Leaving Seattle. Here are some good restaurants, and exactly what I get at them, as of 2025.
My list is heavy on Asian food. I’m probably in the top 30% of enjoying savory foods that are also sweet, and fatty foods like pork belly.
Most of these restaurants have entrees in the $13-20 zone. I’ve focused on the restaurants that probably don’t pop up for tourists who are searching for good restaurants through search engines. (In my opinion, the correctly rated tourist-y restaurants are Din Tai Fung, Wild Ginger, Elliott’s Oyster House, Serious Pie, Paseo, Revel.)
University District
Xi’an Noodles
Cumin lamb noodles, sauce, not soup. Do use the chili oil and sesame paste provided in little containers at the tables. Note: It’s an oily dish even before you add the stuff I suggest.
Master Bing
They make jianbing, a crispy Chinese crepe wrapped around a protein, some veggies, and sauce. I always get the duck wrap.
U:Don
Curry udon; add kitsune tofu.
Ku Sushi
The menu is hit and miss, but it’s a great place to get a varied meal – the combination of dishes is really good if you know what to get.
- Some of the cheap rolls, which are not exceptional but ARE great value for cost and complement the following really well
- Tteokbokki (the spicy Korean rice cakes), optionally with ramen noodles
- The pork belly with kimchi
- I don’t know of anywhere else in Seattle that does the particular chunky, crispy cuts that Ku does, and the kimchi is a great pairing. Everyone in my group who likes pork belly loves this one.
- Fried chicken
Chi Mac
The best fried chicken in town that I know of. All the flavors are good but the soy garlic is a slight favorite in my group.
Amazing Thai
Probably the best Thai restaurant I’ve ever been to. Spice level: 4 stars is pretty spicy, 3 is what I get as a person who likes spice with what feels like average US metropolitan spice tolerance. Things I like there are:
- Pad see ew
- Note: unusually sweet for a pad see ew (and I think everyone else does it wrong)
- Any protein but I often get tofu just because the dish is so delicious I don’t mind the flavor downgrade to tofu, or calamari because the texture compleme
- Crab fried rice
- Duck curry
- Of these I think the delta between their pad see ew and everyone else’s pad see ew is the greatest – plenty of other restaurants do a great duck curry or a crab fried rice, but in my opinion only Amazing Thai does a great pad see ew
Sip House
Cafe with Asian fusion-y drinks; their ube latte is fantastic.
Morsel
They do biscuit sandwiches. I slightly recommend the Spanish Fly with scrambled egg (not fried, as is the default for that sandwich) over the others, but they’re all pretty good. Do ask what their current special biscuit is before going for one of the defaults for your sandwich.
Wallingford
Kozue
Their appetizers are so good I tend to get 2-3 instead of an entree.
- Agedashi tofu: simple but great, they just mastered this one
- The blackcod cheek is astonishingly good, basically half (the protein portion of) a fancy fish entree
- The vegetable or shrimp tempura: solid, high-quality instance of the category
- There’s also some sort of mountain yam slime option that I would get at least once, just because it’s interesting.
45th Stop N Shop & Poke Bar
Their poke is merely fine but their poke pockets (poke, sauce, and toppings poured over rice stuffed into tofu pouches) are amazing. I always get the starred three defaults (salmon, tuna, izumidai – izumidai is ‘just’ tilapia and it turns out raw tilapia is a thousand times more delicious than cooked), spicy.
The izumidai comes with gochujang, which is an amazing combination. The tuna is so marinaded it looks and almost tastes like jelly.
Chutney’s Bistro
Get the pomegranate chicken curry.
Elsewhere
The above are the two neighborhoods where I’ve been to the majority of restaurants in the main commercial districts and chose a few to highlight. But there are other locations in Seattle that contain calories. I’ve ordered them north to south.
Larsen’s Bakery
(north Ballard / Loyal Heights)
The only bakery I know of anywhere that specializes in marzipan. They have marzipan covered cakes, marzipan cookies, marzipan stuffed baked chocolate cylinders, etc. If you like marzipan, or would like to find out if you like marzipan, go.
Retreat
(…far north Wallingford? far west Ravenna? it’s the one on the eastern edge of Green Lake)
Hippie wine mom coded restaurant with a lot of unappetizing healthy almond-coded food, EXCEPT the “Retreat Bowl”: rice, fried egg (optional and highly recommended), potatoes, greens, mushrooms, a scoop of pistachio pesto. Comes together well.
Milstead Cafe
(Fremont)
They have a 70% chocolate mocha that I’ve never had anywhere else. I’m a latte drinker because mochas are too sweet for me, but I do love dark chocolate, and this mocha – which has tiny dark chocolate shavings swimming around in the coffee – is an exception.
Stone Korean Restaurant
(South Lake Union, but they have other locations I haven’t been to)
The two things I always get here are the beef ribs plus the naengmyeon. Ideally split with a second person but I admit I’ve just gotten both for myself and walked out stuffed.
Naengmyeon is cold thin noodles in a cold thin broth. Squirt about half a tablespoon of vinegar and mustard into it. Te restaurant should provide the vinegar and mustard; ask for it if they don’t.
- The condiments are a bit of an acquired taste, so add slowly.
- Naengmyeon is a relatively unique Korean dish that I suspect many Americans don’t do properly but would love if they did.
- Other meat dishes should work just fine to complement the naengmyeon – I just happen to think the ribs are the most complementary. Stone is one of the 2-3 places I know of in Seattle to offer both, and I think they do it the best.
Due’ Cuchina
(Capitol Hill, but they have other locations around the city)
Their Amatriciana is a solid tomato pasta that comes with “house-cured guanciale (pork cheek)“. It’s like bacon but light and dry and crunchy, in small cube form. Highly recommend.
(You can also add it to other pastas, but the Amatriciana is a good fit for it.)
Reckless Noodle House
(International District)
Ma La braised beef cheek noodle: thick noodles in a spicy, numbing szechuan oil sauce. The beef cheek falls apart. Covered in sweet slivers of pickled peppers.
9th and Hennepin Donuts
(West Seattle)
Open 8am-12pm weekends only. Order ahead on their website and pick up from a tiny timeshared storefront. They have a different set of 4 every week – the owner clearly has fun with this – and on the week I’m writing this up, the upcoming weekend’s set is:
- Semolina Cake Donut, Meyer Lemon & Fresh Thyme Sugar
- Chocolate Buttermilk Cake Donut, Almondbutter Glaze
- Filled Brioche, Cheesecake Pudding, Rhubarb Glaze
- Apple & Fig Fritter, Spiced Orange Cognac Glaze
Afghan Cuisine
(Kent) (you’re not going to come here, it’s a 30m drive south of everywhere else I’ve mentioned) (but I can’t not mention it, it’s just that good)
- I go here every time I’m remotely in the area. The two things I’m really enamored with are items in their ‘Famous Afghan Specialties’ section on the front page of the menu
- Mantoo: semi-open meat dumplings, thin damp dough, covered in sauce.
- Qabili Uzbek: marinated lamb shank with raisins-and-carrots rice