Every time I stay at The Davenport I look out the window from The Peacock Room I see Agave and tell myself that next time I'm going to eat there. Well, this trip I followed through and I'm glad I did.
Went on a Monday and lucked into them doing Happy Hour all day. $5 margaritas of a good size and decent tequila ratio and a solid happy hour priced menu. I got the $5 charbroiled jalapeño cheeseburger and really enjoyed it, and not just because of its price. Filling enough that I couldn't finish the whole plate.
I will definitely return here next time I'm in Spokane and suggest that everyone else does as well.
Where is everybody? This place has great food & great service but never seems to be very busy -- hasn't Spokane discovered this gem yet? Â Seriously, go in, order a delicious cocktail, try the appetizer plate & order something nummy. Â And bring your friends! Â Let's not ignore this place & see it go away!
Had a Mojito (OK, had 2) and ordered the Carne Asada tacos. Delicious!
I recently went here with my family for dinner. SO good! Their salsa was delicious, and I ordered two things off the happy hour menu (btw, happy hour is all day on Mondays!). I got a cup of tortilla soup and the two street tacos; both were delicious. Their regular menu looks so good, but the happy hour menu looks good for my tummy and my wallet; very good deals I think. It had a really nice atmosphere too; could be good for a date night or ladies night out. Moral of the story: I'll definitely be going back!
Review Source:I am lucky enough to be staying at the Davenport Hotel, located right across from Agave, because of Women's basketball. I noticed the restaurant from looking outside my hotel window, looked up their menu and thought, "great seafood options". I could NOT have made a better dinner decision. The choices of amazing options made narrowing it down and finally ordering difficult but I finally decided on the spicy chicken tortilla soup and the grilled scallops with polenta and asparagus. Hands down the best scallops I have ever tasted, and I have made a habit or ordering scallops anytime they are on the menu. The polenta was slightly crispy on the outside but moist and sweet. The jicama salsa was a wonderful crunchy addition. The spicy tortilla soup came with deep-fried scoopers, which I do not eat but I did give them a taste, pretty good.
The portion of scallops was perfect, there were 7 small scallops, 4 of which sat atop the 4 polenta slices. The other 3 were on the asparagus and salsa.
Although I was technically at a tequila bar, I did not indulge. The drink list looked fun but I passed to spare the calories.
Upon completing my meal (I ate everything aside from the tortillas, complimentary chips and the deep-fried scoopers, see a trends?), the waiter, who I think was actually the owner, or at least the manager, offered me complimentary dessert. I chose the Grand Marnier Creme Brulee. I have not tried it yet because I took it to go but you can't miss with a free dessert.
The wait staff was pleasant and appropriately attentive. I never felt overwhelmed. The noise level was fairly low and the ambiance was fun, low-lighting, Agave (although not as many as I would have expected) and a variety of different seating options, from regular dining tables, bar stool-style tables in the dining room and bar, and the actual bar itself.
If I lived here in Spokane I would come here regularly.
Wow. Â After a year of not visiting Agave, I was stunned. Â It has turned into an empty shell of its former self. Â Food was average. Â Kitchen staff clowned around like a street crew. Â The place has turned into a glorified Taco Time, complete with the plastic menus and half cleaned tables. Â Very disappointing to see this once great place fall apart.
Review Source:I kept going back hoping that maybe I was catching them on an off night. However after 3 visits I am left to assume that was not the case.
On each visit we were greeted with slow and unkind service. I found the food to be shockingly expensive for the mediocre quality and tiny portions. On one occasion I ordered the tuna. I was presented with a very small portion of fish, 2 pieces of asparagus cut into halves and a serving of a grain (memory fails me on this point). Nothing on the plate was above mediocre and it cost me in the neighborhood of $22.
I have heard that the tacos are quite good, although I haven't tried them myself.
They do have decent cocktails, although I would steer clear of the jalapeno margarita unless you like the taste of liquid heartburn. It is spicy and acidic in a very unpleasing way (and I enjoy spicy food).
One thing this restaurant does have going for it is a unique fun atmosphere, mostly borrowed from the previous tenet of the space Blue Fish, but it's great non the less. Although, the last time I was the aquariums were quite filthy.
We were in from the coast visiting family and went here on the advice of a local friend and it did not disappoint. Atmosphere is cool, dim, and relaxed.
I couldn't have any of the interesting drinks as I'm pregnant, but I did try a sip of a jalapeno-cilantro margarita (spicy!) and a prickly pear margarita (delicious). Â
Food tasted extremely fresh and unique for Spokane. Husband got a carne asada that was very good. Friend got lobster paella which was amazing! I was going for the wild boar but at the last moment switched to lobster tacos and regretted that. They were decent, but I know the wild boar would have been better.
We will be back!
Dinner here last night for 8, we made reservations the day of with no problem. Parking can be a challenge but we lucked out with a meter space right out front, you can also park across the street in a $5 lot.
Service was prompt and friendly, although we sat in the back room and it was quite chilly. My mother-in-law and I had to put my husband's jacket on our legs to keep warm. They set up a small space heater but it was across the room and didn't contribute much.
We ordered a variety of drinks, beer, wine and jalapeno/cilantro margaritas. Jalapenos and cilantro are two of my favorite green foods, so I was pretty excited about that. I have had jalapeno martinis before, and those are quite delicious. When mine arrived it was in a huge glass, garnished with slices of jalapenos and sprigs of cilantro. It was quite good, although I would have preferred a bit more spice.
The chips and salsa came and the chips are long, freshly fried thin strips with chili powder. This is one of the few latin-food style places I've been where the chips outshine the salsa! Don't get me wrong, the salsa was flavorful and fresh, but the chips were amazing and hot out of the fryer, not a heatlamp.
When our drinks came the wine my in-laws ordered smelled funky, like it was from yesterday (or Sunday's?) leftover bottle. The waitress, however, happily replaced the wine immediately and was very apologetic. The weird thing was that when they ordered a second glass after that, that glass was also funky, even though the waitress assured us that the bartender had poured it from the fresh bottle. Again, she was very attentive and brought them a glass from another wine altogether.
It was hard to choose from the menu because everything sounded mouthwatering, the selection is very latin-fusion, with caribbean flavors like cocoanut, jicama, mango to accent the fresh seafood and spicy taco dishes. I had the mahi mahi special which came with prawns, cocoanut rice and a fruity slaw. I soon became a member of the clean-plate club, even sampling some of my mother-in-law's ahi, which was the perfect texture and seasoned and seared just right.
Others at the table had the lobster paella which got rave reviews, and then wild boar enchiladas! Not my choice but they seemed very happy with the presentation and the mole sauce that accompanied the dish.
Overall this was a very pleasant dining experience, good atmosphere, a diverse menu, fresh food with exciting flavor combinations that is also very filling and satisfying.
I can't give this place 4 stars simply because it was quite cold and due to the odd wine issues we had, but service was good and there are more items on that menu that I want to try, so I will definitely be back.
This review is exclusively for the bar area not the dining area.  Our bartender, Kevin, was very cool.  He answered all the questions about the drinks and stayed late until we were done.  (We don't go out much)  My adventure of the night was the cilantro-jalapeno margarita.  If you love mojitos you gotta try this one.  My friend gagged after tasting it but she's not exotic like me.  Hahaha  Overall, nice atmosphere and good drink menu for a girls night out.
Review Source:Agave has a very similar interior feel to the previous occupant, Bluefish - a couple of (sparsely populated) aquariums, and mostly indirect blue lighting. Â It's an attractive, if not complicated space, with a bar in the front near the entrance, and a fair amount of seating stretching back past the kitchen to a slightly larger room in back.
The cocktail menu has more of an island/tiki tilt than you'd expect given the Agave name, which might incline you to expect a lot of variations on margaritas. Â When the drinks arrive, you'll discover again that they're tilted more in the tiki direction than the margarita one - most are served in enormous (16oz?) margarita bowls, and are much more fruity than boozy. Â The prickly pear margarita has more in common with a bowl of fruit juice than a cocktail, as did the classic house margarita (which isn't even on the menu), which was very sweet. Â Both use agave syrup as sweetener, and in my opinion an excess of it unless you're a real sweet tooth. Â The cilantro & jalapeno margarita was the closest to a classic margarita in flavor even though it was in another huge glass, and it had a great subtle kick on the finish. Â The tequila manhattan was disappointing - the vermouth flavor was almost completely missing in a drink that tasted nearly entirely of tequila. Â I was hoping for more balance.
The service is very friendly, and the menu full of tempting options, but food takes a long time to come out (there were only perhaps 8 other people in the restaurant, and we were 4). Â I'd basically finished my first drink by the time the appetizers arrived, and I was drinking pretty slowly. Â After the first course, the rest of the meal followed at a better pace.
The pear & arugula salad was quite nice - a good balance of greens and pear, with blue cheese and a great prickly pear vinaigrette which was wonderful.
The chorizo-stuffed jalapenos were, as forewarned, Very spicy - apparently the batches of peppers they've been getting lately have been very hot. Â That said, the balance of meat & pepper was great, with some nice melted cheese on top and a tasty pesto sauce.
My folks had the chorizo steamed clams, which they were very enthusiastic about.
My girlfriend had the ceviche, which we all agreed had too much cabbage in it (the existence of which seemed a bit odd to begin with). Â The chunks of fish and octopus were of great size and plentiful, but we also weren't fans of the clams, which didn't seem to blend as well.
For main courses, the wild boar chile verde was wonderful, though personally I would have liked a bit more verde with the meat.
The blackened ahi tuna was truly delicious, with a fabulous balance of interesting flavors, and very fresh fish.
The Anaheim chiles stuffed with chorizo and polenta, served with a red mole sauce were wonderful (though to be honest, I didn't notice the polenta). Â The red mole was sweet, rich, and flavorful, and the chorizo delicious in combination with the sweet pepper. Â It comes with a strongly spiced Spanish rice, and a cup of black beans.
Finally, for dessert, the Patron creme brulee with lime curd (which was more like lime curd-flavored whipped cream) was fantastic - a very good creme brulee, with a great boozy kick.
Overall, mostly good food, with some real standouts, great servers contrasted with what seems to be a slow kitchen, and a cocktail list that's strongly tilted towards people who don't like the taste of alcohol. Â Prices are on the higher side, but appropriate to the quality of the food (appetizers/small plates ~$10, entrees in the $20s).
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