"The Diner Evolved" : Steelhead Diner

After CrumbYum's post followed by CarboOverload's post last summer about Steelhead Diner I have been really interested in checkin it out.

The place is BOMB, but I also think it is overpriced. The diner booths surrounded by modern fishing art work and hand tied flies make for a comfortable environment. The booths are small and comfortable for two people so I couldn't imagine sitting in those booths with 4. Because we looked at the website and saw a reservation number earlier in the day we called to ensure we could get in quickly. Good call because the place was packed. Upon sitting down and looking around at our fellow diners I noticed average age was 45 and male.

Immediately we were served some fresh bread and the butter drizzled with pesto that Crumb commented on before. I am just here to confirm it was good. During the time we were tasting the butter we also noticed the great condiments offered on the table. Besides the crystal hot sauce which is quite good, you are also offered alder wood smoked sea salt, habanero garlic pepper and serrano infused white vinegar. I was more than impressed by these and actually considered figuring out how I could get my hands on these things to take home.

Our server was interesting and I felt like she either really loved her job and talking about the food or she was high. Regardless she was cool. She tried to push some specialty cocktails on us all of which ended up being 15 ingredients with a sugary rim. No thanks, we decided to get a few margaritas.
The menu is huge and I feel like they could benefit from cutting a few things off but dont ask me to pick what could go because it all looked great. We decided to start with the flash fried beechers cheese curds that came with a side of tartar sauce and hot mustard. I was thrown off by the tartar but I love tartar so its whatever. The cheese curds were hot and salty, damn i loved beechers cheese.

We also shared the Steelhead Diner House Salad which was described by L. as tasting just like a Whopper. It was a nice classic comfort food tasting salad complete with iceburg, bacon, egg and lorenzo dressing aka creamy french.


We decided to go with a few sandwiches and they were amazing. Both came with fries that were so perfectly cooked and salted that they did in fact remind me of this diner I frequented as a kid with my friend whos mom worked there. I went with the Buttermilk Fried Chicken sandwich. The chicken fry was light and crispy, not at all greasy and it had a nice underlying hint of heat. I also liked the coleslaw dressing that topped the sandwich and the crispy dill pickle.


L. went for the Roasted Pork Sandwich. I tasted the pork and it tasted just like how my mom use to cook pork in the crockpot. It was so soft and flavorful, I could have eaten a huge bowl of it. The pork carried a small hint of heat as well. Something tells me the chef here enjoys smoke and heat. I am not mad.


We were so full we couldnt even consider trying dessert but they had some nice looking options. We got two cups of coffee and just tried to let it all digest. I will certainly go back to try other menu items and maybe even sample their brunch menu. One word of advice is that if you are even in the business of paying $10+ for a sandwich make sure you are also prepared to pay $11 for a drink. Yikes.

95 Pine Street, Pike Place Market
206-625-1029