Kimberley "linguistically pertinacious" D.'s Profile

They serve delicious biscuits until 2:30am. These biscuits can come with either meat or vegetarian gravy, eggs, cheese, bacon, jalapenos, and a variety of other tasty toppings.

Did I mention that they will feed you food that is both good and inexpensive until 2:30am? Please eat it so they keep doing it. Seattle really needs this.

Also, the atmosphere is cozy and comfy and the people are cool despite the drunken aging frat boys who periodically wander in.

Sadly, my last trip to Cheeky was so unpleasant that I have to rescind my earlier review. It was 2pm. I'd been hungry since I went to bed at 3am. I'm pretty broke, but I decided that I was so hungry that I didn't think I could handle walking 20 minutes round trip to the grocery, waiting in line, and cooking for myself. I remembered how fast Cheeky had been in the past, and I'd been excited to go back.

When I arrived with my dining companion, the restaurant was mostly empty. There were 2 tables and one was eating. We stood around for ~5 minutes or so with no sign of a server, but I wasn't worried about that. Eventually we were waved to a table. 10 minutes later our server appeared and took our drink orders. I was excited about the housemade caramel. Another 10 minutes later our food orders were taken. Our server reappeared and had forgotten my drink. She said "Was it a latte?" and I said "Yes, with caramel." Another 5 minutes or so and my drink showed up. Everyone else had mugs, but mine was in a paper cup. I didn't taste any caramel... maybe it's just subtle. About 5 minutes later our server came back and asked me again what my order had been. It had now been 35 minutes and I was frustrated. I don't expect servers to remember everything I order. I have a terrible memory myself. But that's why I write things down. There was now one table left in the restaurant, so it didn't seem like a hectic afternoon.

So we waited. And waited. We emptied our water and coffee. No sign of our server. About 15 minutes later, our pancakes and french toast arrived. I'd ordered a veggie patty and had been served bacon. I said "Oh, I actually ordered the veggie patty." My plate went away. I expected it to return a moment later. I realized too late that our server had resubmitted my entire breakfast order. I guess some vegetarians are that picky, but I was starving. I had just wanted the bacon  replaced with what I had ordered.

Q wasn't sure if he should start eating. I told him we'd already been waiting 50 minutes for breakfast so of course he should start. He ate his french toast.

10 minutes later eggs and a veggie patty arrived. 5 minutes later my pancakes.
Our server apologized, which I appreciated.

She came back 2 minutes later to put the check next to the food that I was in the middle of eating. Q & I had been in the middle of a conversation. She then proceeded to stand next to the table, hovering over us while I tried to eat the food that had finally arrived. She stood there for about 10 minutes, asking us questions about what we do, how our weekend was going, etc. She was obviously feeling guilty about the situation, and seemed like a sweet person. But I was really hungry, had already been waiting an hour for my food, and now I had 2 people watching me and a check sitting next to me while I tried to stuff down breakfast as quickly as possible. She said that she'd comped us our drinks. Now I was paying $20 for the experience vs. $25. That was appreciated, but I just wanted to attempt to enjoy my food that I had waited so long to get. My pancakes weren't very enjoyable anyway. They were pretty bland and so was the syrup.

The conversation kept going on and on while I sat there not eating. I was nervous and sad. Finally I decided just to abandon hope of eating and get out. I tipped my normal 18% because who knows why it took so long, but that's my last trip to Cheeky. I just can't justify paying $23 for it to take 1.5 hours in a nearly empty cafe to get mediocre food that I couldn't even attempt to enjoy eating and coffee in a paper cup. It's a cool neighborhood place and all, but I don't have enough money to justify that.

+
Veggie burgers for $6 (black bean vs. bland frozen ones)
Burgers until 3am on Friday and Saturday (original reason for visit)
Friendly employees
Amusing soundtrack (Doggystyle, Prince, Sir Mix-A-Lot)
Composting everything
Molly Moon's milkshakes - mint was delicious

-
Food took 25 minutes & I'm not sure it would've all arrived if we hadn't reminded them

Overall, it wasn't bad... my burger would've been better if it was spicier, or if I could've added spice somehow. I'd like an alternative veggie burger that would go better with their many topping choices.

I'm not normally impatient, but we were starving. Getting part of our order after 10 minutes, seeing others who came later getting their full orders, and then going back to remind them and waiting another 15 minutes was frustrating.

I really want to like them, so I'll give them another chance. They have a menu item called "crack" which is fries that you dip into milkshake.

Cost: $15.50 + tax - $7 for the veggie burger + cheese, $2.50 for fries, $5 for a shake.

Great coffeeshop for working / studying. Lots of outlets, bright & open space, quality coffee, friendly staff, and free wireless of course.

They also have a variety of local / organic sandwiches including vegetarian options.

For those who drive, there's free neighborhood parking nearby too.

If you've ever wished you could have the food/drinks from Bleu but still bring a group of friends, the Grotto is there for you.

The new Bleu venture maintains some of the things I liked best about the other one (areas with private curtains, late night happy hour) and has other parts that are more like a "normal" bar (large areas big enough for larger groups of people, wide open layout).

The late night happy hour menu is slightly different but still contains important items like the wasabi grilled cheese and $3.75 wells. The prices are in effect Sunday & Monday 11:30pm - 12:30am and Tuesday - Saturday 11:30pm - 1am.

Food menu - https://www.facebook.c...
Drink menu - https://www.facebook.c...

Service was slow in our booth and our server left us there for 20 minutes or so when the curtain was open, but I suspect that will improve when more people are there.

Like most Seattle people, I've longed for quality bagels in my neighborhood for years. I was excited when I passed by Eltana and thought that day might finally have arrived.

It hasn't.

My wheat bagel was small, mushy, and flavorless. The honey almond cream cheese tried to help, but failed. My bland coffee wasn't able to contribute. I really appreciate that they're trying to support local, fair-trade stuff... but it tastes awful.

No egg-on-bagel sandwiches available here. No mocha.

Montreal-style? Well, I spent some time attempting to sample all the most popular bagel places in Montreal. These resemble those bagels stylistically, but flavorwise... not at all. I don't need a ginormous bagel. I don't mind paying more money for a great bagel. This just isn't tasty enough to warrant that.

I don't want my coffee in a disposable paper cup when I'm staying and eating in the restaurant. Nor disposable paper linings.

An extra star because the staff was friendly.

The search goes on...

My soy mocha came in a tall beer glass with nothing to protect my hand from the temperature. It was made at a very high temperature as though I was in a drive-thru. Service was weird and I felt like I was irritating the employee by asking him for things.

I did like the atmosphere, though. The lack of wireless meant that it was nearly empty and cozy and they played good music.

Good beer selection and the beer glass style definitely reminded me of Germany.

As a vegetarian, I wasn't ideally suited for this restaurant. But they do have a few veggie-friendly options. I wasn't that into the mac & cheese plus onions, but I think I would've enjoyed something else off the menu.

Rhubarb crisp was good.

Not ~$5 good.

But good.

Tofu cheesesteak, you were delicious. You were filled with spicy beer sauce and hot peppers and marinated tofu and veggies. You arrived quickly and were not ubercheap but were large enough that I didn't need to eat again for a long, long time.

You came with an inexpensive beer.

I like you guys.