SEAGuide
10 Restaurants To Make You Fall In Love With Seattle Again
photo credit: Nate Watters
Seattle can be hard to love sometimes. Trudging up the Howe Street Stairs is easier than making one new friend. Explaining to out-of-towners that it doesn’t actually rain that much requires a TED Talk. And don’t get us started about the late spring gnat clouds. But these restaurants can prevent you from melting into a puddle of tears and small-batch nitro cold brew. They’re where you can get out of your head, find some warmth amidst The Freeze, or rekindle the rush of being part of a city that allows naked cyclists to run amok once a year. They make Seatown easy to love again, and couldn't exist anywhere else.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Nate Watters
Let’s come out and say it: Pike Place Market is a pain. Crowds stagger along at glacial paces, the cobblestones are a trip hazard, and it reeks of raw shellfish. The next time you feel disillusioned by dried chocolate linguine samples and clam stench, duck away to nearby Jarrbar. It’s a sexy little Spanish dive where you can cosplay as a carefree Spaniard who drinks more cava than water, snacks on tinned sardines, and treats disco like a sport. Why yes, we do want overpriced marcona almonds with that.
photo credit: Nate Watters
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Sure, Seattle is not as thrilling as other major cities—buying a book at full price and jaywalking are the extent of what chaotic evil lurks inside us. But there’s a funky diner in Fremont that crams enough excitement within its technicolor walls to entertain anyone. Bored? Tip drag queens at brunch between mouthfuls of caramel macchiato french toast. Thirsty? Slurp strawberry-watermelon margaritas rimmed with sour candy powder and check out the stone lion fountain billowing with fog. Even a stroll to the bathroom is a wild time, thanks to the disco ball hallway.
photo credit: Nate Watters
When Capitol Hill feels like you’re trapped in a swirling vortex of bad karaoke covers, chipped pint glasses, and food cart smoke, a late-night pie at Dino’s will restore your faith. In the old-school pizzeria darkness, there’s a balance of calm and crowded—but it’s always slow enough to nab the big round chandelier-lit booth in the back for your entire posse. Securing that is essential for the plan to work. A round of garlic knots, a charred, vodka-sauced Mr. Pink pizza, and Diet Cokes in red plastic cups later, and Capitol Hill rules again.
photo credit: Nate Watters
We’ve got a walkable city, but nothing hits quite like a lap around Green Lake. After you’ve circumnavigated the loop (and avoided eye contact with the killer geese), an order of fish and chips at Spud is a must. The classic lakeside spot for crispy dredged cod has been made only better by a recent rebrand, a staff that’s immune to the Seattle Freeze, and a fridge full of natural wine. If you can’t love this place while sitting at a sidewalk table covered in breadcrumbs and tartar sauce as Australian Shepherd puppies prance by, we don’t know how to help you.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Being on the receiving end of our passive aggression can be exhausting. Sometimes, you need regular garden variety aggression. And you can get that at Oriental Mart, a Filipino counter at Pike Place Market that isn’t shy about voicing their opinion via posted signs. These include but are not limited to: “YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED!!! SO DON’T ACT LIKE YOU ARE,” “TO: ALL U KNUCKLEHEADS, DON’T TALK 2 ME WHILE I’M COOKING,” and our personal favorite, “IF U DON’T KNOW HOW TO EAT OUR SALMON SINIGANG DON’T ORDER IT.” The literature is best enjoyed over a plate of crackly lumpia, tangy pork adobo, and the finest longanisa in town.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Seattle housing prices are getting out of control, and so are sushi prices. If the $175 omakase feels inescapable, recalibrate via the other end of the spectrum at Maruta Shoten. This Japanese grocery store in Georgetown serves inexpensive salmon sashimi that could rough up Sushi Kashiba’s in a bar fight, not to mention mayo-moistened $5.45 california rolls that are somehow fluffier than a high-pile shag rug. If you really want the hots for this city again, skip the fancy counters—here you can sit on the curb, tear a soy sauce packet open with your teeth, and go nuts.
photo credit: Chona Kasinger
You’d think that with how locals worship summertime, there’d be more patios functioning as a fun come-and-go HQ. (Oh, did you want to bring seven friends to Westward on a Friday in July? Dream big.) For a warm weather hang that isn’t a whole to-do, Citizen in Queen Anne works perfectly. Yeah, it’s a dad’s astroturf fever dream with a random assortment of lawn furniture and a complete lack of design. But you can barge in with a load of pals, rot under the sun indefinitely nursing frozen cocktails, and eat bulgogi-topped pub nachos that taste exactly as good as they’re supposed to.
While New York and Los Angeles can duke it out over who has the better boiled-and-baked dough circles, this Madison Valley operation should eliminate any semblance of bagel-related FOMO. Throw on some cayenne-stained spicy scallion cream cheese and we don’t care if we never have a New York (or California) bagel ever again. The only downside? They don’t open until 9am, which translates to 1pm in bagel time.
photo credit: Ray's Cafe
Seattle is surrounded by extremely pretty water, and yet the general population is so occupied with work, life, and wondering why we didn’t get a light rail system until 2009 that they don’t look at it all that much. Pull up to Ray’s and change that. This Ballard waterfront spot is an undeniable staple, particularly for sitting upstairs on the balcony deck, inhaling sea mist, and eating crab cakes on repeat until a Labor Day trip to Ocean Shores sounds good. In a city full of mediocre seafood restaurants with waterside views, Ray’s raises the bar. Even if the free Grand Central rolls are sometimes stale.
Only in Seattle can a restaurant exist that fuses connections among soul food, Ethiopian cuisine, and bánh mì—enter Communion in the Central District. When it feels like there’s so much to complain about in the city, it’s refreshing to have a comfortable place that celebrates it. Nobody’s bitter about our 10% sales tax when there are short ribs dripping with berbere sauce, poached crawfish-stuffed maki rolls, or hoecakes smothered in black-eyed pea hummus. Eat here often enough, and you won’t need this guide in the first place.
