Salish Lodge Restaurant Review

Salish Lodge Tasting Menus

The Dining Room at Salish Lodge offers a six-course Grand Tasting Menu ($120) for those wanting to “experience the best of the season.” If you ask the server to take you through the tasting menu, you will inevitably opt for it.

During our visit the menu featured several amazing items including the Forager’s Mushroom Bisque, Yakima Valley Suckling Pig, Snoqualmie River Hot Rocks, European Turbot, and Braised Canadian Goose as well as a delightful intermezzo and dessert. The only reason not to order the tasting menu is if you have your heart set on the Foie Gras Duet or the Elk Loin.

Salish Lodge also offers two vegetarian entrees, Corsican Chestnut Ravioli ($24) and Wild Mushroom Lasagna ($19). Both of these items show up on the Farmers’ Market Menu – a vegetarian alternative to the Grand Tasting Menu, which features some items not on the menu as well.

The dinner menu at Salish Lodge also features a Grand Chariot of Farmhouse Cheeses, which includes excellent selection from the extensive Salish Lodge cheese menu presented by extraordinary cheese artisan Hervé Mons.

Wine Program at Salish Lodge

Salish wisely calls their wine list the Salish Lodge and Spa Wine Loft Collection. The table of contents for the 62-page collection is longer than the wine list at some restaurants. Sommelier Mark Kieras guides diners through the wine list showing off his expertise as well as ability to pair wine with both the dish and the diner.

Mark takes the time to learn your tastes making sure the wine not only matches your meal, but suits your palate as well. His presentation has plenty of sophistication without pretense. The wine collection book contains amazingly accurate and understandable descriptions of each wine.

Wine aficionados will be able to find their favorite bottles, and less experienced drinkers can count on Mark to help them find what they are looking for, even if they don’t know what it is.

The final two pages of the wine “list” offer an unprecedented selection of wines by the glass. Glasses range from $5 to $29 with most in the $8-$12 range. The price, diversity, and quality of the list provide an opportunity for pairing a new glass of wine with each course.

Salish Lodge Dessert Menu

The dessert menu can be somewhat forgotten after a magnificent meal with wonderful wine. Salish seems to know that diners will be looking for a light dessert. Each dessert comes with either Ice Cream or Sorbet, or you can order from a slate of a la carte Ice Cream and Sorbet.

The Valhrona Chocolate “Bombe” with a soft truffle filling topped with huckleberry sorbet is a great way to end a meal. The Grand Chariot of Cheeses also makes it way to the dessert menu for those who prefer cheese as the final act to their meal.

Salish offers a World Coffee Menu, World Sugar Menu, and Teas of the World Menu for those so inclined.

Salish Lodge Dining Room Summary

The Dining Room at Salish Lodge gets top marks across the board. Simply put, our meal at Salish Lodge was the best meal of my life. Previous favorites include dinner overlooking Biscayne Bay at Michelle Bernstein’s Azul in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami and Norman Van Aken’s Norman’s in Coral Gables.

Roy Breiman might not have the notoriety of those celebrity chefs, but his food is better. I would make a trip across the country for dinner at Salish Lodge, but fortunately it is a simple 30-minute drive up to Salish Lodge and Spa at beautiful Snoqualmie Falls.

The service was as exceptional as the food from server to sommelier (even the bus service was outstanding) – better than the service at the Jockey Club at the Westin Fairfax (formerly the Ritz-Carlton) in Washington, D.C.

The Dining Room at Salish Lodge is simply the best.