See our guide to the fall 2018 Seattle Restaurant Week here.
Monday, April 2, is the first day of Seattle Restaurant Week. That means that for two glorious weeks (Sundays—Thursdays until April 19), respected establishments all over town will be offering three-course dinners for a mere $33. Some of them will also offer two-course lunches for $18. You can see the full list of participants (there are currently 181, though more may be added) here. To help you narrow down the options, we’ve picked out a few highlights for you to check out and rounded them up below, including some normally pricy options, rising stars, favorites of Stranger critics, and restaurants associated with James Beard Award-winning chefs. We've also noted which Restaurant Week participants are POC-owned and women-owned. Go forth and chow down, but be sure to make reservations, and please remember to tip your servers well.
GREAT DEALS
Restaurant Week is a great chance to catch these normally high-end, well-established restaurants for a reasonable price.
The Dining Room at Salish Lodge and Spa
LESSER-KNOWN FAVORITES
Though their names may not be as recognizable as some other Seattle institutions, these restaurants are underrated gems and rising stars, and they're well worth your time.
POC-OWNED RESTAURANTS
Note: We have done our best to make this list as comprehensive as possible but may not have listed all of the applicable restaurants. If you know of a participating restaurant that should be on this list, please let us know and we’ll update it as soon as we can!
Adana (Shota Nakajima)
Agrodolce, Tilth (Maria Hines)
Araya’s Place (Aratana Nualkhair)
Bai Tong Thai Cafe (Jantana Chaiseeha)
Bar Dojo, Salt & Iron (Shubert Ho)
Chavez (Gabriel Chavez)
Crawfish King (Torrey Le)
Girin (Steven Han)
Lilac Cafe and Lynn’s Bistro (MyLinh Tran)
Ma'ono (Mark Fuller and Marjorie Chang Fuller)
Marjorie (Donna Moodie)
Moksha (Lakshmi and Padma Thanhu)
Monsoon, Seven Beef (Eric Banh and Sophie Banh)
Nirmal’s (Oliver and Gita Bangera)
Pomerol (Vuong and Tricia Loc)
Quinn’s Pub (Charles and Peter Kim)
Soi (Yuie Helseth)
Sushi Kappo Tamura (Taichi Kitamura)
Yoroshiku (Keisuke Kobayashi)
WOMEN-OWNED RESTAURANTS
Note: Some of these restaurants may be co-owned by men. We have done our best to make this list as comprehensive as possible but may not have listed all of the applicable restaurants. If you know of a participating restaurant that should be on this list, please let us know and we’ll update it as soon as we can!
Agrodolce, Tilth (Maria Hines)
Araya’s Place (Aratana Nualkhair)
Bai Tong Thai Cafe (Jantana Chaiseeha)
Bramling Cross, Goldfinch Tavern, Marine Hardware, Mkt., Red Cow, Rione XIII, Staple & Fancy, Tavolàta (Angela Stowell)
Capitol Cider (Julie Tall)
Eve Fremont (Debra Russell and Jill Buchanan)
Frank’s Oyster House, Pair (Sarah Penn)
Harvest Vine (Carolin Messier)
Lark (JM Enos and Kelly Ronan)
Lecosho (Jill Buchanan)
Lilac Cafe and Lynn’s Bistro (MyLinh Tran)
Marjorie (Donna Moodie)
Monsoon, Seven Beef (Eric and Sophie Banh)
Nirmal’s (Gita Bangera)
Orfeo, Steelhead Diner (Terresa Davis)
Osteria La Spiga (Sabrina Tinsley)
Phinney Market Pub & Eatery (Jaimee Papineau)
Pomerol (Tricia Loc)
Preservation Kitchen (Susan Southwick)
Revolve True Food & Wine Bar (Dr. Dusty DuBois)
Soi (Yuie Helseth)
Terra Plata (Tamara Murphy)
The London Plane (Katherine Anderson)
The Tin Table (Hallie Kuperman)
STRANGER PICKS
These restaurants have received positive reviews from Stranger staffers past and present.
Cafe Campagne
Tobias Coughlin-Bogue wrote, "The menu is simple and to the point, and sticks to the French classics. They offer pâté sandwiches served cold on tiny pastry-puff buns; a slider version of their excellent lamb burger; moules marinière; those addictive beef skewers from their yearly Bastille Day fete; and socca, a perfectly pliant chickpea pancake slathered in salty, piquant black olive tapenade. There's a reason this place has earned the city's undying adoration."
Girin
Charles Mudede wrote, "Girin does classical Korean cuisine well, but if you love meat, and you have not been to this Sodo area joint, I really feel sorry for you. You don’t know what you’re missing. If money is on your mind, then hit the happy hour to do some grazing. If not, then go all out for the 10 ounce hanger steak on the dinner menu. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Worth every penny. The restaurant’s decor is a bit much, true, but the food here is world-class."
Harvest Vine
Corina Zappia wrote, “If only all visits to Madison Valley felt like a trip to Basque country. This restaurant may look small when you first enter, from the tiny tapas bar to the cluster of tables near the windows, but head down the stairs and sit amid the gorgeous stone walls lined with wine bottles and you’ll feel like you’ve left Seattle behind. All dishes are served to share, from the anchovy-stuffed olives to the gambas al ajillo. Order the Columbia City bread with the olive oil tasting—you know you’re going down that road anyway—and save room for desserts like the Tarta de Santiago, a moist, dense olive-oil cake.”
Lecosho
Charles Mudede wrote, "More recently, I stopped by Lecosho on my birthday. I wanted to eat there all by myself. That is how much I dig this place. I thought that the best way to commemorate the day I was born was not with other people talking about this and that but in the silence of consuming this restaurant's rich foods and wines."
Lola
Tobias Coughlin-Bogue wrote, "One of the original outposts in Seattle restaurant overlord Tom Douglas's galactic empire, Belltown's Lola continues to stand the test of time. The theme is Greek, although significantly upscaled from your average neighborhood gyro joint. Think squid kebabs, spendy tagines, a savagely good lamb burger, and martinis with feta-stuffed olives. Their happy hour makes said martinis accessibly priced and also offers deep discounts on the kebabs. In a fun nod to neighborhood joint theatrics, your server pours a shot of ouzo over whichever kebab you order, although they thankfully do not put on a big, fake smile and shout 'Opa!'"
Ma’ono Chicken & Whiskey
Bethany Jean Clement wrote, "Yes, the fried chicken is really, really good. If it's not the best fried chicken you've ever had, you're a very lucky individual. It's burnished brown, with a thick, crunchy crust and lush, flavorful flesh... While Spring Hill is missed, the good news is that Ma'ono's food is just as impeccably sourced, and maybe even more unlike anything else in town."
Monsoon
Bethany Jean Clement wrote, "Monsoon's elegant Pacific Northwest/Vietnamese food is as good as ever—that is, very, very good. Standards like beef la lot and imperial rolls ($9.50 each) are elevated by great ingredients and great care; the la lot leaves are greener, fresher, and stuffed with Painted Hills flank steak plus a stick of pickled jicama for punch, while the bumpy-crispiness of the imperial rolls is extraordinary, and they're full of Carlton Farms pork and wild-caught shrimp."
Nirmal's
Tricia Romano wrote, "There's a dearth of good Indian food in Seattle; after eight years in New York, I was spoiled. But Nirmal's in Pioneer Square is nearly as good as what you find in the Big Apple, maybe better, even if the service can be a touch too friendly and the high ceilings make it a very loud experience (you'll be shouting at your fellow diner to be heard). While you can get your usuals (tandoori chicken, palak paneer), they don't taste like the usual thanks to namesake head chef Nirmal Monteiro. The food swerves left—there are dishes I'd never heard of (prawn phalnaire, goat roghni), most have strong distinct flavors, and the heat doesn't drown out the dish, only enhances it. Costly, but worth it."
Omega Ouzeri
Rich Smith wrote, "I had some laudable toast points at Omega a few months ago. Besides that, this bright, casual spot on Capitol Hill offers up refreshing, semi-pricey Greek fare. The servers will non-pretentiously offer useful information about anise-spiked clear spirits that anchor their bar program, and the octopus is truly great. Go there with a friend, share a couple small plates and an entrée, and leave half-loopy in an ouzo cloud."
Poppy
Megan Seling wrote, "[Poppy's thali] is quite possibly the best dessert experience in all of Seattle...My first dessert thali—you'll want to read this slowly and think about every part—consisted of chocolate terrine with ginger, salted sesame, and cumin cashews; hot date cake with banana ice cream and butterscotch; a chocolate malt ice cream sundae; a small bowl of candied cumin cashews; two squares of nutter butter cake; two salted caramel truffles; two sugary rectangles of passion fruit gelee; and, as the server said, a small bowl of 'Dana's famous caramel corn.' That's eight items total—and every single item was absolutely delicious...It's an indecisive dessert freak's dream come true."
Soi
Leilani Polk wrote, "Specializing in the spicier, more aromatic flavors of the Northeastern Isaan region of Thailand, SOI has a rather intriguing menu of unexpectedly delectable offerings. But you want to hit the Capitol Hill restaurant during happy hour—when you can get a $6 tamarind whiskey sour or lemongrass rickey with your meal—or brunch. The brunch menu features dishes like the kai grata (two over-easy eggs served in a skillet with slices of pork belly, sweet Chinese sausage, green onions, tomato, and spinach) and cheat-on-your-GF-diet-worthy roti (the flatbread pastry seducer in my case was the phaya thai—made with banana and peanut butter, and topped with hazelnut whipped cream)."
Sushi Kappo Tamura
Bethany Jean Clement wrote, "It's what sushi is meant to be: simple, beautiful, shockingly good...Tamura is, without a doubt, among the very best sushi restaurants in town."
Tankard and Tun
Tobias Coughlin-Bogue wrote, "As much as I love the Athenian for my Pike Place Market oyster fix, it's hard to resist the newfound allure of Tankard & Tun. The latest offering from Pike Brewing Company, it is their very Northwest version of a Parisian brasserie, and it's great. I've been consistently impressed with chef Gabe Spiel's dedication to oyster sourcing, and it seems like some new and interesting bivalve just got dropped off every time I drop in. If he's got anything from Drayton Harbor Oyster Company, get them."
Toulouse Petit
Leilani Polk wrote, "Seattle's other noteworthy Cajun-Creole restaurant has a more extensive menu than what you find at French Quarter Kitchen, minus the absinthe, and plenty of what you find on it is delicious (try the jambalaya). But their breakfast and brunch is where it's at: pork cheeks confit hash (which was featured on the Food Network show The Best Thing I Ever Ate), the Bayou Fisherman's Breakfast (shrimp, fish, crawfish, and tasso, served in a mini-skillet with grits and a fried egg on top), and Cajun meatloaf and eggs are just a few of the savory options. Plus, you can get the same menu, with discounts, during the weekday breakfast happy hour, from 9 to 11 a.m. After dark is also a fine time to visit—the candles placed on the walls all around the room are lit, filling the place with a dreamy, flickering orange glow."
Yoroshiku
Angela Garbes wrote, "It was pouring rain the day I visited Yoroshiku, and as I slurped my way through a bowl of spicy miso ramen ($13), I couldn't think of anything I'd rather be eating. Every spoonful of broth—salty, nutty, and just a little bit funky—was also fiery, but in a smoldering kind of way, building as I worked my way through the dish. Rich, buttery slices of chashu (braised pork belly) offset the heat, as did sweet yellow-corn kernels and a scattering of crunchy sesame seeds."
JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNERS
These restaurants are associated with James Beard award-winning chefs.
Jason Wilson (Best Chef Northwest, 2010)
Miller's Guild
Thierry Rautureau (Best Chef Northwest, 1998)
LUC
Tom Douglas (Best Chef Northwest, 1994; American Cooking, 2001; Outstanding Restaurateur, 2012)
The Carlile Room
Dahlia Lounge
Etta's
Lola
Palace Kitchen
Seatown Seabar & Rotisserie
Trattoria Cuoco
Jerry Traunfeld (Best American Chef, Northwest and Hawaii, 2000)
Lionhead
Poppy
Johnathan Sundstrom (Best Chef Northwest, 2007)
Lark
Maria Hines (Best Chef Northwest, 2007-2009)
Agrodolce
Tilth
Matt Dillon (Best Chef Northwest, 2011 and 2012)
The London Plane
Tamara Murphy (Best American Chef, Northwest and Hawaii, 1995)
Terra Plata
