No :-( Remi's review (Jan 12th 2004)

The location is great, inside the large steamplant downtown, but the food is so-so. I believe it was voted the best place for powerlunch by The Inlander’s readers, but to me the food seemed highly ordinary. Not much different from anything you could get at Applebee’s or whatever.

No :-( Stefan's review (Apr 30th 2006)

Inexplicably I’ve been to the Steam Plant grill multiple times. I know that the first time was for a work thing but I have no answer for why I’ve gone back. The restaurants menu skillfully maintains both mediocre food and high prices.

I went with my girlfriend who ordered the grilled Atlantic salmon. The salmon itself was good but was overshadowed by the generous serving of pepper aioli on it. I thought a steak would be a safe bet but was disappointed to see that while I had ordered the steak rare the chef had decided that medium-well was a much wiser course of action. I being the somewhat timid customer I am ate it anyway.

I imagine that the Steam Plant Grill survives mostly on business dinners and people who just don’t know any better which is fine even if there are better choices out there.

So what’s the dish?: If you are looking for a place where everyone in your party will be neither disappointed or impressed Steam Plant Grill probably your best bet.

No :-( Maureen 's review (Dec 26th 2006)

Went for a special Christmas dinner. Extremely disappointing. The high priced sea food pasta was the worst. Pasta undercooked, vegetables over cooked. The best item on the menu, the children’s halibut. Service hard to find. Won’t be going back.

Yes :-) Amy's review (Dec 29th 2006)

The Steam Plant is great.

No :-( Crystal's review (Dec 30th 2006)

I’ve been there for a few work events. Every time the service is bad and the food is worse. I would not recommend it.

No :-( Cassidy's review (Jan 7th 2007)

There really should be a “so-so” choice for this one.
I thought the onion rings were great. ALMOST as good as others in town.

The beer was a good deal at Happy Hour. The atmosphere was great. Very interesting-they encourage everyone to check out all the areas etc.

But for the most part we (my husband and I) walked out of there feeling like we paid too much for what we got.

And in the end I can’t even remember what I ordered besides the onion rings. Not much of an impression I’d have to say.

Yes :-) Marty O's review (Feb 19th 2007)

OK, OK, at least try the beer cheese soup before kissing this place off. If you’re entertaining friends or relatives from out of town, stop by the Steam Plant for happy hour beers, onion rings, and the beer cheese soup while bending their ear about the history of the place and you’ll send them home with a decent, reasonably priced, memorable experience.

Yes :-) Matt's review (Jun 13th 2007)

I really wish you could “kind of” recommend, because the Steam Plant proves what I’ve learned in law school: the answer is always “maybe.”

I have been there a few times, though one time was an ill-fated attempt to go to happy hour on Friday. This is the major sticking point I have with them. I don’t see Shenanigans or Clinkerdagger filing for Chapter 11 even though they run a Friday happy hour. Rather than pay a hefty fee for an appetizer and a pint, we left.

Another time I was 1/4 of a double-date that went for dinner. I have to echo the sentiment of another reviewer: the beer, popcorn, and beer cheese soup is the only thing about the meal I really remember. Each of us got some nondescript entree that was good; not great, but good enough. The price should be considered more than the market will bear, though.

However, I had one excellent encounter with the Steam Plant that stands above the others. My girlfriend (another 1/4 in the double date mentioned supra) was having a birthday, so some of her girlfriends and I decided to take the group dinner route. The restaurant set aside a room for about 20 of us. The service was phenomenal and the food got above-average reviews from everyone involved, and believe me, some in attendance are very picky eaters.

So yeah, you can’t just roll in there expecting a bargain, but if you’re careful you can do well for yourself. and they’re good with special events. I give it a “maybe”

No :-( Angela's review (Feb 21st 2008)

Unfortunately, I have never had a good meal at the Steamplant, and I am a very unpicky eater! I DID try the beer cheese soup, and they brought it out lukewarm. It was just gross. The other time I ate there, the potatoes were ridiculously salty, and the vegetables looked liked they had been steamed the day before. My husband has disliked most of the things he has gotten, as well. The safest bet is to go to the bar and have a beer and nachos.

No :-( Janessa's review (Mar 8th 2008)

The Steam Plant used to be so good—what went wrong? Well, as I was warned twice by our server, they had recently re-done the menu and some things weren’t very good. She actually told us that the zucchini cakes kinda sucked, which was what other diners had told her. At least she was being honest, but we ordered them anyway and they were really good. Dinner was a horror story.

I ordered the drunken shrimp pasta, believing the description when it said it was mildly spicy and wanting to try their house made pasta. It failed to mention that the jumbo (and they were quite massive) shrimp came in their shells, swimming in a sauce that was more like a broth! No seafood fork in sight, I asked a bus girl if the kitchen could take the shells off and she told me no. I wasn’t about to make a pasta dish finger food; finally our waitress came and had the kitchen make it edible in about 30 seconds.

When I finally got to eat it, I was severely disappointed. The fettucini wasn’t bad, but like I said the sauce was watery, and very bland and not spicy at all. The shrimp were ok. My mom’s macadamia encrusted halibut was pretty tasty—wish I’d ordered that.

They don’t even have their trademark dessert anymore. It was chocolatey, and had two smokestack cookies in it, resembling the building. Wtf gives?

I think the days of Steam Plant glory are long past. What a shame.

No :-( MK's review (Mar 9th 2008)

Yeah, we used to hit the plant almost weekly 3-4 years ago but it has really slipped as of late. Recommended it to some out of town relatives and they had terrible service and food that was not worth the money. Hope they can get things back into shape but you never know.

No :-( Ashley's review (May 8th 2008)

The Steamplant is a great place to visit, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the food. It’s neat to walk around and see all the history behind the building but don’t eat there. My co-workers and I had our annual Christmas dinner there this year and the whole thing was a disaster. The service was terrible and the food was even worse. Everything was dry and over-cooked from the steak to the chicken to the halibut. I don’t think one person enjoyed their meal. It was truly a disappointment. I won’t be back.

Yes :-) Shane's review (Jun 26th 2008)

I echo the majority sentiment here that there should be a “so-so” option for the Steamplant. I’ve been here a couple of times for the atmosphere. The food is good, not great, but the service has always been a little odd. Not good or bad, but odd. They kept changing servers on us. The new one would ask what we wanted, and we’d say we told the last one, and they’d have to go find out. It was in the middle of the dinner hour, so I don’t think it was a shift change. I’ll go back because even though it’s high priced, it’s fair food.

Yes :-) Derek's review (Oct 7th 2008)

I went to the Steam Plant grill once for happy hour and another time for dinner. The beer was okay, not my favorite. The beer cheese soup on the other hand was very memorable and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I also got Alaskan halibut as a main course and it was very good. For dessert I had flourless chocolate torte which was forgettable. The restaurant ambiance is very nice and I’d at least recommend the Steam Plant once just to get to look around and see the authentic steam plant artifacts. A person could also go for a beer and to look around, maybe have an appetizer, and then go to another restaurant if they thought the prices at Steam Plant were too high. I thought they were mid-priced, I’ve definitely paid higher.

No :-( Nick's review (Oct 9th 2008)

We went to the steam plant grill for an early evening snack after a day in the mall and after helping ourselves to a table in the lounge and doing a quick over of the menu we opted for having just a couple rounds and moving on.

After the server waiting on us demonstrated his apparent incompetence we decided to retire to the pool tables where we might be left alone to our own accord.

All in all, the competence and knowledge of the waitstaff discouraged us from ever returning, i must say the pool tables we played on were some of the best I’ve ever played on in a lounge.

Get it together Steam Plant Grill!!