Made In Kitchen - Asian Bistro

i went to one of my friend's dinner parties one night at MIK, and i was greeted by a friendly hostess who led me to our table near the window. my friends and i were busily talking for awhile before finally ordering drinks, appetizers, then our entrees. they didn't rush us and just came to check up on us once in awhile. they have a wine list with interesting concoctions like the lychee and guava sakes. it was sweet and mild. mmm! my friend helped us order the food, and for appetizers i tried the crispy kitchen rolls, black and white sesame tofu and tamarind shrimp salad. the kitchen rolls are indeed crispy and small enough to pop in your mouth! as for the tofu, they stack them on each other so it looks like a pyramid of cubed pieces sprinkled with their ingredients - it is fun to eat. for dinner, we all shared the kitchen fried noodle, stir fried steak cubes and crab fried rice. the kitchen fried noodle is crunchy with lots of seafood and veggies on it, the steak cubes are quality flank steak and was marinated well, and the crab fried rice had good wok power put into it. there were a lot of crabmeat and tasted really good. we were so full after dinner, but they gave us flan as complimentary dessert. they're so nice! great decor, sweet waitress, i will come back again. \r \r Pros: FOOD, staff, ambiance Cons: Parking is across the street, to the left of the white building. more

The food is very expensive compare to other Vietnamese restaurants and the food is not that tastety. If you want good Vietnamese food, try Green Leaf or Tamarind Tree instread. You will get delicious food for about half the price they charge you at Made in Kitchen. \r \r Would not recommend it to anyone. Pros: nice decoration Cons: expensive, bad food, bad service more

This place has great food and 1/2 price wine. The kitchen even made a special vegetarian dish for my wife which was fantastic. Give it a shot, you will be happily surprised. Pros: 1/2 price wine and really good food Cons: street parking, what else. more

I recommended my friends to come try this place out one weekend. When we walked in, the hostess cordially sat us down. Another person came in less than a minute to give us some pearl Jasmine tea. I saw they had renewed their menus and wine lists since the last time I came in. Apparently they switch up the menus every season. The variety of dishes on the menu is definitely geared toward Vietnamese cuisine, although they have some Thai and even Chinese dishes. For appetizers, we ordered the Black & White Sesame Tofu, Golden Sugar Cane Shrimp Cake & Tamarind Beef Salad. For the entrees, we ordered the Crab Glass Noodles (I was craving it), Spicy Green Beans & Braised Curry Duck avec hot and toasty baguettes. The tofu was hot and crispy and the sauce was mildly hot. I love it when food comes out hot. The best part about the shrimp cake was the remaining flavors of shrimp that stuck on the sugar cane. The crab glass noodles did not disappoint - it had sufficient amounts of crabmeat, and the noodles were of a good eating consistency. The green beans made its new appearance in the menu, and it was surprisingly crunchy, although it could've been less salty. The baguettes were toasty and fresh, perfect sauce dipper for the curry. I was pretty happy with the dishes we all chose. Throughout the course of our dinner, the servers came and continually filled our tea and made sure we had something to drink. The owner of the restaurant spoke with the customers around our table, and eventually made her way to ours. We had the opportunity to ask her about the variety of dishes on the menu. She told us the Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese food influence came from her family background, in which she was born and raised as a Vietnamese Chinese, and married her husband, who grew up as a Thai born Chinese. It explains why the food is authentic in itself. Although this place isn't your usual unilinear cuisine type of restaurant, all the dishes are good and stays true to its cuisine. Pros: Attentive service staff & always new dishes every season Cons: Parking might be a pain, but they do have parking across the street on Lane St more

After browsing a few restaurants recommended in Seattle we came across an article on Made in Kitchen. The restaurant is located in the International District about two blocks up from the Uwaijimaya market. The waiters and waitresses were all very friendly and the service was prompt. They offered us good suggestions and even gave us dessert on the house since it was our first time. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and I would definitely come back to eat here again. Pros: Ambience, Service Cons: Street parking on Sundays more

I agree with the last review of worst customer service ever. I haven't been to Made in Kitchen for awhile, it's been about a year now. Today I took my co-workers to lunch there. First it took the servers a long time to come by to take our order - then another long wait for our food to come out. It didn't all come out at the same time. When the food came out, we had asked for some hot sauce and got acknowlegement from the waiter, but he never made it back. Everytime we tried to waive him down - he didn't even look our way. Finally, they took our plates away and we waited another stint for the check until we finally had to get up and pay at the cash register. Terrible service. Pros: Food, Ambience Cons: Terrible Service more

A few of my friends and me went to this restaurant yesterday before a concert. Someone came by to see if we were ready to order, but we weren't ready so we told them to come back in a few minutes. They didn't come back, and after waiting 20 minutes, we had to go look for someone to help us. We finally got our orders taken and soon dishes were coming out of the kitchen. \r \r After awhile I realized everyone but me had their food. I had to go find the waiter again, because they never came back to check on us. When I asked him where my food was, he mumbled something about going to check on it. He had forgotten to put it through to the kitchen, so I didn't get my food until literally everyone else was done eating. I then had to practically inhale my food because we were going to be late to the concert. \r \r When we got the checks back they forced a gratuity on us (including me) and charged me full price for my meal. I will never eat there again.\r \r Note: We had 8 or 9 people at the table, and I know it's normal to add gratuity for groups >6 but I don't feel like I should've had to pay it. Pros: Tasty food, creative drinks, nice atmosphere Cons: Terrible service, apathetic watiers/waitresses more

I read a great review of this place in Seattle Metropolitan, and since I live close to the ID I went to check it out. The atmosphere is really nice especially the decor, but that does not make up for the food. Our main courses were mediocre at best, but the spring rolls were the biggest disappointment. They fell apart after 2 bites and they had no defining flavor. The service was poor and slow. The servers had no interest in us at all to the point that we had to get up and track someone down to get our bill (there was only one other person in the place at the time). Compared to both of the Lemongrass restaurants and Tamarind Tree this place was terrible. more

Food is great and the waitresses are really hot,.... if you like eating asian that is... \r Call ahead of time to make sure there's a place to sit.... more

Based on the good reviews, I went there with my family and realized that it was not the authentic Vietnamese food. All Vietnamse meals and the fish sauce ""nuoc mam"" were really disappointed. \r If you want to enjoy the authentic Vietnamese food in the same price range, I can recommend the really good Vietnamese Tamarind Tree restaurant, or Lemon Grass in the nearby Vietnam town - called Little Saigon. Pros: Clean, beautiful Cons: Not authentic Vietnamese food, pricy for the quality more

We recently discovered this place and have been going there once a week since. The food is really fresh. I particularly enjoy their tofu dishes, the imperial rolls, and the glass noodles with crab. They even have fresh coconuts to drink. The service can be haphazard at times but they have always made up for it with comps and have never been unpleasant as stated in some of the other reviews. For those not familiar with the ID - it is just up the street from Uwajimaya and has free parking across the street. Pros: parking more

This place has a nice decor but other than that I would not recommend it to anyone. My friends and i found it on citysearch and the reviews were wonderful so we decided to go. When we got there the service was decent but after we got our food it went down hill. They got one of my friends orders wrong and then tried to debate with him that he ordered wrong. Dont they know customers are always write?? The food was so dry and tasted old. My friends had the phad thai there and they liked it but all my other friends tried their vietnamese dishes and was very disappointed. Very small portions too. I am very picky with vietnamese food because i've grown up with delicious vietnamese food from my talented mother. People who dont know how good vietnamese food can taste should not write reviews that claims this place to be the best. more

I am extremely impressed by the food, ambiance and wait staff here at Made In Kitchen. I've been coming on and off to try the different dishes that are offered and the taste has been consistently savory and authentic. The feel here is great and the music is very upbeat and hip. The waiters and waitresses are very attentive and show that they care about their customers. They always ask if everything is alright and repeatedly refill the jasmine tea. I come down to the International District a lot and this is by far, the cleanest restaurant I've been to. The variety of Southeast Asian cuisine offered at this place is innovative and delicious at the same time. You can order Vietnamese, Singaporean or Malaysian food depending on your appetite.The crispy imperial rolls are top notch - it has a very crunchy texture on the outside and a mouthwatering flavor on the inside that is filled with crab and shrimp! On my last visit I tried some of the new dishes such as the tamarind beef salad that was lightly drizzled with a citrus vinaigrette. I definitely recommend that because it's a feel-good-eat-healthy type of dish. The golden shrimp cakes are a pretty popular item at this place and I order it every time I come. One time I came with a good friend and she ordered the lemongrass pork chops and it was very tender and juicy. There is really something for everyone who wants to taste a bit of Southeast Asian flavor. The Singaporean specialty - Hai-Nam Chicken is really good! I love the ginger sauce that compliments the chicken. After all, sauce is everything. The last time I came was with my husband and we tried the Spicy Malaysian Eggplants and the Curry Duck. The eggplants were spicy and addictive! The curry duck was yummy and even yummier because of the sweet onions marinated in the sauce. This place is reasonably priced, provided with nice people and a comfortable atmosphere. I'll definitely be coming back! Pros: Great food and friendly staff Cons: Parking may be hard to find but after 6pm customers can park nextdoor at Arts of China more

We've been to Made in Kitchen twice, once with a small group, once with a large group and had great experiences both times. It's a lot more approachable for English-only speakers than many of the restaurants in the ID, but still has very good food. The space is comfortable and it's easy to carry on a conversation. It's not the best Asian-fusion cuisine, it's not the most challenging or complex menu, it's not the greatest service on the planet, but they seem to be consistently good and we would definitely recommend it as a fun, relatively inexpensive place for a nice night out. Pros: Lychee sake Cons: The bean based desserts are just not our style... more

If you want a restaurant that is easy on the eye, but vents their frustrations on you--the customer--than this is the restaurant for you! Many of the waiters did not speak English very well, fortunately, the waiter was able to get somebody else who spoke English more fluently to answer our questions. However, most of the waiters/waitresses there didn't seem like they knew how to do their job. I dine there in a group of eight. When it came time for the bill, we asked them to give us separate checks. It was understandable that it would have been easier on the waitress had we mentioned that when we were ordering, but that is--by no means--make it acceptable for her to give the customer(s) an attitude when trying to communicate that fact/request for our future reference. Our waiter was apparently unable to split the check himself, so we were presented with another person, whom seemed to be a manager or supervisor. She brought over a notepad and attempted to split up the dishes, while venting her frustration right in front of the eight of us with her continuing sighs and fidgetting of her pen and feet. Finally, she released her frustration with, ""next time tell us before you order that you want the check separate; it's just easier that way."" Had she said something like, ""I apologize that this is taking so long, it would be quicker if we had it split up while you were all ordering, but let me just write down what each of you ordered, and I'll be back as soon as possible,"" I would have been impressed rather than disappointed. As a waitress, she should know that she is to keep the customer happy. Telling the customer what they should have done so that HER job wouldn't be harder would not please the customer! I worked in customer service before, and I still believe that it is necessary to remember to the put the customer first. Pros: Ambience Cons: group service, street parking, inexperienced waiters/waitresses, not much variety in food more

While the decor is very appealing, I'd much rather they spent the money on preparing edible food. The vegetarian spring/egg roll was awful. The filling was completely mushy and unappetizing. For the price you pay at Made in Kitchen, you would've had a lot more to eat at other restaurants around the ID, not to mention better tasting. The service was decent but you could tell that no one really had a clue about what to do. I would much rather at at Green Leaf. Pros: Ambience Cons: Knowledge of staff, Prices, Parking more

This restaurant gives a new meaning to China Town. All restaurants in the international district should use Made in Kitchen as an example of ""Fine Asian Restaurant Dining"". Very trendy and up to date atmostphere. Great Lunch menu and when comes dinner time, the restaurant turns into a romantic setting great for couples to go on a date. Food is great!!! Love to eat nice and healthy meals. Left the restaurant with a good feeling ......Highly recommend!!!! Pros: Parking, Service, Amience, Nice people more

Another Asian restaraunt? Another Asain restaraunt in the Oriental District? This is not just another place to eat. The food is awesome as is the service. I would go back to Made in Kitchen time and time again. The food is fresh and served promptly. The prices make the experience well worth it. Lunch is good but the atmosphere in the evening makes it a great place to go on a date or with friends, don't miss it! Pros: Ambience, great food, great service, priced very reasonably Cons: I live in Tacoma and it's far to drive as often as I would like. more

I had heard several friends and family members saying this restaurant was good so decided to give it a try.... more

I had heard several friends and family members saying this restaurant was good so decided to give it a try.... more