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Business Details
General Info
Welcome to Lark, the rustic neighborhood restaurant opened by chef John Sundstrom, manager Kelly Ronan, and JM Enos. Located in Seattle's Capitol Hill, Lark provides a leisurely dining experience to be shared with friends and family. Inside, you'll find the decor to be restrained, yet elegant with an exposed beam ceiling and sheer curtains to soften the wood. Our menu features a range of small plates, allowing you to savor courses of cheese, charcuterie, vegetables, grains, fish, and meats. We work with local artisans, farmers, and foragers for an ever-changing selection that offers the best of each season, bright and intense with summer, heartening and rich in the fall. Sundstrom's version of small plates is intended to inspire communal dining with waves of courses coming to your table, a blend of simple, seasonal, classic, and adventurous dishes. You dine, talk, and laugh while experiencing more flavors than with traditional entrees.
AKA
- Lark Restaurant
Reviews & Recommendations
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Not Impressed
Provided by Citysearch
I don't write many reviews but I was visiting Seattle for a long weekend and I am all about the local and sustainable stuff so I thought I would give this place a try. I was NOT impressed. My wild mushrooms were over cooked, rubbery and tasted like they had been sitting around for quite a while. My main course, the yellow tail was pretty bland and our waitress was SO snobby. I couldn't believe it. And I didn't even realize it at the time but I recently read an article in the New York times about Foie Gras and now it absolutely disgusts me! Just another reason not to go back I guess...
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Double yuck.
Provided by Citysearch
This place is as loud as a high school cafeteria, and the food isn't too far off either. I was hungry until I saw ""Rabbit Haunch"" on the menu. Yuck. So my boyfriend gets the foie gras, cuz he'd heard it was ""cruel"" or whatever and wanted to try it anyway. Well, he couldn't even finish the tiny smattering of the stuff, even with me helping. Double yuck.
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NOT a date place.
Provided by Citysearch
Take your date someplace else, guys. Don't ruin your chances by trying to impress your girl with dinner at Lark. What a mistake. And FOR GODS SAKES don't make her eat that force-fed foie gras junk. She was NOT impressed. Damn.
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bad place for caring people
Provided by Citysearch
I used to really enjoy the food at lark. But... then I talked to some of the protesters outside. At first I was simply annoyed and was going to ask them to shut up. But instead of being ignorant I figure it couldn't hurt to ask them what they were so upset about. Turns out Lark serves an extremely cruel dish that even the most desensitized fellow would cringe over the truth of. This doesn't say much about the restaurant itself, but when I saw how the manager refused to listen to the reasoning of these protesters, I realized that I didn't want to eat in a place where even the owners were to heartless to even consider taking one measly little item off their menu. Until the day I hear that the owners of lark have grown hearts, i will never return.
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Not a place to take your mother-in-law to, boys
Provided by Citysearch
After reading about all of the fanfare, I took my family in from out of town here with high hopes, but left with more than I bargained for. Note to lark: if I wanted oysters I would have ordered them from the menu. After an altogether lackluster meal with remarkably flat, overpriced wine, I made my way to the restroom, but a funny thing happened on my way there...a lady idling at one of the tables near the back stood as I passed, pet my arm and invited herself into the men's room with me, promising an, um, explosive denouement to my unfulfilling supper. No thank you, miss, I was told crabs were out of season by the waitress. When I'm looking for a classier experience next time maybe I'll try Showgirls.
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This Place Sells Unethical Products
Provided by Citysearch
Foie gras is a prime example of people putting their taste, pleasure and profit before animal's interests, which would be to be not treated as property, exploited and it's life snuffed out for you. They are living beings just like we are. Please ask Lark's chef to remove this cruel product from their menu. Whether or not you believe animal suffers for foie gras, one thing is certain: An Animal Dies For It And It's Completely Unnecessary.
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Foie Gras Is Cruelty
Provided by Citysearch
There is no such thing as ethical foie gras. Lark considers themselves organic, sustainable and local...yet their foie gras comes from a farm in Sonoma, CA, one in which because of documented abuses, led to legal action being taken. Please ask Lark to remove this from their menu. Also, please consider your use of animal products in general: animal exploitation for your pleasure whether that is food, clothing and entertainment is selfish. Please consider animals for what they are - living beings not property to be exploited and abused.
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The Foie Gras is FANTASTIC!
Provided by Citysearch
I enjoy foie gras and I am so happy that they continue to serve the wonderful dish. I praise the owner for not backing down to bizzaro PETA insane folks and continuing to make wonderful food for those that can't live on wheat grass and rain water alone.
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Foie Gras -- Yuk
Provided by Citysearch
Lark needs to stop selling foie gras. In offering this product, they are directly supporting extreme animal suffering. I have seen the videos and have read all the information. The ducks that are used to create this product undergo immense suffering. They are kept in incredibly cramped and filthy conditions and are force fed until their livers expand to several times their normal size. Many choke to death or freeze to death before they can even be slaughtered. Others literally burst open from the force feeding. There is simply no way to make foie gras humanely and I think Chef Sundstrom knows this. There is no excuse for this kind of animal cruelty. Please ask the chef to take foie gras off the menu and do not patronzie Lark until they do.
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Happy Valentine's Day at Lark and Licorous!
Provided by Citysearch
My wife and I visited Chef John Sundstrom's Lark (and Sundstrom's neighboring Licorous for cocktails) last night for Valentine?s Day. The food, service and atmosphere were superior as-reported by other reviewers. Our only regret was that they chose to offer a prix fixe 4-course menu rather than their usual renowned menu of diverse, creative, dynamic small plates. Oh well,... We'll just have to come back some other time soon! :-) The focus of my review is to comment on the impact to patrons of Lark and Licorous (which is to say, little-to-none) by recent demonstrations being held outside these two neighboring establishments on peak evenings (recently on Fridays, and this Valentine?s Day). No one wanting to visit these two excellent establishments should be dissuaded from going. From the standpoint of the dining experience, one is barely aware of the demonstration activity going on outside. We, supporting and defending the demonstrator?s right to free speech, chose to enter and exit via the front door. A credit to their cause, the demonstrators behaved in a respectful, law-abiding manner ? in the best spirit of non-violent protest. They did not block the sidewalk nor impair patron's right-of-way in any way. Again, I recommend visiting both Licorous and Lark for a wonderful evening. I would also not hesitate to visit on a protest night (and we probably will as we cannot come on a week night). In closing, I would encourage both diners, demonstrators and employees to continue to treat each other with respect for each other's human-, civil- and social rights (as exhibited to my wife and I ? and, hopefully, exhibited by us ? last night). Looking forward to our next visit to Lark and Licorous! Peace.
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Thank you Lark for a nice meal.
Provided by Citysearch
I liked each dish I had that night. Each one was done very well. The seasonings were right on. The venison was my favorite. It was perfectly cooked. The faro was good, too. The menu changes a lot so these items might not be on there still but it's nice to know they can cook them well. It's also good to know the Chef is creative enough to write new menus. He also uses seasonal and local products. The waitress was excellent at her job answering all my questions about the food and being graceful at her work. I like when people do there jobs well and take pride in there work. It's like a breath of fresh air. Oh, and I read a review on here that a reviewer wrote about Lark saying that there bread was too chewy. I would like to clarify that I had the bread too and it's suppose to be chewy. It's artisan bread. It's not wonder bread. If you think the faro was too creamy then don't go to France cause it was right on for what they were doing. Also, the timing is suppose to be a couple of dishes at a time not all at once (also don't go to Spain either). Take it from someone in the industry they know how to do there job.
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Hold the salt, please!
Provided by Citysearch
I would have given this restaurant one more star, except nearly everything we ordered was oversalted, and the duck leg was so salty I could only eat half of it. The other characteristic of this place is an overabundance of saturated fat, which I had already noticed just by looking at the menu online (heavy emphasis on cheese, charcuterie, and fatty cuts of meat). I just thought if I ordered the right thing, like a grain, I might escape some of it. Wrong.\r \r I ordered the faro, which was drowning in butter and cream (or cheese, I couldn't really tell). Plus, I thought I was ordering a side dish, since the waiter had told us he'd be bringing all the plates out together to share, but he brought only my husband's eel and my faro out at the same time. After two bites of the faro, I knew I'd have to wait and try to eat it as a side dish, or I wouldn't even be able to eat my duck leg. Well, as it turned out, the salt took care of that anyway. I'd also had the carrot soup, which was very good (but too much salt for my taste) and my husband ordered a $10 teacup of sunchoke soup. \r \r All in all I was very disappointed in this place after reading the great reviews and spending so much money. It was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday evening - but I have no idea why!
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okay if you like burnt food
Provided by Citysearch
My boyfriend and I went to Lark on Friday, the 26th. We've been many times before mostly this last summer and it was great! we were excited to try their winter menu. Service was great, the server knowledgable. We started with cheese and a rosti which was ridiculously salty, almost inedible. the eel was pretty good, except for the sticker shock of $13 for maybe an ounce of eel on a few tablespoons of potato salad. The eel tasted like the same stuff you get on your sushi! Moving on to other fish and meats, we were hopeful but dissapointed again. Our fish was burnt and over cooked. \r I'm not sure what they were doing back there because everything took forever with only a couple other tables and the kitchen was smoking alarmingly- we could smell it in the dining room! I cant believe they let the fish go out like that at 18 dollars you'd think they'd look at it close enough to see that it was burnt and it tasted so. We finished our meal with charcuterie which were great.. \r We were so dissapointed with our visit we didnt even order dessert which is usually my favorite part.. Maybe I'll go back but I'm going to wait a while, while they train up their obviously new staff.
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You werent the only one disappointed that Friday...
Provided by Citysearch
I've been debating writing this for a while so when I opened the page and saw someone else was there that night and had the same problems, I didnt feel so bad :S I did notice there were only 2 people in the kitchen to solve the bad timing issue. \r It was my first time in and I heard so many good things about it. My friend was actually embarassed by the end of the meal from how she talked it up to me.\r First we had the agnolotti and pommes.. The pasta was freezer-burned and totally tasteless! It was just textures...it was odd. The potatoes were okay except there was a layer of melted butter over the top which was weird. \r Next we had the seared foie and steak. The steak was pretty good.. the foie itself was great but the bread (?) or crouton that was with it was so chewy I couldnt eat it like it was stale or something.. I was expecting top quality ingredients, especially for the price, instead it made me cringe thinking they just used stuff from before the holiday. \r We had the tarte tatan for dessert which kinda saved the meal.\r I'll try it again soon, though.
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Terrible, obnoxious service
Provided by Citysearch
We were looking forward to trying lark for a while. The restaurant was busy and loud - not necessarily a bad thing. Our waitress was EXTREMELY rude and not even remotely helpful. We stayed and ordered because we had no other plans and were determined to give Lark a chance. The food was good - not great. The bill was extraordinarily high considering the B- quality of the food and discourteous service - who do they think they are?! I would not recommend this place to anyone. I've felt more welcome in Wendy's!
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Romantic atmosphere; wonderful food
Provided by Citysearch
I have been to Lark three or four times over the years and the food is consistently great. The portions are small so you need to order several items to make a meal but that makes it fun and interesting. They have a wonderful cheese list, great vegetarian options, and plenty of seafood, charcuterie and meat choices to please everyone. The chocolate madeleines are amazing; they serve about 20 of them wrapped in a napkin to stay warm and offer a dark chocolate dipping sauce on the side.
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Run Dont Walk to Lark!!
Provided by Citysearch
The food here is amazing! It is the kind of food that you cant help but close your eyes and moan in happiness as you eat each bite.
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Solid
Provided by Citysearch
My friend and I went to dinner there last night. We did not have a reservation but the Dining Room Manager was kind enough to sit us at a nice table. The food was superb, the service technically perfect, the wine choices multiple and very good : I made a mistake though, I displeased a server who was helping my date with a wine selection by hinting that I knew a little bit about wine and made a suggestion, she very quickly put me back in my place in a curt fashion and smirked about from a distance, definitely not afraid to show her dislike for a patron, so you ""experts"" out there beware! That aside, this restaurant is a very smooth machine, everything executed in a precise fashion, you want passion warmth and/or fun go somewhere else, this is not what this place is all about, the dishes which are the creations of a Chef with a very well deserved James Beard Award are the centerpiece: You go to Lark for the food, the very businesslike floor staff is there to make sure that everything is timed perfectly and served efficiently as your service needs will be met. We had heard from others that the place was expensive, true but its a very relative notion because guess what? You get what you pay for, great ingredients are not cheap, mainly nowadays. You cannot go wrong by choosing any item on the menu, just sit be quiet and eat.
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Bad Food! Unknowledgeable Server!
Provided by Citysearch
Wow! What we thought was going to be a wonderful experience turned out to be a nightmare. We had heard several good things from colleagues and friends and decided we should give it a try. We wanted a well rounded meal of items to share but were confuse on what to order seeing as how the menu was written in french. So we decided to ask our server for some advise on what to order. In return we got information that was not helpful and even more confusing. When the waiter left the table we both agreed that he must be new. When returning in conversation he told us that he had worked there for several years. Wow, his menu knowledge did not show this at all. We ended up with three very small appetizers and a cheap bottle of wine, and a very expensive bill.(75 dollars) Not an amount you would be willing to pay when you have no idea what you are ordering. Not to mention the food that was brought out was at best mediocre. Probably will never go back, and neither should you.
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Wow...can I sleep now
Provided by Citysearch
We ate so much food at Lark this weekend I could have slept for days...it was al so delicious, and our server was very knowledgeable. I was a bit surprised to see people bashing this place a bit. I mean really, everything we had was made with so much care. YES it is very expensive, but you can't get food like this from cheap labor. Our steak was cooked to perfection, and the meatball soup was wonderful.\r \r Definitely a place for special occasions, but well worth it. Great, warm atmosphere.
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