Cascadia Restaurant Happy Hour Review

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m on a budget. Fancy restaurants are usually beyond my wallet’s reach, or at least they were until I discovered Cascadia’s Happy Hour. From 5-7pm on weekdays, patrons pack the fairly small lounge area and bar of the Cascadia Restaurant in Belltown. People linger over their beautiful drinks and elegantly casual buckets of french fries; they order plates of Cascadia’s famous mini burgers and talk about their ski lodge at Whistler (I imagine) in the open yet warm décor of Cascadia. It’s enough to make anyone feel like they’re millionaires.

The simple happy-hour menu consists mainly of the restaurant’s mini-burgers. The burgers are juicy and plump two-bite sized morsels that come in for varieties: plain or cheese beef burgers ($1 and $1.50 respectively), salmon ($2) or veggie ($2). Slather them with some homemade mayonnaise ($.50), chipotle pepper dip ($.50), my personal favorite, black truffle butter ($2) or any of the other extra toppings offered to make each bite a little different but equally mouth-wateringly delicious. Four or five of these are enough to fill up a normal person which brings the meal to almost fast-food prices.

The only other food item on the happy hour menu is a calamari cone ($4.50), which is filled with perfectly fried and tender calamari rings and is enough to share. As far as drinks go, they have a variety of specialty cocktails but only their signature Alpine Martini is happy hour priced at $4.50. It is a citrus vodka martini with a “Douglas Fir Snowball” which is a sweet sorbet that melts and makes the drink better and better the longer you sip it. There are also beers, wines and well drinks available at happy hour prices ($4-5).

More than the delicious food, extremely reasonable prices for the happy-hour food and beautiful atmosphere, the one thing that really makes Cascadia a treat is the staff. Not once did we have any eyes rolled at us as we stood in the already cramped walkway as we waited for a seat, nor did we get any strange looks for ordering fifteen mini-burgers (more than a plateful). Cascadia’s happy hour is certainly worth going to once, if not once a week. Just make sure to get there early so you can get a table or a seat at the bar.