Best Restaurants with a Happy Hour in Mercer Island

Food and service is great. Prices are a little higher than the $$ rating Open Table gave it, but worth it. Steak and Sushi is my go-to, but really anything you get will most likely be good. I recommend the espresso martini for dessert.

Pretty sure it was the best steak I ever had! It was absolutely delicious! We also had delicious wine and the dessert wine flight. It was an excellent experience!

The oysters ( Kumamoto) were very good, the hot and sour soup was great, the Chilean seabass was great and we ordered some rice with thai style red curry which was excellent. My daughter ordered Opakapaka and she said it was very good too. a nice bottle of a sommelier recommended Sauvignon Blanc completed the circle for an outstanding dining experience.

Hosted a party of 11 for lunch. Started with truffle fries and sweet corn + avocado dip for the table...delicious! Orders for lunch were also 5 star: Chicken burger, sushi, ribs, fish tacos, noodle bowl. All food came out at one time. Service was exceptional.

As usual, there were not many restaurants open close to where we live Christmas Day 2024. So I turned to my trusted app -- Open Table - which I could use to narrow down the day. Fofo de Chao sounded intriguing, so I booked one of the few openings -- 4:45PM. Around 3:30PM a 7PM time had opened up, so I cancelled the 4:45PM time AFTER I booked the 7PM time. That way, I was assured we had a time and our prior time was opened up for others. Because we had a reservation, we waited about 10 minutes to be seated. There were about 40 people in line, who we had to assume did NOT have reservations. Thank you, Open Table! We were seated close to the front window in a semi-private 2-person table, which we appreciated greatly. Our wait person Marsala could not have been more personable and professional. Because we had not eaten in the restaurant before, and because there was a special holiday presentation, Marsala explained to us how the entire process worked. Everything started with a self-service salad bar (like those that existed before Coid-19), which was pleasant. Large plates were available instead of the very small ones other venues offer. Once we were at out table, my wife and I were both given 2-inch-in-diameter paper discs. One side up indicated you were not ready for meats. Flip it, and a steady stream of carvers came to us offering different meats -- carved at the table and put on our plates. The meats were not overcooked, and overall were delicious. Our check, including an 18% (voluntary) tip on food+tax was $208. So at ages 80 and 84 on fixed incomes, we will be reserving Fogo de Chao for special occasions. But we were very happy with the whole experience. You will not leave hungry!