Name that restaurant : thankfully not Blackbird
Last week, whilst perusing the West Seattle Blog (who are those masked bloggers anyway?) I noticed a small entry about a restaurant for sale in the 98116 area [wsb]. They opened up comments for guessing on which restaurant it could be and some people started speculating that it was Blackbird Bistro, a restaurant I love for its super delicious ginger cosmos (infused on site!) and yummy rotating breakfast menu [mb].
I admit it, I totally panicked. I wrote a hasty email to the address listed on Blackbird’s site and crossed my fingers that the speculation was not true.
Well, I must have been living clean the last couple of days, because my begging the heavens above resulted in a very nice email from “Eric at The Bird” declaring that “the rumors are NOT true” and that they are not closing or selling or in any way taking away those Blackbird bloody mary’s from my Saturday morning routine.
PHEW! It may not seem like such a predicament to some, but I love that place. Contrary to the experiences of some of the commenters on the WSB post, I have never had a bad meal or bad service there and its demise would have crushed me. So there.
I used to love Blackbird, but the last time I went it just wasn’t very good. The mac ‘n’ cheese, which I normally love and force everyone in my group to try, was just bad (rubbery, bland, overcooked). And the pan fried honey jalapeno chicken tasted funny, like the spices were off (my dining companion was, uh, ill after eating).
Because of all the good times, I’m not quite ready to give up on Blackbird. However, I am still feeling vulnerable about my last experience, so I’ve decided we’re on a break.
I just thought you should know.
I love that there is a restaurant like this in West Seattle, but cannot get past the smoke that emits from the open kitchen throughtout your meal. The exhaust system is inadequate and has been since the bistro’s inception. I even wrote them regarding this the first week open. I have left their smelling of fried chicken each time I eat there. This is not good. I am one of many who have noted this. Some have not gone back for this very reason. I want Blackbird to survive, but please look into this issue or feel free to pay our dry cleaning bills.