Totem Family Dining

Reviews 4

CH

Chris Smith

Im kind of torn on this one because I really liked the food a lot. The restaurant was clean, the portions were great and the prices were OK (not great but close enough to the line to be acceptable). Its also really hard to find a decent diner in WA. Im not sure why but we are weird about our restaurants here. The only chains that really seem to flourish are the ones that actually start here, which has led to some really great eating but no access to chains or experiences you might miss from other places. To find a classic, awesome diner that actually looks, feels and smells like something you might see on the east coast is a rare treat. So why the two-star review? I can cook just about anything I want to eat and make it well. If Im paying someone to do it for me, I want to experience good service and I especially dont want to feel any hostility from the staff when I make reasonable requests. The girl who seated us and kept refilling our drinks was great. I wish she had been our waiter. Our actual waiter seemed as if he was having a bad day. He wasnt very friendly but I dont necessarily need that. What I do need however, is to not be hassled over reasonable requests. If I would prefer to have extra potatoes and gravy rather than corn, that doesnt seem like a big deal. Apparently it is to them for some reason though. The waiter made a point of letting me know that he wasnt supposed to do that and he had to follow the rules. Just to be clear, I really never give a wide, brown crap about any companys arbitrary and stupid rules. After I pointed out to him that potatoes are a vegetable and that was the particular vegetable I wanted with my dish, he agreed to ask the cook. Unfortunately for these people, my wife has ears like a bat and so she heard the entire conversation where the cook got annoyed and they both complained about me and my ridiculously unreasonable request. She also heard them complain about her when she asked if she could have an extra pickle spear to go with her Reuben and she heard the waiter complaining about having to work late that evening to another employee. I guess that the confirmation that he really was having a bad day. We felt completely uncomfortable. I dont really care if they think were terrible people for wanting an extra pickle and to trade corn for potatoes but I resent having to pay $30+ to be made to feel uncomfortable. We were both polite and even left a tip. I hope the girl who seated us gets some of it. The person who recommended this place to me isnt the sort who would put up with this nonsense so Im wondering if we got the evening "B Team". Im willing to give them another spin but I dont think Ill be able to talk my wife into going back. Thats a bummer because if it really was just an isolated incident then these people have ruined it for my family. My wife doesnt usually forgive such things when it comes to the customer experience and I kind of like eating with her and my kids. this could have been our Saturday morning go-to spot. From reading some of the other reviews here, Im guessing the cook might have been the owners wife. She sounds like quite a piece of work. She was definitely a piece of something....

DA

Dayna Short

I have been going to Totem for a few years now. I have to say that before the original owners sold the restaurant, the size portions were huge so I did not mind paying so much for what I got. The food was great and never over cooked. And the service was really good and friendly. Since the "New Owners" have taken over, I have only been there 3 times. The first time, I ordered the Farmers Mix and noticed how the size portion was about half what is was before but the price stayed the same. Not to mention there was what I believed to be extreamly burnt onion or green peppers in my food. So burnt, that I am not sure what it was exactly. I complained and Totem paid the bill. The next time I came in, again the size portion was half what is was previous to the sale of the restaurant and the price the same. I see no reason to pay the same price and get only half the portion. The service was less than friendly and almost non existant. The waitress was more interested in staying in the kitchen area talking with co-workers than they were in waiting on the customers. Needless to say, she did not earn a tip that day. The third time, I ordered something different, but still have an issue with the price vs portion size. I know the new owners have bills to pay, BUT if your going to cut your size portions in half, at least lower the price some so we dont feel like we are paying your bills for you. The potatoe chuncks were so large that they were seriously undercooked. The service by my waitress was again non existant and again, she did not earn a tip. I also noticed that the restaurant seriously needs to professional cleaning. There is a layer of dust about an inch think on every picture hanging on the wall. I dont think this place has had a good cleaning since it opened.

JO

John Carpenter

Heres the love/hate of it. Ive been going there for years and always happy with the food and service up to this morning. Six people in our party and we sat in two side by side tables with the waitresses aware of the arrangement with two tabs. My wifes table of three got their orders in a reasonable length of time while mine waited over twenty minutes after that. The waitress that I had had attitude right from the beginning and after being blown off once when we asked when to expect our order she copped an attitude and was less than truthful. I would suggest that she simply didnt turn in the order when she should have and didnt have the maturity to acknowledge that or offer an apology. . I had a "chat" with the manager and another waitress took over our table. Now lets have a look at the food which is usually very good to excellent "diner food" My wife specifically asked for her fried eggs to be medium to well done so the whites were solid. I heard her say that in detail. They arrived very easy over and were sent back only to receive the eggs again the same way. Two people ordered eggs Benedict. Eggs Benedict comes with Hollandaise sauce which is made from lemon, egg and butter not a cheese based sauce. A friend ordered an omelet with sides of bacon and sausage. Sausage arrived but not the bacon. I ordered a sausage dish with two eggs poached. Poached eggs were in a small bowl which is fine as long as they drain the eggs so one doesnt end up with egg soup! Maybe best not to go there on a weekend?

IL

illyanna Maisonet

The Totem is a local diner that serves breakfast all day, their prices are more than fair, their portions will hurt you and if youre lucky enough to nab a table on the left side of the restaurant, you can see Mt. Baker and its snow-capped peaks. The food is straight forward, everything is homemade: biscuits, rolls, monstrous cinnamon rolls the size of a plate. Literally. The owner is extremely warm and gracious. I had the #34, The Biscuit Barge. A heaping pile of biscuits, a layer of sausage patties, topped with country gravy, over-medium eggs and hashbrowns, less than $10. My dining companion had two pancakes (light and airy), eggs and 3 pieces of bacon. And not a slice of bacon, cut in half and shriveled to a blade of grass that most diners in California try to pass off as pieces of bacon, these were large and thick cut bacon. His was also under $10.