Tavolata – Best Happy Hour in Seattle
Recommended by: After this blog post was published a friend/reader reminded us of Tavolata after seeing me gush about Il Corvo’s pappardelle. We decided to take a happy hour trip to Tavolata
Description on the Tavolata’s website: Tavolàta Capitol Hill is our first attempt at recreating one of our original restaurants—Tavolàta in Belltown. Like the original, Tavolàta Capitol Hill is all about the pasta: Rigatoni, Bucatini, Gnocchi alla Romana and more. House favorites like the Pork Chop and Smoked Fish Bruschetta also make appearances. Join us on Capitol Hill!
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 501 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122
What we ate/drank: Spaghetti w/tomato & basil with chicken and ricotta meatballs, Pappardelle-beef and pork ragu, mint, chili,grana padano, Rigatoni-spicy italian sausage, tomato, marjoram, parmesan, Gnocchi alla Romana 1
semolina dumpling, mozzarella, tomato.
Comments: Between 5:00-7:00 pm a glorious occurrence happens every night in Seattle. Tavolata has their happy hour. It’s safe to say, in our opinion, Tavolata’s happy hour is by far the best in Seattle. We love happy hour at Chan, List, Toulouse Petit, Alibi Room and Issian, but Tavolata is the best both in quality of food and amount you save during happy hour.
Tavolata is part of the Ethan Stowell Empire that includes Seattle institutions such as How To Cook a Wolf, Staple & Fancy, Red Cow and Rione XIII. I highly recommend visiting any of his restaurants which range from steak to pizza to Mexican and as you will see with Tavolata, Italian.
The happy hour menu is limited to the bar area and patio, but we’ve never had a problem getting a seat as long as you are there by about 5:30.
Tavolata’s happy hour is one of the greatest hacks in Seattle. Not only can you enjoy dishes from one of the top restauranteurs in Seattle, but you get them for nearly half the price with no decrease in quality, presentation or taste! Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Here are the dishes our party of 4 ordered:
Savings – $37!!!!!! BAM!!!! Less than $12 a person and this includes a 20% tip!
Also, I haven’t even mentioned the happy hour drink savings. Unfortunately, we didn’t keep track of this and not everybody ordered a drink off the happy hour drink menu.
We had the choice of sitting indoor at the bar area or outside on the patio, which is truthfully pretty limited in space. It was a rare sunny evening, so we chose el fresco. So a short description of each dish. The papardelle was my favorite. It had a pork/beef ragu sauce with a hint of mint. I probably ate 2/3 of it. Sorry to the other folks at the table for hogging it! The rigatoni was a little spicy due to the Italian sausage. Love the generous portion of grated cheese. The spaghetti and meatballs were also a hit. The sauce was thick and the meatballs dense enough to cut up and pair with the spaghetti. The spaghetti on it’s own is good, but paired with the meatballs made it sooooooo good. Of the four, the gnocchi was my least favorite, but it was still good and a hit with the rest of the table. I did love the presentation in a baking dish and the melted mozzarella, but I prefer my gnocchi in smaller pieces. These came as six huge polenta pucks. It’s hard to nitpick when you pair the fluffy gnocchi with the sauce and baked cheese it is admittedly delicous. This one is totally filling. Check out our photos and scores for each dish down below.
Rigatoni -spicy italian sausage, tomato, marjoram, parmesan. Score: (5.00/5.00)
I know some people will say for happy hour, the dishes are still on the high priced side. When comparing to all other happy hours in Seattle, yes. When comparing to other “quality” restaurant happy hours, you’re insane! This is one of the best bang for you buck treats in Seattle. I honestly don’t think Tavolata even needs to have a happy hour, they’d still draw in crowds without it. I’m just grateful they do. This easily fed a party of four and in fact we had some leftovers to take home.
One last thing, I’d still encourage you to go to dinner at Tavolata for their risotto, pork chop, ribeye and picatta, which are not on their happy hour menu. One thing you can count on from an Ethan Stowell restaurant is the decor and atmosphere just makes you feel you’re in for a special experience and with the pairing of the delicious food makes for a great evening.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck(happy hour only): 5.00
Overall: 5.00
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Shortly after publishing this post claiming Tavolata had the best Happy Hour in Seattle, a reader suggested checking out BBQ Smith’s Happy Hour, so we took her up on her suggestion.
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Cinnaholic
Recommended by: Shark Tank. We saw a pitch for Cinnaholic on the TV show and like donuts, we love cinnamon rolls, so we thought we’d check out Cinnaholic
Description on the Cinnaholic’s website:Cinnaholic is the original, gourmet cinnamon roll bakery. With over 20 unique frosting flavors and a variety of fresh and decadent toppings, we’re not your typical cinnamon roll dessert shop. Visit us at our Cinnaholic Seattle – Capitol Hill location to experience our award winning, handcrafted cinnamon rolls, brownies, edible cookie dough and baked cookies. All our products are made with the highest quality ingredients, and are 100% vegan, dairy & lactose-free, egg-free and cholesterol-free.
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 816 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122
What we ate/drank: Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll, Banana Split Cinnamon Roll
Comments: There are two things we’re big fans of. Shark Tank and cinnamon rolls. When we saw the pitch for Cinnaholic on Shark Tank. We thought, “This is genius!” while our mouths were watering. Whenever we see cinnamon rolls on any menu or in a display case, 90% of the time we get it.
This sums up how much we enjoy cinnamon rolls. At our wedding we did not have a traditional wedding cake, we bought a ton of cinnamon rolls and arranged it into the shape of a traditional wedding cake. If that doesn’t prove how much we enjoy cinnamon rolls, I don’t know what will.
So back in the Fall of 2018, we noticed that Cinnaholic had opened in Capitol Hill. But along with the volume of instagrams of beautiful cinnamon rolls, were lines out the door. With two little ones, that’s a recipe for disaster. So we waited for the excitement to die down until we visited Cinnaholic.
Cinneholic starts with a basic no frills cinnamon roll with vanilla frosting at $5.50. They have a multitude of different frostings for $.25 extra:
As you can see from the photos, the toppings are generous and the cinnamon roll is big enough to be shared by two. The frosting is surprisingly light unlike most cinnamon roll frostings that are quite dense.
Nothing goes better with a cinnamon roll than coffee and I’m happy that they’ve sourced locally from Lighthouse Roasters
Besides, their staple cinnamon rolls, Cinnaholic has brownies, cookies, baby buns(mini cinnamon rolls) and cookie dough.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.50
Bang for the Buck: 4.00
Overall: 4.25
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
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Santo Coffee – Roosevelt
Description on Santo Coffee’s website: We are a startup shop formed by a family of driven people with a passion for the craft, palates for quality, and love for community. We have worked to create an experience for our guests where every detail is thoughtfully and intentionally considered.
Neighborhood:Roosevelt
Address: 1325 NE 65th St, Seattle, WA 98115
What we ate/drank: Cortado, Raspberry Brioche from Sémillon Bakery, Devocion espresso
Comments: Finally, Santo Coffee is open!
We’ve honestly been waiting to write this review for close to a year. We go to Rising Sun Produce, located down the street, quite often. One day when walking past the newly built Mio Apartments on the way to Rising Sun, we saw a sign that Santo Coffee was opening in the Fall of 2018. We were happy to have another coffee shop in walking distance to our house. I think the first time we saw the sign was June or July of 2018.
The Fall came, then Winter, then Spring and no sign of any opening. Meanwhile Caffe Ladro moved in right across the street and Armistice Coffee Roasters opened up down the street, but no sign of Santo Coffee.
Santo Coffee is now open and you can tell great care and meticulous detail was put into the design of the shop. The place is beautiful and has such a high end feel that we felt a little guilty bringing our little ones here.
One of the owners of Santo Coffee is former Seattle Sounders star, Fredy Montero. I believe we spoke to one of the other owners of Santo Coffee, Jessica. We made some small talk and she mentioned their pastries are made by Sémillon Bakery & Café in Capitol Hill and their coffee is from Devocion, a roaster based in New York.
Devocion Coffee is unique in that they roast their beans from Colombia, harvest to cup in the range of 10 to 30 days versus the industry standard of 6 months. You can read more about them here. Having this unique roast definitely gives Santo Coffee a something no other coffee shop in Seattle has.
As mentioned it seems like no detail was missed. Santo Coffee is easily the “fanciest” space in Seattle. Check out the green sectional, the floor to ceiling windows all the way around, the glass doors that open up to the outside, black marble counter and the most unique feature, a bar that runs along the window that becomes a bench.
We love having Santo Coffee in the neighborhood and we’ll be frequent visitors. It’s a perfect place to bring our out-of-town visitors who enjoy “the finer things”. Santo Coffee feels a bit out of place in our quaint little neighborhood. It feels like it should be in hipper neighborhood Capitol Hill or Belltown, but we’re glad they’re finally here.
Ratings(1-5)
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.00
Overall: 4.50
Eavesdropping Convo: A guy and a gal talking next to us. They were talking about the Dancing in the Dark – Bruce Springsteen video .
Guy: You know that Dancing in the Dark video has Courtney Cox in it.
Gal: says nothing
Guy: Yeah, they want you to believe that she was a regular fan and that she was randomly picked by Bruce Springsteen to come up on stage and dance. You can toooootally tell by the camera angles that it was not random. It was planned for the video. It’s Courtney Cox for God’s sake. It’s totally staged
Girl: says nothing
Guy: It’s soooo obvious. But yeah, that’s Courtney Cox in that video. Little known fact most people don’t know. This is before Friends, so she wasn’t famous. But yeah, that’s her.
I thought it was common knowledge that Courtney Cox was in that video and never thought it wasn’t staged as part of the video.
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Sizzle & Crunch
Recommended by: We noticed a line out the door at Sizzle and Crunch when heading to our favorite Korean spot, Korea Tofu House. With a line out the door we decided to see what all the hub-bub is all about there.
Description on the Sizzle & Crunch’s website: Sizzle & Crunch Vietnamese Grill serves crunchy banh mi, rice bowls, vermicelli bowls, and salad bowls topped with sizzling meats (or tofu) and your choice of fresh toppings. You can expect a fast-casual experience where the food is served “line style.” In Vietnam, it’s common to have the ingredients separated and prepared in front of you.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 1313 NE 42nd St, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: House Pork Plate-Our signature all-natural grilled lemongrass pork and braised pork belly, green onion aioli, fish sauce, broken rice. Grilled Pork-Our signature all-natural lemongrass pork, green onion aioli, fish sauce, broken rice
First of all, I’ve got to say this an ingenious business model used by the creator of Sizzle and Crunch. Take an existing conveyor belt style food prep model like Subway, Quiznos, Taco Del Mar and Chipoltle Grill where you can pick and choose fresh ingredients to create your meal. Then apply it to a type of cuisine that really utilizes fresh ingredients like Vietnamese food. You have a quick meal prep to your specifications, you can watch it being prepared and you can see the ingredients being used. The creators of Sizzle and Crunch took an existing model and put a twist on it based on their personal expertise-Vietnamese food. It’s a simple concept where you wonder, “why didn’t anybody think of this sooner”?
The University District location opened in 2017 and another location opened up in South Lake Union recently. You understand why there’s a line out the door comprised mainly of poor struggling UW students. It’s fast, the assembly line process makes it simple and catered to your specific tastes and the portion to cost ratio is student-friendly.
So instead of choosing type of tortilla, rice and beans, you’re doing this:
- Choose between a banh mi sandwich or a rice bowl, salad bowl. The sandwich comes with jalapeno cilantro aioli, garlic mayo. The rice bowl comes with green onion aioli, fish sauce, broken rice. The salad bowl comes with green onion aioli, fish sauce, romaine lettuce.
- Choose a protein- grilled pork, chicken, beef or tofu.
- If you chose the rice bowl option, advise if you want an over easy egg.
- Then pick your toppings-house-pickled daikon & carrot, cucumber, chopped jalapeno, shredded scallion, cilantro, and tomato. You can choose either a fish sauce or green sauce(cilantro, green onion, jalapeno—I think.)
- Watch them make it, pay and you’re ready to grind.
All ingredients are made in house including the baguettes, sauces, pickled vegetables and pate. The food is prepared daily and in small batches to ensure freshness although there does appear to have been some stumbles.
Both dishes we had on this visit to Sizzle & Crunch were representative of what we typically think about Vietnamese food-flavorful meats and fresh light veggies. I especially love the green sauce which I think is cilantro, jalapeno and onions. Parking can be a bitch while construction of the Link Light Rail is going on for a few more years, but the price is right, the wait is short and the food is made to order. We’ll add this to our list of mainstays on The Ave along with Korea Tofu House, Little Kitchen, Morsel and Aladdin Gyro.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.50
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.50
Bang for the Buck: 5.00
Overall: 4.35
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
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