Medin’s Ravioli Station is situated in the converted warehouse district between Ballard and Fremont. In plain site but hidden from view it is easy to pass by this yellow building with its tinted windows.

And the windows are tinted for a reason, the afternoon sun shines in brightly even in these waning days of summer. The slightly industrial interior would soon get too warm to stand (especially after a couple of glasses of wine) were it not for this tinted protection. I arrived early; only one other table was seated when I walked in. This may have been a mistake because, while the service was friendly, it was definitely distracted. But it soon settled out and I was able to place my order.

The Four Cheese Ravioli ($9.95) is what I ordered and what arrived was a multi-colored array of pasta pillows filled with ricotta, mozzarella, provolone and Parmesan cheeses. This may sound like a good combination but unless you eat quickly the cheese will set and seize up on you making the gooey goodness of cheese more like little bricks. Medin’s is called the Ravioli Station and as such offers a variety of pastas and to complement, sauces to adorn your selection. I choose the Roasted Red Pepper, which seemed suspiciously like marinara, marinara soup that is. With very little substance to it and overly oily the sauce was a disappointment. While I expected the rich roasted flavor of a pepper all I got was a slightly garlicky soup reminiscent of bland tomato sauce then red pepper. And then there was the “drizzles”. As if busy were the way to make a sauce appealing, I ended up with crisscrossed lines of pesto sauce and what can only be described as carrot and squash reductions. This dish had everything going on with it; I think I even tasted nutmeg!

Unfortunately Medin’s tries too hard to compensate for lack of vision in its entrees. Bland ravioli cannot be saved with weird out of place sauce splashes. You have great wait staff, an interesting building but you need to focus on making quality food that stands up to the tastes of your clientele.