I can’t believe it took us so long to finally check out Veil. Somehow we never think about this place, while brainstorming about places to go to. This time also, it happened by accident. Since our friends D & H are going to India for a month this week, H pinged all of us Friday afternoon to check if we wanted to go out and catch up before they leave. Well, of course we did! Siv and I never say no to a night out. H wanted to go to Umi Sake House again, but since Siv took some of his customers there the previous night, he wasn’t too keen on Sushi two nights in a row. Since it is tough to find a table for 10 for a Friday night, especially when the planning starts at 3 PM on Friday afternoon, we made a tentative reservation at Umi, and I had to find a place real soon. After trying a bunch of places in vain, I somehow ended up on their web site, and the online reservation form showed me that they could seat 10 of us at 8:30 PM, perfect!
We still had to do a couple of phone calls to make sure the place is kid friendly, since our party included two toddlers. It was a strange conversation at the time, since the woman I talked to had no clue if the communal table (the only table they said is big enough for 10), is safe for three year olds. She checked with the others at the restaurant and called me back saying it should be okay, they don’t have any high chairs or infant seats, but these are bar sized chairs, and the kids will be fine. She said they have never had kids that young at the restaurant before!
Well, it all made sense when we walked into the restaurant. It is an ultra modern, trendy restaurant, which is more NYC than Seattle, and no doubt wasn’t built with kids in mind. The decor is completely white on white, with chic all white furniture and white curtains. There sure is a lot of pink in the theme too, the lighting as well as the menu is all pink! The whole theme reminded me of the old Bada Lounge, but unlike Bada Lounge on a Friday night, this place was kind of deserted!
We were seated at the large communal table, which can hold about 20 people. The bar-height chairs were comfortable, but the whole rectangle table made it hard for group conversations. I think whenever there is a table that is large enough to hold at least 8 people, they must make it round or square. Otherwise it just gets so hard to have conversations that include everyone!
Well, anyway we started with some drinks as usual. They have some speciality cocktails, and some beer and wine etc. I went with the Veil - their signature drink, which was an all pink layered drink, which was a little strong, but I loved it. The table was very distracted, so I couldn’t really note everyone’s drinks!
Our waitress was very friendly and I have to say extremely patient, with all the ruckus that we were making at our table, totally expected with two overactive cutie pies in the group. The chairs were not all that kid friendly, at one point Z kind of slipped out, and a plate was broken too, and our friendly waitress didn’t show a face!
The menu is divided into first course - soups and salads, second course - small plates and third course - mains. Our waitress told us that the portions are pretty small and everyone should consider getting three courses each. Well, we are not a group to listen to advices like that, so we decided to start with some small plates for the table, and then see where we are after that.
The mini lamb burgers was the first dish that everyone noticed, so the decision was unanimous to order three plates of these which got us nine burgers for eight adults to share. The Moroccan spiced lamb patties with fried shallots and a piece of feta cheese was the best dish of the night. These beat the mini burgers at Cascadia, I have to say. I absolutely loved the combo of the lamb and feta, but some of us were discarding the cheese. But whichever way we had it, all of us agreed that we needed more, and ordered three more plates.
Then we had these Sweet Gulf Prawns which was served with red jalapenos and scallions. It was served over a green onion paste. The presentation was perfect, and it tasted just fine, but there was nothing special about the dish. We had two plates between the eight of us, and nobody wanted seconds!
The other small plate we ordered was the Seared Scallops served in an amber bourbon foam, with bacon and fried shallots. This one I loved, the scallops were so tender and juicy and all the flavors blended perfectly. I’d order this again, but we were satisfied with just sharing two orders between eight.
After that, everyone decided to get their own main course. I went with the Lake Trout, pan fried trout served over roasted yams, mushrooms and bacon with a side of cider puree. The trout on its own was just okay, but a bite of all the ingredients together made it a nice enough entree. But again, it wasn’t one of those, wow, I have to get these again kinda dishes!
Siv had the Braised prime short rib, which was served with roasted cauliflower and cauliflower puree. It was so tender and juicy and didn’t need a knife to cut through. The combination with the cashew nuts and caramelized onions and the cauliflower was truly delightful. I liked this much better than my trout!
Su had this dish called Sailor Girl Scallops which was served with artichoke, oven dried tomato and potato gnocchi. The gnocchi tasted really great, and scallops were again nicely done.
Now, off to the disappointing dishes. The Crispy duck confit that D had, was overcooked, and too crispy. I kind of liked it, since I am not a big duck fan. D hated it because it was missing the duck flavor. Another disaster was the New York Strip. Three people ordered this, but Dn who asked for medium well got her order very rare. It was so pink, blood was oozing out. She sent it back to get it medium well. It came after a long time, when the rest of us were almost done with our entrees, and it came totally well done, almost like charcoal! Dn had lost her appetite by then, that was the total disaster of the night.
Then we went on to desserts. Frankly, I wasn’t impressed by any of those. The Peanut butter ice cream was kind of interesting, but the pecan pie , chocolate fondant cake and butternut chiffon were just okay.
Altogether, the food was very inconsistent, and it is slightly over-prized for what it is I think. The small plates range from $10-$15 and the main course from $25-$32. The desserts were all $8-$9. And all the customer service and the smiles were taken care of by the 20% automatic gratuity added to the check. For our party of 8 adults, the grand total came to $710, that is almost $90 per person, which is really a little too much for the food we had.
I don’t see us going back to Veil for dinner, but we might go back to the lounge for some drinks and a plate of those lamb burgers. I heard they have a happy hour, but not sure what the deal is yet. Veil is also participating in the 30 for $30 fall promotion coming up in November, if you are on the fence, that is the right time to try this place out.
All my friends are complaining that I only take the food pics. H even threatened to buy her own small camera to photograph people, while I am busy photographing the food. So, now on, I will try and include the people behind the plates in the reviews. So, here is the gang at Veil.
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18 Responses to “Veil - Restaurant Review”
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heee…sig you do great restaurant reveiws… love the last pic with everyone…
The kids look soooo cute…probably that’s why the waitress didn’t complain
those deserts look good sig..but $180.00 per couple is a lil steep!!
your restaurant reviews are really good - although its of no practical use since I dont live anywhere close to Seattle, I like reading them (inspite of all of the carnivore friendly food
)
Food looks fabulous, specially the desserts! Great pics! Girl with black and white stripes blouse looks like Madhuri Dixit!!:))
Happy Halloween. Where is the scary stuff today? Oh, it’s in my blog!!;D
That green onion paste looks like a work of modern art! Did you notice how most of the sauces are spread in the same shape?
Those lamb bugers are mighty cute
hey, u r so good at reviews
must hv been a fun night with friends, u look so cute with ur hair pulled back. oh yeah, i’m not getting to post as often 
Lovely pics
Sig.
Food looks delicious.
You do such a nice reading post. I don’t thinkif i can write like this if i go to a place.
Looks like you all had lots of fun! The desserts look especially yummy! And the pictures are great, as always. And you write the best restaurant reviews, sweetie!
That was an interesting review… I couldn’t help but smile when you said you liked what Siv ordered more.. Almost always I will pick a dish that doesn’t taste good and I used to find what my friends ordered to be pretty good!
We had a terrific meal there too, especially the desserts! Here’s my review.
I also know a couple that’s coming to India from Seattle… but D&H don’t fit
so maybe we don’t know people in common after all 
Nice review… my pic for the post shall come on tomorrow… do check
Its not a fab pic 
Always a pleasure to read your reviews.
Aww the kids are adorable!!!
It’s a shame the desserts weren’t good. I’m a big dessert person. 
Never order a steak more than medium if you’re at a good restaurants. You risk offending the cooks. A good piece of meat should never be cooked more than medium and should probably be enjoyed rare or medium rare.