Adam’s Northwest Bistro and Brewery

Sunday dinnertime. Gazpacho-​delicious. Fish and Chips. not too good. Breading very thick and not crispy; cod a little chewy– maybe it wasn’t thawed totally before cooking? Not sure — my partner had the fish stew-​lots of good fish but a little over salted. The fries??? Cardboard quality! Not sure if we’ll be back.

Adam, I saw you trying to course correct many of your staff this evening but darn… I just have to provide my experience this evening to ensure future patrons understand what they are signing up for. I entered your restaurant with a friend for a 42^nd birthday party. Since we needed to leave at a reasonable time, we sat at the bar, not many in the restaurant. Ordered a glass of wine and a beer following with the two signature Adams burgers at fifteen bucks a pop. Price was reasonable as we mostly frequent Redmond burger joints like Tipsy Cow among others. Had the libations, waited nearly 25 minutes and then asked the bartender (slightly overweight dark haired girl) if the burgers even made it to the grill yet as we may have to leave. Immediate response? «What’s the problem?» So I’d looked at her in disbelief and asked, «Is 25 minutes normal for a burger?». Her response was they often «rest» their meat after cooking. Now, let’s be clear, I have a Weber Smokey, Weber Grill, and many cast iron plus iron clad, but to hear this person say that it’s about the «resting» ok. We waited another 15 minutes (that’s not a joke) and we received our burgers, they were the correct color of pink for Medium, but wow they were dry, fries were completely dry and inedible (like other reviews below), and of course the attitude of, «What’s the problem?» Might be better to fire that particular bartender, since she’s clearly not good, and bolster the capability of your restaurant with someone able to do more in life than serve food,. I have to say, Lindsay, set the bar though for helpfulness and style. :)
Anyway, terrible service on 4JUN2016 from 6−7PM at the bar, the odd «What’s your problem?» question that should’ve been obvious outside of a millennial, and the signature food lacking in pride.
I don’t give many bad reviews, normally good ones. The Grange went bad in Duvall, for a while, based on my feedback but nice food and service now. I gave 2 stars because of Adam’s healthy pours.
Looking forward to one of 15 tables to try one of the other pastas and seafood dishes. I have a strange fear that Adam is out of his league. Maybe, maybe not, Unilocal,others, and hopefully a return visit will determine.

My husband took me to Adams for dinner after he had been there for lunch on several occasions. Although his lunch experiences had been good, our dinner definitely was not. We were seated promptly and received our drinks quickly which is the only good experience of the night. It was very noisy and my husband, who wears hearing aids, had to turn them down to block out the background noise and we shouted at each other during the whole meal. The wine was horrible-​below bottom self. I ordered the Steak Frite with a Caesar salad and he ordered the NW Seafood Soup with the house salad and then we waited and waited. The salads amounted to about a cup of lettuce and very little else. We then waited and waited and waited some more while the waitress checked on us once. Almost an hour later we received our meal. The steak was cold and tough. They covered the fries in sauce and then placed the cut steak on top of cold, stale fries. The whole thing was a soggy, meat juice mess. My husband’s soup was so watered down that it didn’t have much fish flavor but the worst part was how spicy hot it was — something they failed to mention on the menu. He couldn’t eat it and there is almost nothing he won’t eat especially if he has paid for it in a restaurant. The waitress did comp the soup but that didn’t rescue the experience. Overall the service was horrible, the food was horrible, and the prices for the food were outrageous considering the quality. Ignore the 4 and 5 star reviews and stay away from this place.

From the minute we walked in to the time we left, we were VERY impressed. The staff was welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. My husband ordered the pork shank which was done perfectly. I ended up getting the pasta and cheese dish, which they were kind enough to make in a gluten free version for me– delicious! Prior to our meal, we ordered the garlic fries. If that wasn’t enough, we ended up topping it off with the crème brûlée, which was by far the best both of us had ever tasted. You can tell that the chef takes pride in each dish that he creates. I told my husband I wanted to personally thank the chef for such a wonderful meal and experience. We drove from Marysville to try something different, and will now return many times in the future.

The upshot
You’ve gotta try Adam’s. You won’t be disappointed and you will be back. (Try the burger — it may change your life).
Summary
Monroe isn’t exactly known for upscale cuisine (moderate or otherwise), so Adam’s is a real gem. Tucked away in old downtown, the atmosphere is comfortable, cozy, and inviting while the food challenges anything in Seattle or Bellevue at the same price point.
Pros
As always, first the good … this food is delicious! The first time I went I had the Adam’s burger. Wow. I’m not a huge burger fan, but this was one of the best I’ve ever had. Absolutely amazing. I’ve recommended it to several friends over the years and they agree. My favorite dish is the duck breast with the cherry and candied apple demi-​glacé. It is consistently juice and flavorful. (I’ve tried reproducing that sauce at home — no luck. There’s some kind of magic in it.) Friends I’ve taken have raved about the pork chop, short ribs, and seafood stew. The menu is diverse without trying to do too much, and what they do they do well.
The atmosphere is intimate without being close and the kitchen is visible from most of the tables. The booths in the back are very private. If you’re looking to do your Vito Corleone impression, these are the seats to do it.
And here’s a bonus — happy hour gives you the amazing appetizers for just $ 5.00! Don’t miss the taproom next door (owned by the same folks and the full menu is available there). Great beer and live music after 6:00 if you’re into that sort of thing.*
Cons
There’s almost always something, and for Adam’s here it is. This place is SLOOOOWWWWW. I don’t mean the service is carefully paced for you to enjoy your meal. I mean the service here moves at a glacial pace. (Although have you checked out those melting glaciers lately? Not good. Adam’s might be slower than them these days.) How slow? I’ve taken to bringing a small energy bar if I’m really hungry (I am not making this up.) Once we sat with our empty plates in front of us for so long that we bussed our own table (put our dishes on an empty table next to us) and I got up and stood behind the cash register with my credit card in hand until somebody noticed us. Bring your patience. You’ll be rewarded with great food and friendly (but did I mention sloooowwww) service.
Finally, and this is a positive for some and a negative for others, Adam’s isn’t all that kid friendly. The quiet atmosphere is a difficult place for small children, there isn’t a kid’s menu (they do offer entrees at half price for short people), and the slow service is really hard on those who move at the speed of a four year old.
*Well, the live music is after 6:00 even if you’re not into that sort of thing. Get over yourself. You’re not important enough to stop the live music. I wish you were though — I hate live music in a restaurant these days because I can’t have a conversation with the people I’m with. But then, depending on who I’m with that might not be a bad thing. Okay, so maybe I need to revisit this whole live music thing. Or maybe I need to reconsider who I hang out with.

Great place alil expensive but the food has been nothing but fantastic every time great for special occasions or a date night

Awesome food and wait staff! Our waiter Joelce was top notch and gave our party of 7 with audits and kids great recommendations for dishes and beer selection. My seafood stew was amazing! The burgers were fantastic and cooked to order. My hubbies steak was cooked perfectly! The house made ginger beer was Delish and refreshing. We will definitely be back!

We were very disappointed with the food here. I ordered fish & chips and the fish was nothing special, very bland. The fries were disgusting. They were extremely dry and stale as if they had been under a heat lamp for days. My boyfriend got Adam’s burger with garlic fries and wasn’t impressed. He said his fries and the onion ring on his burger tasted like fish. I had a flight of four taster beers and didn’t care for any of them. I only finished the IPA. It’s a cute place and service was good, but I would never go back because of the quality of the food.

My cousin brought me here for my birthday the food was absolutely amazing. Manila clams to die for. An Adam was really nice to! heard a lot of great things about this place and so glad I finally got to try it!

The calamari was great. The beer was decent. The ribeye was overpriced and lackluster. Definitely not a $ 35 ribeye. TBH it seemed about as high quality a cut as I would find at Fred Meyer or Safeway for $ 6.99/lb on sale. You know, the «USDA Select» stuff that’s about ½ thick?. For $ 5 more elsewhere, i get an 18oz ribeye over 1″ thick and cooked to perfection. I’d suggest if you intend to patronize this establishment, avoid the ribeye if you’re looking for a good «steakhouse» grade steak. I won’t be returning to this place. I don’t remember what my fiancée had, but it was a bit salty and neither of us were content and happy when it came time to pay the bill. I really expected better, based on the reviews. Then again, half the places in Monroe with high marks have really been huge disappointments.

Warm bread was delicious. We got Adam’s burger and fish and chips. Both were great. Also chicken chowder I would recommend.

I came in for the clams which they were out of. My husband ordered the ribeye I had coconut shrimp and a wilted salad. It took over 30 minutes to get our meal and our server treated us like we were just cattle

Went here for dinner on Saturday night. We had a reservation for 5pm for 6 people and were seated right away. The restaurant is small, but has a very nice ambiance. We ordered some of the small plates to start since they were $ 5 each on happy hour. The plates were rather small but the food was good. We each ordered entrees and everyone really liked their food. The pork shank and salmon were a hit. The beer and drinks were good. Great service as well, we will be back!

I had an oyster shooter, Manila clams and clam chowder. All were excellent! The ambience was mellow with wonderful jazz music.

Stopped in to celebrate my daughters certification. Arrived around 5:30 in time for happy hour! What a great surprise! Lucky to be seated right away because over the next 2-​hours, it filled up and had people waiting to be seated! Appetizers were great, beer was good, the wine a Pinot noir was drinkable. The Adams Burger was awesome but the Lamb Special was ok. Dessert Crème brûlée was a little to burnt for my taste.

We went here last night because I wanted to drink some beer and play trivia, and I didn’t want to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. Found this restaurant on Unilocal and was totally psyched that they had the Buzz Time trivia game controllers. The interior is actually really nice. Small, but quaint. I was really excited when I read the menu. Simple, fresh, Pacific NW ingredients. Yay!
The waitress came right out and asked if we knew what we wanted to eat (we had literally just picked up the menu two seconds earlier). We ordered two beers and asked her to come back. She came back a few minutes later and asked if we knew what we wanted to eat. We ordered 2 happy hour small plates ($ 5 ea) — wings and calamari. I thought the calamari was OK although it is really light on the breading (which is not a bad thing). The 2 sauces (aioli and sweet chili) were great. My husband thought it was under cooked. The wings, on the other hand, were not good. First of all, for $ 5 you get 4 wings. Really? You couldn’t make the happy hour special 5 wings ($ 1 ea)? Secondly, wings need to be deep fried or you need to bake/​roast/​grill the heck out of them to get the skin nice and cooked. I don’t know how these were prepared, but the skin tasted exactly like that — like biting into mushy skin. Yikes! Also, I’m a huge Buffalo style wing fan and the ‘Chili’ sauce that was on these wasn’t really that good.
While we were eating our appetizers the waitress came back and asked if we were ready to order. I ordered the Lamb Stew and my husband got the burger. The waitress recommended the ‘blue cheese/​balsamic fries’. Sounded good so we went for that. The food came out pretty quickly and was nice and hot. My stew was OK. The lamb was good. Nice and tender and the stew sauce was thick. The pastry on top was wonderful. My husband (who is not picky and hardly ever complains) was not happy with his food. He said the burger was not seasoned at all and the fries with the balsamic were so sweet he could only eat a few.
About half way through eating our main course the waitress came by to ask if we needed anything else. We ordered 2 more beers and shortly after that she dropped the check off (before we asked for it — WTH?). The entire thing felt so rushed and all I wanted to do was sit, drink some good beer (the beer here is great BTW) and play trivia for hours because it was stormy and dark out. We were in/​out and fed in about 1 hour flat.
I will admit that the happy hour menu looks good, but the small plates are extremely small. You get alot more food for $ 5 at many other bars. They do have a great wine list here (wines by the glass) so that was pretty impressive for a place this size.
Not sure if we’ll be back with so many other great places on the East side to try.

My girlfriend and I have been to many nice appealing restaurants. Where you are simply paying for the ambiance. And where the quality of food for the $$$ is questionable.
Adams is fabulous. It is perfect for almost every occasion. Wether it’s going out with the significant other, friends or family. You can rest assured everything will be perfect. Happy hour is from 4 – 6 and worth every penny. Not to mention home brewed beers and ciders. Needless to say before I could finish everything we ordered I was in the early stages of a food coma. Also thx a million to Morgan our fabulous server for risking her life and running out to my car to give me my card.

French Onion Soup was excellent, best you’ll find in Monroe.
Tried Adam’s Burger — was very good, had a gourmet quality to it. Liked it a lot. Tried the Oktoberfest beer (wasn’t my favorite) but I did like the Porter they had on tap.
Girlfriend tried the Beef Shortrib and found it to be decent.
Service was good and friendly, and atmosphere pleasant.

We came here on a Friday evening at 5 for dinner with my brother and sister in law. It’s a little small walking in and I could see waiting for a table on a busy night being a problem as there is little waiting room.
The service was prompt and friendly and they have local beers on tap. The menu was pretty typical for what I would expect for a bistro. The décor is a little strange for a nicer bistro. The animal skulls all over the walls make me think of a bbq restaurant instead.
After we ordered the food took a very long time. It wasn’t a huge issue because we were all hanging out and talking, but it was just strange how long it took because there were only a couple other tables occupied.
The food was definitely good. My half chicken was juicy and had a great smoky flavor and my wife’s pork chop had a really good sauce. On top of this the food was plated really well. The portions were on the small side especially for the prices. My wife finished all of her dinner which is very rare. The prices and portions seemed more apt for a restaurant in Bellvue and not Monroe.
I don’t think I would come here on my own, but if I’m visiting my family in Monroe then I would come here again.

Best burger ever! After a day hiking in the area, this is one of the best places to stop for dinner. I went there with my friends because it is also a micro brewery, which is located next door, but the restaurant serves the beer too. Scott was a great server, he offered us an appetizer on the house because it was a busy evening. The calamari was not my favorite appetizer, but we waited patiently for the burgers because their website says they make their own bacon and Scott mentioned they also prepare the meat for the burgers. I ordered the Adams burger and it was delicious. I did not eat the onion ring, but I ate the rest of the burger accompanied with a chocolate porter, yummy!!!
We also ordered the Seasonal Fruit Cobbler and, again, delicious!
I also tried the pork shank and it was not as good as the burger. They put too much sauce on it and it has a slightly taste of indian curry. I LOVE Indian food, but I have to admit the sauce the put on the pork shank was not good.
The restaurant is great, but the booth tables are a little uncomfortable. Next time I would like to sit at a regular table. In general, I recommend this place and I’ll definitely visit again to order their burger!