8 Best Restaurants in Washington, USA

Watch dumplings being pleated by hand through the large glass windows in the waiting area for this restaurant on the second floor of Lincoln Square mall—it's a good thing the sight is so entertaining, because there's often a long wait. The xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, are the famous attraction at Din Tai Fung, a U.S. branch of the famed Taipei-based chain. The rest of the lengthy menu is nearly as enticing, from shrimp-stuffed wontons to fried rice. The large restaurant is busy and brisk, but a fun experience and worth the wait. There are additional locations in University Village, Pacific Place Mall in Downtown Seattle, and Southcenter Mall in Tukwila.

Luxury touches take the hot pot experience upscale with personal broth bowls, an extensive sauce buffet, and high-end ingredients like A5 Miyazaki beef, live prawns, and house-made noodles. This local outlet of a chain that began in Macau knows that you eat with your eyes first, and everything here comes out looking straight out of a glossy magazine photoshoot. The fancy ingredients can make the a la carte orders add up fast, but customers can either order judiciously and save room for the free ice cream at the end, or go all-in on a splurgy feast.

This home-grown chain that started in Bellevue lives up to its name, serving freshly made carb-filled delights of many types: noodles, flatbreads, crepes, and dumplings. The signature steamed juicy pork dumplings and fried jian buns, both filled with a meat and soup filling, have earned it a reputation and helped it expand to locations around the city and along the entire West Coast. This flagship location opened in 2021, not far from the original, and is the only one with a bar (plus accompanying happy hour) and expanded options.

What started as a small dumpling restaurant has grown into a juggernaut local chain, with this location as its flagship. Crowds pack in for juicy pork dumplings, crisp-bottomed q-bao, and artfully arranged noodles and vegetables. With a large, modern space, affordable prices, and the kinds of foods locals once drove to Canada or flew to China for, this spot packs in the crowds during weekday lunches. Service is friendly and efficient, though, making sure everyone gets their meaty soup dumplings in time to get back to the office. For visitors, arriving at an off-hour is recommended; you can also join the waitlist via Yelp.

This is a longtime favorite for dim sum enthusiasts, who also come for fluffy barbecue pork buns, walnut shrimp, chive dumplings, congee, and sticky rice. The waits are long and the atmosphere is lacking, but when you're craving dim sum, this is the place to go. Avoid the mad rush at lunchtime and go to the Wing Luke Museum while everyone else is eating, then try for a table closer to 2 pm. They serve the full dim sum menu until 4, then switch to a partial one alongside the dinner menu.

This simple spot serves the best Chinese barbecue in the I.D. Large cuts of meat hang in the window, enticing customers to try the famous BBQ pork. Plenty of Cantonese noodle, rice, and vegetable dishes round out the menu.

For budget-friendly and oh-so-good Sichuan cooking, head to this simple spot in the Asian Plaza strip mall east of I–5. The atmosphere is ordinary, but the service is friendly and the food here is as traditional as it gets. Dry-cooked string beans (available with a variety of meats), Kung Pao chicken, delicious dumplings, spicy Sichuanese ravioli, and ma po tofu (a spicy combination of tofu and minced pork) are favorites; the sizzling hot pot is popular and good; but the house-made noodles are unmissable.

Diners here sometimes find their meal interrupted by the soft thumping noise for which the chewy, ropy noodles the restaurant specializes in are named. Biang biang noodles are made by slapping strands of dough against the hard counter, which elongates them without toughening the dough. The wide strands come in a number of dishes, along with other preparations from the eponymous city. Like most restaurants serving the food of China’s Shaanxi province, Xi’an uses a heavy hand with spices such as cumin, Sichuan peppercorn, and, in some dishes, hot peppers. But the flatbreads, salads, and soups at this sparsely decorated, casual spot all come in a variety of flavors, many mild.