Sky City at the Needle, Seattle, WA

I’ve had but one experience in Sky City Restaurant, and it wasn’t a good one, so maybe I just happened to order the one single item on the menu they hadn’t figured out how to do right. But who would have thought that any restaurant in Seattle could flub up salmon?

Here’s the good part: I didn’t have to pay for my meal. If I did, I would have grabbed a burger and met my friend, his new wife and her wealthy family down at the Fish Market (where I have no doubt that everyone knows how to cook salmon without drying it out). Still, as I didn’t know our host—and I wasn’t feeling my characteristic urge to take advantage of a stranger—I couldn’t bring myself to order more than a single drink from the bar, because the first one cost over $20, and this was about 15 years ago. Sure, the guy was loaded, but I quickly took a liking to him, which is lucky for him or I would have taken him to the bank when he said, “Order anything you like.”

Back to the salmon. Here I am, in one of Washington State’s premier restaurants, slowly spinning atop the Space Needle, taking in the incredible view, surrounded by nice, fun, happy people, with fancy waiters bustling about serving what had to be the best food imaginable to the people at the tables around us. The thought of receiving a sub-par meal didn’t even cross my mind, so when my fish came, I dug in—and nearly choked on a bone. Then I had to gag down the entire filet (which wasn’t much of a challenge, as this was, after all, an expensive restaurant, and therefore the servings were predictably ridiculously small), which was like eating an ersatz fish filet fashioned from sawdust held together with Sahara sand. I actually did a gauche thing and ordered tartar sauce against my own better judgment; otherwise, I never would have managed to scarf that lousy fish down.

But the view was terrific.

http://www.spaceneedle.com/skycity-restaurant/

Sky City Restaurant

Space Needle Penthouse
400 Broad St
Seattle, WA 98109