Maxwell’s Cafe

Terrible service for only having 3 tables to tend. There were 2 services! I got hosed w Thomas. Kid ‘working’ who didnt want to be there. It showed… as I never got water; had asked twice and finally found the other server and asked her for water. My refill of ice tea took 15 min… unbelievable!
Food looked awesome, but tasted bland! It didnt matter though… the service, actually lack of, ruined it for me.

Located in the Renaissance hotel this restaurant is in my opinion a big disappointment. I am only reviewing the breakfast buffet. Cost was a bit high given there were limited offerings. Fruit was turning color and dried out. Pastries with fruit toppings had fruit flies swarming around them. Serving spoons were crusted with food indicating that no one had spot cleaned the buffet. Wait staff started strong then disappeared. Here’s the clincher… they automatically added 20% tip! Prices are clearly inflated here due to high number of expense account guests. I will not eat here again.

Was pleasantly surprised with this restaurant. Located in the Renaissance Hotel it has a quiet vibe. The servers were well mannered and soft spoken. 20% gratuity is automatically added to the bill and luckily the service lived up to that. Very impressed with the food. The crab cakes were some of the best I’ve ever had. They came with a side of sweet potato fries. Great appetizer. For my entry I ordered the vegetarian lasagna. My dish came fresh from the oven. If I hadn’t been told it was meatless then I never would’ve guessed. Great use of squash, mushrooms and other veggies to make up for it. Sauce was on point too. The chocolate cake for dessert was a perfect topper to the meal. I probably never would’ve tried the restaurant if I wasn’t staying in the Renaissance, but I am glad I did. If I find myself there for another visit then… I’ll be back!

Really lovely breakfast, excellent service, but dinner is a disappointment. I cannot recommend this restaurant for evening, although the calm, quiet atmosphere is soothing.
Support staff remained excellent, (Chulee, at dinner, saved the day by being absolutely marvelous and professional) but the waitress on duty in the evening didn’t seem to take the job seriously. Perhaps short staffed due to nearly empty dining room? Waiting for her take dessert order we gave up and asked if we could order. Then we had another long wait for the coffee and cheese cake.
Breakfast buffet & individual breakfast items delicious. Corned beef hash especially good. Smoothie shots a nice touch. Service outstanding.
Salmon dinner was nice. Orange roasted chicken breast forgettable, hint of veggies in the veggie hash. Tacos light and pleasant.

Good food, but the reason why I give it 1 star because the service was utter crap. Our server Ken gave my table an attitude when we arrived and he took forever to give our check plus take our check in an empty restaurant. Ken do me and future guests a favor and do a better job with your service and attitude!

Excellent food. Michael was amazing as well. Very friendly and comfortable and on point with his timing.

Went to Maxwells for a Business Breakfast with several colleagues… Although very busy, the food was great and the service even better.
I ordered from the menu rather than the buffet… And was very happy that I made the choice to do so.

Maxwells — one great restaurant!
Today we were planning a last minute birthday lunch celebration for co-​workers in downtown Seattle. We needed a reservation for a party of 11 with about three hours notice. The O’Asian restaurant is now closed. McCormicks could not accommodate us at the lunch hour. We found Maxwells on the Renaissance Hotel website. Their website indicated they were perfect for large groups — and boy was that true. The hostess was extremely helpful and accommodating when I phoned. The table was ready and waiting, perfectly set, and our waiter (Mark) was amazing. He made us feel comfortable from the moment arrived, offered to do separate checks, and didn’t miss a beat through the meal. He asked if we were there for a special event and when he learned that several people were celebrating birthdays, he brought each a yummy chocolate dessert with a separate chilled bowl of ice cream. The desserts were large enough for the whole table to share. There was plenty of selection on the menu and our food was good and serving in a timely manner. Our whole experience was amazing and we had great time. Thanks for your superior service, Maxwells. We will spread the word to others in our department and building and definitely visit you again.

Stayed at Renaissance Seattle & went to this restaurant. Diego was great, he’s an asset to the place. Food was good.

I was staying at the hotel while in town on business. On several occasions at the end of the day I was just too tired to tackle the hills and go out to some place nearby. Going downstairs to the restaurant was convenient and ended up being an unexpected surprise.
I thought this place is fantastic! I ended up having dinner here 3 times during my 5 days day. I know there’s a lot of great restaurants in Seattle and I thought this one compares to those nearby. They have a fantastic menu for Vegetarians; there are many options with a nice variety. It’s much more creative that just a bunch of salads.
I had the Mezza plate, it was VERY good! I also had Quinoa & Garbanzo cakes– kind of like a Falafel and also very good. I had a butternut squash ravioli with spinach & pears in a gorgonzola sauce that was weirdly delicious. The chocolate lava cake was a tasty splurge to finish things off!
On the evenings that i went the place was pretty empty (I think it’s because no one knows it’s there), so wait staff was very attentive but not bothersome. If you’re staying at the hotel or even if you’re not you can have a nice yummy dinner in a nice quiet setting.

This was mediocre food at best especially for the price. Server stood so far away from our table very offish and then «couldn’t hear» what we were ordering. The fish and chips were not good. The service was horrible. We ordered fish and chips and got chicken fingers. Soda came wrong too.

We live in Seattle and have dined at Maxwell’s a few times. Each time the service was excellent; attentive without being intrusive. The food is always well prepared and nicely presented (your plate looks appetizing). The prices are quite reasonable (you do have to remember this is a hotel restaurant within a short walk of the downtown business district).
I had the breakfast buffet a couple of years ago and I thought it was quite good. It had a good selection of items to choose from and everything I had was fresh and well prepared.
We have also asked for items «to go» when we just wanted something good to take home (and not have to cook). Every time we have done that they have prepared us tasty fresh food to take out. Most recently I had breakfast in the café and ordered some takeout separately They prepared the takeout when we were ready for it so that it would be as fresh as possible.
The manager of this café should be proud of the food it provides and the excellent service the staff delivers!

A la carte breakfast. No buffet style service. Everything has to be ordered through the waiter.

This review is based strictly on the buffet. The service was 4 stars though.
I felt as if I got cheated with the selection that is offered in the buffet. It’s very very generic, and borderlines on being a ‘continental’ style buffet. There were not too many hot items — and sadly enough, the selection at the buffet at the café was a lot similar to the Club Lounge, maybe with 1 or 2 extra offerings.
Not really worth the price paid here.

Darn you Seattle for making me give out such great reviews! The teamwork between Robert and our killer bus boy, whose name eludes me, is for the ages.
We had a flight to catch and the hostess – no funny business, listed the entrees that could be prepared on the fly. Robert served us with grace, elegance, and confidence; however, he did it humbly and with a servants heart. He was knowledgeable and knew our needs before we did.
The food was fresh and with local ingredients. It finished clean and left me feeling content. The prices are fair and the coffee bottomless.
Thanks Maxwells.

I agree, good selection, fair price, good food. Above all convenient. I will visit again if or when I’m in town. Mark was instrumental in finding something fof my «I don’t like breakfast» Wife, she had cinnamon apple pancakes and said the apples were slivered and she would come more often if we lived closer.

Had the breakfast brunch with a couple friends staying here. We were staying about a mile away and drove our car into the Renaissance parking (Free for 2 hours if you validate with the buffet staff!) so that made it really awesome.
A good spread of breakfast food was available, hot and cold, not too huge so that you don’t get overwhelmed… and the service staff was very attentive to our needs.

I had breakfast here while staying at the hotel. I opted for one of my standard on the road gotos of lox and bagel.
The bagel itself was good and nicely toasted. There was certainly enough chopped egg and capers to go around, and the tomatoes were OK. But there were only three small thinly sliced salmon pieces on the plate (picture uploaded) and it was a bit off from a flavor perspective. C– for that.
Since there was only enough salmon to cover one of the two bagel slices, I left the other half bagel and condiments. This was an «$ 11» half lox and bagel, or adjusted, a $ 22 lox and bagel breakfast. That’s pricey.
Atmpsphere: B
Food: C–
Service: B
Price: D

We decided to eat in the hotel restaurant for breakfast today and boy, were we surprised by what a wonderful restaurant this is! Their buffet breakfast was absolutely perfect and included just about anything that you may desire. All the food we tried was great — even (or especially) the scrambled eggs. I never seem to care for «buffet» scrambled eggs, but these were super and very tasty. Breakfast included coffee, good juice, and even a small fruit smoothie drink to go along with their wonderful offerings –pancakes, french toast, sweet rolls, yogurt, sausage, bacon, fried potatoes with bell peppers and onions, lots of fresh fruit, and on and on. Didn’t try anything that wasn’t really tasty.
Also, our server, Robert, was as good as they get and was very helpful and attentive, as was the other staff in the restaurant.

I was at a recent conference at this hotel (staying elsewhere — so cannot comment on the accommodations) and ate at Maxwell’s on 3 occasions as I didn’t have a lot of time to venture further for lunch options.
1^st time (late breakfast) — Eggs benedict — for a hotel café, this was quite good, not the greatest but it was exactly what I wanted that morning and was tasty but a tad over priced. My dining companion had the breakfast buffet which I did inspect. Not a wide variety of items and they did not appear to be refreshed very often so if you get there late something may have sat a bit too long in the warmers. My friend enjoyed what he had however. (I think the waiter mentioned that they had an omelet station too.) Waiter was VERY nice and appropriately attentive.
2^nd time (lunch) — Onion soup — the soup was very good as was the complimentary bread it was served with. The service was not good however. My waitress was either nowhere to be found or hovering. The place was not crowded and no reason why the 3 – 4 tables of people in my section could not have been properly seen too.
3^rd time (lunch) — club sandwich & fries — luck would have it, got the same waitress as my 2^nd experience. She was a little better this time, but even though I let her know I was on a tight schedule and needed to get my sandwich before my 2 dining companions got their food (they ordered hot dishes that took longer), my food still took forever to come out and I had to get it to-​go and abandon my friends with their meals. The club sandwich and fries however were very tasty. I got to enjoy ½ the sandwich and fries up in the meeting rooms while waiting for the next session to begin — and the other ½ was a nice late morning snack the next day (my hotel had a fridge in the room YAY).
If you are staying in the hotel and need a place to eat, this will do and all the food I had was good but nothing overly special. Just plan accordingly for spotty service and don’t go if you are looking for a quick bite and run.