!?!?

Posted by michael strangeways | April 27, 2007 9:22 AM
36

Dear 33,
You must be a fan of the prestigious Open-Letter School of Journalism that Bethany graduated from so very many years ago. I thought it was just a tactic to frame a crap review in a cute format, but apparently, it's elegant literary style. Someone that uses "ain't" must know more than me. Oh, and 33, isn't "sharpest critic" code for "equal opportunity to shit on everyone"? or does it mean, "only my close personal friends are worthy of a gushy, glowing review"?
33, you could have it so much better. You could be reading entertaining writing from any of the other food columnists in The Stranger or any of the food reviews in the Weekly.
Sincerely,
The Rest of Seattle

Posted by oye como barf | April 27, 2007 10:40 AM
37

Reposting here because it's more of a review and makes more sense in this comment thread:
---------------------------


Wow. You people have different taste buds than I.

I frequented Stellina's when they were at 20th and Union for the morning coffee and little $3 quiches, which are maybe the best fast breakfast food I've ever had.

Now that they've moved to 12th I don't get there as often, but every time I have gone I've adored the food. I find the pot pie scrumptious, more subtle than maybe you're used to, allowing each individual carrot and piece of chicken take a moment in the spotlight.

The beets w/ feta, balsamic, and mint is inspired, and the black bean salad is a lesson in simple elegance.

Cafe Stellina, I love you.

Posted by NaFun | April 27, 2007 12:15 PM
38

@24

Here are some ideas:

1)Bother to have even an inkling of what you're talking about before you comment.

2)Bother to read the previous comments, particularly the ones that render your intended post unnecessary or counterproductive, before you comment.

Posted by BFF | April 27, 2007 12:39 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).