Brussels Sprouts, a baked potato--and dessert.

 A restaurant where one can order crispy brussels sprouts with choice of vinegarette  or spicy aioli mayo, baked potato or cheese bread and then go straight to dessert is RantWoman's kind of place. RantWoman actually opted for brussels sprouts and a fish sandwich and then was too full for dessert--THIS TIME.  Lots of things on the menu look tasty. Some of the mixed drink options look intriguing though RantWoman tends not to drink if mass transit is the way home. In any case thanks partly to food, partly to really friendly staff, RantWoman definitely plans to try to find a reason to go back to Sanford's at Northgate. 

Honestly, a fabulous pedestrian experience will not be something RantWoman can look forward to. Meaning no disrespect specifically to the restaurant, it is typical of many restaurants located in the middle of big shopping mall parking lots not designed for any form of walking except travel back and forth from a car, and even that only if one is okay with trying to move around among cars that might or might not be moving.

RantWoman did fine on Link to the Northgate station. Google maps turned out to be reasonable about location of the restaurant; it just was not reasonable about the walking route. There is a stoplight at the street crossing just north of the Light Rail, but it is very wide and registers with RantWoman as weird. The street crossing has a stoplight and painted markings but no tactile cues. RantWoman did not test whether the signal is audible. RantWoman just looked at the apparent traffic patterns and lack of tactile cues and opted to grab one of the buses around to the east side of the mall complex figuring that she always needs a walk anyway and that walking through acres of parking lot, most of it with little traffic seemed more pleasant than the one scary street crossing.

RantWoman was mostly safe in the parking lot experience but she did find herself griping near the Kraken complex about whether or not professional athletes who make a living at vigorous exercise might also like the opportunity to walk safely around, maybe even with more vegetation instead of a parking lot that seems to have several forms of construction going on. 

RantWoman does not use fancy wayfinding apps but was glad for one "ask a human" moment. 

Once RantWoman arrived at the restaurant, the holiday party was great. The staff was great. The food was great. And RantWoman was well fortified for the walk out to a bus stop to go home. Finding a way out of the parking lot to Northgate way was non-trivial, but once RantWoman caught a bus back to the Light Rail all was fine, well except for conversations that get a separate blog post about paratransit, why RantWoman does not use ride hailing, and why RantWoman is still crazy enough to try stuff that people with less residual vision don't even consider.