Triple III Explainer

It’s all done in an effortless way that’s free of pretension, and worthy of bopping in multiple times a week. 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. El Cabrito also serves specials like rockfish ceviche, tamales, and blue crab empanadas.

We fight for the same reservations you do and book under aliases to dine incognito. We order a ton, take detailed notes, and pay for everything ourselves. This is definitely one of Seattle’s most iconic Italian restaurants (and has an equally iconic view to match). These are the Seattle restaurants would happily eat at again and again. Owner Jerry Corso’s expert Neapolitan-style pizzas are the primary draw for this implicit interest rate Beacon Hill hideaway; simple toppings like spicy salami harmonize with light, airy, and slightly salty crusts.

Greenwood American Bistro

• You’ll have one of the best meals all year at Beast & Cleaver, a tiny butcher shop in Ballard.
• In a city where everyone seems to be aggressively pro-Din Tai Fung or pro-Dough Zone, consider us Team DZ all the way.
• We order a ton, take detailed notes, and pay for everything ourselves.
• At this point we’ve just like, listed the entire menu and told you it’s good?

Take advantage of the waitlist as well, and get comfy with the idea of booking alone if you want to get in as quickly as possible. And if you know a leader in your community who deserves to eat here on the house, you can nominate them—Archipelago gives away seats to folks worthy of celebration, while prioritizing those who might struggle financially. We’re constantly trying new restaurants and checking back in on old ones to keep this guide fresh.

Bar del CorsoArrow

The iconic city tucked inside the Pacific northwest coast does see a lot of rain, but when the sun shines on Seattle, it dazzles. Don’t miss the chance to dine at one of the many waterfront restaurants serving oysters and Pacific-caught seafood. Take a stroll downtown and wander in and out of bookshops and bakeries. Arguably the birthplace of American coffee culture, there’s hardly a better place to enjoy leisurely lattes accompanied by hours of computing and the occasional pen and paper sketch. 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.

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 3

(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. Moving south to Pioneer Square, office workers and hungry fans on gameday are hitting DeLeo Bros Pizza for New York-style slices, calzones and salads. A block west from that slice shop, Biryani and Curry King does Indochinese fusion dishes and takeout favorites like butter chicken.

The best restaurants play with form, as in a taco shop inside a mini-mart making its own masa, a dockside, multi-cultural bakery with a stained-glass ode to bread, or a tiny hallway serving foie gras doughnuts and escargot popovers. Find the ideal cult-favorite noodles, freshly caught wild salmon, or multi-course feast on our list of the best places to eat in Seattle. Just east of Green Lake, Gao Lhao Bangkok Noodle Shop specializes in Chinese-Thai fusion, with wok-fried dishes, crab clay pot noodles and steak curry rice. Gao Lhao comes from the ownership group behind Kin Len Thai Night Bites and the local chain Isarn, which runs a popular happy hour in Seattle and on the Eastside.

Outdoor dining in Seattle / Eastern Washington

The miracle is that all of this is pulled off without it seeming pretentious or jarring. It helps that the team led by husband-and-wife owners Aaron Verzosa and Amber Manuguid are exceptionally welcoming. They’ll do things like ask each guest how hungry they are before serving the last savory course — perfectly cooked steak — ensuring no one feels the need to stop for a burger on the way home (a stereotype of fine dining restaurants). The tiny restaurant’s 12 seats are normally booked out months ahead so pay attention to when reservations drop in order to score a seat.

These juicy chicken parcels disappear from the plate quicker than Mt. Rainier in November, or friends when you need help moving. They’ve got moist filling, a tender wrapper, and preparations that surpass the performance of regular old steam, particularly the tandoori-roasted ones. The other dishes are excellent, too, like thick butter curry that breaks down cubes of stewed lamb beautifully, and the aloo gobi that has us vowing never to take cauliflower and potatoes for granted again.

• A meal inside this quiet soba-focused Japanese restaurant in Fremont can be reserved for a massively special night out that’s disguised as a tame one.
• A half-mile south, Grillbird Phinney and Salad Party share a kitchen in a counter-service cafe.
• Whether redefining the cuisines their parents brought across oceans or bringing wry humor to the staid traditions of fine-dining, Seattle chefs combine creativity with the impressive bounty of local seafood, produce, and craft beverages.
• Fiery salsa sets the bar high, and chorizo-speckled queso fundido sets it even higher.

Hey Bagel’s rip-and-dip showing features a shiny shell across the top, a resounding crunch, and a steamy center of bready fluff that resembles the middle of a sourdough boule. Bialys, with toppings like sweet caramelized onion and bruleed cheese, are just as crisp. And the schmear variety knows no bounds, as you’ll find a tub of humble scallion rubbing elbows with Biscoff-chocolate-espresso-bean. They’ve cracked the code to ensure we’re all able to access exemplary hot bagels all day—a feat unto itself. Musang in Beacon Hill has gotten a lot of hype for their delicious Filipino food, so it’s not surprising that several Seattleites called this spot out.

Explicit costs include things like employee salaries, repairs, utility bills, debt payments, land purchases, and so on. For most people, things considered part of implicit memory include knowing how to tie your shoes, knowing how to read, or knowing where you live. Typically, you can remember these things without even having to think about them. It can be easy to confuse implicit and explicit because they are often used in the same contexts, or even alongside each other.

Omakase with Chef at Sushi Bar

The garlic mussels, baccala fritters, and grilled octopus with corona beans are also exceptional, and reservations tend to go fast. “We have zero tolerance for direct or implicit threats against government officials,” Essayli wrote in response, adding he’d requested a “full threat assessment” by the U.S. In contrast, examples of explicit memory include dates of historical events, times for scheduled appointments, and passwords. Most of the time, you need to actively think about these things (at least a little bit) in order to correctly recall them.

At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. Get access to exclusive reservations at this spot with Chase Sapphire Reserve. Communion will announce on Instagram when reservations open up for the next month. There will be a waitlist if you’re too slow, and if you’re flexible on timing, there are last-minute bookings that pop up here and there, typically towards 4pm when they first open. We never accept free meals, allow spots to arrange our visits, or do paid reviews.

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. You’ll have one of the best meals all year at Beast & Cleaver, a tiny butcher shop in Ballard. This isn’t in reference to the porterhouse you could pick up and grill at home, but rather to their tasting menu known as The Peasant. With a preset lineup of expertly cooked meats, snacks, and surprises, this after-hours operation makes for one of the most unique dining experiences in Seattle.

Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush). Diners’ Choice Awards are based on where your fellow diners book, dine, and review. Only verified diners get to review restaurants on OpenTable, so our data doesn’t lie. Spinasse on Capitol Hill is the best fork-up-your-money Italian restaurant in Seattle. Seattleites love the vegetarian fare and charming interior of Cafe Flora in Madison Valley. This upscale restaurant with a dress code is situated in a stunning mid-century modern building with a view over Lake Union.

Head to Tat’s Deli in Pioneer Square to see what all the hype is about. You’ll find this popular Taiwanese hot pot restaurant at 610 5th Ave. South in Seattle, although Boiling Point also has locations in Bellevue, Edmonds, Redmond, and Tukwila. Home of the “baby burrito,” Gordito’s in Greenwood may be Seattle’s most beloved Mexican restaurant according to the locals. Joule is a stylish Korean-fusion steakhouse using fresh Pacific Northwest ingredients.

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 owld 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.

Best restaurants in Seattle

And since some tables seat more folks, you could get even luckier if you’re trying to book a large party. If you sign up for Beast & Cleaver’s newsletter, you’ll get an email when the next batch of dates open up to book online. You don’t have to be loud or boisterous to be a big deal—just ask a baby bat, Jake from State Farm, or Kamonegi. A meal inside this quiet soba-focused Japanese restaurant in Fremont can be reserved for a massively special night out that’s disguised as a tame one.

And yet, each tortilla-wrapped gift at this place works together to makes a simple weeknight dinner feel like a national holiday. Fiery salsa sets the bar high, and chorizo-speckled queso fundido sets it even higher. Plump camarones mojo de ajo has us contemplating getting “chipotle butter” tattooed somewhere UV rays will never see. All hail the city’s finest, with a scientifically precise balance between fat hunks and lean shreds.

The Old World wine menu (bottles starting at $45) has better deals than the wines by the glass, if you have a party of three or more. Communion is a restaurant that acts as a lipstick-stamped love letter to the American south while also taking inspiration from dishes and flavors you can find in the Central District and beyond. Earthy berbere grilled chicken with lemony lentils nods to the neighborhood’s Ethiopian population, while a po’boy/bánh mì hybrid honors the pâté-slathered baguettes of Little Saigon. A surplus of brittle cornmeal-dredged catfish, though, shows that this is a soul food spot through and through. The cocktails are refreshing yet balanced (hello perfect apple mint julep), the space is lively yet warm, and even though it’s only been around since December 2020, it’s hard to imagine Seattle without this restaurant.

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. Every place on the list has been open for at least six months, proving its merit. The drinks include Khmer ingredients like peanut fish sauce orgeat, Kampot pepper (the Cambodian version of black pepper), and clarified coconut. In Wallingford, 30-seat wine bar Occhi Belli has become a surprise hit on the main drag of 45th. The menu of shared plates includes fresh pasta along with many dishes under $20, from meatballs to sausages, all to be paired with vino from a rotating list of Italian wines.