Dining Out in Seattle Hulking tamales, noteworthy nicoise, and crispy Buffalo chicken karaage to seek out this season If you book a reservation through an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy. “Where should I eat in Seattle?” Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a lifer, that question is seemingly simple but the answers are infinitely complex. Some of the main factors to consider are the type of food, price point, neighborhood, and occasion. That’s why Eater’s map of the 38 best restaurants in Seattle exists. This curated list of suggestions attempts to capture the diversity of the food scene in the Seattle metro area, from English pubs serving cumin-y lamb neck meat pies to Indian street food takeout spots, from classic French bistros to modern sushi bars, and so much more. Every place on the list has been open for at least six months, proving its merit. Like many menus, this map updates every quarter — removal from the Eater 38 doesn’t mean a restaurant isn’t still awesome and won’t return in the future. New to the map as of August 2026: unassuming neighborhood gem Three Sacks Full; seafood-focused French bistro L’Oursin; and La Cabaña, where you can find some of the city’s best pupusas. Discover your next favorite Seattle restaurant, create your own maps, and trade notes with fellow diners in the Eater app for iOS . A note on pricing: $ means entrees are mostly under $10, a $$ means entrees are mostly under $20, $$$ means under $30, and $$$$ means entrees are more expensive than that, or it is primarily a tasting menu restaurant. (Prices are always subject to change.) If your favorite isn’t on here, email seattle@eater.com . For the newest places that food obsessives are flocking to, check out the Eater Seattle Heatmap , updated monthly. For all the latest Seattle dining intel, subscribe to Eater Seattle’s newsletter. More maps in Eater Seattle Dining Out in Seattle Hulking tamales, noteworthy nicoise, and crispy Buffalo chicken karaage to seek out this season If you book a reservation through an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy. “Where should I eat in Seattle?” Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a lifer, that question is seemingly simple but the answers are infinitely complex. Some of the main factors to consider are the type of food, price point, neighborhood, and occasion. That’s why Eater’s map of the 38 best restaurants in Seattle exists. This curated list of suggestions attempts to capture the diversity of the food scene in the Seattle metro area, from English pubs serving cumin-y lamb neck meat pies to Indian street food takeout spots, from classic French bistros to modern sushi bars, and so much more. Every place on the list has been open for at least six months, proving its merit. Like many menus, this map updates every quarter — removal from the Eater 38 doesn’t mean a restaurant isn’t still awesome and won’t return in the future. New to the map as of August 2026: unassuming neighborhood gem Three Sacks Full; seafood-focused French bistro L’Oursin; and La Cabaña, where you can find some of the city’s best pupusas. Discover your next favorite Seattle restaurant, create your own maps, and trade notes with fellow diners in the Eater app for iOS . A note on pricing: $ means entrees are mostly under $10, a $$ means entrees are mostly under $20, $$$ means under $30, and $$$$ means entrees are more expensive than that, or it is primarily a tasting menu restaurant. (Prices are always subject to change.) If your favorite isn’t on here, email seattle@eater.com . For the newest places that food obsessives are flocking to, check out the Eater Seattle Heatmap , updated monthly. For all the latest Seattle dining intel, subscribe to Eater Seattle’s newsletter. Open for: Lunch and dinner, every day but Sunday Price range: $$ After five years as a food truck, El Cabrito became a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Burien’s Ambaum Boulevard in 2019, with a few seats indoors and some covered tables on a back patio. Owner Leticia Sánchez started making moles with her grandmother in Oaxaca when she was five years old, and the years of experience show in dishes like the expertly balanced mole coloradito that pools around pork enchiladas and the molotes (fried masa dumplings filled with potato and chorizo) drowned in smoky morita pepper and avocado salsas, all presented on brightly hued ceramics. El Cabrito also serves specials like rockfish ceviche, tamales, and blue crab empanadas. Good for: Takeout anytime. 14631 Ambaum Blvd SW, Burien, WA, 98166, US Open for: Dinner, Wednesdays through Saturdays (reservations strongly recommended) Price range: $$$ Former Canlis chef Brady Williams struck out on his own with this playful fine dining-ish restaurant in an unlikely location: a former adult video store in White Center. We say fine dining- ish because it’s moved away from its initial tasting menu model and went a la carte in 2023. But whatever the format, Williams blends local ingredients with Japanese techniques — think rigatoni with pork ragu spice with the Japanese pepper sansho. It’s extremely approachable stuff too, with steam burgers and fried chicken on the menu alongside Washington State uni. Way more fun than an adult video store. Good for: Fancy-ish dinner for fine dining skeptics. 9811 16th Ave SW, Seattle, WA, 98106, US Open for: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, brunch on the weekends Price range: $$$ Good Voyage is a charmingly downtrodden slice of Paris plopped improbably in the middle of South Park. In the mornings, it serves delicate seasonal galettes and coffee on vintage plateware; in the evenings, it goes into bistro mode, with a menu starring ducks butchered in the tiny back kitchen. The duck breast might be the best in the city — the skin crackles with tension, the flesh is tender and juicy, and the jus served alongside it is perfect for dipping fresh-cut fries. But the food is only part of the charm here; everything from the vintage floral lampshades to the welcoming service seems designed to make you feel like you’re someplace special. And you know what? You are. Perfect for: A date night with someone who loves French food. 8520 14th Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98108, US Open for: Dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Reservations recommended. Price range: $$$$ This Georgetown nook is one of those rare places that manages to feel both comfortable and special, thanks to warm service, an easy, romantic atmosphere, and focaccia so cloud-like you could use it as a pillow. Northern Italian classics are executed faithfully and with finesse; on a recent visit, the osso bucco was meltingly tender, an earthy mushroom risotto the platonic ideal of al dente, and the pasta to Bolognese ratio perfectly calibrated to ensure optimal sauce coverage of noodle surface area. The eight(ish) course, $150 per person Nonnakase menu, eaten at the bar top, is an opportunity to let the kitchen flex its ample creative muscles. Best for: A cozy date night. Bathroom selfies. 1210 S Bailey St, Seattle, WA, 98108, US Delish Ethiopian Cuisine Open for: Dinner, every day of the week but Tuesday. Price range: $$ Delish Ethiopian Cuisine has a bar area and a comfortable atmosphere in which husband and wife Delish Lemma and Amy Abera of Addis Ababa share recipes passed down from Abera’s mother and grandmother. Run the meat-free section of the menu with the 10-item veggie combo or try succulent beef tibs pan-fried in garlic, butter, onion, and berbere spice. Delish also offers an Ethiopian coffee ceremony for five or more diners. Good for: An introduction to Seattle’s thriving Ethiopian food scene . Order delivery from Grubhub 5701 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98118, US Corson Building Open for: Dinner Thursdays through Sundays (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$$ Few restaurants in Seattle transport you out of your everyday life the way the Corson Building does. Part of that is the setting — it’s an old stone cottage sparsely but elegantly decorated, with a garden and large patio that’s heated in colder months. You could be in New Orleans, you could be on a past-its-prime Italian estate; you’re definitely not in Seattle. The food from co-owner Emily Crawford Dann lives up to the surroundings. The ever-changing menu (mostly prix fixe, though you can get a la carte meals here on Thursdays) highlights seasonal vegetables while always having enough meat to satisfy carnivores. Main courses like scallops in brown butter and walnut sauce are sensational, but you can also trust the Corson Building to create unique, perfectly balanced salads. Come here if you love to be surprised and delighted. Good for: Romantic evenings. 5609 Corson Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98108, US Open for: Lunch and dinner At 40, this civic institution is keeping the memory of a pre-tech boom Seattle alive with jovial, neighborhood dive vibes and $4 beers. Come for the glossy, sweet-and-salty fish sauce wings and a balanced banh mi (add fluffy scrambled egg for $1.50), stay for the pool tables and kind service. This is a spot equally suited to a quick lunch as it is a rowdy birthday party, and while the pool tables get claimed quickly on weekends, it’s usually not hard to find a table for eating. Know before you go: Despite its stellar kitchen, this spot is, at its core, a pool hall and dive bar, so 21-plus only. 3220 S Hudson St, Seattle, WA, 98118, US Open for: Dinner Thursdays through Sundays. No single restaurant can please everyone; at Off Alley, a 14-seat, brick-walled restaurant in Columbia City, chef Evan Leichtling embraces that truth. You don’t always find a meticulously seasonal chef’s-choice cooking style and a hand-written list of cool natural wines paired with punk music and attitude, but that approach is working here. The menu changes daily, so check the website to see what you might encounter, from juicy smoked mussels with celery on sourdough and whole quail with nettles in a cream sauce to salt cod with squid ink rice and a burning-hot Scotch bonnet ice cream. It recently scored a two-star review from the New York Times , so chances are, it’s now an even tougher table. Know before you go: In 2025, Off Alley became one of the few Seattle restaurants to institute “flat pricing,” meaning there’s no tipping or service charges; the prices you see on the menu reflect what your final bill will be. 4903 1/2 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98118, US Lil Red Takeout & Catering Open for: Lunch and dinner Thursdays through Sundays. Seattle doesn’t have its own “style” of barbecue, and this famed takeout spot from Erasto “Red” Jackson mixes up all kinds of regional influences . The ribs here are cooked with a Carolina-style vinegar sauce and can be topped with a tomato-based barbecue sauce, a la Kansas City, or jerk sauce. The sides are mostly soul food standards but notably include the kind of sweet, melt-in-your-mouth plantains that are annoyingly hard to find in Seattle and a mac and cheese that is unexpectedly smoky and peppery. Thank Red’s wife, Lelieth Jackson, for putting all the Jamaican notes on the menu. We’re not sure who to thank for the lumpia, but who says no to lumpia? Good for: Family takeout night. 4225 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98118, US Open for: Dinner seven days a week. Price range: $$ In 2024, the burgers at this newly opened Beacon Hill Guamanian restaurant went viral , and for good reason. With miso providing a hint of umami and onions lending a sharpness to the bite, these are smashburgers assembled with care. But that same care infuses the rest of the menu overseen by industry vet Elmer Dulla. The rosary soup with corn and chicken is satisfyingly deep and creamy, the tostada with shrimp and octopus is light and pairs nicely with a coconut sauce, and the banana bread with latiya (a custard-like dessert) is a sleeper hit. Order everything. Know before you go: Familyfriend has no website, no phone number, and doesn’t take reservations. Prepare to deal with a waitlist on weekends. 3315 Beacon Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98144, US Open for: Dinner Tuesdays through Sundays. Price range: $$$ This chill Beacon Hill Mediterranean spot is named after a dog but it could just as well be named after the Greek poet because we want to write epics about its wood-fired vegetables. Or it could be named after the Simpsons character, because the “d’oh” it uses for its pitas is fantastic! Sorry, sorry, but these are some of the best pitas in the city, pillowy and fresly baked. The menu constantly changes, but you can expect a wide range of dishes that draw on Mediterranean cooking tradition with a flair for condiments — cured ham XO sauce, fish sauce caramel, harissa butter... you get the idea. Better get extra pita to sop it all up. Know before you go: Except for large parties, Homer is walk-in only, so prepare to have to go someplace else for a drink while you wait for a spot to open. This is no great sacrifice, as Homer is surrounded by great bars, including its sister restaurant, Milk Drunk . 3013 Beacon Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98144, US Open for: Dinner seven days a week (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$ Since opening in early 2020, Beacon Hill’s innovative Filipino restaurant from star chef Melissa Miranda has developed a dynamic menu with items such as succulent short rib kare-kare, smoked oysters, and beef tartare with a tart calamansi sauce. The menu rotates seasonally but always features lots of gluten-free and vegan dishes. Bring a group and sample as much as possible, because Musang is the kind of place where unexpected items can be showstoppers — on one recent visit a side of greens and mushrooms soaked in umami-rich adobo was the best thing we ate. Vibe check: For a big-deal restaurant, Musang is refreshingly unpretentious and welcoming, we’d even say “chill.” 2524 Beacon Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98144, US Open for: Lunch and dinner every day but Wednesdays. Price range: $$ The Pham sisters behind the Pho Bac family of restaurants don’t overcomplicate things, so when they opened this place across the parking lot from the original Pho Bac Sup Shop, they kept the menu minimalist. It features fried chicken with broth, rice, or dry egg noodles and pandan and banana waffles. Trust us, you don’t need anything else, not when the chicken is this aromatic from garlic and fish sauce or when the waffles come with a fluffy, coconut-and-egg-whites dipping sauce. Combine it with cocktails, and there’s no better brunch in Seattle. If you drive: It’s tough getting parking here — only the very fortunate can find a spot actually in the Pho Bac lot. 1314 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA, 98144, US Open for: Dinner every night. Price range: $$$ L’Oursin is your favorite chef’s favorite restaurant. A modern, playful take on bistro food that highlights local seafood, a stellar wine list, an immaculate vibe that feels like a slice of old-school Seattle, and the rare fact that it’s open on Mondays and Tuesdays has made for a loyal base of industry regulars over the years. The nicoise, with melt-in-your-mouth raw albacore loin, tiny peeled cherry tomatoes, a jammy quail egg, and silky tonnato, is a perfect example of the restaurant’s technically rigorous but unpretentious take on French cuisine. Visit the sister cafe next door, Bar Bayonne , for a more casual lunch or happy hour. Perfect for: Dinner at the bar. 1315 E Jefferson St, Seattle, WA, 98122, US Open for: Lunch Tuesdays through Sundays. Price range: $$ If you want to impress the tourists you (inevitably) have to take to Pike Place Market, skip the fish-throwers and overcrowded waterfront view joints, cross the street, and take them to this restaurant inside a grocery store. The salmon collar sinigang and succulent longganisa have made this place into an American classic. Literally, the James Beard Foundation gave Oriental Mart an America’s Classics award in 2020 , and you can see why — sitting here eating adobo dishes makes you part of a long lineage of people of all classes, creeds, and colors who have eaten adobo dishes at this stainless steel lunch counter. While you ponder this, you can look at the handwritten signs cluttering the kitchen. One of them reads, “WIFI PASSWORD: TALK TO EACH OTHER” Know before you go: “O Mart” is open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. or until the sisters who run it are out of food — which can happen on busy days. 1506 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA, 98101, US 18 Restaurants and Bars Where You Can Enjoy Seattle’s Spectacular Views 16 Good Reasons to Go Eat in Ballard The Best New Restaurants in the Seattle Area Communion Restaurant & Bar Open for: Dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$ Chef Kristi Brown — who made her name running the catering operation That Brown Girl Cooks — calls the food at her Central District restaurant “Seattle Soul.” At Communion, fusions like the Hood Sushi Bowl featuring fried catfish and seaweed salad come from Brown’s memories of shopping at Asian markets in the neighboring Chinatown-International District. But the dishes that shine brightest are her more traditional Southern ones, like the fried chicken served with jerk ranch or the hoecakes, a cornmeal pancake rarely seen in Seattle. Know before you go: It’s hard to get a seat at this Eater Award-winner in the renovated Liberty Bank Building. Walk-in guests who show up right when the restaurant opens on a weekday might be able to get a spot. 2350 E Union St, Seattle, WA, 98122, US Open for: Lunch and dinner every day but Tuesday Price range: $$ This little counter inside Melrose Market (a 2024 Eater Award winner ) feels like a pocket universe. The food takes inspiration from all over the Arab world as well as whatever vegetables are in season; there’s always hummus and lamb on the menu, always a few dishes featuring something pickled and bright. The globe-trotting wine list is curated by Cantina Sauvage , a bottle shop that shares the space. The vibe is effortlessly hip, a place where travelers from all over the world can blow in and snack on bread with whipped nettle butter or halloumi in a lightly sweet quince dressing . Or just get a glass of something and hang — there are few better spaces in Seattle to pass time. If you drive: Parking in this part of Capitol Hill is hit or miss. Consider public transportation. 1531 Melrose Ave, Seattle, WA, 98122, US Open for: Dinner Wednesday through Sunday There’s no Vietnamese restaurant in Seattle like Ramie. Instead of bread service, you get banh tieu, a hollow bread served with a subtly sweet butter that tastes of caramel. Instead of traditional escargot, you get woodsy snail-pork sausage stuffed back into snail shells and surrounded by a pool of green goddess-esque sauce. For a starter, how about an herbal, slightly umami egg custard served in an egg shell? Owners Trinh and Thai Nguyen also own Ba Sa , an upscale Bainbridge Island restaurant that still serves familiar dishes like banh mi and pho. Dinner at Ramie is for people who are a little tired of those standards and want to see a more ambitious side of Vietnamese cuisine. And you want to come here for dinner. Must-try dish: You can skip dessert at some restaurants, but not Ramie. Trinh Nguyen’s desserts are every bit as impressive as the savory side of the menu. Even something as simply named as a “fruit cup” is worth ordering — the dish in question was meringue and fruit shrouded in a delicate, see-through green “veil” made from jackfruit. 1529 14th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98122 Open for: Dinner seven days a week (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$$ More than 10 years in, this romantic trattoria on Capitol Hill continues to entrance diners with food from Italy’s Piedmont region. The nest of delicate tajarin pasta with butter and sage sauce is a Seattle mainstay, but every dish from chef Stuart Lane is memorable. After a satisfying dinner at Spinasse, head to next-door sibling bar Artusi for a digestif and dessert, or stop by the bar another night for snacks like beef tongue with salsa tonnata (tuna sauce) and burrata with pomegranate seeds and toasted pistachios.

Know before you go: The house specialty is fresh pasta made with egg yolk and the entrees are typically meat — find someplace else to go if you’re vegan. Book a table on OpenTable 1531 14th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98122, US Open for: Dinner Wednesday through Sunday, lunch on the weekends Price range: $$$$ Owner Jhonny Reyes can trace his culinary background to Seattle’s most famous French chef, Thierry Rautureau, whom he worked for at the bistro Luc. But the food at Lenox draws from Reyes’s Nuyorican heritage — rich, crispy lechon crackling with fat and paired with slightly bitter greens braised in coconut milk until they’re soft and decadent; sweet plantains served with a bright chimichurri sauce. Since Lenox opened in 2024, it’s rapidly become the standard-bearer for Afro-Caribbean food in Seattle, and one of the most stylish, happening restaurants in all of downtown. Must order: The Tres Hermanas salad features corn, beans, and squash in a green goddess dressing, but the star is the lightly pickled tomatoes, which are sharp and just a little bit sweet. 2510 1st Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98121 Ltd Edition Sushi Open for: Dinner Mondays through Fridays (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$$ This tiny omakase place on Capitol Hill first achieved fame for being so good it made the Seattle Times restaurant critic tear up . But you’re more likely to be laughing than crying at Keiji Tsukasaki’s counter. The former DJ cheerfully ditches the air of mystique some highly skilled sushi chefs seem to cultivate. He’ll tell you which sake to drink with which course (and refill your glass with a heavy hand), all while abso-fucking-lutely wowing you with his food. The menu changes with the seasons but past highlights include sea snails served in their shells, toro topped with mushrooms for added depth of flavor, and a monkfish liver so rich and velvety it’s literally a dessert course. Know before you go: There are tables here, but you really should try to sit at the counter to get the chef Keiji experience. 1641 Nagle Pl, Seattle, WA, 98122, US Open for: Dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$$ Behind a relatively anonymous new-build door on a busy stretch of Madison, chef Aaron Tekulve and his team are doing exceptional things. This two tasting menu spot should be on every fine dining fan’s radar, not just for the impeccable service — a meal comes with a welcome sangria at the door, a poem written to celebrate the menu, even a bouquet made by Tekulve’s mom — but for the inventive food. The menu shifts constantly based on the seasons and turns over completely every several weeks, but past highlights have include a porcini macaron and fantastically tender octopus cooked with bay leaf and splashed with fish sauce. Sitting at the chef’s counter really makes you feel like you’re at a dinner party hosted by an incredibly thoughtful, inclusive host (there are vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian versions of the tasting menu). Good for: A big-deal celebratory dinner. 2319 E Madison St, Seattle, WA, 98112, US Open for: Lunch and dinner on weekdays, dinner only on Saturdays (closed Sundays) Price range: $$$ In 2024, Bill Jeong’s Korean restaurant moved its operation to a sleek South Lake Union space where many of the dishes are cooked on an open wood fire. It’s austere and a little showy, but this is special-occasion food. Paju is a steakhouse in all but name — two of the three entrees are steaks, and the rest of the menu orbits around them. The edges of the meat are juicy and crackling with tension; cooked over that wood, some pieces are bound to be rare while the bits on the end have a flavorful char. Don’t hesitate to dip your steak in the ssamjang aioli, which is not so spicy it overwhelms the meat. Must-try dish: You’ve seen the fried rice, right? Paju’s most Instagrammable dish gets its charcoal-black color from squid ink and is topped with a cheeky, yellow smoked quail’s egg. The bacon and kimchi are less visible, but once you mix it all together, you have something sticky and a little smoky, even earthy an ideal side dish. Order delivery from Grubhub 513 Westlake Ave N, Seattle, WA, 98109, US Open for: Lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays Price range: $$ When Taurus Ox opened in 2019 , Laotian cuisine was a rarity in Seattle, so thank owners Khampaeng Panyathong and Jenessa Sneva for introducing the city to dishes like thom khem (caramelized pork belly) and chicken laab (a salad with minced chicken). Don’t miss the Lao pork sausage, fragrant with lemongrass and lime leaf, or the jaew, a tomato-y, somewhat spicy sauce comparable to salsa or chutney. For another rare treat, pair it with a locally made sato, or Laotian rice wine, from Village Ghost. Best for: A casual lunch or dinner. Order delivery from Grubhub 903 19th Ave E, Seattle, WA, 98112, US Open for: Dinner every night of the week Price range: $$$ The dream of the ’90s is alive in Cafe Lago. The neon sign, the white tablecloths, and the sign with the wAcKy font all scream “Clinton Administration.” The stars of the menu are static as well, even though Cafe Lago recently recruited Lauren Thompson of Cafe Juanita to be its executive chef. The lasagna is still a marvel of engineering, layers upon layers of pasta adding up to a surprisingly light bite. It claims to have served the first wood-fired pizza in Seattle when it opened in 1990 and it is still among the best: a well-baked but still tender crust hosting toppings that range from simple margherita to seasonal stone fruit with goat cheese, basil, and ’nduja — a sweet, funky, and spicy combination. The service here is what you want every neighborhood Italian restaurant to be: They’ll put out crayons and paper tablecloths for young kids, and let you know when they’re running low on lasagna so you can put in an order. Best for: Family-centric celebrations, like birthdays or high school graduations. 2305 24th Ave E, Seattle, WA, 98112, US Open for: Dinner Mondays to Fridays (reservations strongly encouraged). Price range: $$$$ Canlis is the most famous restaurant in Seattle, and maybe the most important. It’s what people think fine dining is supposed to be: valet parking, a panoramic view over Lake Union, servers appearing at your elbow with elegantly cured carafes of wine. The words amuse bouche will come up. You’ll spend an entire evening inhabiting the world of people who go to restaurants like these, a world that somehow now includes you. Canlis has such clout that its website dares to tell notoriously casual Seattleites, “We’re a very dressy restaurant. We recommend a suit or sport coat for men, and ask that no T-shirts, shorts, hats, or casual attire of any kind be worn.” Canlis just went through a major transition , with longtime employee James Huffman taking over in the kitchen from celebrated chef Aisha Ibrahim, but Canlis remains Canlis . Good for: The first fine dining experience of your life. 2576 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA, 98109, US Open for: Dinner seven days a week. Price range: $$$ Over the last decade and a half, chefs Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi have built Joule into one of Seattle’s most respected Korean restaurants, and the tight, seasonal menu routinely has intriguing items like kung pao squash and Muscovy duck. But if you come here you’re probably getting the kalbi short rib steak. Tender, adorned with a slightly sweet marinade, served on a bed of grilled kimchi — this is one of Seattle’s best steaks, and somehow it’s still under $40. Don’t forget to look at the creative cocktail menu. If you drive: Dining at Joule is relaxing, finding street parking on Stone Way is not. There are nearby lots, however. 3506 Stone Way North, Seattle, Washington 98103, United States Open for: Lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays, lunch only on Sundays (closed Monday). Price range: $$ Victor Steinbrueck’s counter-serve restaurant feels like the natural evolution of casual seafood joints like Ivar’s. The vibe is casual, and the dishes are familiar: smashburgers, crab rolls, clam chowder, salmon teriyaki, banh mi with rockfish. But everything is just a little better than it needs to be — like, that banh mi is loaded with herbs and vegetables, and the shrimp toast is buttery and light. Incredibly, nearly everything on the menu is under $20, making it maybe the last legitimate bargain in Fremont. Know before you go: On weekends, the lines are long, and parking is scarce. The move is to show up for a weekday lunch. 401 N 36th St, Seattle, WA, 98103, US Open for: Dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$ Star chef Mutsuko Soma makes soba from scratch at this petite Fremont destination, which was one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America in 2018 . Soma serves traditional soba shop dishes like seiro soba (cold with dipping sauce) and super-crunchy tempura, but also more creative dishes like noodles topped with tri tips or Oreo tempura. Chef Soma is a sake connoisseur (she also owns the next-door sake bar Hannyatou ) and the drinks menu includes items like habanero-infused umeshi (plum wine), which is an order for the brave. Know before you go: It’s a small dining room with a lot of tables, which is a fun, intimate setting, but also not the best place if you want some privacy. 1054 N 39th St, Seattle, WA, 98103, US The Wayland Mill Open for: Breakfast and lunch seven days a week, and dinner Wednesday through Saturday. Price range: $$ This all-day cafe and restaurant in the sleepy North Lake neighborhood is inspired by yoshoku, a Japanese term for food that borrows from Western cuisines. Owner Yasuaki Saito (who also owns nearby Saint Bread and Tivoli ), combines yoshoku with his upbringing in St. Louis, resulting in American versions of Japanese versions of American food. So you get deeply umami miso-chasu gravy poured over flaky biscuits for breakfast, a “Saint Paul sando” (tamago omelet and egg foo yong-adjacent slaw served on milk bread) for lunch, and moreish Buffalo chicken karaage for dinner. This is all pulled off surprisingly effortlessly; the Wayland Mill is the kind of place that can accommodate a casual coffee hang, a date night dinner, a board game meet-up, or anything in between. Must-try dish: If it’s available, get the peanut butter chocolate icebox pie, an incredibly airy, delicate dessert that you could get away with calling a brunch dish. 3800 Latona Ave NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, US Open for: Dinner Wednesdays through Sundays (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$ Chef Berk Güldal and Katrina Schult worked at literally the best restaurants in the country (Single Thread, the French Laundry, Eleven Madison Park) before hosting pop-ups at Fair Isle Brewing, where they made their reputation roasting entire lambs over a wood fire. So when the couple opened their brick-and-mortar in Frelard in 2022, it immediately became a buzzed-about dinner destination. The restaurant they’ve created is dark and theatrical, with a long chef’s counter facing the open kitchen, where you can watch Güldal cooking meat over an open flame. Lamb is still the star of the show: The kebap — an upscale version of the kebab everyone knows — is fatty and luxurious, and the lamb ribs are crunchy on the outside and somehow creamy on the inside. Not that Hamdi only caters to carnivores: The roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce and a sunflower seed dukkah is one of the most decadent gluten-free and vegan dishes in the whole city. Best for: Special occasions; don’t come here with a date unless you’re sure you like them. 4012 Leary Way NW, Seattle, WA, 98107, US Open for: Dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays (reservations strongly recommended). Price range: $$$$ In 2023, Johnny and Sarah Courtney took over the Wallingford house that used to be home to feted organic restaurant Tilth, and immediately started building their own legacy. (It was a 2025 James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant, and Johnny is up for a Beard in the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific for 2026 .) The menu rotates with the seasons, but you’re bound to find a lot of unexpected twists on what’s become known as “PNW cuisine.” The radish cake topped with delicate slices of geoduck, for instance, is a sophisticated and unexpected way to serve the Northwest’s most famous bivalve. The baked Alaska is maybe the best showcase of the team’s talents: It takes ingredients like corn silk or cheddar and somehow manages to combine those flavors into something beautiful. Must-try dish: The savory rosette cookies with cheese and onion jam are so famous that the New York Times wrote about them. If you come here, you might as well order them and see what the fuss is about. 1411 N 45th St, Seattle, WA, 98103, US The Little Beast Ballard Open for: Dinner Thursday through Saturday and “Sunday roast” on Sunday. Price range: $$$$ Kevin Smith’s latest restaurant is at once a traditional English pub, a steakhouse, and (when the restaurant is closed) a production facility for his celebrated butcher shop, Beast and Cleaver . Maybe most importantly, it sells the best meat pies in Seattle — thick, buttery, hot-water crust pastry shells surrounding tender, fatty, cumin-y lamb neck korma. That’s a must-order for first-timers; return visitors can explore all the creative ways the team here uses meat, from bone marrow parsley salad to Scotch eggs to a menu item literally called “pig face.” Pay attention to the chalkboard at the back where the daily steak specials are written — they break down whole cows here, meaning there are often rare cuts of meat available. Know before you go: We named Little Beast Seattle’s Best New Restaurant in 2025 , and we weren’t the only ones singing its praises. As a result of all that buzz, reservations are very difficult to snag — but the long bar is always walk-in-only. 5107 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA, 98107, US Open for: Dinner only on Tuesdays, lunch and dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays (hours vary by location). Spice Waala, which has opened three locations since starting as a pop-up in 2018, deserves to be in the pantheon of affordable Seattle takeout options alongside Dick’s and teriyaki . The chutneys are sweet and spicy and bursting with life — you can dip fries in them, get them alongside an aloo tikki (a potato patty) or papdi (crackers). The kathi rolls are similarly excellent whether you’re getting one with paneer (a cottage cheese–like cheese), lamb, or chicken tikka. At this point we’ve just like, listed the entire menu and told you it’s good? But it is incredible . The seasonal soft serve — with rotating flavors inspired by Indian cuisine — deserves a shout-out too. This is street food done exactly right. Good for: A quick satisfying bite in the middle of a night out in Ballard, Columbia City, or Capitol Hill. Order delivery from Grubhub 2008 NW 56th St, Seattle, WA, 98107, US Open for: Dinner Tuesday through Sunday, lunch Friday through Sunday. Price range: $$ A crust of caramelized cheese encircles each Windy City pizza like a Maillard lace collar, guarding a fluffy interior and thick layer of sauce. The Breezy Town, available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, is a lighter, tangier sourdough variation that will win over even the Chicago deep-dish skeptics, and is at its best when topped with treacherously hot sport peppers. It’s great to-go fare (and even comes with precise reheating instructions printed on the box), but it’s worth dining in to enjoy the laid-back, family-friendly atmosphere and the Malört- and chartreuse-forward cocktail list. Know before you go: These pizzas are hulking architectural marvels (a single order could easily feed four). Order ahead of time for dine-in, or be prepared to wait at least 40 minutes for your pie. 5918 Phinney Ave N, Seattle, WA, 98103, US Three Sacks Full Open for: Dinner, Wednesday through Sunday Price range: $$$ Like many of Seattle’s best new restaurants of recent years, Three Sacks Full began its life as a pop-up dinner series, serving deceptively simple dishes packed with seasonal produce, all farmed or foraged locally. In 2023, it established a home in Roosevelt. One wall of the cozy space is dedicated to a very reasonably priced bottleshop and the other might be hung with local art or vintage farming tools at any given time. The menu changes daily, though there’s usually some kind of fritter, a savory crepe, a meat entree, and a fish entree, along with numerous salad-adjacent dishes. Pickled, fermented, and roasted vegetables abound, garnished with lesser-known herbs and housemade vinegars. Don’t skip the crusty sourdough; you’ll want to sop up every drop of the sauces and dressings. Know before you go : Interesting wines at competitive prices make it worth grabbing a bottle or two to go. 918 NE 64th St, Seattle, WA, 98115, US Open for: Lunch and dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays. Price range: $$ We don’t need to get into the Shakespearean drama that resulted in the demise of the old Paseo , that legendary Caribbean sandwich shop run by Lorenzo Lorenzo. (Paseo still exists under new ownership) Suffice it to say that Un Bien, run by Lorenzo’s sons, is carrying on that legacy, and more importantly the marinade. Sweet, tangy, dripping from the slow-cooked pork (or chicken thighs), you could make a whole meal out of the marinade itself. The onions are so tender and flavor-packed you should be able to get a sandwich that’s just onions, and in fact, you can. Must-try dish: On top of everything else, the black beans here are incredible — aromatic from bay leaf and just a little bit sweet. Always, always get them as a side. 7302 15th Ave NW, Seattle, WA, 98117, US Open for: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week Price range: $$ This North Seattle institution serves huge, deeply satisfying portions of Central American food, including some of the city’s best pupusas. Get the plato guanaco for a little bit of everything, including a hulking tamale, a couple of perfectly crisp pastelitos, and sticky, caramelized plantains. To beat the crowds, go for brunch before 11 a.m. and enjoy the bottomless coffee. Must-try dish : Move over fajitas, the molcajete — carne asada, nopales, and chorizo in a savory broth — will make everyone in the restaurant rubberneck when it arrives at your table boiling hot and big enough for two. 606 N 105th St, Seattle, WA, 98133, US Ono Authentic Hawaiian Poke Open for: Lunch and dinner (closed Mondays). Price range: $$ Ono, named for Oahu-born owner Steven Ono, is a seafood lover’s dream in Edmonds, offering possibly the highest-quality poke in the Seattle area on a menu that rotates depending on what’s fresh. (Ono sources some of his fish directly from the Honolulu Fish Auction.) Just as importantly, the restaurant uses a light hand with flavorings so you don’t lose the flavor of the fish itself, whether you’re eating salmon dressed with ponzu or a spicy ahi bowl. You will be eating fish here though — there are Hawaiian sides like mac salad and seaweed salad, but this isn’t a place for vegans. Know before you go: This gem is in no way “hidden.” Expect long lines and occasional sellouts. 10016 Edmonds Way, Edmonds, WA, 98020, US More in Dining Out in Seattle Lao-style burgers with fermented pork belly, spicy jalapeño burgers, and deli-counter classic smash burgers abound Everything you need to know to get a head start on dining in the Emerald City — from Seattle dogs to Ballard breweries Including grilled sausages, French cuisine, fresh seafood, and more French toast in a nostalgic diner, springy waffles in salted coconut egg cream, dim sum dumplings, and more meals worth getting out of bed for This is the title for the native ad