Space Needle

Address:	400 Broad St, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
Phone:	+1 206-905-2100
Site:	spaceneedle.com
Rating:	4.3
Working:	8AM–12AM 8AM–12AM 8AM–12AM 8AM–12AM 8AM–12AM 8AM–12AM 8AM–12AM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Tim DeWitt

The waitress was friendly but clueless. I asked why there was a "raw food" warning on a Ceasar salad and she speculated it was because of meat. I responded that ceasar salads dont usually have meat. She then postulated that it was because of egg, which ceasar salad also doesnt have. Turns out it had a slice of some sort of fish, which I initially mistook for a slice of portobello... yuck. We all three ordered the three course meal and all three chose the prime rib as an entree. I opted for the ceasar salad and bread pudding. Besides the nasty fish, the ceasar salad was okay, but nothing special. My wife chose the strawberry and spinach salad and bread pudding and was very happy with the salad. We all agreed the prime rib was terrible. Im the family expert on beef in all its glorious forms, and it was among the worst Ive ever had. All three pieces were less than a half inch thick and so tough we had to SAW through them with the provided steak knives. The garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus that came with prime rib (no other choices offered) were acceptable, but nothing special. My wife and I ordered the macadamia nut bread pudding and we agree that it was a bit dry and very bland. My stepdaughter ordered the fudge with strawberry (thats right, you get one very tiny berry sliced in half) and it was decent but needed more than one berry to go with all that fudge. In summation, the view was amazing. Nothing can compare to sitting on a revolving platform hundreds of feet above the city. I dont often pay $320 for a meal for three people, but would have been satisfied if the food was at least decent. I dont think Ill return here, as there is a $35 per person minimum and I wouldnt be interested in more than drinks here again.

Brianna Lewis

We really enjoyed our visit to the Space Needle, but we wish we had gone earlier in the day. We opted to buy tickets once we got there, but that resulted in a several hour wait for our "boarding time". I highly recommend booking online. There are amazing museums and gardens nearby, but they were all closed by the time we got there. We waited on the floor in the gift shop the majority of the time as the area surrounding the museums/Space Needle is all industrial and incredibly sketchy after dark. And there are rats everywhere in the gaedens! There is not a waiting area or food/drink vendors for those who are not able to go up yet. All the good stuff is at the top. :) Once youre at the top of the needle, you can stay as long as you like. Theres a coffee shop and a restaurant (watch the hours... They were closed by the time we got up) as well as viewing decks all around. Theres a really cool interactive screen in the middle of things that was fun to scroll through. Theres also binoculars in quite a few spots, but they are hard to reach for kids. One thing to note is that there are two photo ops - one while waiting in line after your boarding time and one on the outside viewing deck. The first is managed by the staff and went fairly smoothly. The second is self serve, and we werent able to get a chance to use it. People would just butt in and scan their tickets before us. We decided it wasnt worth the wait or the rudeness after a few minutes. You can go online to pick the background for these photos later on and download them. Pretty neat. We would go again but definitely much earlier, no matter how pretty the lights of Seattle are at night!

Eileen Kersten

Monday, Aug. 24, 2015; our family of six went to the Needle for lunch. We had a birthday coupon for a free desert and we purchased another with our meals. When our bill arrived there was a stamp on it that said gratuity was not included, but they recommended 20%, 30% or 40%. We paid the bill with a credit card but left 20% cash as a tip with the bill. Later we noticed a $45 item listed on our ticket labeled "service charge." We asked the reservation people downstairs what that meant. They told us that was the gratuity which had been added to the bill. Mind you, right below that it says in different stamped blue ink...".gratuity not included. " It was at this time we remembered the same thing had happened to us last year when we were there for a birthday luncheon. They said our waiter would come down to return our cash tip in a few minutes.......which she did. But we could have easily never discovered this error in our $225 bill. So be warned to check your bill and understand service charge means gratuity and IS included in your bill. Also,, as we were leaving, we saw a family of 5 being seated at the empty table next to us. The odd thing was a medium-sized dog was also being given his/her own seat at the table. No one was handicapped, so it did not appear to be a service dog in any way. On the way out I asked the cashier if they allowed dogs in their restaurant. She cheerfully answered, "Oh yes!" with a big smile. I dont know about you, but I dont want to share my dinner environment with a mutt breathing down my neck. Sorry, we were very disappointed in our whole visit to the Needle.

Brian Peelor

Food was way overpriced for what served. Steak it you call it that claimed to be best in U.S. have had way better. You would think for as much as they charge for the meal that it would equal value. Compared it to the scene in demolition man with Sylvester Stallone when they went to taco bell for dinner. Table was great with view and observation deck is amazing. It is understandable you pay for the environment but the food really killed the mood. There is no way the steam I received was even near the size on menu. Thin and fatty. Seems as if skimming to make a buck when this resteraunt sells it self. Go visit space needle observation deck and walk around go to different resteraunt that does not price gouge so deep. Yup tourist area but the food markup is absolutely ridiculous. Or serve food that matches price. And taste. Food is an art form on the plate and they missed the mark totally. Potatoes under the steak to make look thicker no rhyme or reason to placement of anything on the dish looked slapped together. If presentation and execution were better then yeah I could see slightly higher value to time involved in dish prep since it is all part of the ambience. Breads usually complimentary with meals such as these but charged for just few scraps with enough spreads for whole loaf. Crab cakes were dry and also slapped on plate. Soup never came and still charged. After thought next day. Heard rumors the food was not great before going and well that is understatement. Tragic that Applebees has better presentation than this resteraunt.

Joshua Feyen

The Seattle Space Needle is part of the CityPass, which provides not only a discount but faster access to the ticket line. Additionally, the CityPass allows you to go up twice - I didnt, but with more time would have gone up during the day and again at night. Also included with admission is a digital photo that you can overlay on popular Seattle scenes. There are six scenes to choose from, you can scan each of your tickets and have several of them emailed to you. The ability to schedule a "launch" time helps shorten the wait to get to the top. As you stand in line, there are bits of history about both the Worlds Fair that inspired the Needle, how it was built and a bit about the U.S. space exploration program. (According to one sign, The Jetsons apartment in the sky was inspired by the Space Needle.) The staff were pleasant even with the idiots who held their cameras and phones outside the observation ring. (Dont be an idiot, dont do that). There are also some interactive displays to zoom in and out on digital images taken from on top of the Needle. This is 3-stars for one reason and I hope the Needle staff take note. There are really powerful binocular and monocular devices on the observation deck. All are either inoperable OR have major fogging on the inside. For the price one pays for the trip up, it would be great if they would replace these devices.