Best Contemporary American Restaurants in Mercer Island

The salmon and masala chicken on Chef’s special Christmas menu are delicious! The date and molasses cake dessert is heavenly divine!

It was very nice tea time there ! We had a great time! Only one thing I was disappointed that we didn’t get tea as gift take it home…

My group of 4 were seated outside for dinner. It was rainy and somewhat cold, and our server offered us blankets to stay warm. There was also an overhead heater that kept us cozy. The restaurant was out of lemonade and sweet tea, but our server offered a "dealer's choice" non-alcoholic drink which was refreshing and delicious. It was a pink drink that had a sprig of rosemary in it (rosemary happens to be my favorite herb). Everything we ordered for food was delicious and cooked well. The hoe cakes (3 in an order) were moist and buttery. The mussels and clams dish was so good, and the sauce they came in was very flavorful with a slight spicy kick. We also got the mojo chicken over garlic rice and the unc's fried chicken which were very tender. The grilled okra with onions as well as the collard greens were really good sides. For dessert, we had the salted caramel ice cream and bread pudding which were just the right amount of sweet. They serve family style here, and all the dishes were ordered were enough to satisfy a table of 4 people (our server recommended we order 5-6 dishes total). The only thing we thought was weird was the last dish to come out was the collard greens which was just weird timing to finish our meal with a side. Your whole order is put in, so things come out as they are ready to serve. Besides that, the atmosphere was lovely, and the whole experience was great. The staff here are very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu and helped us make choices for what to order. I am definitely coming back and hope to get seated at a table inside because the music they play in the restaurant is some soulful rhythm and blues.

We ordered half a dozen or so small plates for the table to share, and every single one of them was outstanding. The larger dish that we had - squid ink cacarecce - is a new menu item since the last time we dined at Lark, and was unbelievably delicious. Creme brulee cake was the winner for dessert. Our server was very attentive, paced the courses well, and made sure we were out in plenty of time to attend a performance we had tickets for. Chef John stopped by the table to chat for a few minutes as well. We really couldn't have asked for better food or service. Can't wait for our next visit to Lark.

Stateside is a beautiful restaurant with excellent food and service. You have to try the sparkling passionfruit sour cocktail.