SEAGuide
New Year's Eve Restaurants That Are Worth It
photo credit: Suzi Pratt
New Year’s Eve usually means preparing for an influx of photo dumps with novel-long captions, skyrocketing glitter sales, and “how to be a better person” dominating your search history. And while self-improvement is great and all, let's focus on the important stuff, like where and what you should be doing to celebrate 2024. No underwhelming hotel dinners or overpriced nightclub events here—these Seattle spots have the most potential to be worth your time on NYE. Good luck cleaning up all the glitter.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Nate Watters
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If you’d rather spend the evening at home but still want to partake in NYE festivities, have brunch at this White Center spot. They’re serving a $165 six-course menu that features things like ozette hashbrowns with uni, a croque madame, and rice porridge with fiore sardo and white truffles. Almost all the seating is sold out, so act fast or prepare to join the waitlist.
photo credit: Canlis
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Here’s something we never thought we’d say—dress like a pirate and head to Canlis. (Yes, wearing a costume is encouraged.) This Queen Anne fine dining icon throws a pretty wild rager every year, and this year's party is called “Midnight On The High Seas,” which will cost you a whopping $365 per ticket. If your New Year's resolution has anything to do with budgeting, maybe think carefully about this one, but at least food and drinks for the night are included in the price.
Ring in the new year with lots of beef at Bateau. This Capitol Hill steakhouse we know and love will serve a five-course tasting menu for $125 per person. You’ll get dishes like oysters with beef consommé, scotch eggs topped with caviar and crème fraîche, beef cheek pie, and for dessert, a chocolate tart. Reservations for this night out are required.
If enjoying poached lobster, egg yolk raviolo, and rabbit meatballs with white truffles isn't the best possible way to start the new year, we don't know what is. At Spinasse, you can do just that. This Capitol Hill Italian spot (and one of our favorite restaurants of all time) has reservations available for a six-course dinner at $140 per person, where you will be kicking off the year with fantastic food from start to finish.
photo credit: Taku
While you would normally find us at this Capitol Hill bar for late-night karaage, Taku is hosting a "Black, Gold & Anime" event that sounds like a solid time. For $280 per ticket, you can snack on chicken sliders and grilled oysters while tossing back Champagne cocktails and dancing (courtesy of a DJ) until 2am. And if you dress up like an anime character, you'll get a raffle ticket to win prizes autographed by chef Shota Nakajima.
photo credit: Nate Watters
New Year’s Eve is one of the very few times a year The Walrus And The Carpenter accepts reservations, so take advantage of that and spend New Year’s Eve here. This Ballard staple is best used for its excellent selection of oysters and Champagne—and you’ll be able to slurp both during their multi-course New Year’s Eve dinner. Then, all that’s left to do is clink flutes and vow to fold more laundry in 2024.
photo credit: Nate Watters
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A walk through Dreamland’s disco ball-filled hallway on the way to the restroom would be enough of a party, but this fun diner in Fremont isn’t stopping there. They’re putting on a nightclub-themed event called “Studio ‘24.” Dreamland will only be serving drinks throughout the night, so come prepared with a full stomach.
Make sure that you’re catching the Lake Union fireworks show from the least-awful rooftop in town. You can celebrate NYE at Mbar a couple of ways—make a dinner reservation before 9pm and stay for their afterparty, or purchase a $40 ticket for just the party. Either way, this one goes fast, so you’ll need to make arrangements quickly if you’d like to increase your chances of kissing a tech executive at midnight.
