Once one of the more beloved restaurants of Tom Douglas’s empire, Etta’s is now solely the domain of tourists and Seattleites who want to treat out-of-towners to seafood but don’t want to put too much effort into doing so.

Douglas does know seafood, although oysters are hit-or-miss; we’ve had good fried versions, and some bad experiences, too. Most of the standard “Seattle” dishes—salmon, fish and chips, black cod, Dungeness crab cakes…zzzz…sorry, we must have drifted off—are at least competent. Venture beyond the familiar, though, and you’ll get inexpertly cooked fish and strangely dated riffs on Asian-fusion dishes, although some, like tuna tartare, are still right on the money. This is true even at brunch (the best meal for the money), where the corned beef hash and the Dungeness eggs Benedict are much better than a much-heralded but wildly disappointing and overcooked wild salmon with cornbread pudding and shiitake relish, or overpriced crab cakes, another house favorite, which are doughy and uninspired.

Speaking of Asian fusion, the mid-1990s are well represented in Etta’s dining room, with copper railings and weird orange, yellow, and pale green glass pendant lamps. The place definitely needs renovations, although most visitors won’t notice since the large windows nicely frame the spillover “bustle” of Pike Place Market.