Spring Hill

Restaurant Name: Spring Hill
Location: Seattle

Sometimes it’s hard to find good food. Spring Hill is certainly hard to find, but once you get there, you don’t need to look any further to find the good food. No large signs outside proclaiming great food inside, just an innocuous dining room in West Seattle. The rewards for finding it are tremendous. Inside this cozy den of yumminess you’ll find a terrifically open kitchen to spy on the goings-on and friendly staff there to lead you on your tour of Mark’s cuisine.

When you deal with a restaurant like Spring Hill, you are not dealing with good or bad food. Instead, it’s the difference between good and great food. If you are a clam chowder fan, do yourself a favor and order the clam chowder. The chowder has a very unique presentation for a soup and the flavors are incredible, so much so that one taste of it had one of our party asking for a bowl of her own when she previously had nothing! The other small plates are also divine, you really can’t go wrong with them unless you are squeamish about sweetbreads of course. There are plenty of “normal” things on the menu for a less adventurous eater to choose from, while still allowing the more adventurous diner to have fun with their meal as well.

One area of slight concern with Spring Hill is the wine list seems a bit sparse and a tad pricey. If you are with a group of foodies this isn’t an issue typically as you will order a bottle and be fine. But when ordering by the glass, the evening we went there was one option for Pinot Noir and it was $12. There were plenty of bottles but I find there are many times when I just need a glass and don’t want a whole bottle. I would like to see at least a couple of choices for different varietals here. That said, the wines were solid Northwest picks, and you can’t go wrong with them. I’m also not sure why the bread and butter is charged for, I’m sure Mark has his reasons though. I have not had it, and perhaps it is the best bread and butter in the city. But $3 for bread and butter for some reason just rubbed me wrong.

Overall, we left for just about $50 per person with a small plate, entrée, and various drinks all around. Really this was quite the value for how amazing the food really was. Everything is made in-house at Spring Hill and it shows. Between the amazing and varied seafood, creative presentation and delicious flavors, Spring Hill is an up and comer worth checking out next time you are out.