Ballard – April 25, 2020

In early 2020, lives were interrupted and upturned in Washington state and around the nation. A virus called the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, had made its way around the world and hit the greater Seattle area especially hard. As months passed by and the virus evolved into a global pandemic, businesses around the Puget Sound area had to close its doors for the greater good and health of the community.

Sadly, among these businesses were restaurants and bars. Some establishments shuttered their doors temporarily, others modified their operations and menus to do takeout and delivery, while some had to close permanently, acting in the belief that they would be unable to recover from the lost business and economic downturn.

It’s an unprecedented time we are all living in right now and there is no better time to support local businesses and restaurants. One way we’ve liked to show our support is by doing takeout or delivery from a restaurant. In late April, we decided to order takeout from Watson’s Counter in Ballard for an at-home lunch with my (Alice’s) parents.

Watson’s Counter has been on our list to try for a bit and we unfortunately didn’t have the chance to stop by before COVID-19 hit. When they announced they were doing takeout, we hopped on the opportunity.

If you are interested and able, consider supporting the local food and beverage industry – buy gift cards, order takeout or delivery, or donate to one of the relief funds listed here.

Now, let’s talk about the…

SPACE

Although we didn’t get a chance to see the whole space when we went to pick up our order, Watson’s Counter is a pretty sizable restaurant. Sitting on the corner of 15th Ave NW and 62nd, they have a nice front area with an impressive coffee setup. To the side, you can see various tables for their normal dine-in service which could probably hold around 30-40 people at full capacity. Of course, since dine-in service is prohibited during COVID, they converted their tables to storage and organization for their take-out operations and placed a small table in the front doorway to act as their takeout counter.

With crisp, white walls accented by different plants on shelves and tables, Watson’s gives off very cute vibes that Ray and I are big fans of. In fact, while we were waiting for our order to be finished, Ray could not stop looking at and talking about the plants they had. XD

SERVICE

There were only about three staff working for Watson’s takeout operation, including the owner himself. Considering we did takeout, there wasn’t much service to write about. That being said, the limited interaction I had with the owner was nice and he even brought the order out to our car since it wasn’t quite ready when we initially showed up.

FOOD

The four of us dug into:

• Cereal French Toast – Frosted Flakes & Fruity Pebbles (Macrina Bakery whole wheat cider bread with cereal crust, served with organic maple syrup and orange-rosemary whipped cream): Each order comes with two pieces of toast, which are then cut diagonally to form triangles, so four pieces total. Since I wanted to try both flavors, we ended up having a lot of french toast to nibble on.
  
  Our group was a bit split on opinions of the Cereal French Toast. While I thought the Fruity Pebbles one was too sweet, my mom that the Frosted Flakes one was too bland. We didn’t get the orange-rosemary taste or smell from the whipped cream and the toast did get quite soggy on the trek home from Ballard to Bellevue.

• Loco Moco (Fresh ground house-blend patty of St. Helen’s chuck, Painted Hills brisket, and Carlton Farms pork belly on a bed of rice, house-made beef red-eye gravy, topped with an over-easy fried egg, and garnished with green onions and toasted seeds): Ray and I went on a trip to Hawaii not too long ago so the Loco Moco jumped out to both of us on the takeout menu.
  
  The dish overall unfortunately was not as good as the Loco Moco we had in Hawaii. We understand that this is a hard bar to reach, but you couldn’t really tell that there was a high-end blend of meats in the patty as described on the menu. It just tasted like a regular hamburger patty. I think that if it had a little less gravy, the taste and flavoring of the meat would have come out a bit more. Speaking of the gravy, it had a hint of curry taste to it which was an unexpected but welcome surprise.

• KBBQ Pork Plate (Rice, assorted kimchi, Carlton Farms marinated pork belly, Korean peppers, and samjang, garnished with green onions and toasted seeds): Unfortunately, we felt this dish was a bit underwhelming. There wasn’t a huge showcase of flavors in this dish in comparison to the others. The apple kimchi in this dish was interesting and Ray was a fan of the sweetness it offered to balance the tartness of the other ingredients. The apple kimchi also added a nice change of texture, but didn’t add much else beyond that. The pork belly itself was good but wasn’t enough to bring up the flavor of the Pork Plate as a whole.
• Fried Chicken Sandwich with Honey Butter (Fried chicken thighs, green onions, pickled daikon kimchi inside a toasted bun): By far the group’s favorite dish! The fried chicken sammie was the most well-rounded and well-balanced in flavor. The honey butter was perfect in providing a sweet, subtle flavor to the overall savory sandwich. The chicken thighs stayed perfectly crispy and the buns didn’t get soggy on the way home. Overall, the winner of our lunch.

• “Deuces”/Churros – Original & Black Sesame: Each order came with two long churros. Overall the churros felt a bit under-cooked. Everyone in the group wished they were crispier. Flavor-wise, the black sesame one tasted good and added a cool, interesting take to the traditional Spanish and Portuguese dessert.

IN SUMMARY

The fried chicken sandwich was by far the best dish and stood out the most against the more underwhelming dishes of our lunch order. We both agreed that we’d like to give Watson’s another try in the future, hopefully when they reopen for dine-in service post-COVID. It can be hard to judge an eatery’s potential and capabilities fully when getting takeout (especially when the trek home is from Seattle to the Eastside). Ray and I would like to give Watson’s another shot, if not just to get that fried chicken sammie again.

Space & ambiance – Cute and chill space with Instagrammable decor. Proper brunch spot.

Food – Some hits and misses. In the hits, they really excel. The misses were just underwhelming. We’d like to see more consistency in the way flavors can be well-rounded and balanced across all their dishes.

Service – Nice and friendly staff, based on takeout experience. Would like to see and experience what dine-in service is like.

Price – A little pricey but nothing outrageous or unheard of. More expensive dishes average around $17-18.

Next visit – Hopefully when they reopen post-COVID. We’d really like to experience Watson’s Counter in person and see how the dining experience is different than just doing takeout. We understand that a lot of factors go into takeout that may not be in the restaurant’s control, so we’d like to give them another shot in the future.