Tilth: good food, spotty service

The ever hip, family-friendly Wallingford was recently blessed with a rare dining gem. Tilth is a fully certified organic restaurant, and those are few and far between, even in our eco-friendly neck of the woods. I like to consider myself an earth-friendly gal, and the recent trends in buying local and organic have sent my brain buzzing with excitement. I’ve been dying to go to Tilth since it opened in the fall of 2005, and their brunch menu was just as delectably enticing as dinner. So, for our second date since Punkin was born, we booked a table for Saturday brunch, left the kid with a sitter, and headed out for a promising meal.

Food = 50/50. I ordered the Croque Monsieur, a delicious ham and melted gruyere “sandwich” topped with béchamel sauce and a friend egg. Yummmm...Definitely not something I’d make at home, and just the right portion to fill my hungry tummy. Veggie had the truffled scrambled eggs over potatoes and spinach. Good, but we could easily make those at home...eggs? check. truffle oil? check. chives? yup....and Veggie thinks we could do it even better (maybe some wild mushrooms or cherry tomatoes and green onions?). Both dishes came out luke warm. I’m going to attribute that to the server, not the chef (see below). We never did get to try the Grand Marnier french toast with apple compote (again, thanks to the waiter) so our critique is limited to small portion of the menu. The heirloom tomato bloody mary was definitely a step above store-bought mix, but I’m no expert when it comes to vodka in the morning, so I’ll have to let you decide.

Service = terrible. The server was rude, forgetful, left us waiting forever, and even disappeared for 25 minutes during our 2 hour (yes TWO HOUR) meal. It was clear that out of the 4 waitstaff he was the most incompetent, and the others soon began to pick up his slack. But I’ve had better waiters at IHOP, and Tilth can do better than that. The final straw? Our side of french toast never arrived, but we didn’t complain - we were stuffed and ready to get to our movie. When our piss-poor waiter came to deliver the bill, he stopped short, mumbled something about needing to add an item, and returned a few minutes later with a new bill, minus the french toast. No apology. No asking if we still wanted it. Oh no, he just pretended like it never happened. Now that, my friends, is poor poor form.

Overall atmosphere = cold! It was January in Seattle. That week’s forecast was snow, snow and more snow. (and a little rain, too). But Tilth apparently forgot to pay the heating bill. Nearly every customer sat buried in their warm winter coats, clutching tiny teacups of coffee to stay warm. And the coffee? Have you ever been to a breakfast place that didn’t offer you coffee within minutes of sitting down? Cause we had to ask twice and wait 30 minutes before we got a cup (from another server of course) and Veggie began to show signs of stress when he saw the itty bitty cups that he could drain in two gulps. If coffee is the cornerstone of breakfast, Tilth is suffering serious structural deficits.

Kid-friendly? There’s a reason we left the larvae at home. But I did see 3 or 4 little ones, a few even in high chairs. How they stayed warm and how long their breakfast lasted I don’t know. There were certainly no changing tables in the bathrooms or slings for your table-side carseat. But to give Tilth a little credit, they’re not trying to be junior’s favorite, just organic.

Will we go again? That’s a good question. I’d definitely like to see how dinner fairs, and the french toast still has me curious. Compared to our old standby, Portage Bay Cafe, we rate the cost as comparable, the service lacking, and the food only slightly more interesting (PBC also touts local foods and many organics). Given the choice between the two, PBC is a solid winner.