I started off with something to drink. I associate gastropubs with interesting cocktails and food, and the drink list was creative. I looked for something fruity to sip, and asked the server for suggestions. He recommended the Rootstock, which he described as "a grown up fruit punch." My first impression of the drink was that it was much more herbaceous than I expected (and honestly, more than I hoped for). I didn't like it very much, but to be fair, it paired nicely with the food. When sipped after spicier bites, the drink became more balanced and that sweeter, fruit punch taste came through much more.
I ended up trying three different things: bite-sized fried chicken, wild boar ribs, and ahi tuna tacos. It's worth mentioning that everything here is quite appetizer sized ("shareable"). The fried chicken was my favorite of the three. It was juicy, white meat, and not greasy. The crust was a nice deep golden brown color and had a good amount of salt (but not "salty", ya know?) The chicken came with a dipping sauce that had a pleasant, mildly sweet flavor.
The wild boar ribs had a dry rub with a lovely smoky flavor. The rub built up a nice level of spiciness as I ate, which was pleasant. The texture of these was not as juicy as I'd hoped, but they certainly weren't dry.
Unfortunately, the dish I had the most excitement for ended disappointing me the most. The ahi tuna tacos were not the meaty chunks of beautiful, deep pink raw fish I'd hoped for. Rather, they were grey, dry, overcooked sadness. Ahi tuna is one of the most delightful ingredients to work with, and while cooked preparations aren't unheard of, I believe it shines best in its raw form. But the tuna included in these tacos took a luxury ingredient and cooked it to the point where it could've been any generic whitefish (whitefish can withstand more heat and/or longer cook times, so probably would've been a better, and cheaper, protein for this application honestly). All the joy of this lovely ingredient was cooked out of it. Moving away from a technical error into more of a preference, I'm not crazy about corn tortillas, and these tacos came with two layers of tortilla, ostensibly to hold the heaviness of the fish. This is a common practice too, but again, using a less dense whitefish or swapping for flour tortillas would've avoided this. I didn't mind, but my dining partner did say he found them difficult to eat. Another issue I had was that the tacos just had no flavor. Each bite was very one-note. Unfortunately, I had one bite that was all parsley. The idea of an ahi tuna taco is good in theory, but I wasn't a fan of Black Bottle's implementation of it. I didn't end up finishing these.
I think Black Bottle is well-intentioned, but it just missed the mark for me. Its trendy and isn't doing anything groundbreaking. I'm fond of the use of creative or unconventional proteins anywhere. But I don't think Black Bottle is necessarily impressing with what their serving well enough to stand out. And while the price point isn't crazy, I don't think the quality justifies the price point (my dishes averaged $12 each). It's a cute spot in a great location, but not something I would seek out if I went back to Seattle.
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