195 Best Restaurants in Seattle, Washington

Autumn Martin specializes in creative, high-quality desserts (including vegan options) such as a s'mores molten chocolate cake with house-made marshmallows and caramel, and cookies with house-smoked chocolate chips. Thick, rich milkshakes come in gourmet seasonal flavors like Meyer lemon with lavender, or grownup boozy shakes like smoked chocolate and scotch. Hot Cakes is open late night, too. A few long communal tables make for casual dining. The company's take-and-bake mason-jar desserts make a great gift. For a lighter bite, head north to Martin's plant-based ice cream shop, Frankie & Jo's ( 1411 NW 70th St.).

This is Upper Queen Anne’s idea of a neighborhood restaurant: cozy wood-paneled dining room, casual and friendly service, and food that’s sophisticated without trying too hard. The menu leans Italian, but ingredients like king salmon and blackberries keep it rooted in the Pacific Northwest. Regulars swear by the bone marrow with shallot jam. (And no, they don’t serve wolf; the name comes from M.F.K. Fisher’s classic book about making the most of limited ingredients.)

Grab a handcrafted ice-cream cone at Husky Deli, a Seattle icon. This grocery store opened in 1932 and retains its old-fashioned feel. It does quite nice sandwiches and soups, making it a good stop for a picnic lunch to take to Alki or Lincoln Park. But the real draw is the friendly service and classic ice cream at the counter.

Housed in a historic log cabin a block from Alki Beach, Il Nido (the nest) takes a playful look at Italian culinary traditions. House-made fresh pasta is the star, joined by creative focaccia breads, chicory salads, and entrées like pork coppa. Reservations book out 30 days ahead of time, but you can always try for a seat at the bar for an aperitivo and a snack.

Since the 1980s, Il Terrazo Carmine has specialized in Tuscan and southern Italian cooking, creating soul-satisfying dishes such as homemade ravioli, linguine alle vongole (with clams), and eggplant Parmesan. The impressive wine list represents vintages from the West Coast of the U.S. to Italy and France. Ceiling-to-floor draperies give the dining room understated dignity, and intoxicating aromas waft from the kitchen to the restaurant's small outdoor patio that sits beneath a canopy of lights. It's your Italian home-away-from-home that you may never want to leave.

New Yorkers say this family-owned place comes close to the pizza they know and love, with thin crusts and just the right proportions of red sauce and cheese. Pizzas topped with meatballs or veggies like artichokes and black olives are available, though regulars vote to keep things simple with the cheese or pepperoni pie. Salads, lasagna, and garlic knots are also on the menu—and save room for a bite (or two) of homemade cannoli. 

This long dining room facing Lake Union has original Northwest Indian artwork collected by the restaurant's namesake founder. It's touristy, often gimmicky, and always packed. You are paying for the setting here: a building designed as a loose replica of a traditional longhouse with terrific views of Lake Union and Downtown. Try to snag a table on the deck.

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.

Married chef-owners Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi have wowed Seattle diners with their French-fusion spins on Asian cuisine. Joule's nouvelle take on a Korean steak house serves meat options like Wagyu bavette steak with truffled pine nuts and short rib with Kalbi and grilled kimchi. Nonmeat menu items include Chinese broccoli with walnut pesto and mackerel with green curry cilantro crust and black currant.

Specializing in soba noodles, this tiny spot feels like it was dropped stateside from Japan, but the menu also embraces local ingredients and creative riffs on classics. Seasonal starters might include zucchini coins dusted with Japanese “happy powder”—the sweet and salty flavoring from rice crackers—and small plates like duck meatballs and tempura. The soba menu offers a few different styles, including noodles in hot broth or chilled. For true Japanese-American fusion try the Oreo tempura for dessert.

Come for the giant dosas, stay for the sweet service at this delightful South Indian restaurant tucked into a suburban strip mall. Many of the specialties come from the state of Kerala, but the deep vegetarian menu and exciting seafood options bring in dishes from around India. Rich colors adorn the walls and the plates, the latter in the form of vibrantly flavored chutneys, masalas, and curries. Waits can get long on days that don't take reservations, so either come earlier in the week with a reservation or earlier in the evening on a weekend. Or order takeout and enjoy a picnic at nearby Juanita Beach Park.

This all-vegetarian Thai spot delivers flavor without compromise. The menu spans the classics—curries, noodles, soups, and satay—but replaces meat with tofu, jackfruit, and creative veggie combinations that hold their own. What stands out isn’t just the clever substitutions but the balance: bright herbs, coconut, spice, and citrus in harmony. Even dedicated carnivores walk away impressed. The casual room keeps things unfussy, while touches like bamboo wall panels and pendant lights lend a bit of warmth and polish.

This tiny, unpretentious neighborhood espresso bar has a classic coffeehouse vibe, with red walls, eclectic local art, a comfy worn sofa, and a few small tables. You'll find standard coffee drinks here along with homemade pastries, quiches, and sandwiches.

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.

The deli counter at Ken's turns out surprisingly good sandwiches, like an Italian stuffed with cured meats and a chicken banh mi loaded with pickles, all made on fresh bakery rolls, and a smash burger on Thursdays. The small, nicely stocked neighborhood grocery store also offers a good selection of baked goods and pre-made foods from local restaurants, plus coffee, beer, wine, and canned cocktails—it's a great place for picnic supplies before heading to the nearby Woodland Park Zoo or down the hill to Green Lake.

This outstanding sushi restaurant quietly nestled in Green Lake brings diners in droves. Fresh sushi is the mainstay, along with signature rolls such as the Green Lake variety, with salmon, flying fish eggs, asparagus, avocado, and marinated seaweed, or the Wallingford, with yellowtail, green onion, cucumber, radish, sprouts, and flying fish eggs. Definitely spring for the omakase (chef's menu), which can include anything from fatty tuna, shrimp, octopus, and albacore to salmon, yellow tail, hammer jack, and unagi. Straightforward decor and ambiance make it easy to concentrate on the delicious food in front of you. Regulars swear by the agedashi tofu. Non-sushi entrées are also available, including teriyaki and a tempura dinner with prawns. 

For the UW version of a classic student-friendly, no-frills restaurant, it’s hard to beat Korean Tofu House. In an unadorned basement dining room, the hardworking crew serves up hearty, delicious, reasonably priced Korean specialties, including kimchee tofu soup, bibimbap, and bulgogi. Though "tofu" is in the name and features prominently, most dishes have some meat in them; vegetarians should read the fine print.

True to its name, this low-key, bustling Ballard favorite serves traditional Mexican food from the Oaxaca region. The mole negro is a must, served over chicken, pork, or tamales, and there's a long menu of other good options, from tacos to pozole to rack of lamb. It's a small, casual space with comfortable tables, seating at the counter overlooking the open kitchen, and gorgeous black-and-white photos adorning the walls. It can get busy, especially on weekend evenings, and they don't take reservations.

Lark is a classic example of fine dining, Seattle style. Carefully sources local ingredients are prepared in ways that show a worldwide range of influences—on the same menu you might find tuna tataki, lamb kofta, ricotta gnudi, and grilled peach salad with cotija. (Bring your phone; you’re likely to be Googling some of the culinary terms.) The atmosphere is casual but sophisticated, set in a former warehouse that won awards for its handsome redesign.

Slate tabletops, a tile floor, and a rolled-zinc bar will transport you out of Downtown Seattle and into the charming 6th arrondissement. The menu is quintessentially French: at lunch, there are rustic pâtés and jambon et fromage (ham and cheese) sandwiches on crusty baguettes, while dinner sees homemade charcuterie, salads, daily fish specials, and a selection of cheese. The roast chicken (for two) takes an hour to prepare and is worth every second that you'll wait. Blackboards spell out the specials, and wines are served from the earthenware pichets that inspired the brasserie's name.

This cozy corner coffeehouse roasts its beans on site in a vintage cast-iron roaster, filling the space with a heady aroma. Appreciated for dark chocolate flavors, hints of sweet toffee, and just the right amount of bite, the full-bodied coffee tastes as good as it smells here. The neighborhood spot, which has a small counter lined with red swivel bar stools, opened in 1993, giving it three decades of Seattle coffee cred.

Marrying together local inspiration and well-sourced seafood, this bright, friendly counter-service casual spot captures the city's culinary culture in its menu. Going beyond the pricier headline fish like salmon and halibut makes the food both more sustainable and more affordable. Instead, Dover sole, rockfish, and albacore find their way into riffs on familiar dishes like banh mi sandwiches and filet-o-fish, and fish and chips. The pescaphobic will also find joy in the burger, which is among the best around.

Tom Douglas dishes out his signature Northwest style, spiked with Greek and Mediterranean touches—another huge success for the local celebrity chef. Try a slow-roasted lamb leg or the big bean shakshuka. Also on the menu: a variety of kebabs (including a halloumi cheese-and-fig version for vegetarians) and scrumptious spreads including smoky eggplant, tzatziki, and olive fig. Booths are usually full at this bustling, dimly lit restaurant, which anchors the Hotel Ändra. The weekend brunch is also fabulous; save room for the doughnuts.

Tucked into the maze of Pike Place, if you don't know where to look, you might just miss Lonely Siren, one of Seattle’s only Portuguese eateries. Its tricky-to-find location is part of what keeps this half-bar, half-restaurant more local than other food spots around the market. A hodge-podge collection of wooden chairs and tables, plants, and art gives off eclectic grandma’s house vibes—and that's the intention. Inspired by the recipes of the chef’s grandma, who grew up in the Azores, Lonely Siren serves up snacks, mains, and cocktails inspired by the flavors of Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula. Snack on salt cod croquettes, grilled pineapple, and fried anchovies (endearingly named "fries with eyes"). Come for food, come for drinks, come for both—they don’t care as long as you make yourself at home.

One of Seattle's favorite bakeries is also popular for breakfast and brunch, and an excellent place to take a delicious break on your way to or from the Olympic Sculpture Park. With its perfectly executed breads and pastries carefully crafted from regional ingredients—from Nutella brioche and ginger cookies to almond croissants and dark chocolate, sugar-dusted brownies—it's become a true Belltown institution. You can also wait for a table and have a larger breakfast or lunch—sandwiches, quiches, and salads are all fresh and expertly made.

The oldest Japanese restaurant in Seattle, Maneki is no longer a hidden gem catering to in-the-know locals and chefs, but that doesn't mean the food is any less impressive. Though the James Beard American Classic winner serves good sushi, it's better known for home-style Japanese dishes, which can be ordered as small plates and accompanied with sake. Try the miso black cod collar or the delicious daily fish specials. Rice-paper lamps and screens add a bit of old Japan to the otherwise plain main dining room, but parties of four to ten can reserve a charming tatami room. Maneki is always packed, especially on weekends, so don't even think about coming without a reservation.

Just a block off the Burke-Gilman Trail along Lake Union, this tiny Mexican-ish café puts out enormous and excellent breakfast sandwiches and burritos—perfect for eating messily in nearby Gas Works Park. The coffee is good, but the fresh, colorful juices are even better.

You’d never guess from its unassuming storefront that this is Lower Queen Anne’s go-to for Neapolitan-style pizza. Ten rotating varieties emerge from the wood-fired oven, each with a perfectly blistered crust. The space also doubles as a tasting room for microbrewery Fast Fashion, so you’ll find an inventive beer list to match your meal—just note that it’s 21 and over only.

This is a favorite lunch spot for the professional crowd but it's not for timid eaters: custom dry-aged mesquite-grilled steaks and chops—among the best in Seattle—are huge and come with a hearty side option. Non-steak eaters aren't excluded and can sample regional specialties such as Alaskan halibut and Dungeness crab fettuccine. The Met's take on a steak house is either classic or a caricature, depending on how you take to the cigar-and-cognac vibe: servers wear tuxes and everything is clad in fine wood, brass, and velvet.

Seattle’s premier multiroaster café would be a parody of coffee culture if it weren’t so good at what it does: curating a lineup of the country’s best coffees and pouring them expertly in a variety of methods. Baristas here coach customers through the process of picking a bean (origin, type, and roast) and method, so this is not the place to come for a quick caffeine hit. For people looking to learn about coffee and find the brew best matched to their tastes, it’s worth the time to stop here.