Parle Riverfront - Washington

Service was poor , food was awful . How this restaurant got good ratings can’t be explained by the nice location Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $50–100 Food: 1 Service: 2 Atmosphere: 3

We went to the new location on the downtown waterfront. They are still getting used to the layout of the new location so service was a bit disjointed. The food was good except for the crab cakes. They were smashed flat when they cooked them less than 1/4 thick but big around. They were very overcooked. They also didn’t come with remoulade sauce. We had to ask twice to get some. We had the bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer it was good but no barbecue sauce was on it as the menu said. I’ve had them before with the barbecue sauce it really completes the dish. I hope they have the kitchen sorted by the next time we go there as it is one of our favorite places to dine. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $20–30 Food: 2 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 5 Recommended dishes: Gourmet Sliders, Shrimp Grits

Went in for the soft opening of the new location and is it terrible to say I enjoyed the old location more? Including the old menu, I got the chicken tacos and didn't realize it was only a single taco on a random melamine plate, which I guess was more my fault. But also- even though we had to sit outside on a very small rickety bistro table, walking through the inside didn't look super clean, looked very dark and felt hot and muggy. The decor was very random as well, one being an old sunfaded couch outside- just wasn't new and refreshing like I thought it'd be. Made sure to extend grace to all the staff that night as I know it was a huge adjustment for a bunch of them, but I don't have a huge itching to go back. However the truffle tries??? 10/10 !!

This is white people food. I had the “BoCo LoCo Boil”. The corn, despite having wonderful local farms, is frozen and very over cooked. Shrimp, potatoes, and sausage are all cooked separately. There is no seasoning applied until the plate hits the pass, where the expediter puts Cajun, or maybe blackened seasoning on top of the food. The shrimp come in-shell, so when you peel them, they have no seasoning. The homemade cocktail sauce is lovely. The ‘melted butter’ is some sort of oil with liquid margarine squirted in the ramekin to look butterish. You could more call this ‘things that go in a boil on a plate’. The service was ok. It was very hot in the building. Hostesses not pleasant at all. For the prices they charge, I expected to not sit in a chair that wobbles, read ripped paper menus, and sweat while eating subpar food. Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $20–30 Food: 1 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 2

My previous review was 5 star with raves about the food and service. Six of us had dinner there last night, at the new site. It was a special dinner and I made the reservations a week earlier explaining the limitations to some of the attendants (mobility and hearing impairment) so the accommodations were important. First off, they had given away the table I had reserved causing us to have to go outside. Three guests were in their late 70's and as the hour got later, they got cold. They need to bring in heaters or curtains. Or just honor the initial arrangements we had made. The biggest issue was the food. It was awful, poorly paced, and cold. All the dishes came out together: starters and entrees. I had ordered fried oysters which were room temperature when they were served, meaning they had been cooked and sitting on the counter for a period of time. They could not be eaten. The bisques were watery and thin with very little crab or shrimp in them, basically hot milk. Previously their bisques were a highlight of the meal. They brought the wrong bottle of wine, we sent it back. They didn't ask us if we wanted dessert (minor issue since of the 6 meals only 2 people really got a dinner meal). When we went home, I made sandwiches for us all. Probably the worst dinner experience I have had in my life and I won't be going back. It was the waitress's 2nd day on the job. She had never been a waitress before, and they gave her a table of 6. Clearly she had minimal to no training. She tried hard and was very sweet, but they give fast food workers more training than that. Our town needs more medium level restaurants like Parley's used to be. It isn't fine dining, the decor certainly doesn't support an elegant vibe and the food does not either. It is priced, however, as tho it is a fine dining experience. We asked to speak to the manager, and while she was pleasant enough, she kept offering excuses. Short staffed, not enough help. Every employer is in the same boat; be creative, make another plan, change the menu to something you can manage with less staff, offer staff incentives, more staff training, get the owners in to work, whatever you need to do to make it work. As it is, you will be unable to recover from the bad press. I certainly won't be back and neither will my 5 guests.