Best Seasonal Restaurants in Mercer Island

Outstanding flavors, attentive service, including to our friend with several food restrictions. Delicious vegan, gluten, and dairy free rice dessert. We LOVED every dish.

Luis and the food were amazing! Spinasse continues to be our favorite!

I have heard a lot about John Howie steaks and I must tell you, they are delicious! My dinner partner and I started out with the tempura bacon and bread basket for appetizers. The bacon is thick and it is simply fantastic. The sauce was a must try. I wish I could eat tempura bacon every day. The bread basket was a nice touch and provided a good assortment of warm bread. We also had an honeycrisp apple salad. The sweetness of the apple complemented the light dressing and greens. For our entrees, we sprang for the 8 oz. Japanese A5 Wagyu ribeyes. Of course this is one of the best steaks on the menu. I had high expectations for this steak in the hands of a steak connoisseur like John Howie. It was the best wagyu I've eaten outside of Japan. These are Miyazaki Wagyu, so you know it is quality meat. They are highly marbled, very tender, and exceptionally delicious. They had a very nice wood grilled flavor. I ordered mine medium rare, and my partner had medium. Both were cooked perfectly. We also chose the truffle fries for our side. They were awesome and they were a shareable dish. For dessert we tried the flourless volcano cake and the crème brûlée. Both were done well, but the crème brûlée was phenomenal. The ambiance is nice as it is an upscale restaurant surrounded by upscale designer stores. The music was playing and the volume was just right. The service is five star all the way. These folks work hard for the automatic 20% service charge. It's one of the few places where you truly do get exceptional service. For example, our water glasses were always full. Before they were half empty, they were magically refilled. All of the service was fast, efficient, personable and professional. I highly recommend entering the garage via 8th avenue NE. You can use the valet or use self park nearest the Amethyst elevators on level P1. Parking is validated when you check in at the restaurant. This is definitely a superb special occasion venue. I will be back.

La Mar is quickly becoming one of our favorite places. It is a cuisine that is new to us so every dish is an adventure. We've loved everything we've tasted! The only thing better than the food is the warm, welcoming service from everyone who works there. Most recently, we had a birthday/Valentine's dinner that was fabulous! The whole restaurant was warmed by candlelight and rose petals. The special menu had terrific options to choose from. I was particularly taken the starters - my Ceviche Apaltado, halibut in leeks with avocado, sweet potatoes and more. My husband had the Crab Causa, a delightful Dungeness crab salad with whipped purple potatoes plus. Both dishes were beautiful to see and delicious to taste. For our main course, I had the fabulous Pulpo Anticuchero -- grilled octopus and my husband enjoyed Lomo Saltado - tenderloin deliciously prepared. For desert, nobody beats the amazing chocolate cake at La Mar! In every way, La Mar is a treasure.

Two of us had lunch at Allister. It was a very cold day and I had arrived early to find the doors locked. But ... the hostess saw me and let me in early so that I would not have to wait outside in the cold. That level of consideration was typical of the service we received throughout. We talked quite a bit after we had finiished our food and no attempt was made to rush us out. The food was good and arrived quite quickly. The only drawback to the restaurant is the noise level. Once the restaurant fillls up it can be hard to hear your table companion.