my first endeavor on the "best of" tour. Best seafood it says. I think I might go with best stripped bass, but not really best anything else. Well, maybe best wall design, but more on that later. Mikal and I walked into Anchovies and Olives around 6:30pm on a Saturday. It wasn't very busy and we were seated right away in a the very small corner behind the door. It was actually pretty intimate for us. The back wall was bench seating, so technically we were sitting right next to another couple with just a small enough opening for the waiter to stand in when he came to take our order. don't get me wrong, I really did like the area. I sat in the booth type seating and Mikal took the seat across from me. He was staring right into a mirror image of himself. He found this very annoying. But we did think the wall design was very cool.
Decor
The wall had sort of an Asian feel. But not completely. There were 6 inch wide strips of paneling-type dark wood and they were weaved in and out over about 2 inch light wood dowels. The dowels were not straight either, they were at odd angles which gave the room a kind of interesting look. The rest of the scene was pretty modern.
the kitchen is directly in front of the door and looks like a giant square. It has exposed hoods and large wood counters where there are three or four chefs cooking at a leisurely pace (as I mentioned, it wasn't that busy).
Service
Our waiter, and for the sake of what I'm going to say next, I won't tell you his name, came over and was very nice to me and when he turned to Mikal, TOTALLY checked him out from top to bottom (and we were sitting). We're on the hill people, and let's face it, Mikal's always getting checked out by the boys. What can I say, he's cute.
We had only been sitting there a few moments when he came over and we barely had time to look at the menu. Despite this, the waiter asked if he could get us some drinks. We told him we wanted to get a bottle of wine, but hadn't looked yet. That's when he really started to swing into action (it was a bit akwardo before this).
He told us that everything is served family style. And gave us some recommendations. I asked about the pasta because they were names I really had never heard of before. Like, Bigoli, which is a long tube made out of buckwheat. Well, I didn't want buckwheat. So, I decided to look more. Our waiter went on his way and Mikal and I took more looks at the menu.
What we ordered
We decided we were going to have two entrees and an appetizer with some wine.
I ordered the Malloredus (a pasta made with semolina flour and water) Clams, Green Beans, Spinach, Zucchini Pesto for $17 and Mikal got the striped bass (no description on the website and I can't remember how much - about the samish price as mine). We both ordered the Columbia City Bakery Focaccia Bread with Arbequina Olive, Sicilian Olive Oil for $2 and the Heirloom Tomatoes Marinated Mussels, White Corn, Arugula for $13
The wine list was a bit over priced for sure. Most of the wine was about $50 per bottle. There were only a few under that and least expensive bottle was probably something like $35. . . We ordered something about $40. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't fabulous. Our opinion (and it is ours as we agreed on it, the wine was very over priced and not that fabulous - they should have several selections under $35).
Did we like it?
The bread came and of course Mikal at most of it (if you saw his size and knew how fast he burns calories, you would not object). It was actually really good. The consistency and the taste was really inviting. I had high hopes for the rest.
When the heirloom tomatoes came, I was disappointed before I even put anything on my fork. They had a bunch of onions on top of the tomatoes. It didn't mention them in the menu so I didn't expect them. If you know anything about me, you'll know onions in their raw form do NOT like me at all. So, the tomatoes tasted like tomatoes and were good, but they also had that horrible raw onion taste I don't like. The SAUCE, though, was FABULOUS. The mussels and the tomatoes and the sauce together was really really good. It was something the waiter had recommended because of the sauce. Kudos on that, but I would have preferred them without the onions.
So, I did ask what kind of pasta the Mallordeus was (and it's misspelled on the menu) and I didn't think it would be bad. But the whole dish was pretty tasteless. I added salt and pepper, but meh. . . Wasn't that good. The bass, on the other hand, was PHENOMINAL! I loved it. Mikal, again has a, rightfully so, large appetite and at these restaurants you don't get large portions. So, I wanted him to eat the dish he had ordered. But alas, he likes to feed me and kept feeding me more and more bass. It was DELISH! So, kudos to the chef who created that little gem.
We decided not get dessert, mostly because we were disappointed in the one dish with the clams (and yes, I ate all the clams. . .still no taste). The waiter did offer me a different kind of pasta, but I wasn't in the mood. He didn't take it off the bill, but at least he did offer to have me try something else. They weren't offended by me saying I didn't like something, so that was good.
The Recommendation
Overall, I would say, the bass was good, but the other kind of seafood, not so good. Point being, if you're looking for the Best Seafood in Seattle, I'm not sure this is the place. I would say, so far, it's the best place in Seattle to get Striped Bass (and probably other fish too).
Let me know if you go! I'd love to hear your opinion
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