0/8 Seafood and Grill - Guys Night Out

The Original Plan was to go to the Melting Pot in Bellevue (again), but at hours before we left the house I decided to go to a grill instead and with Urbanspoon as my guiding light, BAM! 0/8 Seafood and Grill was put on my portentous schedule for the night - Dinner then "District 9" followed by bowling at Lucky Strike and capped with a few rounds of King's Cup at Mike's house.

Dinner was probably the only thing I enjoyed that night as I lost the first round of King's Cup and Lucky Strike is the most horrible bowling place I have been to. I swear it was night club / a little close to being a brothel with steroid/ testosterone staffs fondling some Hollister moms/ Bellevue cougars who happened to get to play for free. The staffs were also very fond of entertaining some bimbos and sexing up the cougars rather than attending to the REAL patrons, until the cops came in where they started pretending like they were doing the job they get paid for. Music selection was cheesy and blasting loud enough to swerve bowling balls into the gutter. People come to bowl and have a good time, not to watch one star porn and listen to the kind of loud music a high school kid would blast in his cheaply stereo-ed car. I can't believe I paid $170 for 3 games of bowling and walked out feeling disappointed, but it happened. And they were putting Fearless and NFL side by side on the screens - football and Wushu...really?

Now the better thing to talk about, FOOD.

There were five of us so and we got a table right in front of the stage. "Believe me you would rather sit here than sit in the back among the conservative Bellevue families." And I can't agree more with the hostess.

I asked for soup of the day when our server came to take our drinks order and she said that she’d check it out for me. She came again to bring our drinks (except mine) and forgot to ask the kitchen about the soup still. Soup du jour is usually served starting at lunch but there she was 9.00pm and she didn't know what the soup of the day was. I ordered three glasses of champagne – Piper, Louis and Veuve. I did not get my champagne not until my fillet mignon was served. Champagne is an aperitif drink - it should have come before appetizers if anything. Our server was nice, but she was just very ditsy.

I had each of the oysters of the day on half shells. They had five different oysters that day - all of them were wonderful. I am just bias because I love fresh raw oysters.------$3.00 each

For appetizer I decided on beef tataki and mushroom risotto. The beef tataki was very good, excellent to be precise. Half cooked, almost entirely raw beef slices smothered in Ponzu and garlic sauce. The tataki was cooked to the right level. Slightly seared and raw in the center, no burnt marks and the right portion. Portion is very important - an appetizer should never be too small that the customers can't even savor enough of the taste and yet not to big that it might as well pass for an entree. The tataki is an appetizer that fits those requirements.----------$8.00

Mushroom Risotto. It was rather good. I am an appetizer person and risotto usually fails me due to being to thick and under-seasoned. My last best risotto was probably from Urbane at Olive 8 and after that a few risotto I have tried just didn't quite do it for me. The risotto that night was again, well portioned, perfectly seasoned and it has the great consistency that I expect in a good risotto.---------$9.00

After a while waiting to find out what the soup of the day was, It turned out to be something uninteresting. So I ended up ordering their lobster bisque instead. The bisque was not spectacular but it was definitely better than Nordstrom Cafe's. Slightly better than Whole Food's lobster bisque, I found that the bisque lacks some kick. A little more spice would have made this bisque tasted delicious to me.-----------$6.00

Fillet Mignon. It's hard to please yourself when you have eaten a lot of steak before. I was expecting this fancy restaurant to wow me but in the end I just got a very delicious yet mundane piece of steak with boring asparagus and mash potato. The sautéed mushrooms tasted like it was slightly burnt but has a soggy texture. Wasn't impressed by the mushrooms. The only good thing is that the steak was good enough for me to not have to bother the waitress for some A1 steak sauce.-------$36.00

Mike asked for something flavorful and yet not too filling and my gut feelings recommended him the seared scallop and it turned out that Mike found it divinely delectable. Josh was not very happy about his demi poulet (half chicken) and Eric was not happy about his steak either. Rob, the only vegetarian at our table said he enjoyed the vegetable menu of the day.

I ordered dessert but I forgot what it was hours after that...and I am known among my friends to be the one with the elephant's memory - the dessert was that unimpressive.

Food - 7/10. For such a small selection of menu I would expect everything to be the kitchen's specials but my fillet was very.... mediocre. Great oysters though.

Price - 8/10. Even for Bellevue, the drinks are a dollar or two overpriced. Everything else is borderline acceptable. 36 dollars Fillet Mignon is a great steal, but the appetizers can be a dollar cheaper.

Ambience - 8/10. Diners should never be seated too close to the bar, as it can get pretty loud. I like the decor though.

Service - 6/10. She was friendly, but unfortunately a little incompetent and ditsy. Well she tried. At least she is not snooty and unfriendly. The host was very nice too - she attended to us right as we entered the door.