22 Best Restaurants in Seattle, Washington

This acclaimed Black-owned restaurant dishes up “Seattle soul" in a vibrant setting. Think exquisitely prepared soul food that pays homage to family traditions, alongside creative fare honoring Seattle's multicultural intersections, like the whole fried catfish topped with a Thai-inspired papaya salad. The cocktail menu is just as creative, featuring Seattle-meets-the-South cocktails concocted with bourbon, pecan liqueur, Jamaican rum, and apple brandy, to name a few. 

An organic café with everything you need for a picnic to-go or a leisurely lunch, DERU Market has something for everything. The bright, modern space starts the day with excellent coffee and pastries, with filling brunches on weekends. Lunch brings pizza, sandwiches, and salads, plus a few larger plates, while dinner brings a few extra main dishes. Vegetable side dishes compete with excellent French fries for table space, and most diners save room for a slice of the layer cakes that sit temptingly on the counter.

Stepping foot into Lenox transports you from the streets of Belltown to the warm atmosphere of Puerto Rico and Cuba. Chef Jhonny Reyes draws on his roots in both islands and the flavors of his childhood, evident in the seasonal menu featuring tantalizing bites like snow crab hush puppies and seared halibut in an herbaceous coconut sauce, served with traditional sides like red beans and rice and plantains.

If Julia Child ran a restaurant in Seattle, this would be it. The menu is old-school: we're talking meat and potatoes (plus vegetarian options) done with elegant, pan-European flair. Dinner is lovely, but lunch or brunch is when you’ll find their signature dish: the Dutch baby, a crispy, custardy cross between a pancake and a soufflé, served with sweet or savory toppings. With only 11 tables and a four-day schedule, reservations are essential. The spot sits just a couple of blocks south of the Space Needle. Visit both in one go evening for a perfect contrast in Seattle experiences.

Westward singularly nails the dream of Seattle visitors and locals alike: serving high-quality, fresh local seafood from a waterfront location with a view. Lake Union laps at the rocky shore just feet from where diners look out toward Downtown as just-shucked oysters gleam from seafood towers. Owned by Seattle's seafood queen, Renee Erickson, Westward takes its mission to present pristine seafood in a simple fashion very seriously, starting with the splurge-worthy shellfish tower. The short menu focuses on chilled and raw seafood, but also includes a few small salads and larger dishes that come from the wood-fired oven. The wine list is excellent, but the full bar also offers a flight of mezcal to pair with the oysters.

Located in the hip State Hotel, Ben Paris has become a neighborhood favorite for elevated classic American fare for brunch and dinner. Consider a fried chicken sandwich with spicy mayo and kimchi coleslaw, breakfast hashes, or mussels in a garlic wine sauce, dished up in a stylish space with graphic wallpaper and a bustling bar. Don't miss the outstanding braised octopus or the creative cocktail list designed by Abigail Gullo, a star bartender from New Orleans. 

This upscale vegetarian diner near the Arboretum is a Seattle institution, serving satisfying classics—black-bean burgers, pizzas, salads, polenta, succotash—since the 1990s. Weekend brunch draws lots of families for the tasty pancakes, waffles, and tofu scrambles. Prime seats are in the atrium, which has a stone fountain, skylight, and garden-style café tables.

This tiny café, which looks like a cross between a truck-stop diner and a Tex-Mex joint, serves an outstanding Mexican-style breakfast (and lunch and dinner are just as good). Wait for a space in the tiny dining room, belly up to the counter, or just watch the frenetic activity as everything from soup to salsa is made from scratch. Try delectable pork carnitas; chorizo from the state of Michoacán; mole negro over pork or chicken; rockfish with cinnamon and guajillo chiles; or mouthwatering chilaquiles—tortilla chips cooked in green or red salsa and topped with cream.

Offering a taste of New Orleans in the Central District, Fat's Chicken & Waffles serves authentic Southern cuisine in a hip spot filled with furniture and murals made by local artists. Helmed by a chef with deep Louisiana roots, Fat's serves shrimp and grits, red beans and rice, biscuit sandwiches, and other soul food classics in addition to the namesake chicken and waffles.

Harry's Beach House, where the breeze is always scented with saltwater, is a casual yet exciting restaurant that opened in an old coffee shop in 2019. Spacious, warmly lit, and friendly, it's the perfect place to enjoy a long brunch or a drink and a snack after a day on the beach. The food is elegant but homey, with biscuits at brunch, a beloved burger at lunch, and fresh seafood on the dinner menu. Service can be slow, but that just gives you more time to enjoy the view.

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.

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.

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.

This serene Vietnamese restaurant on a tree-lined residential stretch of Capitol Hill is a long-time favorite of Seattle diners. With an elegant bar and laid-back roof deck, it has an upscale casual vibe that's a good match for the creative menu. Dishes use Vietnamese cuisine to make local and regional ingredients—particularly seafood—shine. The crab with garlic noodles is a star. Homemade mango ice cream and coconut crème caramel are treats, and the wine list is remarkably long, with an emphasis on French varietals. Weekend brunch, mixing traditional Vietnamese offerings, dim sum, and Western favorites like French toast and baked eggs, is divine.

The Eastside sibling of Capitol Hill's darling Vietnamese eatery is utterly polished and sleek—much fancier than the original restaurant. But the favorites remain the same; diners love the bo la lot beef, crispy drunken chicken, catfish clay pot, and barbecued hoisin pork ribs, and all go impressively well with the specialty cocktails. In signature Bellevue style, diners dress up a bit more than in, say, Capitol Hill or Ballard, though the weekend dim sum brunches draw more casual diners. The free parking in the garage behind the restaurant is a boon on busy Main Street.

Right in the center of the Pike–Pine universe, this huge, ultrahip space anchoring the Oddfellows Building, across from Cal Anderson Park, serves inspired American food from breakfast straight through to dinner. The day might start with biscuits and eggs or thick brioche French toast; later on you could opt for salmon nicoise salad, spaghetti and meatballs, or roast chicken. Service can be hit-or-miss, but the communal-style seating, Capitol Hill hipster-chic vibe, and festive music make this a fun place, whether you're watching the day go by or spending an evening out.

A temple to uniquely prepared seafood, this is the restaurant that locals want to bring visitors to: an example of the casual way seafood weaves into all sorts of dishes when you live so close to such bounty. The mix of appetizers, oyster shooters, small plates, and full entrées makes the long menu an epic adventure filled with fresh local, domestic, and global fish—from local oysters to Hawaiian tuna, and back to black cod from Washington’s own Neah Bay. The dining room, built with ample wood and wall-sized murals of waterscapes, invokes the idea of a modern fishing lodge, but the high ceilings and sharp metals keep it more lively than cozy.

It's undeniably touristy, but the views here simply can't be beat on a summer afternoon. Famed for its Sunday and holiday brunches and view of Seattle's skyline across the harbor, Salty's offers more in the way of quantity than quality—and sometimes a bit too much of its namesake ingredient—but it's a couple of steps up from the mainstream seafood chains. If you can get a table with a view, order a wine by the glass and a cup of chowder or some crab legs, and enjoy.

Like the Edgewater Hotel that houses it, Six Seven is noteworthy for its views of Elliott Bay and the Puget Sound, especially if you opt to dine at the tables lining the deck at sunset. Regionally sourced seafood, such as cedar plank salmon, miso-glazed black cod, and a flavorful bouillabaisse, are menu standouts.

Oak paneling, dark accents, and wide windows onto bustling Ballard Avenue give this quasi-Italian joint an lively, stylish vibe. The menu keeps one foot firmly rooted in Italy, particularly with creative pizzas and pasta, but there are decidedly non-Italian alternatives such as a lamb burger, Dutch fries, and baked Alaska for dessert. Sunday brunch is similarly eclectic: you can have baked eggs, biscuits and gravy, or stick with pizza.

Familiar brunch dishes and pastries take on new personalities as this all-day café weaves them with Japanese ingredients. Chashu pork flavors the biscuits and gravy, teriyaki-glazed bacon, and a sandwich filled with tamago-style omelette. At the pastry case in front, scones are laced with ginger and scallions, and the icebox pie uses sudachi citrus. This is comfort food that has traveled back and forth across the Pacific, reflecting restaurateur Yasuaki Saito's childhood with one parent each from northern Japan and the southern U.S. The minimal decor and bare walls help to further highlight the colorful food and eclectic selection of serving dishes, which give the impression of all having been selected at the world's cutest thrift shop.

This waterfront pub pairs fresh, creative seafood with some of the best views in the city—stretching from the Space Needle across Lake Union’s sparkling north shore. The kitchen leans into local bounty with dishes like crab hush puppies, seafood poutine, and perfectly grilled halibut, all served in a relaxed, nautical setting. Tucked just east of Lake Union Park, it still manages to buzz on sunny days, when the patio fills with brunch-goers and locals lingering over pints in the afternoon light.