Books And Records

The food was delicious! The service was excellent! I loved the ambiance! The live music Sunday morning at brunch was exactly what I needed! Well deserved 5 star restaurant.

This could be a great restaurant. I just can't get past how mediocre the food was. But that would not prompt me to write a review. I can eat practically anything, rusty nails, roadkill from I-8, I wouldn't get sick. But.The fried eggplants made me sick for 5 hours.And that's just not right. There should be some standards, even if the food is not 5 stars, it should decent.Service was five stars though.

What a great find! We had brunch here recently and it was spectacular! A few highlights:Smoked Salmon Latkes - latkes were delicious and a nice portion of high quality salmonTurkish eggs - perfectly poached eggs with a Greek yogurt base with chili crisp. Think more sour/savory delicious!Duck Benedict - shredded duck with a perfectly cooked egg and an amazing hollandaiseThe chef(s) knows what they are doing. Service was warm and friendly. .

Maybe it's the location, maybe its the space. I do feel that on this Friday night visit it was busy early. A lot of people when we got there too early for our reservation due to a fashion mixup on the place we were going for drinks. Next time bring long big boy pants for a visit after 4 at a "high" end restaurant in the area.Overall, we arrived 6:30 for a 7:30 reservation and the place is packed and no way to get in for dinner at our time. However, there were several parties who were there to have early drinks, light appetizers and were gone after a short time.7:30 on the dot we were seated. We were able to sit outside (bar table) and order drinks and fries to satiate our hunger :-). At dinner we ordered several items which were meant to be shared hot or cold appetizers, shareable items and finally entrees. Start with the Wagyu tartare, Yuzu-Cherry cured diver scallops along with Korean fried eggplant and Carbonara mac n cheese. Of these items, we enjoyed the mac and the raw scallops. We then ordered for entrees (shared still) littleneck clams and snake river trout. Clams were the favorite. Drinks incl non-alc "I Got Ube", CS Old fashoned and Purple rain, one member of the party is expecting and not drinking.Overall ambience (if you like busy) Fri 5:30-9:00 - hopping. Food - some favorites, other not so much. Service - quick and efficient and Company - excellent as always!

Came here Sunday night for my friend's birthday. Parking was actually a breeze. We parked directly around the corner and it was metered parking. I thought it would've been challenging on a weekend. We arrived 20min before our rsvp and were greeted by 2 friendly hosts. They allowed us to sit at the bar for happy hour until we could be sat for our rsvp. It was rather busy inside so it took a bit of time for the bartender to take our order which we didn't mind as we were not in a rush. We ordered the Mac n cheese + steak tartare and my friend got the Ube cocktail. I don't drink much anymore but had a sip of her drink and thought it was delicious, not too strong and the lemon twist complimented it perfectly. Never thought to pair lemon with Ube. By the time our apps arrived, we were told we could sit down in the dining room. It was very cutely decorated. The tables for 2 were a little smaller than I'd like so we waited to order more items. Our server was friendly and prompt and she kept our eaters full and frequently checked up on us + offered great recommendations. The Mac was my favorite and the breadcrumb topping was perfect! It was rich and indulgent without being too heavy. The steak tartare was also delicious although I didn't care for the bread that was served with it. I think it would've been best with some sort of chips like taro chips. I just felt the bread was a weird combo. We also ordered the trout and loved the pineapple with it. The way they cooked the skin crispy was perfect! Highly recommend, 10/10. We also enjoyed the carrot cake. Carrot is my favorite so I'm a bit picky. The server recommended it so we took her up on that! I loved the caramelization on top + cream cheese frosting. It had a deeper ginger flavor to it which I appreciated so if you love ginger, I think you really appreciate this cake.Will definitely come back to try more items and order that Mac once again!Thx for a great experience!

We've been to Books and Records twice now, once for weekend brunch and then last night for dinner. On both occasions, we were particularly impressed by the friendly, welcoming staff - from the hostesses to all of the waiters and servers. Special shoutouts to Francesca at brunch and Pasha at dinner, and to Kira at the host stand who made our night before we even stepped inside. We saw an eclectic mix of people, from couples to groups to families, some coming for the live music, some for the amazing food and some for the sense of community that is palpable. Brooke is an amazing chief of staff onsite ensuring that everyone has a memorable time, and showing appreciation for her clientele.The shared plate menu format encourages you to interact over food - not only by scooping off the plate in the middle of the table but by gawking at what other tables have ordered in order to make sure you don't miss out on something amazing. At brunch we were even talking with people around us about our food. We ended up ordering the short rib hash and the chicken and biscuit. I was a bit disappointed that the hash brown looked premade, but the meat and gravy were sweet and luscious. The chicken and biscuit was phenomenal, with tender chicken and crispy coating, and a lovely biscuit with miso butter and hot honey - really cool and sophisticated combination of flavors. Honestly, we could have ordered almost everything, but there were only 2 of us! At dinner, we started with shrimp aguachile and wagyu tartare, followed by Szechuan mushrooms and carbonara mac and cheese, Hawaiian marinated flat iron steak, and finally squid ink linguini and duck carnitas. Each dish was flavorful and artistically presented, with delicately layered flavors that kept us going back in for more. For dessert, the ginger carrot cake had a caramelized crunch on the outside, and the chocolate passion fruit tart with a dark berry coulis was a sight (and taste) to behold. The cocktail menu is also noteworthy. Each one is artfully crafted, both in just the right balance of flavors and in the presentation.The location is super convenient and easy to access. There is lots of street parking, so don't let the address discourage you from going. If you go once, chances are you'll want to go back, and who knows? Maybe we'll be sitting next to each other!

|Drinks Review|We were lucky enough to be able to walk-in on a Saturday night around 8pm for seats at the bar. As the name suggests, the inside ambiance is all about music and books. There was even a cool wall with a collage of paintings that feautured drawings of famous musicians eating food. In addition, we were treated to a live band that really brought a nice/chique touch to our visit. Our bartender was helpful throughout the night and we opted for the Purple Rain and the Tom Kha-llins. My gf enjoyed the Purple Rain, which is described as their version of a whiskey sour combined with their in-house ube syrup. But the drink of the night has got to be the Tom Kha-llins! It's a drink interpretation of the Thai Tom Kha dish + a Tom Collins. This is a must get! It's soooo nice and creamy and not too boozy at all. And they also add some drops of chili oil on top which actually adds this nice kick of heat after every sip. It gives a nice balance of sweet and savory. Do yourself a favor and get this drink now!

**Drinks Only**I was excited to pop into Books and Records after coming across them on Yelp. We were looking for a place to grab a drink or two where we can also find parking and this is the spot. They also had live music (Saturday night) when we were there!I started with the Purple Rain and wow. I loved it. It's a twist on a White Russian but with ube and lemon. Very unique and smooth. My boyfriend ordered the Tom Kha-llins and I had fomo for a sec before I tasted the Purple Rain. It's also amazing. It's complex and smooth and I felt like I was drinking soup but it wasn't soup. I'm still thinking about it. My second drink i couldn't decide on so I went off menu with a rec from the bartender, it was a black Manhattan. Can't remember his name but he said it was his favorite to make and to drink. I really enjoyed it! It was a great experience, everyone was friendly, and I will definitely be back.

I want to give this a better review. The food was really good--- ONCE it finally came out!!We were seated and it was at least 20 minutes before anyone came to our table. Ordered drinks which didn't come for another 20 minutes. First bites came out after 30 more minutes. Two of us were drinking the bottomless mimosas- had to go to the bar to ask for a refill. Super loud - could barely have a conversation. Finally, had to ask the manager where the food was? He apologized and sent out 3 small glasses of champagne. Mind you- we already were paying for bottomless mimosas so not exactly a treat!! Too bad, because the space is nice and the food was good

The New kid on the block, Books and Records in bankers Hill was good. A bit noisy the night we went due to the live jazz music and the young crowd, which was energizing & fun. We started with a couple of very good cocktails, loved the "Revolver" ( mezcal & tequila). Next we enjoyed some good appetizers ( tasty shrimp Aguachile, charred Broccollini, fried trumpet mushrooms & tender diver scallops) and for our main had the wild fungi pasta ( it was just ok, not great as it had too many oyster mushrooms & not enough variety) . The small Plates are the way to go & are the most fun shared so you can taste through the menu.