ART Restaurant Review at the Four Seasons Seattle

This review of ART Restaurant at the Four Seasons Seattle is part of a Seattle and Vancouver trip report including Cathay Pacific First Class to Vancouver, plus reviews of luxury hotels, food, and family friendly things to do in Vancouver and Seattle. Prior posts include:

ART Restaurant is the flagship restaurant of the Four Seasons Seattle, and enjoys great views of Elliott Bay from its main dining room. The menu is market-driven and seasonal, with many offerings from Pike's Place vendors and local producers.

Pastry Kitchen Tour with Tara Sedor

Our experience began well before dinner that evening, with a morning tour of the Four Seasons Seattle pastry kitchen with Pastry Chef Tara Sedor. The munchkin was jumping up and down in anticipation of making his own custom ice cream, with tempting add-ins such as strawberries, brownies, sprinkles, cake pieces, blackberries…yum!

Just as incredible for a kid obsessed with how machines work was the cotton candy machine:

ART Restaurant Atmosphere

We made an early dinner reservation, since we figured we'd want an early night after a packed day that included the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit, Seattle Space Needle, and Theo Chocolate Factory. We were welcomed and shown to a table in the middle of the restaurant, with the chairs thoughtfully situated to make the most of the Elliott Bay view. It was a bit cloudy, but we still enjoyed the sunset:

The restaurant has an airy, open feel thanks to the floor to ceiling glass windows, soaring ceilings, and handsome wood accents. Tables are simple yet elegant, sans tablecloths but with lovely crystal candle holders. The bar area and dramatic floral arrangements separate the main dining room from the more casual lounge.

ART Restaurant Food

The dinner menu offered plenty of wonderfully fresh sounding choices, from golden beets with lemon ricotta and speculoos to crab cake bites to sunchoke parmesan bisque. Mains include Spice Rubbed Salmon, Braised Short Ribs with Polenta, several choices of steak including a 27 oz. Tomahawk Steak for Two (or maybe 4-5?!), Scallops and more.

Our meal started with housemade potato chips and warm bread, served in a rustic cloth wrap. It was all I could do to keep the munchkin from making a meal of these!

I was in the mood for seafood, so I chose the Alaskan Black Cod with Miso and Shiitake Mushrooms. The fish was moist and cooked perfectly, although I'd have enjoyed a bit more miso flavor on the fish itself. The Shiitake mushrooms were fantastic–very fresh and meaty with a wonderful flavor.

The dessert menu has comfort classics, including a variety of Tara Sedor's housemade ice creams and sorbets, many with whimsical names:

I opted for the Rhubarb Crisp (which was actually part of the Dine Around Seattle menu) and swapped out the ice cream flavor for Pucker Power, housemade lemon bar ice cream. My vote is for this to be put on the regular dessert menu whenever rhubarb is in season, it was so good. Sometimes rhubarb desserts are too cloying and sugary, but this one let the rhubarb's natural tartness shine through, and the lemon bar ice cream went perfectly with it. If I had to nitpick, the icecream was just a tad icy in spots, perhaps from being a little too thawed out then refrozen, but the flavor was terrific.

To finish, I ordered some herbal tea. Along with it our server brought some complimentary cookies, even though by this point we were too full to finish them:

ART Restaurant for Kids

While the munchkin was the only kid in the restaurant when we dined, ART Restaurant is very welcoming to kids. While we were waiting for our meal, he kept busy coloring and doing the puzzles in the “Larry Gets Lost” coloring and activity book.

And the Lego fork, spoon and knife he was given were a huge hit!

The Kids' Menu has the usual kid favorites of burgers, hot dogs and pizza, but also some local favorites such as a baked cheese sandwich made with Beecher's Cheese:

I loved that the dish the munchkin chose, Crispy Free Range Chicken, was baked instead of fried and came not only with french fries, but also broccoli. Thumbs up from Mom (even if I did have to help him finish it)!

For dessert, the munchkin got to eat none other than his own special ice cream he'd made with Tara earlier, which had been crafted into a luscious sundae. Big smile!

ART Restaurant Service

From the cheerful hostess who seated us to our friendly server and the lovely kid-friendly amenities, service during our meal was perfect. I also appreciated her willingness to let me order off the Dine Around Seattle menu for my dessert, since the rhubarb crisp was the dessert that most appealed to me, and even let me swap out the ice cream. While initially the dessert arrived with the lemon marshmellow peep sherbet it comes with, when I pointed this out it was quickly corrected.

The Verdict

Seattle has no shortage of great food, but there aren't so many restaurants that also provide consistently excellent service and water views. You'll naturally pay a certain premium for those at ART Restaurant, but for an upscale dinner either as a couple or with the whole family, ART Restaurant is an excellent choice. It's not fussy or too formal, but you won't feel out of place either if you do want to get dressed up.

If you're not up for a full dinner in the private dining room, another good option that I wish we'd had time to try is the “More Cheese Please” Happy Hour for $14 from 5-7pm, with a delectable selection of local cheeses and antipasto. Or if you're craving cheese later in the evening, there's even a late night cheese and wine happy hour 9-11pm, where the cheese buffet is $7 per person, with $6 and $8 wine selections.

Disclosure: My family and I were guests of Art Restaurant and the Four Seasons Seattle, however the views expressed in this post are my own.

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