In the Where to Eat: 25 Best series, we’re highlighting our favorite restaurants in cities across the United States. These lists will be updated as restaurants close and open, and as we find new gems to recommend. When visiting restaurants, we do not give advance notice, and we pay for all of our meals.
Archipelago
Hillman City | Filipino, Tasting Menu
It’s rare for the chef to check in with diners at the end of the tasting menu and make sure they’re feeling full, but Archipelago isn’t like any other tasting. A puff of pan de sal pulls apart effortlessly, filling the air with a sweet, buttery perfume. Burning pine needles and the rich, muscly scent of shrimp paste waft over from the open kitchen. Cooks walk around with a tray of sliced rib-eye steak, offering seconds. You could easily get lost in the deliciousness of the modern Filipino food, but Aaron Verzosa and Amber Manuguid do more than send out excellent food. They tell complicated, expansive stories about the Pacific Northwest and the many ways that Filipino immigrants have shaped it, using words, pictures and even some unexpected dance moves behind the pass. TEJAL RAO
5607 Rainier Avenue South, no phone, archipelagoseattle.com
Artusi
Capitol Hill | Italian
Spinasse is often hailed as the city’s best Italian restaurant, and its simple tajarin with butter and sage as a top Seattle dish. Capitol Hill neighbors know, though, that the chef Stuart Lane also runs the menu at the adjoining Artusi, which, just like Spinasse, offers four splendid handmade pastas per night, at considerably less expense. The windowed corner space here feels buzzy and urbane, and for $32, you can get every lovely appetizer on the menu — even the hazelnuts, candied in muscovado sugar with Controne chile and fennel pollen, are especially tasty. The screaming dinner deal on Sunday and Monday — two pastas and a bottle of wine for $45 — is difficult to beat. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
1535 14th Avenue, 206-251-7673 artusibar.com
Atoma
Wallingford | New American
Johnny Courtney spent four years as the executive sous-chef at Canlis (see below), and his cooking here reflects the experience. The personality of this restaurant is all its own, though. The charming dining room occupies the first floor of a Craftsman house, and the food echoes the rustic-refined ambience. Start with rosette cookie with farmer cheese and Walla Walla onion jam, a mainstay on the seasonal menu. The bread service — sourdough crumpets with kefir butter and fermented garlic honey — is a gratifying departure from the now-rote Parker House rolls found at restaurants across the country. The katsu of lion’s mane mushroom is as tempting as any meat option on the menu, but the pork collar is delicious as well. When there is a Dungeness crab preparation available, often as a starter, make sure to order it. BRIAN GALLAGHER
1411 North 45th Street, 206-420-1041, atomaseattle.com
Ba Bar
First Hill | Vietnamese
Seattle has many pho options — and you may end up in a real argument if you try to declare a best — but the phở hà nội style here is superlative. Made with marrow bones from organic, grass-fed cattle, the broth is simmered for 24 hours and has a fortifying balance of beefy, gingery flavors, spiked with heat from pickled bird’s-eye chiles. The imperial rolls will spoil you for any others, with a blistered, shattering fried rice-paper wrapping. And the cocktail menu, inflected with tropical notes like tamarind, pineapple and orgeat, is impressive without being self-serious. Which is nice when the Vietnamese chicken wings pair so well with, say, a Wenatchee sling, and the Capitol Hill location is open until midnight. BRIAN GALLAGHER
550 12th Avenue, 206-328-2030, babarseattle.com
Bar del Corso
Beacon Hill | Italian
Now more than 10 years old, this Pacific Northwest trattoria has become an anchor for the Beacon Hill neighborhood. The Neapolitan pizzas are canonical; cooked in an Italian-built wood-fired oven, they are pillowy-crusted and kissed with an appropriate char. It’s common to see the chef Jerry Corso, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Gina Tolentino Corso, hovering near the mouth of the oven and expertly topping pies as they come out. In addition to standing options like margherita and salame piccante, daily topping specials may include seasonal offerings like morels and spring onions. Pizza is the star here, but Mr. Corso spent time running the kitchen at the acclaimed Obelisk in Washington, D.C., so the supporting cast of dishes like grilled octopus with corona bean and ’nduja are equally adept. BRIAN GALLAGHER
3057 Beacon Avenue South, 206-395-2069, bardelcorso.com
Canlis
Queen Anne | Fine Dining, Tasting Menu
One of America’s great restaurants, Canlis has managed to both change with the culinary times and keep what has made it beloved for 75 years — the striking midcentury dining room overlooking Lake Union, and the famously attentive service. Aisha Ibrahim, the current executive chef, came with a résumé stacked with global standouts like Manresa in California and Azurmendi in Spain. Her menu is focused and luxurious. Gorgeous presentations of dishes like halibut with geoduck and a sauce of kasu butter and peas are matched by the depth and range of flavors on the plate. The lacquered and roasted mushroom preparation will have you wondering why anyone bothers to serve them any other way. The magisterial wine list, overseen by Linda Milagros Violago, runs to 2,600 selections. BRIAN GALLAGHER
2576 Aurora Avenue North, 206-283-3313, canlis.com
Communion
Central District | Modern Soul Food
The vibes at Communion are warm and welcoming, and it’s not unusual to strike up a conversation with the table next to yours while snacking on some grilled okra, or to be invited to an art opening by a stranger at the bar. The menu changes seasonally, but a dish like the neck-bone stew will, at least for a few minutes, make chatting impossible. It’s so delicious, it requires all of your attention — the crisp-edged strands of smoky meat, the big, tender lima beans and the deeply flavored broth. But every dish has a certain pull, from the catfish and grits to the local clams in coconut milk. Kristi Brown, who ran a catering company before opening her own restaurant, doesn’t miss. TEJAL RAO
2350 East Union Street, 206-391-8140, communionseattle.com
Familyfriend
Beacon Hill | Guamanina, Filipino American
It’s never a bad idea to start with a killer burger. And Familyfriend’s version — a paragon of the smashed double-cheese form plied heavily with Kewpie mayo, chopped pickles and onion — is already getting national renown. This Seattle newcomer describes itself as a “Vibe Dispensary on Beacon Hill,” but lucky for the neighborhood, it doesn’t stop at burgers and vibes. The owner, Elmer Dulla, is from Guam, and like the food of that island (and the team of cooks in the kitchen), the menu is proudly pan-Pacific. The diners lined up at opening time are there for the burger, sure, but also piquant chicken adobo tacos and batchoy “La Paz Style,” an envelopingly unctuous noodle soup of pig offal and fermented shrimp broth. The cocktail menu is similarly laced with flavors from around the Pacific, like calamansi and salted Chinese plum. And if you don’t end with the fried-to-order Typhoon Donuts with white-peach coulis, you’ve left your meal unfinished. BRIAN GALLAGHER
3315 Beacon Avenue South, no phone, instagram.com/familyfriend20671
Itsumono
International District | Izakaya, Gastro Pub
This International District spot describes itself as “mukokuseki,” a Japanese term that roughly translates to “stateless,” but more specifically means not having the distinctive features of any particular ethnicity. Which tracks. The menu is constantly changing, but don’t be surprised to see dishes like the Loco Moco Scotch Egg, a formidable version of that classic English pub snack that channels Hawaii, complete with a side of mac salad, by way of Hackney. Or the Piggy Parm Katsu Sando, which tops a breaded fried pork loin with spaghetti marinara, enrobes them both in mozzarella cheese and sandwiches the lot between pieces of shokupan garlic bread. It’s all hearty enough to clad your stomach for an evening spent with the extensive selection of shochu highballs on the cocktail list. BRIAN GALLAGHER
610 South Jackson Street, 206-682-1828, itsumonoseattle.wixsite.com
Joule
Fremont | Asian
The chef Rachel Yang is one of Seattle’s greats, and her flagship, Joule, shines as bright as ever, with an expansive, energetic dining room that still rings contemporary-chic. Ms. Yang and her husband, Seif Chirchi (they fell in love in the kitchen of Alain Ducasse at the Essex House in Manhattan), marry all manner of Asian flavors with continental technique. Add prime Pacific Northwest products, and the results — Chinese-style scallion pancake bedecked with smoked salmon roe and crème fraîche, a paella-adjacent geoduck black rice, grass-fed Washington rib-eye with lemongrass chimichurri — are by turns electric and comforting. For dessert, consider Ms. Yang’s latest venture, Paper Cake Shop, a few blocks away. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
3506 Stone Way North, 206-632-5685, relayrestaurantgroup.com/restaurants/joule
Kilig
International District | Filipino
After a series of pop-ups turned into her first restaurant, Musang, the chef Melissa Miranda has expanded north. Think of Kilig — with its big-windowed corner spot and kaleidoscopic décor — as Musang’s hipper younger sibling. But the Filipino culinary bona fides are intact. Menu highlights include the house version of dan dan noodles, with tahini and peanut sauce short rib, okra, eggplant, long beans bagoong and garlic chile XO sauce; and the pork adobo. But on a rainy Seattle evening, you would be making a mistake not to order the beef shank sabaw, a thoroughly enveloping soup. The cocktails, accented with traditional Filipino ingredients like pinakurat vinegar and calamansi, are the perfect accompanying note. BRIAN GALLAGHER
710 Eighth Avenue South, 206-778-4513, kiligseattle.com
Le Pichet
Downtown | French
A little tranche of Montparnasse in Pike Place Market, Le Pichet changed hands in 2022. Loyalists fretted that the pitch-perfect menu of French bistro classics — oeufs mayonnaise, steak frites, haricots verts — would be fancied up, or even changed in any way. But all was left as is, and the salubrious room is still a great place to stop in at almost any hour (lest we forget that the all-day cafe is not a Millennial innovation). Linger a while over a bottle of reasonably priced French wine and a charcuterie plate, and you may find yourself, without much convincing, eventually staying for a full meal, and a full evening. BRIAN GALLAGHER
1933 First Avenue, 206-256-1499, lepichetseattle.com
Lil Red’s Takeout and Catering
Columbia City | Barbecue, Jamaican
Erasto Jackson, better known as Red, started out working in the butcher shop that formerly occupied the low-slung building on Rainier Avenue now housing his to-go spot. The combination of learning about meat from that perspective, gathering ecumenically from various regional barbecue styles and trusting his instincts, has very much worked out: His wide-ranging menu earned him a spot on the scholar Adrian Miller’s list of the top 20 Black-owned barbecue places in the United States. With his beautiful brisket, crispy-edged burnt ends, pull-apart pork ribs and more, you’re encouraged to douse upon delivery with either tomato-based house barbecue sauce or a jerk concoction that blooms from complex to hot. Mr. Jackson’s wife, Lelieth Jackson, is Jamaican, and the embrace of that country’s cuisine happily extends to her traditional rum cake, one of Seattle’s best desserts. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
4225 Rainier Avenue South, 206-760-2931, lilredtakeout.com
Local Tide
Fremont | Seafood
In a town so identified with seafood, it’s a bit surprising that one of the best practitioners would be an informal, order-at-the-counter storefront spot. But Local Tide is that. The folks at the fryers here really know how to make hot-oil magic, whether it’s for a battered Dover sole fillet, Saltine-crusted local oysters or the delightful take on shrimp toast. The non-fried lineup is equally well done. The crab roll, made with hand-cracked Dungeness and served on a griddled split-top roll, is buttery, sweet and just the right amount of creamy. Insider tip: If Local Tide is full, you can take your food next door and eat at the Aslan Brewing tasting room, if you order a beer. BRIAN GALLAGHER
401 North 36th Street, Unit 103, 206-420-4685, localtide.com
Ltd Edition Sushi
Capitol Hill | Omakase
With high-end omakase restaurants all over the world flying in fish from Tokyo’s Tsukiji market, it’s now just as easy to enjoy world-class sushi in Brussels as in Shibuya. But at Ltd Edition, in a town of piscatorial plenty, none of the fish is frozen and much of it is local. The chef Keiji Tsukasaki came to the sushi craft somewhat later in life, after more than a decade in the nightlife world, and he presides over the eight-seat counter with an impresario’s charisma. While the traditional preparations are superb — including achingly good Dungeness crab and tender firefly squid — Mr. Tsukasaki is also expanding the Edomae sushi vocabulary with dishes like lean tuna belly with housemade soy milk and shio koji. BRIAN GALLAGHER
1641 Nagle Place, Suite 006, no phone, ltdeditionsushi.com
My Friend Derek’s
Tangletown | Pizza
It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as 2020. During the pandemic, a carb-curious hobbyist with a combination of free time and social media develops a cult following for a dough-based pop-up. In this case, the bread head is Derek Reiff and the passion project is Detroit-style pizza. Upon graduating to a charmingly compact storefront last year, Mr. Reiff’s shop quickly became a neighborhood favorite. The menu is admirably succinct: four pizza choices, a heftily Parmesaned “fishy Caesar,” a few beers and a “wine glass” or “wine bottle.” The pies are satisfyingly sturdy with a canonical crust of crisped cheese around the edges. The vodka pep is the move, but they’re all very good, and a side of ranch is available for the depraved among you. News reports suggest Mr. Reiff will try his hand at New York-style pies in the near future. So, watch this space (or at least Instagram). BRIAN GALLAGHER
2108 North 55th Street, no phone, myfrienddereks.com
Off Alley
Columbia City | Continental, Small Plates
The room is tiny — just 6 feet 4 inches wide, with 12 seats — but the husband-and-wife team Evan Leichtling and Meghna Prakash maximize every square inch. Ms. Prakash runs the front of the house and assembles the distinctive wine list. Mr. Leichtling — who has cooked at the three-Michelin-starred Akelarre in San Sebastián, Spain — holds sway in the diminutive kitchen. Their combined sensibility lends dinners the raucous feel of a Lyonnaise bouchon, with an urban edge. The dishes are nose-to-tail accented with Pacific Northwest ingredients — braised tripe with morels and ñora peppers; gooseneck barnacles with charred scallion aioli; fried pig head with preserved cherries and Walla Walla onions. And they will tantalizingly disappear from the chalkboard menu as the night goes on. BRIAN GALLAGHER
4903½ Rainier Ave South,; 206-488-6170, offalleyseattle.com
Paju
South Lake Union | Korean
Paju’s small, spare storefront is understated, but the chef Bill Jeong’s résumé lists Saison in San Francisco and Jungsik in New York, and his contemporary Korean menu represents some serious excellence. Many dishes possess an elegance and deliciousness that would be at home on the highest-end tables in town — like raw yellowtail curled into a rosette with paper-thin Granny Smith apple, lemon verbena, finger lime, serrano and horseradish, set in a naengmyeon broth pool. Meanwhile, comfort-food favorites get uncommon nuance and savor — like Paju fried rice, subtly oceanic with squid ink, smoky with bacon crumble, spiced with kimchi, enriched with a quail egg, and dusted with seaweed. With 10 dishes priced from $18 to $28, it’s best to bring a few friends and order everything. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
513 Westlake Avenue North, 206-829-8215, pajurestaurant.com
Pancita
Ravenna | Mexican
The chef Janet Becerra’s Pancita started as a pop-up at the restaurant incubator Pair to instant acclaim, with fans rejoicing when in August the residency became a permanent one in a charming storefront. Ms. Becerra, who interned at Pujol in Mexico City, includes multiple menu entries for “Today’s masa,” nixtamalized in-house. Perfectly greasy, exceptionally crispy and light tostadas might be topped with albacore, avocado, frizzled leeks and morita-chile Kewpie mayonnaise. The tacos, made with tender, freshly pressed tortillas, could be filled with dripplingly rich suadero and complemented by tomatillo and bell-pepper salsas. A serrano Caesar possesses a polarizing heat, while the Oaxacan mole negro has powerful depth. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
5501 30th Avenue Northeast, 206-526-7655, pancitaseattle.com
Stateside
Capitol Hill | Vietnamese French
Call the menu here Vietnamese French and beyond. Beloved dishes from the chef Eric Johnson include crispy-fried duck rolls wrapped in fresh herbs and rice paper, coconut-milk-and-yogurt grilled-goat curry and braised-then-deep-fried chile-cumin pork ribs. Flavors are matched with finesse, as befits Mr. Johnson’s past work with Daniel Boulud in New York and Jean-Georges Vongerichten in New York, Paris and Shanghai. The room, with palm-patterned wallpaper and white beams, suggests tropical locales in a way that’s particularly welcome when it’s dark long before dinnertime. Cocktails also do their part, with tastes of pineapple, lemongrass, galangal and lime leaf. Almost a decade in, Stateside is still a Seattle go-to. And when it comes to darkness and drinks, don’t miss the adjacent sibling bar, the tiny, romantic Foreign National. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
300 East Pike Street, 206-557-7273, statesideseattle.com
Taurus Ox
Capitol Hill | Lao
In a world that may have passed peak burger some time ago, it’s not often that a compelling new example of the form emerges. But the Taurus Ox Lao burger manages to be just that. In a double smashed burger, the patties are made from a blend of top sirloin and pork belly. A pungent note comes from aged provolone, while jaew tomato and jaew bong — Lao condiments made with chile, lemongrass, garlic and galangal, bring heat and an herbal tang. Beyond the burger (which is also available at the smaller sibling restaurant, Ox Burger), the Lao sausage, made with lime leaf, chile and garlic, and the Lao beef jerky, tri-tip marinated in tamari with ginger and lemongrass, strike a similarly bewitching balance. BRIAN GALLAGHER
903 19th Avenue East, 206-972-0075, taurusox.square.site
Terra Plata
Capitol Hill | Global, Pacific Northwest
Housed in a handsome, window-lined triangular space on Capitol Hill, Terra Plata is the chef Tamara Murphy’s tribute to the best local, seasonal ingredients in the Pacific Northwest. Ms. Murphy, who died in 2024, was an early proponent of that once-novel concept in Seattle cuisine, and her steadfast devotion to it — along with consistently great results on the plate — made Terra Plata a longtime standout. Her menu of “Land,” “Earth” and “Sea” comprises world-ranging flavors: Sea might mean steamed mussels in red curry with sweet peppers, lime and cilantro; Earth could include carrots with honey-lemon tahini, golden-raisin agrodolce, almonds and feta. Roast pig is a constant in the Land category, gloriously stewy with Manila clams and chorizo in a heady broth flavored by smoked paprika and sofrito. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
1501 Melrose Avenue, 206-325-1501, terraplata.com
Tomo
White Center | Japanese American
When Brady Ishiwata Williams opened Tomo in 2021, he was coming off a six-year turn as the executive chef at Canlis, Seattle’s most vaunted dining room, and winning a James Beard award. After four years of running a tasting-menu restaurant, Mr. Williams has loosened his approach. The silky chawanmushi with uni remains, and should not be missed, but the rest of the now à la carte dishes are more freewheeling, leaning toward crowd pleasers like steamed sliders, cacio e pepe rice cakes and “sweet n’ sticky” fried chicken. And they are quite pleasing. The Dungeness crab rice, sweet with nobs of crab meat, carries a gumbo-like umami and is easily one of the best dishes in town. And the monumental tiramisu in shave-ice form will make the whole table smile, before anyone even takes a bite. BRIAN GALLAGHER
9811 16th Avenue Southwest, no phone, tomoseattle.com
Un Bien
Ballard | Caribbean
Seattle’s most famous sandwich has a past rife with drama, including a lawsuit involving the ownership of the marinade recipe. Regardless of previous legal entanglements, the Caribbean Roast here is magnificent. The stage: a long, sturdy-but-soft roll from the esteemed Macrina Bakery. Supporting players: garlic aioli for creaminess, pickled jalapeños for spark, ribs of romaine for fresh crunch, cilantro lending a bright note, big pieces of caramelized roasted onion all slippery-sweet. The star: pork shoulder slow-roasted into lush meaty hunks, richly savory, whispering of citrus, with warm spices and more garlic coming through. In a city not known for the sandwich arts, Un Bien provides a tremendous public service. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
7302.5 15th Avenue Northwest, 206-588-2040
6226 Seaview Avenue Northwest, 206-420-7545, unbienseattle.com
The Walrus and the Carpenter
Ballard | Pacific Northwest, Seafood
The flagship of the chef Renee Erickson’s restaurant armada, the Walrus and the Carpenter remains unmatched for upscale-oyster-bar goodness in Seattle, with a line of supplicants often stretching out into the parking lot before opening to prove it. (No reservations are taken.) The airy, bustling space evokes the coast of Brittany, and the oysters are only the Pacific Northwest’s best — that is, the best anywhere (with the local bivalve star Hama Hama Oyster Company always well represented). Everything else — like local Sea Wolf bread and ethereally whipped butter, elegant crudos and chicken liver mousse — is exactly right. Given all that and a largely French wine list, time spent here is worth the wait. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
4743 Ballard Avenue Northwest, 206-395-9227, thewalrusbar.com
Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest. Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
Tejal Rao is a chief restaurant critic for The Times.
The post The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now appeared first on New York Times.
