Purple Cafe and Wine Bar

My wife and I decided to drop by Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in Bellevue, Washington for a quick bite to eat a few months ago.  I had eaten here once or twice before, and wanted to give my wife an opportunity to try her first risotto.  

Unfortunately, it was not a great first time for my wife.  The herb risotto was not creamy enough, and did not even taste as if it had been made with stock.  It was missing flavor, and the garlic came through with such a tang I doubt it was roasted off before being used.  Overall, I was sad (especially so since the picture turned out about as good as the risotto tasted).  


My wife loves calamari.  She liked this calamari, but did not love it.  She fell in love with their thick, spicy aioli.  It was just too bad that the calamari were greasy, and a little too chewy (overdone).

My wife's dinner, the BLTA was good.  She loved her fries, and the avocado was ripe and tasty.  The bacon was clearly of good quality, and the bread was fresh and inviting.

Then there was the lamb shank.  The arugula mashed potatoes were delicious.  Such a simple idea, and one I plan to implement at our home.  The dish, however, came out more room temperature than hot.  The jus had a great flavor, and the tapenade was cold.  It seemed that was not an accident, but it took an already under temp lamb shank and sapped what excess heat it had right out of it.  There was that, and the fact the tapenade had a sour note that I could not place, which either was an enzyme that reacted poorly with the jus or was just a bad olive or two.

The creme brûlée on the other hand was very good, and was clearly torched to order - the ONLY way to serve it.  

The waitstaff was not exactly bad, and not exactly good.  We did not order wine, and that clearly resulted in C-quality service.  Average, and the meal was average.  Unimpressive risotto, greasy calamari, cool lamb, it was not a good showing.  I have had some meals here that were better, and a special mushroom risotto was actually good.  I guess that means you cannot be certain how good the meal will be that you will receive on any given night.  Kitchen standards are important, and with so many restaurants out there, we will not be back.

Purple Cafe and Wine Bar
430 106th Avenue Northeast
Bellevue, WA 98004
(425) 502-6292
2.5 of 5

June

June was ranked one of the best new restaurants in Seattle a few years ago.  Assuming they had hammered out the kinks, my wife and I decided to give them a shot about eight months after opening.  Unfortunately, our experience was average, and given the reasonable (but above average) prices, we decided we probably would not return.  It appears despite their positive crowd-sourcing reviews, I was not the only one that thought it was average, because one year after opening - the restaurant closed.  Sad.

Here's our historic review, and maybe if the restauranteur decides to open another restaurant, they can take heed.  The booths were intimate and inviting, until you got up close and personal.  The material was light, and had stains (as seen above), and the flowers that were supposed to add ambiance were wilted.  That was sad, and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to view it as chic and ironic, or just lazy.

We started with the oysters.  They were good, but the onion was a little overpowering.  It was probably my own fault for ordering oysters in a non-oyster month, but in Seattle I figured we couldn't go wrong.  They were just ok.

Then we had the octopus appetizer.  The protein was excellently cooked, tender, but it was oversalted to the point were the food was nearly inedible.  My wife will attest that I like aggressively seasoned food, but this was too salty by any person's standards.  

The gnocchi came out and looked delicious.  It was a good dish, but the gnocchi were not evenly executed.  I have included a picture of one seared to perfection, exactly how they should be, and another that did not have the delicious outside crunch that it should have had.  The top picture shows the nice caramel color, the bottom shows others that are barely tinged with color.  Unfortunately, this was my wife's first experience with gnocchi and it did not leave her wanting more...

The pappardelle was good, with nice flavors, but nothing we could not make at home.  In addition, for pasta, the portion was a little skimpy.  

The bread pudding was very good, and the creme (sort of a burnt creme, flan offering) had a slight goat cheese flavor and was the best part of the evening (the hint of goat cheese)- excepting the over burnt flavor.  It was almost perfect, but instead had a little burnination pucker factor.  

Service was not slow, but the waiter was not particularly attentive.  It sort of kept with the average theme of the evening.  Too bad they closed, if they had tightened up their ship, it could have been a great neighborhood restaurant.  As to the Yelpers who loved it, it had the feel of a place that would be loved - fresh seasonal food and menu, aloof waitstaff, etc.  But, I bet the first bunch were comped appetizers and from that point forward it was a critical mass scenario...

June
Seattle, WA
CLOSED

3 of 5