During my recent visit to Seattle, I had an opportunity to eat at Stanford’s in Tukwila. This seemed to be the go-to restaurant for the client I was visiting. Close to their office and with a varied menu, Stanford’s reminded me of a slightly elevated Charleston’s or lower level McCormick and Schmick’s. The outside looks like every other place found in a shopping mall parking lot, nothing exciting. The interior is dark and cool, with a veritable rabbit warren of seating locations. If you use the restroom during your visit, you may need twine or pebbles to locate your seat again.

The menu has something for most everyone, although it is a bit light on true vegetarian fare and has nothing for the vegan. You can order a salad without the chicken or fish, but they haven’t realized vegetarian dishes extend beyond lettuce and mozerella sticks. That noted, they do have a variety of options from seafood, to burgers, to a few sushi-esque dishes. The waitstaff seemed knowledgeable about each dish on which I inquired.

I chose the fish and chips and it was ABSOLUTELY the right choice. Perfect batter, quality fish, and they even had malt vinegar! My dining companions had the Southwest Chicken Chopped Salad and Panko-crusted Chicken Dijon and both seemed to enjoy their dishes. It took longer to get our food that I expected (just over 20 minutes), but the dishes all arrived at the same time and my fish tasted as though it had just been cooked, rather than heated under a lamp.

Stanford’s seems a solid choice if you are looking for a place to treat clients to a good lunch in a nice atmosphere or need to accommodate a variety of taste preferences. There are 9 locations scattered across Washington, Oregon, and California and should I find myself near one, the fish and chips were so tasty that, I will be happy to eat there again.

Have you been? Was your experience similar? Let me know in the comments!