The Signature

Last night we walked down to lower Queen Anne (LQA) to check out The Signature – the restaurant that replaced one of my favorites, Moxie. It’s super disappointing to have a great restaurant replaced by yet another Asian restaurant on Queen Anne, since that’s the majority of the cuisine there already.

The Signature was recently mentioned on a Queen Anne blog that I read as a new pho place. The menu included the usual small and large bowls of pho – but for $8, $9, respectively, which is a couple more bucks than the usual bowl of pho goes for. The wine was overpriced too – all glasses were $8. The menu included a long list of “small plates,” in addition to salads, signature dishes, pho, stir fries and grilled skewers. We eyed the short ribs made with a honey sauce, but opted for rare beef pho for Mike, a mango salad for me and chicken wings with a sweet chili sauce for an appetizer.


We thought the broth in the pho was super flavorful, despite the lack of sauces that were brought out to accompany it. (The best part, usually). The chicken wings were kinda just okay, and used only to slurp up the sweet chili sauce, which is kinda like whatever a highly addictive substance would be. Crack, perhaps. My mango salad was super pretty, but I was a little disappointed. For $9, it was a tiny bowl with only four small shrimps and a mango cut into matchsticks. Hardly very filling, but quite light and refreshing for a sunny night. Before I ordered it, I asked the waiter what the dressing was like, and he responded, “It doesn’t have one. It doesn’t need it though; it’s that good!” I thought, “Yeah right,” but was surprised that he was completely right – the herbs and seasonings were amazing. It was tasty; but it wasn't the size I expected for a dinner salad.

Final Verdict: Won’t go back. We felt the menu was overpriced, and while the food was good and the presentation even better, it didn’t stand out far enough ahead to warrant the price. Even if they’re shooting for a “classier” feel to the Asian restaurant options, lower Queen Anne really needs some inexpensive options. And with the abundant pho choices around, we’d rather opt for the inexpensive options such as $6 Pho Than Brothers, which is hard to beat.

Where: The Signature
530 1st Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 283-6614
Web site
Category: Vietnamese
Neighborhood: Queen Anne
Atmosphere: Casual classy
Price range: $8-$11
Service: Meh. It seemed like they were understaffed. Dishes were left lying on surrounding tables, but it could have been cause we were in the bar.
Cool features: Open till 2 a.m. with a new outdoor patio!