28 Best Restaurants in Seattle, Washington

Ethically sourced meats, from steak cuts to gamier dishes such as bison, wild boar, and duck, headline the menu at FlintCreek, where floor-to-ceiling windows overlook a busy corner of Greenwood. A small-plates section features a cumin-dusted lamb tartare as well as mussels bathed in charred jalapeño-lime butter, while main-dish standouts include a brined pork chop on grits and a hanger steak topped with onion marmalade. The industrial-chic two-story lofted space, which has double-high ceilings and a lovely bar backed with modern yellow tile, is usually lively but not too loud, and the service is reliably solid.

Though it opened in 1994 as a typical neighborhood sushi joint, Mashiko quickly gained a reputation as one of the top spots in town for fresh fish, even before the then-owner committed to using solely sustainable fish. Now owned by his employees and mentees, it continues to uphold its reputation for both quality and a forward-thinking approach to the cuisine. As a product of both, the sushi here skips many classics that don't meet its standards and instead finds sustainable substitutes. But the resulting creativity makes for a unique, environmentally friendly meal, best eaten omakase-style: letting the chef choose the menu.

Local restaurateur Renee Erickson was inspired by the casual oyster bars of Paris when she opened this inconspicuous spot, located at the south end of Ballard Ave, behind Staple & Fancy. The result has been a lasting sensation. In town full of oysters, the freshness and selection here manage to be a cut above. Reservations aren't accepted, which is why every day when the doors open at 4, there's a line waiting to fill the tall tables and the seats at the zinc barand why at any time a wait is likely. The menu also offers refined small plates, mostly other seafood and vegetables, but oysters are center stage. If you love them, you'll love it here.

Artusi calls itself a bar, which isn't inaccurate—it specializes in craft cocktails and amari—but it shares a kitchen, and a chef, with much-heralded Spinasse next door, and most patrons are here to eat. Like its more sophisticated sibling, Artusi offers a short menu of antipasti, handmade pasta, and main courses, and everything is made with similar care, but the spirit of the food (and the place) is more casual, even playful. Meatballs and beef ravioli, two staples of Italian-American cuisine, are simply delicious. Prices are more casual too, particularly if you make it for happy hour or the Sunday and Monday pasta-and-wine specials.

This lobster-roll specialist brings a breezy Maine-coast vibe to South Lake Union’s 400 Fairview complex. The star, of course, is the lobster roll. It's rich, buttery, and undeniably indulgent—but the menu also reels in more approachable options like crab and shrimp sandwiches, hearty chowder, and fresh salads. In summer, slushy cocktails join the lineup alongside local craft beers and wines. A long bar and communal patio seating round out the easygoing, waterfront spirit—more seaside shack than city storefront.

Set in a largely residential section of eastern Ballard, this place has everything you could hope for in a neighborhood restaurant: a comfortable, warm setting, attentive service, and creative comfort food made from local, seasonal ingredients. They’re known for their bread; often a restaurant afterthought, here it’s given star treatment—cut thick, grilled, and topped with butter as though it were a ribeye. Everything on the small menu gets that same kind of care and attention, whether it’s a steak, a fish, a vegetable, or a cocktail. If the weather’s nice, try for a table on the garden patio.

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.

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.

This tiny spot north of the Arboretum is a sweet, cheerful place to enjoy delicious Basque tapas, including chorizo with grilled bread, pan-seared tuna belly with vanilla-bean-infused oil, grilled sardines, and duck confit. There's an impressive selection of Spanish wine, sherry, and vermouth. Seats at the chef's counter are the most atmospheric, and some are set aside for walk-ins. 

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.)

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.

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.

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.

This Seattle classic has been bringing the flavors of the Caribbean to the city for more than two decades, since the owner moved to town and grew frustrated with the lack of dishes like roti, curry, and jerk that she missed from home in Trinidad. The restaurant's limited hours get people clamoring to grab Pam's aloo pies, flaky breads, and tender curry goat. Keep an eye out for specials featuring her famous doubles and wash everything down with a glass of sorrel. 

With its Post Alley entrance and meager signage, the Pink Door's speakeasy vibe draws Pike Place Market regulars almost as much as its savory, seasonal Italian food does. The food is good, and the pappardelle al ragù Bolognese and cioppino are reliably standout entrées, but people come here mostly for the atmosphere (which includes tasteful cabaret acts) and shaded outdoor deck with views of Elliott Bay.

Large windows look out on Elliott Bay in this cozy spot tucked behind a meat vendor in Pike Place Market's main arcade. Despite its name, this restaurant has only a few French flourishes on an otherwise American/Pacific Northwest menu. Go for the steamed mussels, the Calamari Dijonnaise, Dungeness crab (in season), onion soup topped with bubbly Gruyère, or the fish of the day. Local microbrews are on tap, and the wine list is thoughtfully compact, but if you want to feel more like you're in France, sip a pastis—or an aperitif of your choosing—as you gaze out the window.  In nice weather, open windows let in the fresh salt breeze. Flowers brighten each table, and the staff is warm and welcoming. 

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.

During the day, this café/restaurant centrally located on Ballard Ave. is a handy pitstop, similar to a coffee shop but on a grander scale. Come dinnertime, the mood changes: there’s table service, craft cocktails flow, and the Middle Eastern flavors are stronger, with more mezze options and five types of kebabs. There’s a large, open dining room and a covered patio; counter-service breakfast and lunch offers around 20 options for eggs, wraps, mezze, and salads, most with a Middle Eastern accent; and the coffee bar is managed by local chain Café Vita.

Housed in the bright white space that is Temple Pastries by day, Central District newcomer Sacro Bosco brings Roman-inspired pizza and natural-leaning wines to the neighborhood by night. The small but plentiful menu features a few rotating apps alongside a few staple and a few seasonal pizzas, served Roman style: long, rectangular, thicker crust, and plenty to share. Pair it with a glass of natural vino or channel your inner Italian and go for a spritz. 

Its distinctive setting, in charming old house smack in the middle of Ballard Avenue, suits San Fermo's simple yet elegant Italian menu, which emphasizes house-made pasta and local ingredients (some coming from the restaurant's own farm). Tables both on the porch and in the small dining rooms have a relaxed, homey ambiance.

Of the Capitol Hill area's several excellent Italian options, Serafina feels most like a neighborhood trattoria. The menu features well-made classics: pasta carbonara and Bolognese, osso buco, arancini, lasagna, stuffed eggplant. Burnt-sienna walls and a dark ceiling give the dining room a hint of an Italian villa vibe, a sense that's heightened in the courtyard out back. The neighborhoody feel is partly due to the location, just west of Capitol Hill in the Eastlake, away from the Hill's hubbub.

In Eastlake, just west of Capitol Hill, is an opportunity to indulge in Korean barbecue—the do-it-yourselfers' favorite, where diners cook thinly sliced meats on a grill embedded in their table. There are multiple beef and pork cuts to choose from (short ribs and pork belly are favorites), servers are happy to help with the grilling, and you can also opt for a wide variety of stews, noodles, and Korean anju (drinking food). To get in the spirit, wash it all back with a glass or two of shoju.

An ode to Khmer heritage and the culinary traditions that Cambodian refugees carried with them to America, this restaurant serves excellent upscale modern cuisine imbued with lessons on history and culture. Bold spice pastes and fragrant herbs fill the plates here, and even carry over to the cocktail menu. The mix of small and large plates makes it easy to stop for an afternoon snack or to sit down to a Cambodian feast amid the owner's family photos and traditional weavings hanging on the walls.

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.

Dine here to experience a classic Ballard phenomenon: a casually sophisticated kid-friendly restaurant. Local families come here for pizza night, but this ain't Chuck E Cheese; toppings include foraged mushrooms, shishito peppers, garlic-and-fennel sausage, and five kinds of cheese. There are two crust choices: thin, blistered, and round, or thick, chewy, and square. That all may sound a little pretentious, but as the 10-year-old at the next table will tell you, mainly it's delicious. (She may not be so enthusiastic about the charred broccoli.) Local microbrews and a long, predominantly Italian wine list help keep the grownups happy.

This elegant Lebanese spot offers an expansive Halal menu that balances comfort and sophistication. Mezze plates burst with bright, layered flavors, while the grill turns out juicy skewers, shawarma, and tender flatbreads. There’s plenty for vegetarians, too, from smoky baba ghanoush to herb-packed salads, all served with warm, pillowy pita fresh from the oven. Though fully Halal, the restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol—but the drinks menu shines regardless, with fragrant options like cardamom-spiced Turkish coffee and freshly blended fruit juices that feel just as celebratory.