L’Oursin is a French restaurant located in Seattle near Seattle University. I went to try it out back in 2016, right after they opened. L’Oursin means sea urchin in French. Naturally, they have a lot of menu items utilizing sea urchin.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is nice. But I felt the chairs and tables weren’t comfortable enough for a $$$ restaurant and the tables were too close to each other, making us feel a little cramped even though the space is open.

But the bar looks cool and it is always so fun to see some action in the kitchen.

Salmon with some sea urchin in the sauce

Lingcod with French prosciutto on top

Pâté en croûte with some jam.

Soupe de poisson

Food ⭐️⭐️⭐️

All of the menu items we ordered were decorative and imaginative. But I didn’t love them enough to have the desire to go back. Beautiful aesthetics, nothing special in flavor.

Ambiance ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Even though I could see that they tried really hard to give the feel of walking into a restaurant in France, I still didn’t really enjoy the time spent there because I felt uncomfortable. The tables are too small and the chairs aren’t made to give you comfort. I would totally understand if this was in fact a casual restaurant in France but the pricing and what they are going for aren’t that.

Service ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Service was okay, but nothing exceptional to mention.

My overall opinion 

I am glad I tried it out, but I never went back and am not really sad about it. I wouldn’t really recommend it to someone unless that person is a hardcore Francophile or a millionaire since there are so many good restaurants in Seattle. The pricing was a bit steep even for Seattle but the experience wasn’t very memorable.

But who knows? They are still in business and that’s very hard in this day and age unless you’re good, especially in Seattle’s competitive restaurant scene. So they might be better now!