Best Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in Mercer Island

Look, I judge restaurants by the food primarily. So the small things I prefer or don't like about noise, value, or service timing matter, but not that much. Because the food at Terra Plata was really really good. We had one course from each quadrant of the menu (starter, earth, land, sea), and they were all good. We had the albracore crudo (really really good despite finding one pinbone), shishito peppers (normally an afterthought at restaurants - not here, the spices added a lot of depth), and the truffle and mushroom risotto (perfect texture). The land course (portuguese roast pig) was probably the only disappointment because it just wasn't as much of a flavor bomb as we expected from the ingredient's listed and just lacked something special. But it was still quite good, just overshadowed by the other dishes. And finally, the dessert (Basque Cheesecake) was amazing. No store bought pre-made dessert here. Unbelievable texture and the blood orange caramel was perfectly balanced. Tiny notes: the food comes out as it's done, which sometimes leads to awkward timing unless you plan what makes sense to have in what order. The service is good, but the restaurant was busy and you won't have them checking on you often. Not inherently an issue - I would rather have someone bothering me less than more. And we did find a pin bone in the crudo. But overall, it's a place I would recommend to foodies.

Always delightful to dine with wonderful Italian cuisine and service in the classic space. We’ve been patrons since the 1980s and we keep returning.

The highest quality restaurant I have been to in many years. Unbelievable in every aspect. Business meetings, celebrations, any event, this is the restaurant to go to

Bart, Francis and their team are outstanding. Loved the chowder soup and taco salad! Super friendly and great atmosphere. Highly recommend and will go back over and over again!

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.