Black Bottle

The location is across from the Hyatt hotel in downtown Bellevue. It doesn't have any immediate parking, but the Hyatt hotel does and so does the Bellevue metropolitan area. In general parking here is free with validation.
The atmosphere inside is a casual pub vibe. Even the hostess was in jeans, a cheap baggy hoodie and sneakers. I was almost out off at first, but seeing all the waiters in old baggy jeans it grew on me. It was warmly lit and the service was really good.
The menu is mostly drinks and is a full bar with a cocktail menu also. The food is just a brief list of smaller plates to share, but includes vegetarian options and gluten free options.
The menu is priced above average, but isn't as expensive as other locations in the area. Plating is beautiful and casual and the drinks are presented well. Everything overall tasted good. The pork tacos were great and so was the crab dip. The other items were just ok. Like for the me dough for the pizza didn't feel like a pizza.

Vegetarian options are too less and taste is bland.
But they have good options for cocktails.
Service was super quick. Host was sweet.
Ambience is great, they have decors and some of their tables are vintage and gives aesthetic look.

I would recommend Black Bottle for:
1. the service, truly nice and professional team greeting us as we came in and checking in on us regularly.
2. the cocktails. The bartenders make the BEST espresso martini in town! We tried a few other mixed drinks, also very tasty.

Food was okay, nothing unique compared to other menus in the area, a little underwhelming but decent.

I wanted to really like this place because one, its 21+ and I saw they had escargots. I will say it was pretty across our group that we would have to find somewhere else to eat... a 2nd dinner at another location.

Parking: Not sure as we parked in Lincoln Square and walked over.
Pet friendly: No
Family friendly: No, 21+

FOOD:
- Burgundy escargots (classic style, butter, garlic, parsley, French bread) $21: 2 Star - I love escargot but if I ever come back I will not be ordering this again. The first piece I had tasted so off, like if you had bad fish... My husband has a piece and he said it tasted completely fine. I had my 2nd piece it was pretty good. My 3rd piece had that weird off taste again. I feel like they got their snail from a can and it was either two different can or they have to find a new supplier. I was honestly worried the rest of the night if I'd get food poisoning...

- Prosciutto & Besciamella, Mozzarella & parmesan $16.5: 3 Star: I love carbs especially when it comes with cheese on top. This was okay only because the prosiutto was so salty. I understand prosciutto is cured but there wasn't a good balance of the prosciutto and parmesan with everything else.

DRINKS:
- Efeste "Final Final" Blend Red Wine 2019, WA $68: 5 Stars - Of all the things our group ordered this bottle of red was the best thing there. Nice body, great taste, and easy to drink

MENU/RESTAURANT:
Viewing the menu online, this place sounded like it was going to be so good... though not great for vegetarian/vegan entrée options.

The restaurant is in downtown Bellevue and only a block or so away from the mall/Lincoln sq buildings that I've actually haven't been here before. It's a nice restaurant and not what I would assume from the exterior. Lighting is very dim so not the greatest when trying to food photos LOL

SERVICE:
Staff was friendly but we didn't have a lot of interaction as the restaurant was packed.

This was my first time at the black bottle in Bellevue. I loved it! It had a very similar vibe to the one downtown but a bit of a bigger open space.

I had the basil ginger cocktail - which is my go to! So delicious. Fresh, sweet and a little fiery - the perfect combo.

There were four of us and we shared a tonne of dishes! I'd say the highlight for me were the prawns. They had a little kick to them - they also provided the deep fried portion on a separate plate so there was no gluten.

The service was great, super efficient and lovely servers. Love black bottle and will definitely come back.

Black bottle was a new spot that four other friends and I wanted to try out together. I will be saying that the food itself was between three - four stars. Unfortunately, the interaction with the staff was more so around one to two stars and for that reason, I will not be returning to this restaurant anytime soon.

I will say that the ambience and environment was however a five star in my book!

A few constructive critiques that I have, if the staff and managers want to improve upon:

-online the menu for happy hour drinks is listed, and if you scroll further down the website, they have something called late night, snacks, and platters -- this to me gives the illusion that these are also "happy hour specials"

-most restaurants still let their customers finish up their dinner. However, we noticed that the closing time for this restaurant was 11 PM, as we were seated, finishing up our meal, they began to dim the lights wait a few moments, then raise the lights, and at 11 o'clock sharp somebody from the staff said thank you for joining us everyone please exit essentially... this was unexpected and did not leave us really feeling warmly welcomed.

-while the food was pretty good, I was a little bit sad to hear that some of the drinks on their happy hour menu were no longer available because they had run out.

I do think it's worth mentioning that our experience with the staff was a little bit mixed, because I do think that the waiter and server Bryce who ended up taking care of our table, did an exceptional job, and was friendly and pleasant to work with.

I came on a Wednesday night with a friend and it was packed! It's dark & loud inside and we sat at the bar. Service wasn't that attentive but we didn't mind. We ordered two prosciutto & besciamella, mozzarella & parmesan flatbreads and they were delicious! I highly recommend this flatbread and will come back again to order this and to try their drinks.

Came here for dinner recently with a friend and had a great time! Our waitress was very friendly and patient (took us awhile to figure out what to order). The food was good, a little pricy b/c the portions are tiny but that's kind of normal now. About $180 for two of us to dine out, we split 4 things and had 2 glasses of wine. All the food was great but small portions for the same price as other places with much larger portions. Scallops were the smallest I've ever seen in my life LOL but delicious! The Asian fried chicken bites were kinda dry and meh but the sauce that came with them was bomb.

Unfortunately moving to two stars for horrible service yesterday. We went here for Valentines Day and the server took forever to get our drinks or welcome us. He seemed completely disinterested in helping us and then never checked on us once. Even if we want to spend more money we couldn't have.

Two stars is only because the food was good, otherwise I'd give it a one.

Shame wants going on in the service industry which horrible trends like this and higher prices.

We won't be back.

Returned to Black Bottle after a couple of years I haven't been there. Parking did not get easier in Bellevue. Quite the opposite.
The service was excellent and our server confident with tasty recommendations when asked. I find that I enjoy receiving recommendations.
We shared a few dishes that were all tasty. Everything was readily shareable and allowed us to enjoy a variety of flavors.
One cocktail was made well. Beer recommendation hit the target. Couldn't ask for more.
All in all great venue and atmosphere, tasty food, capable bar and great service. We'll be back!