Duke’s Chowder House

We went here for lunch and one of us needed gluten free one didn’t. We started with a bowl of clam chowder that we both enjoyed. It wasn’t the best chowder we’ve ever had, but it definitely seemed to be made from quality ingredients. Keep in mind if it matters to you they have many soups that are gluten free – really nice. My husband ordered the fish and chips which he said was fine, but he wouldn’t order again. Partly because they come with large steak fries and he prefers thinner fries. I ordered the wild caught salmon with blueberries and goat cheese. It came with a side of zucchini and organic red potatoes. I was hoping for more of some type of sauce, but it was just fresh blueberries with warmed slabs of goat cheese on top. The salmon was cooked perfectly. Now for the dessert they had an amazing gluten free carrot cake with a raspberry sauce. My husband doesn’t even like carrot cake, but this was so good! Nice to know they told us they don’t use corn syrup in it or high fructose corn syrup. Definite repeat on the cake.
The atmosphere is very cozy and they must have spent some money on noise reduction materials because even though they were busy it wan’t overly loud. Also the side by side booths had a very adequate space between them. The restaurant and restrooms were kept very clean which was nice.
The servers couldn’t have been more pleasant or helpful especially with the dietary restrictions. We never had to look for more water as they were always there.
We went here for lunch, but at $ 69.31 (not including the tip) for two that’s a pretty expensive lunch. Would still recommend it and probably go back, but just order a bit differently.

Had the alaskan salmon with pesto which was very good. Honestly, it’s hard to mess up alaskan salmon but points for its feature and seasoning. The macadamia nut halibut that my buddy had looked good too and was reported as «gooood!». Solid service and atmosphere.

Had a mix up with our name on the waiting list. As soon as we brought it to the attention of the hostess, she was very apologetic. The manager actually walked us to our table, apologized, and offered to pay for our appetizers! The food and service were amazing! Will definitely be back!

Arrived around 5pm on Sunday and was seated immediately. The waiter spoke quickly and seemed to be in a rush all the time although it wasn’t that busy. I appreciated his speedy service, but him rushing to speak to us and rushing off makes me feel rushed to finish and get out of there, so he can relax!
I ordered the cod fish and chips with a bowl of chowder. Their famous chowder had crunchy stuff in it, which I assume was sand… :(However, there were quite a few clams in the clam chowder, unlike some places that serve chowder with a sprinkle of clams.
The cod was lightly breaded, which made the dish seem healthier. haha. It came with a side of potato wedges, which was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The side of what looked like coleslaw was not tasty at all, so I only tasted it. The dish came with two pieces of cod. Everything was placed onto one large plate, which made the plate very full, but not that easy to eat, as the two tartar sauce containers were in the middle with the cup of chowder, two pieces of cod, coleslaw, and cup of potato wedges surrounding it.
My favorite part of the restaurant is that it starts you off with half a round of warm sourdough bread and butter. Yummmmmmy!
I would visit again if I am in the neighborhood. :)

Waiting on the person you live with that your related to by marriage to finish shopping is a chore for most men. Not this one my friends. I take this as an opportunity to find a cozy chain restaurant, posing as something thats not Chilli’s (when they really are), and have a few drinks. I was gazing at the South Center Mall’s map, and trying to choose a spot to get a quick drink, when the information dude asked what I was looking for. I told him, a buzz, and the wise sage that he was, pointed me in the direction of Dukes. Now, I had zero biases coming in cause I’m new to Washington, and have never heard of the joint. Well, this place is now my new favorite spot when I’m waiting on the woman i’m related to by marriage to finish shopping.
The spot is cozy, and the bartenders are pretty cool. I always sit at the bar, and I recommend happy house since the apps and some dishes are cheaper. Its mild pricey other wise. They got a good selection of beers on draft, and pretty decent whiskey’s. I live by what the great John Lee Hooker once said when men were important, «One whiskey, one beer.» I think you were allowed one smoke too, but the woman I’m related to by marriage frowns upon that now. Anyways, I’ve had a few of their appetizers, The Salmon Sliders, Halibut Quesadilla, Lobster Chowder, and Mussels. All were surprisingly very good. I haven’t eaten much else, cause I like the IPA’s to work their magic before I gotta get back out there and brave all you animals.
Supposedly, there are a couple other Duke’s around, but this place doesn’t feel like a chain to me. The food is good, and this location is covenient. Its going to be especially great when I pre drink before the new Star Wars film in mid December since the AMC is right above it. I can’t deal with you plastic sword swinging, overweight, 40 something year olds without a slight buzz. You’ve been put on notice people! Salute.

Their famous clam chowder is delicious!
I like their fish tacos as well! They are huge with a whole lotta fixings!
And their Moscow mule is refreshing good!
Their servers and bartenders are extremely friendly and attentive!
Free wifi if you ask the servers for password nicely!

Chowders are absolute fantastic. My favorite is the Cajun chicken chowder. Has light heat just for taste and is nice and thick. Sourdough bread is from a local company and is absolutely fantastic. Bread is brought warm and soft with butter on the side. Fish and chips are great, coleslaw not so much. Sodas are also from a local company and are huge glasses with free refills.

YUM. love this place and I couldn’t agree more with their claim as having the BEST HAPPY HOUR.
came in at around 9:30 on Saturday night and it wasn’t busy at all but it still took 10 minutes to get a table for 5. their HH menu was amazing though so I didn’t mind the wait, so much food and so many drinks. we ordered calamari, quesadillas, salmon sliders, coconut prawns, and a large bowl of their popular clam chowder.
EVERYTHING tasted so good, the calamari was seasoned perfectly, quesadillas were packed with chicken and came with nachos, salmon sliders were nice, (though the bread the salmon was laid on was drenched in butter which made it soggy), coconut prawns were crunchy and the clam chowder was everything it said it would be. creamy, and packed with seafood. I also ordered a Blueberry Lemon Drop and for not being a big fan of vodka, I really enjoyed it.
good service, great food, amazing drinks, and laid back atmosphere, I will definitely be back.

I came here on a Saturday night, it wasn’t to busy and the wait for a table of 7 was about 10 minutes. We started off with crab cake appetizer’s which were pretty good, and I ordered the «Farm to Table» burger. The burger was delicious, and the portion for it was pretty big. We sat our way into happy hour which starts at about 9pm, the beers on tap were pretty cheap that time. Our server was nice she came and checked up on us periodically and filled our waters up and asked if I needed anymore beer. I gave it a 4 star because i felt the food there is pretty over priced for the type of food i got, but the staff was pretty friendly. I would probably come back for the happy hour the prices on it looked pretty good.

Food here is incredibly expensive for what you get. I haven’t found much value to portion of flavor the few times that I have visited. I normally just go straight to the bar and enjoy a few cocktails with friends if other places are too packed.
Nothing bad to gripe about but nothing good to rave either! Just a-​okay.

My friend selected this place for a group lunch with plenty of time for me to read through many mixed reviews about this spot. I went in expecting an okay-​sort of lunch and I guess I got an okay-​sort of lunch.
We were a big party and the waitress was very kind and made sure everyone had water. She even made sure to figure out checks ahead of time and was perfectly willing to do a ton of separate checks. Also, she didn’t add gratuity so I hoped everyone tipped well! She was pretty cool!
After lots of deliberation cuz I was super hungry (they really need a choose-​your-​own soup/​sandwich combo like they do for the soup/​salad!), I selected the duchess combo, which was the ½ crab club sandwich with a bowl of the lobster chowder. After reading the reviews, I asked to swap the lobster chowder for the crab bisque. That turned out to be a mistake– the bisque was super salty! It could’ve been the soups across the board– my friend said his clam chowder was on the salty side too. The crab club was pretty tasty, although difficult to eat. The slices of avocado and large chunks of crab kept falling out from the buttery toasty rosemary bread. Otherwise, it was a really good sandwich! Maybe it would’ve gone better with a side salad, since the buttery goodness of avocado and the bread made the club a little rich.
Maybe not my go-​to if I was going to eat at Southcenter again, but a decent meal, although a little pricey for a quick lunch.

LOVED the chowder sampler!!! This was listed as an entrée but I’d beg to differ as it looked like an appetizer! Four chowders– clam, shrimp, lobster & chicken.
The chowder was so much tastier than the other entrée we shared, Fish N Chips.
Prices were inflated in my opinion, especially for a mall location. Our server was helpful as this was our first time here. Nice beer selection, I had a local grapefruit ale that was tasty and priced well at $ 4 for a can.

Read this like 3.75 stars
Came for the BW3’s wings — ended up here (cuz I’m here in Seattle right?).
The service was wonderful, the food was good — I did the lunch fish and chips with chowdah. but I thought it was a little expensive, considering it was lunch.
Not bad enough to make me say never again, but not on my list of places to blow $ 60 on lunch (with no alcohol) for two.

In Seattle what else are you going to do but for sure get some seafood… first off I was a little worried based on some of the reviews but this place has won the best clam chowder 3 years in a row? So here it goes… came in and was asked if I wanted to sit at the bar and at first I didn’t so decided to wait for a table. Then 30 seconds later an attractive girl walks in and the hostess offers her a table in the bar? huh? So I ask are those tables available and she responds sorry I forgot? What an Airhead! So I ended up just grabbing a stool at the bar and watching the game.
Positives for sure were the very friendly bartender and nice beer selection and attentive staff once seated. I opted out of the chowder only because I have had it before and it is pretty good and I decided upon the lobster chowder instead. Almost forgot the sourdough bread for mopping up the bottom of your chowder bowls…
Negatives and would question me ever going back… this place is supposed to be known for salmon and the pesto salmon was probably one of the worst pieces of fish I have ever had. Completely over seasoned, dried out and way over sauced. I am not trying to be snooty or rude but it was almost like jerky it was so dried out. The vegetables that were also served with it seemed like such an afterthought that it was almost comical. Then to top it off they dress up the side of the plate like a dessert with more of this sauce and all I can say is let the Salmon speak for itself!
Sorry Dukes you lost me on this one…

The food and atmosphere here is pretty good and the happy hour specials (food and drink) are great. For the area, its certainly a ⁵⁄₅ but I’ve ran into two pissy servers in my many visits here which dump my rating down to ⁴⁄₅ but its still a great place.
The chiopini sucks though, tasted like someone got the cheapest spaghetti sauce and added water and seafood to it. It would have been another deduction but again, for the area its pretty good and its other menu selections were much better.

I have to say the clam chowder here is very good and very well made with lots of flavor, but for over $ 10 a bowl it definitely isn’t worth it. Not for soup. The chowder was filling with lots of clams and potatoes served in a nice big bowl.
The other item I ordered were the chicken strips as an appetizer. It came with fries and coleslaw. It was a good size serving being as an appetizer and it can be almost sized as a whole meal even if you’re not too hungry. The chicken strips were ok with the three different kinds of dipping sauce, but what I really enjoyed were the fries. They tasted like mini Jo-Jo’s which I really like.
So why only three stars? The price here is just not worth what you get. It is overpriced for what they charge and they should rethink their pricing strategy to attract more customers. This is not a high class restaurant and they shouldn’t be charging as much.
We had the bartender as our server as we sat at the bar and he was great in making sure we enjoyed our meal plus keeping our water glass filled.
Would I return again? If I had a free bowl of chowder coupon again I would, but not by impulse.

3.5÷5, +.5 for service
When you’re visiting the west coast, seafood has to be your primary cuisine, unless of course you can’t take seafood. I frequent the east cost quite a bit and tend to find myself eating at Legal Seafoods, so I decided to give Duke’s a lunch try for comparisons sake.
I ordered the clam chowder, lobster chowder, super calamari steak strips, and mighty mussels el duque. The clam chowder was very good and had a lot of clams, though there was a slight bit of sand inside. The lobster chowder was decent, but the soup itself wasn’t anything too memorable. The super calamari steak strips were good, but the salad that came with it was mediocre. The sauces were also a nice touch to the plate. Finally, the mighty mussels were really well done (in particular the tomato-​y sauce), as well as the garlic bread that came with it.
If my meal ended here, I would’ve given this place 3 stars. However our server snuck in a small sample of dungeness crab bisque for my family to share, and it was the best crab bisque I’ve ever tasted! It definitely made me regret choosing the lobster chowder over the crab bisque. The soup itself was unique, and there were a plentiful amount of crab pieces inside despite it being a cup no bigger than 5 tablespoons.
I was told that the fresh sheet menu changes every month, so do take a look for that in terms of specials. This place also got awards for their happy hour meals, so perhaps my experience can be even better if I came here for happy hour instead.

Courtney is the best! She is always super nice and the drinks she makes are perfect. I’ve only seen her in the bar but I highly recommend her if you can.
Also the food is delicious as always. I keep wanting to get dessert but never make it that far.

Dukes is heaven on earth!!!
Let me start off by saying their crab cakes are a must every time I come here!!! Less batter, definitely more crab. The service is great. The happy hour menu is awesome! My favorite drink off of the HH would have to their blueberry lemon drop.
If you have mad seafood cravings, this is the place to go to get your cravings satisfied.

Delicious seafood and great service!
The sourdough bread is the best I’ve had! I have to remember not to get full on the bread and save room for my meal! They get the bread from the Essential Baking Company in Seattle.
We had the coconut prawns to start and the spicy sauce made a great pairing.
I got the crab «un“cake and it was sweet, flakey with a crunchy exterior!
We’ll be back soon