Seattle Yacht Club

NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS SPECIFICALLY FOR SYC’s FORMAL DINING ROOM, THE ‘WARD ROOM’.
SYC’s Ward Room: The best restaurant in Seattle that you can’t go to (unless you’re [a] a member, [b] a guest of [a], [c] a visiting member of a reciprocal club, or [d] a visiting yachtsperson during Opening Day week.
There are many reasons one can cite why SYC is simply ‘TBGDYCITWWW’. You can list the outstations, the programs, the staff, and the facilities, but without a doubt one of our best-​kept secrets is our fine dining facility, the Ward Room. There have been some great changes you may not be aware of if you haven’t been there recently, and if you haven’t you really owe it to yourself to come in and see what’s happening; you will really be surprised and delighted!
For one thing, the Ward Room’s executive chef, Chef Breanna Beike (better known as Chef Bre), is a real talent! She is a highly imaginative young chef, much in the style of local greats Tom Douglas and Ethan Stowell. Under her direction, the Ward Room kitchen serves a full menu of Northwest Contemporary classics, featuring superb meats and seafood dishes. Chef Bre is making a name for herself on the Seattle culinary scene; she was a featured guest chef at Fare Start in 2014, showcasing her work alongside other hot talents like Joule’s Rachel Yang, and Zoi Antonitsas of Westward!
But where she really shines is the nights she puts on special events like her ‘Bistro’ nights, and the Wednesday Prix Fixe dinners! Bistro nights feature special menus with international flavor. Her French bistro night included such delights as classic steak frites, and the recent Italian bistro night showcased dishes like an incredible beef carpaccio, and homemade gnocchi topped with clams, mussels, and lobster, served in a sweet corn and saffron broth!
The Prix Fixe dinners on Wednesday evening are a ‘don’t miss’ event in the Ward Room! These are meals where the chef shares with diners a culinary tour of dishes designed to complement one another, telling a ‘story in food’ about chefs and their style. Chef Bre really cuts loose with a fantastic three-​course meal where she puts together a different and unique menu each week of dishes designed to showcase her talents. At $ 31, this is an incredible value, as you would pay easily twice that a comparable hot local restaurants like The Walrus and the Carpenter or Sitka & Spruce. On these nights you can play sommeleir and bring your own wine — no corkage fee! How great a deal is this? Of course, the Ward Room also features an amazing collection of wines from around the world to satisfy any taste and budget, and the staff is well trained to help you make perfect choice!
But the Ward Room is not just about a brilliant kitchen; the front of the house is just as delightful! Ward Room Manager Joseph Huber hails from Austria, and he and his team of top-​notch servers bring a European touch to the Ward Room that is always elegant, but never stuffy! Unlike many local restaurants where the dining room is so loud you have to converse in what my mom called ‘battlefield tones’, the Ward Room is a serene, relaxing space; just perfect for unwinding after a long day, entertaining family or business colleagues, or enjoying a perfect romantic dinner with that special someone!
Not that hungry? The Ward Room is still the place for you! Featuring superb soups and salads (it’s one of the last places in Seattle where you can have a Caesar Salad prepared tableside!), The Ward Room is also a great place for a lighter bite as well (Top Tip: try the French onion soup; it’s a SYC speciality!)
Finally, contrary to what you might think, the Ward Room’s dress code isn’t tough. Jackets and ties are nice, but definitely not required. Fashion denim is OK too; just no ratty jeans or t-​shirts, please!
So if you haven’t been to the Ward Room lately you owe it to yourself to see what all the excitement is about, and enjoy cutting-​edge cuisine at prices that will surprise you! Make a reservation today and you’ll be glad you did!

A great flagship location to their 11 or so stations. Had a great meal, great service and really liked the ambiance… yea to Seattle.

We were fortunate enough to have just celebrated our wedding at the Seattle Yacht Club. The staff was friendly and helpful through every step of the way. They went above and beyond trying to make our special day perfect including gluing our guest book pen back together because I forgot and they saw my hot glue gun in the box. Everyone who attended has told us how good the food was. Working with the Yacht Club was an overall great experience.

Many dinners in the SYC with overall good pub food and friendly professional staff for informal and formal occasions. Thumbs up. Fav drink «Dark & Stormy» a SYC creation.

Oh, where to begin.
First of all, I’m not a yachty by any means. Far from it. But I do work in the industry, so I find myself visiting yacht clubs on occasion. Some may say I don’t really fit in, since I’m not wearing Sperry Gold Cup mocs and a Nautica sweater wrapped around my neck like a yuppie. Old men commonly sneer at me upon entrance. Most flat out ignore me. In any case, on the rare occasion that I do frequent the yacht clubs of the Pacific Northwest, I find that the events being held within these walls are more closely associated with sales pitches for realtors and boat brokers, weddings, or whomever wants to «rent» space from a declining segment of the population.
This yacht club is dated and drab. Upon entrance, you immediately feel like you’ve stepped into a bad version of a 60’s lounge style restaurant, a la Charlie Brown’s or Reuben’s. I’m not sure why one would wish to be a member of this quasi-​elite organization, being that the initial membership fee is, uhh, $ 50,000, plus yearly dues?! For a musty, moldly hangout spot with sub-​par food, no thanks.
Ahhh, yes, that reminds me. The food. I won’t go into great detail here. The burger I had here was, according to the menu, «prime beef», but I swear it tasted like a Carl’s Jr. Super Star. Seriously. Dry, flavorless, and generally unappealing. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that all of their provisions come from Sysco, Costco, or both. This is not fine fare by any discerning palate, and for the price, I do not recommend this as a dining option, unless you are a guest, as I was.

Abandon all hope ye who enter here.
I’m guessing by the rating this place has so far that my experience here was a fluke but that doesn’t change the fact I won’t ever dine here again.
I was here with a group of about 15 and communally we’re all in accordance… this place is the pits.
Considering you have your own private server and they have bussers and assistants you’d think the service would be spectacular. It is not. Simple requests were left unaccomadated or forgotten and things that our server would bring up would be left unfinished for extended periods of time. An example is after we completed our dinner everyone was offered coffee. If you said ‘yes’ you were given a cup and saucer. If you wanted decaf your saucer had a doily on it. I’d asked for coffee earlier in the night (which I could never manage to get a refill for) so I said ‘gimme some mo kaaaaaffeeee’. 25 minutes later when I still had no coffee juice in my cup I asked if the coffee was coming sometime soon. 5 minutes later coffee arrived. 30 minutes for a cup of coffee? Judging by the taste it was the same stale pot they’d started for us earlier. Gross.
Dinner? Dinner had us sitting in extremely uncomfortable chairs for what seemed like an eternity. The food took forever to come out. I get that we were a larger party but if you’re a venue that caters to that sort of size then you should be better prepared to deal with large groups. Also, those seats were like torture. You could see quite a few of us squirming in our chairs. Not cool. Quite a few of us went with the steak option for dinner. Most of us ordered our steaks medium or medium well. Every single steak came out blue rare. It was barely warm… which may have been to match the temperature of our mashed potatoes because they were also barely warm. Hell, make me feel good and chuck that plate under a heat lamp so I at least think you cooked my food. Many of our group sent their steaks back. I chose to power through it which seemed like a fine choice when their steaks came back only a smidgen better than they left. Oh, and when I say ‘power through’ I mean that in the literal sense as it wasn’t deemed necessary to give us steak knives until we asked for them (steaks in hand for at least 10 minutes before the proper silverware was provided). I had a regular table knife to use on my uncooked steak. I mangled the hell out of that hunk of meat just so I could get it in my mouth. Also, for a fillet… it was weird looking and oddly presented (the shape was just odd and it had weird tentacles of meat dangling about).
Time for dessert! Yay! How can you mess up dessert?! They offered 6 – 7 dessert options… but were out of two. Judging by the reactions of my tablemates the two missing options were the ones that everyone wanted. Most everyone then decided on the chocolate molten lava cake. It was good, the insides were steaming hot and the ice cream was cold. I’ve had equal quality chocolate molten lava cakes from Costco with a scoop of Dreyer’s ice cream. Maybe you’d like to offer McDonald’s milkshakes on your menu as well?
Even with this dining experience not costing me a penny I felt ripped off. The best part of this dinner was that it ended.
Not a fan.

I recently went here for a wedding a it was beautiful. The scene on the lawn with the flowers. And the staff was all very professional. Great pace to have an outdoor wedding in Seattle. The food was ok. But the venue was beautiful

We held our wedding ceremony and reception at the Seattle Yacht Club and we couldn’t be more happy with our decision to have our special day there. The SYC is a classy establishment with historical charm and great water views.
The staff was very professional and courteous. Amy, the catering manager is a dream to work with. She is a class act and so incredibly professional and calm! She has 20 years of experience with events and when it came down to the wedding day it showed. The food was really good. I know there may have been other venues that offered a gourmet experience but since my family is a mid-​west meat and potatoes kind of group, it worked out great; filet and salmon are really hard to mess up.
I’m surprised I had to look so hard to find the Seattle Yacht club. I really had to dig to find this gem. All in all it was a fabulous wedding day largely in part to the ease of working Amy and the Seattle Yacht Club. The only reason there are not five stars is because since this is a club, you do have to share with the members. Or I guess they had to share with us! They held two other events on our wedding day; it just seemed like a lot for one day to have with a wedding. But, all rolled smoothly so no complaints here and kudos to the staff for making it all happen.

I’m a fan. It was fun.
I was invited to go with the family of a member.
Food was good, and the service was prompt and professional.
I do believe the waitress had one issue with one particular item we ordered, but it wasn’t a big deal.
The building is impressive and clean. The member rooms are neat and interesting to tour.
I did find it funny though that they had/​have a rule that cell-​phones are not allowed in the building… yet children are freely allowed to use tablets/​iPads at dinner.
But I suppose it’s a compromise that is acceptable. I’d rather the kid play angry birds than have some angry birds upset at a wildly free-​roaming kid. :-p

The renewed focus on dining quality is really paying off!
The club has become so popular for large business lunches and banquets that you are well advised to book far in advance.

I must say the view was amazing, but the food was not. I went upstairs for the sandwiches, but I was not really impressed, it looked like they had cold cuts. I think the most exciting thing about the food there was the chowder they had. I can’t really say too much about the yatchs and other fun activities they have there, but as far as food goes, go someplace else.

I came here to look at some lovingly restored boats that a friend’s dad had worked on for the last year, and got invited to wine and snacks in the club. The grounds are lovely, the marina is impressive, and the downstairs bar is pleasant and cool on a very warm summer day. All in all, a great afternoon visit to a nifty place for sailors!

We had a work luncheon here yesterday and it was a great experience! The Yacht Club is beautiful and has a really great view. The sun came out for much of the event, so it was great to have the sun flowing in through the windows — truly gorgeous!
The food was VERY good! I had seafood crepes and they were extremely tasty. The starter salad was also good, as were the rolls and butter. Our water glasses were constantly refilled and they had perfect timing bringing out each course. We had cookies at the end and, while they seemed like Costco cookies, they were still pretty darn good.
I was part of the team that organized this luncheon, so I arrived earlier than many to the event. The staff were very friendly and helpful and got things set up quickly. We also had quite a large group and the staff helped to organize extra parking for the event.
It’s a shame that I am not a member here, because I would love to come back another time for lunch. Hopefully someone I know is a member and has an event here soon — it seems like a great place for a wedding!

Not sure… we have our monthly work meetings here, and so we often get some drinks, food,…
The staff are very nice — whether you’re a member or not. The food… is decent. (Avoid edamame)… but sandwiches, nachos, hummus, etc… pretty good. Lunch time — we often do their lunch bar (which consists of sandwich making bread + meats + spreads + salad + soup)
You have to be a member or be a guest of a member to go. I have heard that there is a discounted membership fee if you are under a certain age — though for that kind of a deal, your money is better spent doing the young-​adult membership at the WAC or CTC downtown. The Yacht Club is generally a much (much) older crowd too.

My Grandparents used to have a boat there and were mebers and I, miss that. Their boat was a yacht cabin cruiser.

You know how in those movies from the 50’s someone is always hosting a party at some swank place and the Bette Davis character who is trying to marry some uppercruster strides in looking cheap and asking for a martini, upsetting the other guests who are stiff-​haired and wearing pearl necklaces and ugly dresses or argyle sweaters and yacht insignia jackets?
That’s pretty much the present day Seattle Yacht Club with a buffet.
Now given the fact that like Mildred in Of Human Bondage, I’m not exactly to the manor born — I just love being taken to dinner at the yacht club. I love the view. I love the buffet, loaded with waspy delicacies like shrimp salad and limp fish that has sat about four hours too long in a pool of mustardy butter. I love the way the waiters fold white napkins on their arms. I love the little gallery in the hallway, where if you really want to pretend you’re in the in, you can buy a yacht club windbreaker — suitable for everyone on your gift list. Mostly I love the dessert table, loaded with the makings of ice cream sundaes with real whipped cream, tortes, and in an odd nod at the possibly diabetic — a ginormous hunk of blue cheese, surrounded by crackers.
The ice cream, by the way, is vanilla. :)