Help me decide

[vanillagorilla]

I need to pick a restaurant for my birthday dinner here in Seattle. I have it narrowed down to Lark and Zoe. I'm having a tough time deciding.

I have been to Lark before, and it was one of the best meals of my life. I have not been to Zoe, but have enjoyed Quinn's quite a bit. I'm interested in opinions on which one has the best food, I'm bringing my own wine so differences in the wine list and cocktails are not a concern. The one upside to Zoe is that they take reservations, and it can be hard to get into Lark on a Saturday.

[barleywino]

just curious, did you consider Crush? much better food than either Lark or Zoe imo.

[equinoise]

All these places make great food. I agree that Crush is better than Lark or Zoe, but not "much" better IMO. For me, Crush > Lark > Zoe, but not by big margins.

Don't know the nature of your birthday dinner. For an intimate dinner, I prefer the atmosphere at Lark to Zoe (because it is a wide open, loud space) or Crush (because of the odd, narrow layout that means you can wind up at a high table by the bar).

For a boisterous party with several guests, Zoe would be great, and Crush if you can score a big table.

[vanillagorilla]

It's going to be just me and my wife and a bottle of wine I've been saving (a Grand Cru Burgundy she got me for Valentine's day). I didn't choose Crush because I'd want to do the tasting menu there, and then I'd want to do the matching wines :)

[dylinw]

I like Zoe's food a bit more, but it is incredibly loud. If there's a group of you it will be incredibly difficult to have a conversation. If there's two of you, you may be able to hear each other if you talk very loudly.