Cafe Juanita - Kirkland

Superb the simple name belies their innovative exquisite cuisine. Choose between omnivore, pesceterian, or vegan prix fixe menu (someone called it 'prefix ' on here had to laugh) of 8 courses with optional wine pairings. Every course knocked it out of the park taste, textures, and presentation. We were all very satisfied after 8 courses, big smiles on our faces. An incredible meal.

Cafe Juanita doesn't need my help with another 5-star review, but I'll do it anyway as, in these times of struggle for restaurants, I'm reminded not to take what they do for granted. I'll just be brief and say this: Cafe Juanita stands alone in that it is the only place we go where we make it a policy to always order something that sounds like we *wouldn't* like it, because they are so good at making great food that they always manage to overcome our bias. They've served the only liver appetizer I've ever loved, and the only octopus my wife have ever loved. The stuff we know we'll enjoy still tastes better than we even expect. We haven't gotten back since the pandemic (though we did take-out), so the fact I'm reviewing a place I still can't get out of my mind after 2+ years should tell you something as well.

As a fine dining experience our meal was very good indeed, but not mind blowing. We had the Omnivore tasting menu plus the 'supplemental ' A5 Miyazaki Wagyu steak shared with the table. We did not have the wine pairings, but shared a bottle of champagne and a bottle of a decent super Tuscan red. The menu included some very innovative ingredients and creative dishes, beautifully plated, but with occasionally inconsistent or clumsy preparation. Service was very good, as would be expected at this level of dining. The amuse bouche Pappa al Pomodoro stood out for delivering a great punch of flavor, but the accompanying summer melon with Parmigiano Reggiano was surprisingly bland. The Cruda Misti was very good, but again not amazing, consisting of three components. I liked the sea urchin best. Hokkaido Sea Urchin, chili fermented butter, pumpernickel, Hokkaido Sea scallop, toasted horseradish Yellowtail cruda, avocado, passionfruit, brown butter citronette Sweet corn sformato, chanterelles, cipollini, huckleberries showed great elegance and sophistication, very nice indeed. The Risotto Verde, with basil fed escargot was well made but the flavor surprisingly bland and underseasoned, with the snails not really adding much except a different texture. The Iberico de Bellota with cipollini crema, pickled cherries, broccolini etc. The pork itself had very good flavor, but the cook was extremely inconsistent across the four servings. One plate was cooked to medium, one to medium rare, and two others to rare with barely warm red center. This issue was addressed with our server, but it was a disappointment. The star of the show was the 5.5 ounce A5 Miyazaki Wagyu New York steak with Jade beans and chanterelles. It was cooked perfectly to medium rare, and very flavorful. Our dessert choice was the Bittersweet chocolate tortino, Reishi milk chocolate mousse, Black truffle, olive oil chiffon, Laudemio, smoked Maldon sea salt (see photo). Both the dense chocolate tort and the chocolate mousse were very good, and the chocolate brittle with smoked sea salt was excellent. But the beautiful perfume that I was expecting from the shaved black truffle resting on top of the mousse was surprisingly absent; it was almost odorless another disappointment. Clearly Cafe Juanita is in the top echelon of fine dining establishments in this area. Judged against this very high standard, I would rate our dining experience as a solid 'B ' overall.

All best food ingredients very friendly staff so professional service Food was too greasy for me as I am high cholesterol but overall good not my taste but honestly very good quality All pictures and 2 glasses of wine 400$ for 2 people

Beautiful experience for a perfect date night! The food was delicious, the presentation a 10? and the service made the night really special.