Reviews: Downtown Bellevue Eats

Part of exploring a new metro area is eating your way through the lunch week. I've been trying to experience a different eatery for the days that I eat out either by myself or with co-workers. I thought I should keep some notes about finding new places to eat. The alternative is to brown bag it. While the weather is still nice I think I should try something new.

Week of Sept 4:

• 9/4 Tangerine (Expedia Bldg @ NE 4th St & 108th Ave NE) - "Ocean Spice" dish with a spicy rating of 1 (very mild)
• 9/5 NYC Deli (Expedia Bldg @ NE 4th St & 108th Ave NE) - classic Reuben sandwich (pastrami on rye) $7.65; Ginza (for dinner) - yaki udon with beef
• 9/6 Potbelly Sandwiches (NE 4th & 108th Ave NE) - Italian sandwich $5.48
• 9/7 Pho All Day (NE 2nd St & 105th Ave NE) - small shrimp bowl (5 shrimps!) $6.98

Week of Sept 10:

• 9/10 Café Habits (NE 5th St & 106th Ave NE) - small decaf coffee $2.09 (tastes a lot better than Starbucks mid-day decaf)
• 9/11 Blazin' Bagels (NE 5th St & 108th Ave NE) - ham & cheese bagel with pesto $8.10
• 9/12 ?
• 9/13 NYC Deli - cup of tomato basil soup $3
• 9/14 Market Fresh (Key Bank Bldg @ NE 6th St & 108th Ave NE) - salad buffet ($/lb) $13

Week of Sept 17:

• 9/17 Top Pot - (NE 9th Pl & 106th Ave NE) - two doughnuts (boston cream and apple fritter) $5
• 9/18 Sushiya (NE 3rd St & 110th Ave NE) - lunch bento (beef & salmon w/ salmon sashimi) $13
• 9/19 Sushi Maru (NE 2nd St & 105th Ave NE) - conveyor belt sushi (fish quality better than SushiLand) $13
• 9/20 Taco Time (NE 2nd St & 106th Ave NE) - two beef soft tacos, Mexican fries (tater tots) $5.88
• 9/21 Potbelly Sandwiches - pizza sandwich $5.48

Tasting/Eating Notes:

Tangerine Thai got our table's order wrong on two (of the five) dishes and proceeded to give us the bill before we received the replacement dishes for two people. People eat here for status. For authentic Thai this isn't the place for it. This is more like a fusion Thai eatery, if you enjoy that sort of experience.

Pho All Day adds a surcharge to all pho take-out orders, so a small shrimp bowl is really $9.98. But, the presentation level of the take-out is very neat to do for the first time. The restaurant itself offers sit-down style tables and booths. It is poorly lit and very crowded.

While Café Habits does serve up good tasting coffee, it is pricey. This is just one of many non-Starbuck coffee places I have checked out.

Blazin' Bagels is really freakin' pricey. It is really just a bagel cleverly disguised as a bagel. The day old bagels are priced about the same as what you'd get fresh from Costco.

Market Fresh and NYC Deli both offer salad by the pound. Weight quickly adds up at Market Fresh for their non-salad items in their serve-yourself buffet line. The freshness quality at Market Fresh is pretty good. If you enjoy salads with more toppings, you might just like this place. Except, when it comes to salads, I think I'll just brown bag the next one.

Of the places to eat, Potbelly and NYC Deli are decent for hot, made-to-order sandwiches.