Jak's Restaurant in Issaquah

What is a post about a restaurant doing in a hiking blog? Good question. With the popularity of this blog I've decided to expand into reviews of other things in the Snoqualmie Valley.

For example, for the last year or so Amy and I have been on a quest for a good steak place, something that is commonplace in Chicago (to the extent that we never did hit all the good steak joints). Ruth's Chris was the best we could find, and frankly as a "great" steak place Ruth's Chris doesn't impress me. Good stuff, but overpriced.

One of our friends recommended Jak's in Issaquah, but warned us of the notorious long waits. A couple months ago on our anniversary (it fell on a Thursday), Amy and I decided to give it a try. Wow, were we so not disappointed.

Funny, it took us three trips around the bring to actually find the place. It is as close to as a hole in the wall as you can get. I'd be surprised if there were 15 tables there (a few of them 2 seaters), and you can maybe fit 8 people at the bar. No wonder there are long waits.

But the steak was amazing. As good as the Chicago chop houses for sure. And the sides, which is how Chicago chop houses differentiate themselves, were outstanding as well. The potato pancakes are their specialty.

Service was outstanding as well. When we were told it would be a half hour wait, Amy and I headed down the block to a watering hole. 10 minutes later, the waitress was asking us if we were the Reagan party - Jak's had called and told us our table was ready. Pretty obvious that watering hole does a lot of business with Jak's waiting list.

Can't wait to get back. I've tried the Metropolitan Grill in downtown Seattle, and Jak's beats it hands down.