The Top 100 Restaurants Near Mama’s Kitchen
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Rank 1. Mama’s Kitchen
Korean
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Rank 2. Archipelago
Progressive Filipino
Twelve seats, ten courses, and a tasting menu that treats Filipino food as a lens for Pacific Northwest history in ways that somehow feel personal rather than academic. Archipelago is one of those rare spots where the storytelling and the cooking are equally good, which has earned it a James Beard Award. Getting a reservation is notoriously hard, but the crowd that manages it tends to sit very still and pay close attention, which tells you everything.
- The Infatuation Infatuation’s Highest-Rated Restaurants In America
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Hospitality
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Aaron Verzosa
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- Seattle Met 2023 · Omakase · The Best Things I Ate This Year
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Jun Takai
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Rank 7. Off Alley
European-Influenced
Twelve seats in a brick corridor, a chalkboard that changes daily, and a James Beard Award on the shelf. Off Alley is the kind of tiny, European-leaning dinner spot where the staff describes every plate like they genuinely can't believe you're about to eat it. The chef leans into organs, odd little fish, and the weirder corners of the PNW pantry, and somehow it all lands. Wear something nice but not stuffy.
- The New York Times 2022 · The Restaurant List
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
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Rank 8. Familyfriend
Hawaiian
A casual Beacon Hill spot doing Guamanian food in a way Seattle hadn't really seen before, and it's a James Beard Best New Restaurant winner, so someone noticed. The smashburger went viral and briefly filled the room with TikTokers, but the regulars have reclaimed their pistachio booths and the shady back patio. The empanadas and corn soup are the real reason to linger.
- Esquire 2024 · Lola Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
- Seattle Met 2024 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 9. Communion Restaurant & Bar
Southern
- USA Today 2024 · Restaurants of the Year
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Kristi Brown
- The New York Times 2021 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 10. Haidilao Hot Pot
Chinese
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Rank 11. Musang
Filipino
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Melissa Miranda
- The Infatuation #3 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Seattle
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
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Rank 12. Carmine's
Italian
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- Wine Enthusiast 2023 · Forward 50 Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Aaron Tekulve
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Seattle
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Rank 14. Homer
Wood-Fired Mediterranean
A James Beard-winning chef runs this wood-fired Mediterranean spot in Beacon Hill, and the room feels like your coolest neighbor's dinner party, if your neighbor had a wood oven and a soft-serve window out back. The pitas come out of that oven almost too hot to hold, still puffed and blistered, and everything you spread on them earns its place. The lamb ribs alone are worth the trip.
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Seattle
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Logan Cox
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A soup dumpling shop that takes its xiao long bao seriously enough to include instructions with every basket, which sounds fussy until the dumpling bursts perfectly on your spoon and suddenly the tongs make sense. The room is clean and calm, full of families and office workers who clearly come back regularly. Six varieties of XLB, plus noodles, pan-fried buns, and wontons that don't feel like afterthoughts.
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Rank 16. Phở Bắc
Vietnamese
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Yenvy and Quynh Pham
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Quynh-Vy and Yenvy Pham
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
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Rank 18. The Boat
Vietnamese
A James Beard-winning team runs this Little Saigon all-day spot out of a literal boat-shaped building, and they've committed hard to a single dish: a garlic-crusted, fish sauce-glazed half chicken that arrives sticky-handed and deeply satisfying. The drinks list is surprisingly generous for a one-dish joint, and the pandan waffles with coconut fluff are reason enough to linger. The crowd knows exactly what they're doing here.
- Seattle Met 2023 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- The Infatuation #17 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Seattle
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Quynh Pham and Yenvy Pham
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Rank 19. Delish Ethiopian Cuisine
Ethiopian
- Seattle Met 2023 · Bozena Shero · The Best Things I Ate This Year
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Seattle
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Rank 20. Kilig
Filipino
Kilig is a bright, fast-casual Filipino spot in the International District where the room is splashed with color and the food hits harder than the price tag suggests. Chef Melissa Miranda built her name at Musang, and this looser, bolder follow-up shows her having more fun. The bulalo, a beefy shank soup, is the anchor, but the wings, lumpia, and punchy noodles earn their keep too. The New York Times agrees it belongs on your list.
- Seattle Met 2024 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- The Infatuation The 21 Most Fun Dinner Spots In Seattle
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now
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Rank 21. Spinasse
Northern Italian
- The Infatuation #2 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Seattle
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Seattle
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Rank 22. Taurus Ox
Laotian
A casual Laotian restaurant in Capitol Hill that earned a New York Times shoutout, which tells you something. The food is bold and bright, the kind that built enough of a following to graduate from a tiny counter spot into a proper dining room. The crowd skews neighborhood regulars who know exactly what they're ordering. Come for the khao poon and the housemade sausage, but don't sleep on the smash burger, which sounds like a gimmick until you eat it.
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Seattle
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Rank 23. Billiard Hoang
Vietnamese
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Capitol Hill's coolest dinner spot right now takes Vietnamese flavors and sends them on a world tour, landing somewhere genuinely surprising. The chef's team blurs the line between a neighborhood bistro and something more ambitious, with cocktails that hold their own and a menu that rewards ordering things you can't quite picture. The crowd is reliably stylish and curious, the kind of people who actually read the menu before they order.
- Seattle Met 2024 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Seattle Met 2025 · Tôm Cocktail · The Best Things I Ate This Year
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Rank 25. iconiq
Japanese, French
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Rank 27. Ciudad
Mediterranean
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Rank 28. Jackalope
Tex-Mex
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Rank 29. Lark
New American
Lark is a fine dining room in Capitol Hill that's been around long enough to feel like a fixture, and the James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality tells you the staff genuinely means it. The four-course tasting menu is unusually forgiving, with real choices at each round so it never feels like you're just eating the chef's diary. The crowd skews date-night and special-occasion, dressed like they meant it.
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Seattle
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Rank 30. Maneki
Japanese
Maneki has been around forever and it shows, in the best way. This homey Japanese restaurant and bar in the International District runs on no-nonsense energy and seriously good food, with regulars who never bother opening the menu. Check the whiteboard for daily specials, that's where the real action is. The crowd skews young but the vibe is all old-school auntie-run institution, and the wait for a table is completely worth it.
- The Infatuation The 21 Most Fun Dinner Spots In Seattle
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Seattle Met 2026 · The Best Restaurants in the Chinatown–International District Right Now
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Rank 31. Soufend Cafe & Eatery
Vietnamese
The fusion-forward Vietnamese cafe in South Seattle that actually backs up its aesthetic with serious cooking. The menu swings from stir-fried snails in coconut sauce to bún bò Huế tacos, and the bánh xèo arrives on a woven basket surrounded by a pile of herbs like it's making an entrance. The crowd is mostly locals who dress like they have a Substack. Order the matcha latte and something you've never heard of.
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- Wine Enthusiast 2023 · Forward 50 Restaurants
- The Stranger 2024 · The Lamb Mabo Pizza · The 10 Best Things I Ate in Seattle
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Rank 33. Canlis
Northwest New American
Canlis is the kind of fine dining institution that's been around forever, perched on a cliff above Queen Anne Hill with views that make the prix fixe feel almost justified. The room fills with anniversaries, milestone birthdays, and people who clearly ironed their shirts for this. Northwest ingredients anchor the menu, the wine program has a James Beard win behind it, and the Canlis salad gets its own tableside moment.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Food & Wine 2023 · Best New Chefs · Aisha Ibrahim
- Food & Wine 2025 · The Top 15 US Restaurants
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Rank 34. Altura
Italian
Altura is a fixed tasting menu spot on Capitol Hill where Northwest ingredients get the full Italian treatment, plated with moss and rocks in a way that somehow feels rustic and quietly refined at the same time. The chef has a real eye for elegant weirdness. Service is warm rather than stiff, the wine list is sharp, and a wooden angel watches over the whole room. Save it for a night that deserves it.
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Rank 35. Maripili Tapas Bar
Spanish
A Spanish tapas bar on Capitol Hill where the Pacific Northwest and Galicia quietly agree they have a lot in common, mostly seafood. The chef's pastry background shows up in desserts worth actually saving room for, and the sherry list is longer than you'd expect. The crowd tends toward people who know what they're doing, which keeps the vibe relaxed and the room from feeling like a theme park.
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Seattle Met 2023 · Croissant Sobrasada Roll · The Best Things I Ate This Year
- Seattle Met 2024 · Flan de Erizo · The Best Things I Ate This Year
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Rank 36. Cafe Suliman
Middle Eastern
Cafe Suliman is a daytime cafe tucked inside a wine shop at Melrose Market, and it pulls off a trick that sounds chaotic on paper: Pacific Northwest ingredients filtered through an Arabic pantry, plated on dainty marble tables like a Parisian bistro that took a wrong turn somewhere wonderful. The crowd is the kind that lingers over toast on a Tuesday. A James Beard Emerging Chef is behind it all, so order freely and don't stress about what to get.
- Eater Best Counter
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Ahmed Suliman
- Seattle Met Seattle’s Best Lunch Spots
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Rank 38. Pancita
Mexican
Janet Becerra grinds and nixtamalizes her own heirloom corn daily, which tells you everything about how seriously she takes this place. Pancita is a lively, mid-range Mexican restaurant where European fine-dining training meets deep traditional technique, and the room fills with people who showed up on purpose. She earned a James Beard Award, and one bite of those tortillas explains why. Skip nothing on the menu.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Emerging Chef · Janet Becerra
- Seattle Met 2023 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now
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Rank 39. Fogón Cocina Mexicana
Mexican
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Quynh-Vy and Yenvy Pham
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Yenvy and Quynh Pham
- Bon Appétit 2022 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 42. Fat's Chicken and Waffles
Southern/Creole/Cajun, Breakfast/Brunch
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Rank 44. Cafe Flora
Vegetarian, Vegan, American/New American
Cafe Flora is the kind of neighborhood restaurant that makes meat-eaters forget to miss meat, which is either a miracle or a magic trick depending on who you ask. It's a relaxed vegetarian and vegan spot in Madison Valley with a plant-filled atrium and a sunny patio where brunch crowds linger longer than they planned. The cinnamon rolls have a reputation that precedes them. Carnivorous friends will leave converted, or at least quiet about it.
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Rank 45. Atoma
Pacific Northwestern
Fine dining in a converted Craftsman house in Wallingford, Atoma has James Beard Awards for Best New Restaurant and Best Chef behind it, which tells you something. The chef keeps things hyperseasonal and genuinely playful, and the room feels nothing like a white-tablecloth temple. Couples and curious regulars fill the small space, all quietly thrilled that food this precise still manages to be fun rather than a lecture.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Johnny Courtney
- Eater Best New Restaurant
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Rank 46. Tomo
American
Tomo is a sleek, stylishly dim upscale American restaurant in West Seattle where the kitchen does Japanese-inflected cooking that resists easy categorization, and honestly that's the whole point. The menu swings from fried chicken to chawanmushi with total confidence, and the wine program is genuinely outstanding, James Beard Award-winning if you need convincing. The crowd skews curious and adventurous, people who order the kakigori just to see if it'll topple.
- The New York Times 2025 · Dungeness Crab Rice · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Esquire 2022 · #30 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The Infatuation The 21 Most Fun Dinner Spots In Seattle
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Sacro Bosco is the evening version of Temple Pastries, and it carries that same obsessive, beautiful energy into dinner. The pizza is long, rectangular, and focaccia-adjacent, piled with deli-worthy toppings like mortadella and pistachio pesto. But honestly, the whole menu is the point. The room feels like the kind of effortless Italian cool Americans are always chasing, and the crowd knows it.
- Seattle Met 2025 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- Seattle Met 2025 · Housemade Ricotta · The Best Things I Ate This Year
- The Infatuation 2025 · #9 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 48. Paju
Modern Korean
- The New York Times 2021 · The Restaurant List
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
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Rank 49. Oriental Mart
Filipino
- The Infatuation #19 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Seattle
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Seattle
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An all-day café in a Wallingford office building sounds like a trap, but this place has a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant and earns every bit of it. The chef pulls from Japanese heritage, Midwest roots, and serious baking chops to make things like biscuits with chashu pork and miso gravy feel completely natural. The crowd is relaxed and neighborhood-y, the vibe is calm, and the food quietly blows your mind.
- Seattle Met 2025 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- Eater Best All-Day Cafe · The 2025 Eater Seattle Award Winners
- The Infatuation 2025 · #2 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 53. Le Pichet
Parisian French
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now
- Seattle Met Seattle’s Best Lunch Spots
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Rank 54. Milk Drunk
Soft Serve, Sandwiches/Deli
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Rank 55. Kamonegi
Japanese
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Mutsuko Soma
- Eater 2018 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Bon Appétit 2018 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 56. L'Oursin
French
A wainscoted French bistro that sneaks Pacific Northwest seafood onto the menu and describes its wines with phrases you'd expect from a group chat, not a sommelier. The bar is serious enough to have won a national award, and the food follows suit, with Dungeness crab and spot prawns doing their best Parisian impression. The crowd tends toward couples who actually dressed up and regulars who already know what they're ordering.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 57. Rimini Restaurant
Italian
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Rank 58. Mezzanotte
Italian
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Rank 59. Ba Bar
Vietnamese
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A pandemic pop-up that found a permanent home in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood, My Friend Derek's serves Detroit-style pizza with a tagline of "pretty good pizza," which is both accurate and somehow the most charming marketing in the city. The thick, crispy-edged pies are solid, but the real draw is the vibe and a drinks menu where nearly everything is under ten bucks, with wine notes that'll make you actually read the list.
- The Infatuation 2025 · #11 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
- Seattle Met 2025 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle Right Now
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Rank 62. Kathakali
Indian
- Seattle Met Seattle’s Best Lunch Spots
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific · Ajay Panicker
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This Southern-inflected breakfast and lunch spot on Capitol Hill is the kind of place where the biscuits alone justify the trip. Big, buttery, and served with fried chicken to people who clearly planned their whole morning around this meal, it has a warm, lived-in feel that makes you want to linger. The crowd runs toward flannel and good intentions, and nobody looks like they're in a hurry to get anywhere.
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- The New York Times 2025 · Lamb Neck Korma Pie · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Eater Best New Restaurant · The 2025 Eater Seattle Award Winners
- The Infatuation 2025 · #10 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 66. Jeffry's
American
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Rank 67. Lenox
Caribbean
Caribbean cooking with real roots and a serious rum list, Lenox feels like someone threw a backyard party in Harlem and somehow ended up on First Hill. The vibe is beachy and loose, the kind of spot where the bartender tops you off before you ask. The food honors the Puerto Rican diaspora without being precious about it, and the lechon is worth making a whole night around. Bon Appétit named it one of America's best new restaurants, which tracks.
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
- Seattle Met 2024 · Seattle’s Best New Restaurants
- The Infatuation The 21 Most Fun Dinner Spots In Seattle
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Rank 68. Bellwether BBQ
Korean
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Rank 69. Humble Pie
Pizza
The pizza here is genuinely good, which is almost beside the point once you clock that the owner built the whole place himself, including the stools, and raises chickens out back. It's a wood-fired slice spot in the International District with mostly outdoor seating, so summer is prime time, though the neighborhood energy and rotating ciders make it worth braving the cold too. Thin crusts with real chew, interesting topping combos, zero pretension.
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Rank 71. Kobuta & Ookami
Japanese
Redmond's favorite lunch spot for people who take their fried cutlets seriously, Kobuta & Ookami is a casual Japanese katsu joint where the crunch on every piece is genuinely absurd. Pork, chicken, and even fried cheese, all treated with real care and served in Tokyo-style curry or bubbling nabe. The chicken parm riff in tomato miso with a blizzard of Parmesan is the one everyone's talking about. Locals in hoodies fill the room fast.
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Rank 72. Dough Zone
Chinese
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Rank 74. Thanh Son Tofu
Vietnamese
A Vietnamese deli that started as a tofu factory and apparently decided décor was an afterthought, then overcompensated wildly. The tofu is the reason to show up, fresh and sold by the pound, and yes you will eat it out of the bag on the sidewalk. Banh mi come on house-baked bread, and the dessert case is a chaotic rainbow of che options that rewards pointing randomly at things.
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Rank 75. Byrek & Baguette
Balkan
The byrek are the reason to come. This casual Balkan café near Seattle U does baguettes and salads just fine, but the real draw is the Albanian pastry half of the menu: flaky coiled pies stuffed with leeks and feta or beef and onions, served with housemade yogurt for dipping. Save room for baklava from the counter case. The crowd is mostly students who look like they stumbled onto a secret, which, honestly, they kind of did.
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Coché Valley is a bingsu spot on Capitol Hill that treats shaved ice like it deserves a seat at the fine dining table, which means your dessert arrives on an unlit portable burner and somehow that's completely correct. The milk base shaves into delicate ribbons, fresh fruit and cheesecake chunks pile on top, and a scoop of ice cream crowns the whole thing. It's gloriously messy and worth every napkin.
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Rank 77. BOPBOX
Korean
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Rank 78. Saigon Deli
Vietnamese
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Rank 80. Pelicana Chicken
Korean
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- The Infatuation #13 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Seattle
- Seattle Met Seattle’s 50 Best Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Kevin Smith
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Rank 86. Loretta's Northwesterner
American/New American
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Rank 88. Chu Minh Tofu and Vegan Deli
Vietnamese, Vegan
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Rank 89. Cornelly
Italian
- The Infatuation The 21 Most Fun Dinner Spots In Seattle
- The Infatuation #21 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Seattle
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Rank 91. A+ HK Restaurant
Chinese
- Seattle Met Seattle’s Best Lunch Spots
- Seattle Met 2026 · The Best Restaurants in the Chinatown–International District Right Now
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Rank 92. Tamari Bar
Japanese Cocktail Bar
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- Seattle Met 2024 · Pak Mor Yuan · The Best Things I Ate This Year
- Seattle Met 2023 · Khao Soi Chiang Mai · The Best Things I Ate This Year
- Seattle Met Seattle’s Best Lunch Spots
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Rank 94. Onibaba
Japanese
- Seattle Met Seattle’s Best Lunch Spots
- Seattle Met 2026 · The Best Restaurants in the Chinatown–International District Right Now
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Rank 95. Sichuanese Cuisine
Chinese
An old-school International District institution that was doing Sichuan homestyle cooking before Seattle knew what Sichuan was. Think big bowls, ropy noodles, and a menu that lists wontons as "Sichuan ravioli" with zero irony. The regulars here didn't need a trendy rebrand to know the food was good, and neither will you. Bring an appetite and maybe a friend to split the boiled fish, which sounds mild and absolutely isn't.
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Rank 96. Gao Lhao
Thai Noodles
- The Infatuation The 21 Most Fun Dinner Spots In Seattle
- Seattle Met 2026 · Seattle's Best Shaved Ice and Slushies
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Rank 98. Bongos Cafe
Caribbean
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Rank 100. Phnom Penh Noodle House
Cambodian