Developers have been steadily dragging Belltown into Capitol Hill for years now, and Marjorie has come along for the ride, relocating in a new cookie-cutter condo building. If too many developers interpret “mixed-use space” as “characterless, cavernous box,” then Marjorie does the best it can to make its new home more homey, with cobalt walls and cookbooks piled willy-nilly on shelves above the partially open kitchen. It reminds us of one of Seattle’s mildly mod library branches.

A seasonal small-plates menu that tosses a bit of soul food into a Pacific Northwest m.o. always has a few high points, like a pile of plantain chips, expertly cooked cuttlefish with andouille sausage, or pretty much any pan-fried swimmer. Handmade pastas are more hit-or-miss, and often not worth the money.

That brings us to our main complaint about Marjorie: many of the plates are overpriced. Plantains should never cost this much in Seattle; we don’t care if they’re coated in powdered unicorn horn.

Although there are vague themes running through the menu, it oscillates a little too much between generic modern Northwest conceits and the brighter notes of the soul/island offerings—we’d gladly trade the grass-fed rib eye and pork belly for more of the stuff you don’t see elsewhere in town, like nairagi (striped marlin) in a pomegranate-molasses sauce.