This is always one of our more enjoyable posts of the year as it winds down. It allows us to review all the great dishes we’ve had throughout the year and debate which ones belong in our top 15. When we first started on this post, we thought we’d have a hard time finding 15 dishes considering that we haven’t been out much due to Covid-19 causing us to stay home for most of the year. Surprisingly, we didn’t have any problems and actually had a hard time whittling it down to 15.
We’ve already counted down our Best Seattle Dishes of 2020, 15 through 8.
Without further ado, here are our Best Seattle Dishes of 2020, 7 through 1:
7. Paju-$16. Paju Fried Rice – Kimchi, bacon, squid ink, smoked quail egg
Excerpt from our blog post:
Saving the best for last. The Paju Fried Rice contains bacon, kimchi, rice immersed in squid ink with rice with a smoked quail egg yolk in the middle. So many different textures -gooey egg yolk, crunchy kimchi, sticky rice. So many different flavors – smokey, sweet, savory, but none overpowering the others. Such a distinctive dish both visually and taste-wise. You won’t find anything like this in Seattle. This is the dish we’ll get over and over on return visits. I’d love it if they could add more quail eggs. The egg is only able to be mixed with a small percentage of the rice. Definitely, an early contender for top 2020 Dishes of the Year.
6. Salare – $17. Beef Tartare – Sunchoke Chips, Capers & Smoked Egg Vinaigrette
We’re suckers for beef tartare. And as mentioned in our in our Best Dishes of 2018 blog post, we order it whenever we see it on the menu. And as expected when visiting Salare for dinner, we knew it was going to be a quality dish. Bits of capers and onion and bound by raw egg yolk, it’s all that we were hoping for.
5. Fil Cuisine – $20. Sisig -Savory morsels of roasted pork with onions, chilis & citrus juice, placed on a sizzling hot plate!
One bad thing about getting sisig for takeout is that you don’t get it in its intended fashion, which is on a hot sizzling plate with and breaking a raw egg over it. Even so, this dish was one of our favorite dishes of 2020. Another difference is that traditional sisig incorporates chopped up parts of a pig’s head(ear, snout, cheeks, etc) for it’s main protein versus regular pork/pork belly for this particular dish. Even if it’s not presented on a sizzling plate and non-traditional pork, it’s still really flavorful. The sisig is a guilty pleasure due to the amount of grease, but put this over some rice and a I dare you to stop at just one serving.
4. Bok A Bok – $15. Bowl O Shame-Kimchi mac n’ cheese, spicy tater tots, chopped fried chicken thigh, 4 chili hot sauce, green onions, crispy garlic, crispy shallots and a poached egg
This is the forth consecutive dish on the list where a major component of the meal is a raw egg or runny egg. That shows our love of egg yolk. This dish is the perfect for having with a beer or as a hangover dish. But be warned, it probably has a million calories and clogs your arteries the instant you eat it. Ohh…. its so worth it. Mac N cheese, tater tots, fried chicken, hot sauce, poached egg. How can something so bad for you, taste so good.
3. Salare – $21. Cavatelli Lamb Bacon, Parmesan, Brussels sprouts & Cured Egg Yolk
Make that the fifth dish in a row that incorporates a raw or runny egg.
Excerpt from our blog post:
The Cavatelli with bacon and parmasean was another winner. The pasta is so unique and the lamb bacon, name somewhere else you can find that?
2. Bizzarro Italian Cafe – $13.25. Drunken Clams –Local manilla clams in spicy tomatoes with prosciutto, basil, shallots & ouzo.
Excerpt from our blog post:
We started off with the Drunken Clams which is a perfect match to slop up the sauce with the bread. The clams and bits of prosciutto were tasty, but the sauce is the star.
Our server offered to bring more bread when he saw we had extra sauce, but ran out of bread. We were tempted but didn’t want to fill ourselves up before our mains came and said he could take the sauce away. We shed a little tear as he took it.
1. Salare – $22. Trompetti Squid Ink, Clams, Mussels, ‘nduja Sausage, Kale & Garlic Cream
Salare could have easily had four or five dishes in our top 15 dishes of the year. That’s how good Salare is. In the end three of their dishes made it into our list of Best Dishes of 2020, but this was our favorite. It had lots of different types of protein – clams, mussels and sausage. Like the Musang pancit dish above squid ink was used in the pasta and we’re not sure what made it a little spicy, but it was just enough to add to the overall taste.
Excerpt from our blog post:
Our favorite dish was the Squid Ink Trompetti with clams, mussels and sausage. It was just the perfect amount of spicy.
I’m salivating just remembering and writing about this dish. Oh man, we can’t wait til business gets back to normal and we can go back and visit Salare.
This was our Favorite Seattle Dish of 2020
Related:
This is always one of our more enjoyable posts to create every year. It allows us to review all the great dishes we’ve had throughout the year and debate which ones belong in our top 15. When we first started on this post, we thought we’d have a hard time finding 15 dishes considering that we haven’t been out much due to Covid-19. We were able to hit up a lot of spots early in the year, did a ton of take out and visited some places when things started opening back up in the Fall. Surprisingly, we didn’t have any problem and actually had a hard time whittling it down to 15.
Without further ado, here are our Best Seattle Dishes of 2020, 15 through 8:
15. Katsu Burger-$12.45. Ohayou Gozaimasu Burger-Local Beef katsu, fried “cage free” egg, bacon, cheddar, Japanese mayo, tonkatsu sauce.
Ohaiyou Gozaimasu means “Good Morning” in Japanese, which categorizes this as sort of a breakfast burger with egg and bacon as two of the ingredients. Messy and huge with some of our favorite simple ingredients egg, bacon, cheese, but what sets this apart is the Japanese mayo they use and the encrusted fried burger. Maybe higher than it should be, because I remember being super hungry(a bit hung over) and just inhaling this gigantic burger, thinking it was one of the best meals on earth.
14.Musang – $15.00. Adobong Pusit Pancit – hand-caught squid by Musang / bihon / tinapa.
Musang was just names Seattle Met Magazine’s Restaurant of the Year and this was our favorite from this establishment. I believe our server said this was their best selling dish. It’s a nice spin on a traditional Filipino dish. Pancit bihon is typically a translucent rice noodle, but in this case it’s squid ink black. In addition to bits of tender puncit(squid), there’s also bits of tinapa(dried fish). Citrus flavor from the vinegar in combination with the savory from the tinapa provided a nice balance to the dish.
13. Family Donut Shop – $2.50. Apple Turnover
First of all, look at the size of this thing. We took a picture of the apple turnover on a plate with a butter knife for scale. The apple turnover is a favorite of our family and due to its size, everybody gets their fare share. The turnover has a thick crust of glaze and cinnamon crumbles, which matches perfectly with the apple filling inside. Many times when getting apple turnovers from other donut shops, there is a minuscule amount of filling, but the Family Donut Shop has a massive amount of filling as you can see in the picture above. Pair this with a nice cup of coffee and it’s the perfect way to start your day.
12. Nue – $15.00(Happy Hour), $18(Regular). Chengdu Spicy Jumbo Chicken Wings, Green Szechuan peppercorn, fish sauce, lime, chili, basil, mint and Thai chili.
Nue was one of the last places we were able to visit prior to Covid-19 shutting down restaurants in Seattle. There are a lot of interesting dishes that they serve here from various cuisines from around the world, but Chengdu chicken wings was our particular favorite. Check out the presentation of this dish. The jumbo wings come piled on top of each other on a giant vertical skewer. Nice balance of sweet, spicy and savory as well as crispy and tender. Also love that they use jumbo wings instead of normal smaller wings. A layer of spices at the bottom allows you to add more to the wings to your tasting.
11. Cafe Turko – $17. Abdullah Sauteé -Tender juicy lamb cubes served as a blanket on baked eggplant moussaka
We’ve been to Cafe Turko in Fremont on many occasions and were glad when they continued with take out while we were stuck indoors. Trying to support local restaurants we’ve been doing a lot of take out and the Abdullah Sautee is a dish we order often. The Abdullah Sautee has tender gigantic chunks of lamb that’s served with a small salad and rice pilaf. Not sure what type of sauce and spice they use, but it’s damn good. There is such a wide variety of dishes at Cafe Turko and they’re all good, so it’s easy to want to try them all, but this is the one we stick to. The portion of lamb is so generous, we make rice at home and add any leftovers to create a brand new dish.
10. Bizzarro Italian Cafe -$19.25. Elk Bolognese- Wild Oregon Elk with fennel, thyme, Mama lil’s peppers and pork shoulder slowly simmered into a creamy ragu tossed with our handmade parpardelle ribbon pasta.
Excerpt from our blog post:
I’m a sucker for a ragu sauce and how often can you find elk on the menu. This is probably their most popular dish. I was expecting a bit of gamey, but there was none. One thing I loved about the dish is they are not chintzy on the meat. Normally the meat to pasta ratio is decidedly heavy on the pasta side. This dish surprisingly was heavy on the elk side. This is a comforting dish to have on a cold night.
9. Bok A Bok – $8. Yuzu Green Chili Chicken Sandwich – Charred pasilla peppers, dill pickles, pea sprouts, yuzu aioli-
Excerpt from our blog post:
Both the Umami BBQ and Yuzu Green Chile Chicken Sandwiches will be repeat orders for our family on future visits to Bok a Bok. I have no idea where they get these chickens from but they are so big that they dwarf the buns they come on. We especially enjoyed the Yuzu Green Chile Sandwich. It’s spicy, sweet and the slight tart from yuzu all blends very well with the chicken.
8. El Camion -$11.85. Conchinita Pibil Sopes -Three thick handmade tortillas topped with your choice of meat or veggies, grilled onions, salsa avocado slices, and cotija cheese.
Pretty much anything you order at El Camion is damn good-burritos, quesadilla, gorditas, mulitas, tortas. They also have 9 types of meat to choose from. We’ve been going to El Camion for years and now that a new location opened up in our neighborhood we visit on average at least once a week, but we only discovered this combination of Conchinita Pibil + Sopes this year. These are little slices of heaven and can truthfully be split up into three separate meals. The sopes is dense enough to carry the weight of generous portions of pork and toppings of avocado, grilled onions and cotija cheese. To top it off we normally request the guacamole salsa. It’s a perfect combination of flavors.
Stay tuned for our top dishes of 2020
Related:
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2019 (Part 1)
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2019 (Part 2)
Our Seattle Doughnut Awards
You already know Seattle is the coffee capital of the world. We have close to 100 coffee shop reviews on our website and 6 separate posts about our Seattle Coffee Awards. And we believe there is nothing that goes better with a coffee than a doughnut. Doughnuts and coffee make one of the tastiest and formidable combinations on the face of the planet.
If there is a food that all four members of our family clamour for, its doughnuts. When we make at the spontaneous decision to get doughnuts, you can hear cheers along with feet jumping up and down echoing through the house. And as parents, we’ve discovered the extreme power of doughnuts that can be used to bribe our daughters to do their chores, eat their vegetables and to get dressed quickly or else, “no doughnuts”.
Doughnuts are an affordable luxury where each member of the family can window shop and choose their own. We’ve pretty much visited every single doughnut shop in Seattle multiple times, so I guess you can say we are a family of authorized Seattle doughnut connoisseurs
Best Variety – The Donut Factory
Look at the picture above. That says it all. I never thought I’d say it, but they have more choices than Top Pot. From what I can tell the doughnuts on the right side of their display case are your standards like your old fashioned, raised glazed, sprinkle, etc and the doughnuts on the left are your fancy doughnuts. If the Donut Factory doesn’t have the donut you’re looking for then it probably doesn’t exist. As you can tell from the various pictures in our Donut Factory blog post, we go there quite often.
Best One of a Kind Doughnuts- Half N Half Doughnut Co
Get a load of these doughnuts — Banana Foster Filled, Pineapple Fritter, Apple Caramel Fritter, Georgette Cinnamon Twist, Sweet Potato Casserole Filled, Cherry Cola Old Fashioned, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Almond Joy Old Fashioned. You will not find these types of doughnuts anywhere else. These doughnuts have “special treat” written all over them. They have so many one-of-a-kind doughnuts and interesting combination of flavors that it’s difficult to choose. But damn, they good.
Best Mochi Doughnuts – Dochi
Located in the Uwajimaya food court, Dochi specializes in mochi doughnuts. The main differences between the dochi and your regular doughnut is the texture and its unique shape. It’s crispy on the outside and very chewy like mochi on the inside. We really love the shape of the dochi. It’s like 8 doughnut balls that are connected together. You can either eat it as a regular doughnut or tear it apart and divide the 8 little doughnut balls to share. The Strawberry Shortcake is our favorite.
Best Cream Filled Doughnuts – General Porpoise Doughnuts
General Porpoise Doughnuts is the overlord of Seattle cream filled doughnuts. They don’t have much variety at any one time, but they are very well executed. Here are some of the current fillings -Vanilla Custard, Chocolate Marshmallow, Lemon Curd, Raspberry Jam, Gingerbread Cream. They also have seasonal fillings like Rainier Cherry Jam and Peaches and Cream. It’s part of James Beard Award Winner Renee Erickson’s restaurant empire, so you know you’re in for a quality treat.
Best Small Batch Doughnuts – Raised Doughnuts
Best Local Chain- Mighty O
Most Popular Doughnut Shop – Top Pot
These two Seattle doughnut chains are the most well known in Seattle by far. They are joined at the hip when comparing Seattle doughnuts, so much so that we had a Food War blog post comparing their doughnuts one by one, side by side. We agreed that the vegan doughnuts of Mighty O were the better doughnuts, but not by much. The most popular chain is Top Pot which was visited by President Obama on a Seattle visit and also is known for former Seattle Seahawk Golden Tate breaking into a branch because he couldn’t control his urge for a Top Pot doughnut. Top Pot has 18 locations around Seattle compared to Mighty O’s five locations.
Biggest Loss in 2020 – Tempesta Coffee
What a blow to find out that Tempesta Coffee is closing permanently. When I first stumbled upon this coffee shop, I was presently surprised that they also sold doughnuts. And these doughnuts were not your standard doughnuts. It was one of the best kept secrets in Seattle. I never heard anybody ever mention Tempesta for their doughnuts though. I remember bringing a batch into work and people absolutely raved about them. Damn you, Covid 19!!!
Best Overall – Family Donut Shop
When you talk about solid, cost efficient and consistent doughnuts, Family Donut Shop is the standard. As their name states, they are family owned and you can feel it in their customer service. Their apple turnover made it into our Top 2020 Seattle Dishes of the Year. It is that damn good. They have a few out of the ordinary doughnuts, but they really excel in your standard doughnuts- old fashioned, cinnamon rolls, vanilla sprinkle, maple bars, Bavarian cream, apple fritter, chocolate glazed, jelly filled, etc. They have a wide variety and their popularity is evidenced by normally having a line out the door. This is our favorite doughnut shop in Seattle.
Thanks for reading Our Seattle Doughnut blog post.
Related:
Seattle Mealpal Review
Recommended by: A co-worker recommended the service and provided me with a promotional deal that came out to $3.52 a meal.
What is Mealpal and How Does It Work?
Mealpal is a subscription meal service that currently exists in downtown Seattle for lunch. You pay a monthly fee and it allows you to reserve a lunch from a restaurant in downtown.
Once you reserve your meal, you go to the restaurant at your allotted time of your choosing and simply pick up your meal by scanning a barcode. You don’t have to wait in line! You can reserve your meal as early as 5:00pm the day before up until 10:30am that day.
You have the option of a 12 or 20 pack and the meals must be picked up within a 30 day billing cycle. If you do not pick up your 12 or 20 meals during this 30 day period, you are out of luck. You lose those meals.
Due to a referral from a current Mealpal user I got a promotional deal that made each meal $3.52. That’s damn good in downtown Seattle! Even the normal price of $6.39 per meal is pretty good considering the numerous options and also considering you don’t have to wait in line to get your meal.
I was skeptical of whether the portions would be smaller than normal and if the actual meals would really match the meal pictures on the app. So here are the results:
Tuk-Tuk Mobile Feast
Pork Fried Rice, Actual price – $10.00. This was my first meal I got through Mealpal. It was at a food truck down the street from my office. The portion was big. It was spicy and flavorful, but not much pork. It was well seasoned though .I would get it again.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Mealpal Pic: 5/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 4/5
Pasta Casalinga
Pasta Al Pomodoro, Actual price- $11. The actual meal looked nothing like the picture on the Mealpal app. Nonetheless the meal was delicious and filling. It was a bit of a walk to Pike Place Market, but worth it.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 2/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 5/5
Hurry Curry of Tokyo
Braised Chicken Curry Bowl, Actual Cost – $13. This looks like a smaller portion than what’s served in the restaurant based on the Yelp photos. Although the portion size does look similar to the photo on the Mealpal app, but the toppings were non-existent. It was spicy and flavorful.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 3/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 4/5
Athena’s Food Truck
Lamb/Beef Sandwich w/ fries, Actual Cost – $10. This is one case where I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of lamb and beef when comparing the actual meal to the photo on the Mealpal app. You can also see that the toppings on the fries in the Mealpal app were not present in real life.
Mealpal photo
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 4/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 4/5
Mamnoon Street
Chicken Shawarma, Actual Cost -$10.00. The photo on the app looked nicer, but the actual portion was rather large. The shawarma itself was a bit bland, but filling.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 4/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Mamnoon Street
Chicken Shawarma Salad, Frites, pickled pepper, romaine, tomato, and roasted garlic sauce -$10.00 . This was the first place I made a return visit to. More so, because it was close to my work rather than the food being good the first time around. I got the salad version this time around.
Mealpal photo
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 5/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Citrus Thai
Chicken See-Ew, llat rice noodle, “gai lan” broccoli, egg and see-ew sauce sauteed with chicken. Actual Cost- $8.95. The chicken was plentiful, but the taste was lacking a bit. The photo from the Mealpal app looks vibrant and fresh compared to the droopy actual meal.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 3.5/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Poke Alice
Alice’s Special Bowl – Half & Half (brown rice & kale); (2) Cucumber, seaweed, onion, crab salad; (3) Salmon, shrimp, scallop (1 scoop each); (4) Medium spicy with cilantro aioli; (5) Furikake, ginger, green onion masago, seaweed salad. Actual Cost- $11.99. The portion was huge. The quality of ingredients I felt were subpar in comparison to other poke places.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 3.5/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Summary of Seattle Mealpal meals:
Pros to using Seattle Mealpal:
- The cost of $3.52 during the promotional deal is definitely the number one benefit of using Mealpal. Even the non-promotional price of $5.99 or $6.39 is a darn good deal for downtown Seattle.
- Your meal is ready when you get there. There’s no waiting.
- There’s a variety of choices, both in the different types of cuisine and in restaurants.
- Discovery. I went to many new food trucks and restaurants I would have never have visited or didn’t even know existed before participating in Mealpal.
- I liked the feature on the app/website that shows what meals co-workers, who also signed up for Mealpal, ordered so I can get ideas.
Cons to using Seattle Mealpal:
- I did this during a month in which the weather was mild. I don’t know if I’d participate during the cold, rainy, dreary months.
- The meals could have been prepared awhile ago. Anything with egg will be overcooked and cold.
- There are no alterarations to the meals. If I didn’t want onions in my fried rice, there’s no way to signal.
- Some meals from the more popular restaurants sell out quickly since there is only a certain allotted number of meals available per restaurants.
- Only lunches are available. No dinners. Also, meals are only available on work days, so weekends and holidays are not available.
Seattle Mealpal Savings
Summary:
I won’t participate in Mealpal every month, but might do it once in awhile. Mealpal does have the ability to put a hold on your account if you want to take a break. Personally, I’m a creature of habit and content going to a small number of restaurants near my work. I also bring a lot of my lunches from home. I’ve also have business trips often and do take longer vacations which would also preclude me from doing Mealpal during these months.
Related Articles:
This is one of the more fun blog posts to create as 2019 winds down. It allows us to review all the great dishes we’ve had throughout the year and debate which ones belong in our top 15. A list ranges from a relatively simple shaved ice to a traditionally poor man’s Hawaiian breakfast to a couple of Southern-inspired biscuit dishes to a few noodle dishes(both Italian and Asian) to Asian fusion and a few Mexican dishes.
We’ve already counted down our Best Seattle Dishes of 2019, 15 through 8.
Without further ado, here are our Best Seattle Dishes of 2019, 7 through 1:
7. Seattle Biscuit Co. —$14. The End – Cheese grits, collards, pulled pork, pickled red onion, comeback sauce, fried bologna, over-easy egg, biscuits
Excerpt from our blog post:
The Ed N‘ Diane(END) is named after the owner’s parents. I don’t usually order grits, but this was a winner and is definitely a contender for Seattle Best Dishes of 2019. The pulled pork, fried bologna and collards were perfect complements to the grits. The grits were not overly cheesy and the slight kick of the pork, the saltiness of the bologna and tart of the collards were a great spoonful of flavor. Our daughter devoured the thick fried bologna chunks and mini biscuit. We’re used to the sliced thin baloney, so when she saw the thick chunks, she seemed a bit surprised. Add the over easy egg with runny yolk and you’ve got a near perfect dish.
6. D’La Santa – $31.99. Tacoarte -Platter filled with a variety of delicious taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor & refried pinto beans. Tortillas served on the side. (serves 2 people)
Tacoarte $31.99 Platter filled with a variety of delicious taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor & refried pinto beans. Tortillas served on the side. (serves 2 people)
Tacoarte topping-cilantro, onions, pico de gallo, radishes, pickled red onion, salsa.
Excerpt from our blog post:
Another thing that makes this a perfect date spot is the dish that literally every table we saw ordered. That dish was the Tacoarte, which comes as two platters. One filled with a variety of taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor, pork chorizo & refried pinto beans. For those keeping track at home that’s one steak, one chicken and three pork. The price of this dish is $31.99, but it serves two people, which we feel is totally reasonable. You can definitely fill up 3 people with this dish. Along with the meat fillings, came another platter of toppings, which included onions, cilantro, salsa, pico de gallo, radishes and pickled red onions. The refried beans are really creamy, not lumpy like what you see in most restaurants. This is the perfect date dish because you’re interacting, sharing, you can discuss your favorite fillings, topping and combinations. We quickly ran out of tortillas since the fillings and toppings will easily make 15 tacos minimum. We were asked if we needed extra tortillas, which we did. Every single table had ordered this dish and if when we go back, we’d definitely order it again.
The filling rankings:
1) Carne Asada (my favorite)
2) Al Pastor (wife’s favorite)
3) Pork Chorizo
4) Conchinita Pibil
5) Pollo Asado
5. Fremont Bowl — $14.95. Chirashi Bowl-tuna, chopped fatty tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore, shrimp, fresh water eel, masago with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper)
Excerpt from our blog post:
The cashier advised the Chirashi Bowl is their most popular and it’s easy to understand when seeing the dish. The different cuts of fish make for a colorful presentation that makes it one of the most photogenic dishes in Seattle. What separates chirashi from poke is that poke marinated in sauce with a bunch of different toppings. This can mask the quality of fish as well as the quantity of fish. Chirashi is just pure raw fish, so the fish quality and quantity is apparent.
The Chirashi Bowl is not only a beautiful dish, but the quality of the fish is superb and the price is a bargain.
4. Tamari Bar – Shoka-do Bento Box
Excerpt from our blog post:
Next up was the Shoka-do Bento Box, which is limited to a certain count every evening. This was surely the highlight of the night. There are a total of nine squares with each being the perfect size for two bites, making it the perfect date night dish. You get nine different dishes, nine different flavors. It’s fun having so many choices at once and then discussing which are your favorites. Or both of you can try each grid at the same time and discuss after each tasting.
From the top and left to right with scores out of 5:
- Fried Crispy Salmon(4.25), Wagyu Beef Tataki(4.5) , Potato Salad (4.0)
- Aburi Scallop Carpaccio(4.5), Tamari Bar Sushi Roll(4.5), Aburi Salmon(4.5)
- Fried Oyster(5.0), Zuke Maguro(marinated)-(3.0), Tuna Tatsuta(fried)-(5.0)
Each appetizer was beautifully presented and each had at least 5 different ingredients and it was a good mixture of fried and raw. We just really enjoyed this concept.
3. Joule– $13. Bone marrow, spicy anchovy butter, leek
Excerpt from our blog post:
This was a home run! I don’t know if there is always this much marrow on their bones or if I just hit the jackpot, but usually there’s not much marrow whenever I order . This dish had so much marrow, I couldn’t believe it. Served with bread the marrow was perfect turning into a rich pudding that tasted like beef flavored butter. Add in the generous topping of leeks and you’ve got FIRE!
2. Watson’s Counter — $18. Loco Moco – Fresh ground house-blend of chuck, short-rib, and pork belly atop a bed of rice, house-made gravy, and a fried egg on top.
Excerpt from our blog post:
My wife got the Loco Moco. I know it’s early in the year, but this dish is a contender to be on our Top Dishes of 2019. We’ve had our fair share of Loco Mocos in Hawaii and around town at Kona Kitchen, Maono, Cheeky Café. This is the best we’ve had. The patty is made with a blend of chuck, short-rib, and pork belly and you have the rice and egg, but the showstopper is the house-made gravy. It’s a thick peppery flavorful smack in the mouth. Mixed with the egg yolk, generous sized patty and topped with sesame seeds and green onions = Broke Da Mouth!
1. Revel– $17. Rice w/Egg yolk -Albacore tuna, fennel kimchi, escarole
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Excerpt from our blog post:
Not sure how we missed this one for our favorite dishes of 2018. We ALWAYS order this. The char on the escarole, the large toppings of kim chee, the sear on the albacore and off course one of my favorite foods, a raw egg yolk.
We were watching them prepare this dish and I see that the raw egg yolk is marinated in what appears to be soy sauce. This gives some additional flavor to the yolk, so when you mix it altogether it creates it’s own sauce. The combination of the 5 ingredients make for a perfect bite.
Perhaps, because we order this dish all the time we took it for granted last year, but we need to give this dish it’s due.
This was our Favorite Seattle Dish of 2019.
After reviewing the various dishes we had in 2019 and finally landing on a top 15, we really feel grateful that Seattle has such a wide variety of great restaurants in such a condensed area that. The exciting thing is that there are so many more restaurants that we have on our list to visit. Here’s to a great 2019 and an even better 2020!
Related:
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
- Watson’s Counter
- Revel
This is one of the more fun blog posts to create as 2019 winds down. It provides us an opportunity to review all the great dishes we’ve had throughout the year and debate which ones belong in our top 15.
The list ranges from a relatively simple shaved ice to a traditionally poor man’s Hawaiian breakfast to a couple of Southern-inspired biscuit dishes to a few noodle dishes(both Italian and Asian) to Asian fusion and a few Mexican dishes.
Without further ado, here are our Best Seattle Dishes of 2019, 15 through 8:
- Xi’an Noodles – $9.95. Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles
As mentioned in our Xi’an Noodles post, this is our main take out spot and this happens to be the first item on their menu. They specialize in biang biang house-made noodles and while they are all good, the Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles is our constant repeat order. The noodles are wide, thick and hand ripped that allows sauce to stick to the noodles. In addition to the chewy noodles you have pepper and cumin to spice and onions and cilantro as garnish. The dish is not overpoweringly spicy, but is flavorful. It’s also a reasonable $9.95.
- Dough Zone Dumpling House – Beef Stew Noodle $5.95
This is our daughter’s contribution to the list. Our two year old eats a least half of this dish whenever we go to Dough Zone Dumpling House. At $5.95 the portion is on the smaller size, so you might want to order two. The dish comes with tender fatty portions of beefs, thin noodles topped with green onions and cilantro. As she turns 3, I’m sure she’ll eat the entire portion.
- Sazon Kitchen – Grain Casserole $18.00. Mix of grains in criolla sauce, braised tri-tip and eggs. Toppings include chicharron, cilantro and pickled red onions + greens and bread.
Excerpt from our blog post:
The best of the bunch is another dish you won’t find anywhere else. It’s the Grain Casserole. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is the dish I’d order again on return visits. It was braised trip tip and some peppers and onions over a bed of various grains- I think lentils, beans, long rice and regular rice? I’m not sure, truthfully, but with the sauce and generous topping of protein and veggies, it was so delicious. The one minor thing, I’d prefer is tortillas instead of bread accompanying this dish. Perhaps the abundance of grains wouldn’t be a good match with tortillas? At $18, I was a bit hesitant since it’s bit on the high side, but after tasting it, I’d get it again.
- Snowy Village– Mango or Strawberry Bingsoo $11.95.
How can a simple shaved ice make our Top 15 list? The fruit bingsoos, specifically the mango and strawberry at Snowy Village are that damn good. There’s a reason there’s a long wait every time we visit? The fruit is fresh and the real distinction is that their ice is 100% milk, not water like most shaved ice. So you don’t have to worry about the bingsoo getting “watered down” as it melts. This is the perfect dessert for summers. Our family salivates the moment we decide to take a trip to Snowy Village.
- Seattle Fish Guys– $15.99. Garlic Cajun Shrimp Plate – Sweet Kauai Shrimp, cajun spices, garlic, butter, rice w/mac salad
Honestly you can pick any of the poke bowls at Seattle Fish Guys for the our Top 15 Dishes. We know poke is what they are known for, but we’ve chosen the Garlic Cajun Shrimp Plate. This place is actually a seafood market, but have a little seating section for meals. When we ordered the plate, we also got macaroni salad and rice with furikake. Lastly is the star of the show, mounds of sweet Kauai shrimp seasoned and cooked just right with cajun spices, butter and garlic. Warning: bring some breath mints.
The Wandering Goose–(RIP 2020) $13.00. The Sawmill- fried chicken, sawmill gravy, cheese add poached eggs in between house made biscuits.
before cutting. 
<<After cutting into it
Excerpt from our post:
The Sawmill Biscuit Sandwich-fried chicken, sawmill gravy, cheese, poached eggs. Like the Fried Chicken Plate, The Sawmill may give another Seattle Food War a new combatant. Wandering Goose may give Morsel and Bean & Biscuit a run for their money for Best Seattle Biscuit Sandwich. Take a gander at the pictures of The Sawmill below! Your mouth is salivating, ain’t it? I opted for the addition of a poached egg for extra. How could I not have some runny yoke with this bad boy?
Chicken is crispy on the outside and moist on inside. The gravy is the star of this dish. So savory. The biscuit adds a good counterbalance. As you can guess, this is a heavy meal. Get ready for a nap.
- Joule – $29.00. Peppered wagyu steak, ramp, maitake mushroom larb, 6oz
Excerpt from our post:
This was another home run albeit a rather expensive one($29). It’s one of those dishes where you may cringe at the price, but once the first bite is in your mouth, you understand why and say to yourself, “i would’ve paid double”. Tender, just the right amount of char and spice and coupled with the mushroom larb( w/ fish sauce?) was perfect.
8 (Tie) Tavolata – $11.00(happy hour). Pappardelle – beef and pork ragu, mint, chili,grana padano. & Il Corvo -$9.95. Pappardelle ala Bolongnese
<<Tavolata
<<<Il Corvo
Excerpt from our blog post:
Tavlolata-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!
Il Corvo- The Pappardelle ala Bolongnese was my favorite and gets a five out of five rating from me. Served with flat broad pappardelle, the meat in the Bolognese sauce is blended into a gooey paste. Bon Appetit actually published the recipe for this gravy back in 2015, but I’d much rather have it prepared and cooked by a pasta Jedi.
Stay tuned for our top 7 Favorite Seattle Dishes of 2019.
Related Articles:
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
- Tavolata – Best Happy Hour in Seattle
- D’La Santa
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 6
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers.
These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes.
In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Best Seattle Coffee Shop With Most Character
Summary: People call me a Looker. I don’t mean that as in, “wow, that guy’s a looker!” but more like “wow, that guy likes to look at things a lot.” I love coffee shops that stand out from the rest with their quirky or original decor. You step in and think, “Wow, this place is one of a kind!”
There’s no place like Ada’s Technical Book Cafe. It’s part coffee shop, part restaurant, part retailer, part working space and community space. You can enjoy your coffee while sitting at their various display tables which could literally double as museum pieces. You can browse the extensive STEM focused books, puzzles and models. It’s also got a warm inviting vibe. All the Caffe Vitas in Seattle have different atmospheres.
Our favorite is the Caffe Vita in Pioneer Square. This location has a lot of cool things to look at-the coffee grinder in the front window, their huge siphon, and even the floor tiles(see below), which are definitely original to the building. The architecture has an industrial look with huge steel supports, a huge metal staircase and bar stools made from camshafts.
Zeitgeist Coffee also located in Pioneer Square, has so many interesting features to look at as you enjoy your drink-the art deco clock above the cashier/barista, the old fan hanging from the wall, the vintage percolator signage right behind the cashier, the massive hanging lights, the old school newspaper/magazine stand, the ornate steel partition above the magazine stand(remnants of a bank teller?),the dictionary displayed above a map drawer that contain all sorts of little goodies, the small little counter in the middle of the space that has a banker’s lamp on it. It’s so out of place, but it’s not. Even the toaster near the coffee station is an older mode.
Seven Coffee Roasters is literally a general store with local snacks, local wines and beers and happens to be a roaster. It’s got a mellow neighborhood vibe in the middle of Ravenna. It’s got outside seating in front, a separate patio and seating inside. Enjoy your coffee while perusing all the local wares or sit outside and enjoy the tree lined street of Ravenna.
Bauhaus Strong Coffee You can read about the tumultuous history of Bauhaus in the our review. The “library coffee shop” has unique features such as vintage pieces from yesteryear such as encyclopedias, slide projectors, globes, typewriters and old TVs. Also there’s a orange imac which is considered vintage in technology years.
Best Coffee Shop Overall
We’re not going to go into detail on each of these coffee shops. You can read our glowing reviews of each of them in the links. But you will notice that many of them were mentioned multiple times in our award lists.
We can tell you a few things they have in common are these characteristics:
- When we go here, we feel like we can relax, decompress and talk for long periods. And we want to stay there for long periods.
- Good food options
- We enjoy the atmosphere, decor and the little original details of each place.
- Mr West Café Bar
- Cherry Street Public House
- Preserve & Gather
- Café Allegro
- Ada’s Technical Book Cafe
- Seven Coffee Roasters
- Lighthouse Roasters
- La Marzocco Cafe
- Anchorhead Coffee Co,
- Zeitgeist Coffee
We’ll continue to scour Seattle for coffee shops and we’ve already visited a few new ones that will definitely make this list in the future.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 5
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers. These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes. In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Shop For Food Options
This speaks for itself. These are the best coffee shops with regard to food options. Menu links are attached for each place. All places have a good variety of not only your normal cafe pastries, but also savory hearty dishes which provides more options to people especially if the people in your group want different choices.
- Cherry Street Public House (menu)
- Zeitgeist Coffee (menu)
- Cloud City Coffee (menu)
- Cafe Hitchcock (menu)
- Fonte Coffee Roasters Cafe (menu)
- Mr West Café Bar (menu)
- Anchorhead Coffee Co (menu)
Best Seattle Coffee Shop With Friendliest Service
I find the stereotype of the surly, snobby Seattle barista to be just that, a stereotype. For the most part all employees at the coffee places we’ve been to have been cordial, efficient and plain decent human beings. On the particular days we visited these establishments, the service happened to be extra special. This might be the first, last or only time we ever visit these places, but on the day we went, it left a lasting impression on us. So much so that they made it on to our Best Seattle Coffee Shop With Friendliest Service list.
- Cafe Vita – Pioneer Square
- Realfine Coffee
- Slate Coffee Roasters
- Pegasus Coffee
- Storyville – 1st Ave
I find it amusing that out of 60+ Seattle Coffee Shop reviews from our website that the most viewed coffee shop review of all time Caffé Vita’s in Pioneer Square. It’s popular because I made a fool of myself there. Here’s the backstory. I like to find out about the origin of the logos and/or names of the establishments. I went into this particular Caffe Vita one morning and forgot where I was and asked the barista about Caffe Ladro’s logo like an idiot. The cashier at Caffe Vita(bless her little heart) didn’t correct me or look at me like a moron and tried her darndest to come up with an answer about Caffe Ladro’s logo. It wasn’t until I had ordered and gotten my coffee that a realized my faux pas. I actually did finally get my answer from Caffe Ladro about their logo. She was so nice in trying to answer my question. There was a co-worker standing right next to her who just listened. She must have also thought I was crazy.
I deemed the owner/cashier/barista at Realfine Coffee, The Master of Small Talk. She really engaged each customer with small talk and she was one of the best I’ve ever heard. It didn’t matter if you were a regular or a new customer or if you were in a good mood or bad mood, she really knew how to interact with people.
When I ordered the Deconstructed Espresso at Slate Coffee Roasters the cashier/barista asked if I had ever had it before. I thought it was strange at first, but I understood why, when he brought the three cordial glasses of espresso, milk , macchiato to my table. He went into great detail explaining each ingredient-where it came from, what type of notes I would taste, suggestions on how to drink each ingredient and in what order. I could tell he really took pride in the ingredients, it’s presentation and felt like he really wanted me to have a great experience trying it. And because of him, I did.
Pegasus Coffee in the Seattle Tower on 3rd could well be one of the smallest coffee shops in Seattle. For this reason, if you stay there to drink your coffee, you will undoubtedly strike up a conversation with the cashier and barista. It would be too awkward to be is such small quarters in close proximity to each other and not make small talk. Both gals I spoke to that day were really friendly and I could tell they were really into coffee. When I asked what cafes they hang out at when not working at Pegasus, their eyes lit up and they seemed so excited to tell me where they like to go. They had some good ones too-Zeitgeist, Caffe Vita, Victrola Coffee Roasters, La Marzocco.
On the particular day going to Storyville on 1st Ave, the cashier had a standard question of asking where each person ordering was from to see if they were from out of town. This would then lead to more banter. You can read about a conversation she had with a Philadelphia coffee novice in my review. They also bring you a cup of water as soon as you sit down and bus your dishes and cups for you. This is unheard of in Seattle.
Realfine Coffee
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 4
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers.
These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes.
In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors
We tried to pick cafes that are close to Seattle’s main attractions, but have really nice ambiance and atmosphere and would make any visitors Seattle coffee experience memorable. We wouldn’t mind taking our visiting parents or high school age nephews/nieces, because we think they’d feel comfortable in these cafes.
- Storyville Coffee in Pike Place Market – Secret place in Pike Place Market.
- La Marzocco Cafe – Located in the Seattle Center.
- Cherry Street Public House – In Pioneer Square near Occidental Park
- Mr West Café Bar– Wow, I want to hang out here.
- Café Allegro– Oldest cafe in Seattle and hidden in an alley
The number one spot(for now) goes to Storyville Coffee in Pike Place Market. It’s located in the number one attraction in Seattle and although the first Starbucks is also located here, we usually take our visitors to Storyville Coffee. It’s hidden from the crowds, it’s a very cozy and has an inviting atmosphere and the view of the market and Puget Sound can’t be beat.
The number two spot goes to La Marzocco Café. It’s in the major tourist attraction, the Seattle Center, so you’ll most likely end up near the café anyways. The Seattle Center includes the Space Needle, International Fountain, Chihuly Garden & Glass, Museum of Pop Culture, Pacific Science Center and the Seattle Children’s Museum. La Marzocco Café is a huge café that shares space with Seattle radio station, KEXP. It has a rotating coffee roaster that keeps things fresh, so multiple trips throughout the year will bring different experiences. This historic espresso machine maker was founded in 1884 and this is their only café in the world! Visiting here is like visiting a museum with their various espresso machine iterations.
Pioneer Square is another destination for visitor. It’s the oldest neighborhood in Seattle and the architecture of the buildings in the area showcase this. Right on the main walking thoroughfare of Occidental is the Cherry Street Public House. It’s bright and big and not only can you enjoy a coffee there, but they have alcohol and serve food there too. It’s a newer construction so the place is modern and well thought out. The owner actually won the US Barista Championship in 2014. Baller.
Mr West Café Bar is near the main shopping area in downtown and always impresses with their service, the décor, the seating arrangements(bar, window counter, patio, comfy chairs or separate tables) and atmosphere. They have a good selection of food as well as alcoholic beverages. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s just a place you want to hang out.
Café Allegro is near UDUB(University of Washington). It’s the oldest café in Seattle and also has the “secret hidden” café thing going for it that visitors seem to love. Although there are throngs of students normally there, it’s a very big place with an adjacent seating section and an entire 2nd floor with a patio if the main café area is crowded.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs
So the previous award for Best Seattle Coffee Shop to Impress Visitors were for general visitors who want a nice café close to various Seattle attractions, enjoy the atmosphere/décor and want a good cup of coffee. The places listed below are for the visitors to Seattle who are coffee snobs and who say things like, “I keep hearing that Seattle is the Center of Coffee Universe and the coffee is all that. Well, prove it to me!” Location, café décor, service quality and atmosphere are all secondary. They want to be impressed by the coffee. This is where you should take them:
When we walk into these places, it just feels like they take their coffee game seriously. They all have that minimalist vibe to their cafes and we’d like to think it’s because they want you to really concentrate on their coffee with a minimum amount of sensory distraction. We have three roasters, one multiroaster and one coffee shop that makes coffee concoctions like a mad scientist.
Slate Coffee Roaster has three locations around Seattle-Near UW, Capitol Hill and one in Ballard. It’s home to the Deconstructed Latte, which is a good way to not only learn about the coffee, but also about the dairy they use in their drinks. They seem to really care about the experience of drinking their coffee and are enthusiastic about telling you all about it. I genuinely felt like I was in a Coffee 101 class.
Elm Coffee Roasters located in Pioneer Square does their roasting right on the premises, so you know it’s fresh. Roasting is done on Tues, Thurs and Sundays. You can get one of their combos here, the One of Everything, which gives you a chance to have a Macchiato, espresso and a brewed coffee. You’ve got their roasters mere yards away from where you’re drinking their coffee. What coffee snob, wouldn’t be impressed by that?
The Broadcast Coffee in Roosevelt is my personal favorite place to work on my laptop. And are they serious about their coffee? You can read our Broadcast Coffee blog post when the barista made my espresso three times because she wasn’t happy with the quality. Somebody left the door open, which she believes altered the pressure in the café that affected the espresso.
Milstead & Co are known nation-wide as a top notch multiroaster. They employ two La Marzocco espresso machines to keep things moving along and a rotation of featured coffee roasters to keep things fresh. You want to brag to your coffee snob visitor? You can tell them that Food & Wine rated Milstead & Co a perfect 5 out of 5 on the Coffee Snob Factor for Seattle cafes. To give you an idea, Slate only got a 3.
Ghost Note has a custom built espresso machine that with the push of a button attempts to replicate the characteristics of a pour over in only 90 seconds. That would impress the coffee snob in all of us, but they go a step further and serve their coffee in fancy glasses and have very progressive concoctions you might imagine that a coffee mad scientist created. For example, Sun Ship- Espresso, smoked grapefruit rosemary syrup, coconut water, sparkling water, lime. Cold. The menu notes…..”alterations politely declined” <<<
Elm Coffee Roasters
Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Make Visitors Feel Like Locals
The Best Seattle Coffee Shop to Impress Visitors Award was for general visitors near Seattle attractions. The second was for serious Coffee Snob Visitors. This one is for the visitor who perhaps has already been to all the Seattle attractions and just came to Seattle to visit us and just wants to relax and chill and catch up. They want to see what a normal day looks like as a regular Seattleite and where we might spend time drinking coffee in our normal life. These are the type of coffee shops that we enjoy taking visitors to the most. In a lot of ways, these places feel like an extension of our home.
- They are typically in the middle of neighborhoods off of main streets(Preserve & Gather, Analog Coffee, Lighthouse Roasters, Seven Coffee Roasters)
- You find that most people that frequent these spots are walking in from the neighborhood. No dedicated parking spaces for any of these places.
- You get the feeling there’s a real sense of community. It was not unusual to see multiple families with kids here. It was common for baristas greeting visitors by their first name and ringing them up without asking for their order, because they already knew it by heart.
- It felt comfortable to leisurely enjoy our drinks over conversation without being hurried.
- Most importantly, these places were vibrant and alive and not like a library full of zombies working on laptops in total silence.
- Analog Coffee
- Lighthouse Roasters
- Seven Coffee Roasters
- Zoka Coffee Roasters – Tangletown
l Diablo Coffee(RIP)- Preserve & Gather
Analog Coffee, Lighthouse Roasters and Seven Coffee Roaster all have that “neighborhood general store” vibe and are all right in the middle of neighborhood on side streets. Analog has that “stay a while” vibe with it’s newspaper and magazines available for your reading pleasure clipped against the walls, ample seats both outside and inside and the barista part-timing as a DJ on their turntable. We also can’t forget about their stack of comic books. You could be there all day.
In our original Lighthouse Roasters review, we mentioned how our time there felt like a scene out of the movie, Doc Hollywood(small town feel). You could tell it was part of people’s daily routine to come here for their coffee-the baristas greeted the customers by name, customers recognized other customers and proceeded to small talk, and so many people were there reading newspapers just passing the time.
Seven Coffee Roaster has that “general store” vibe because it really is a general store, but they also happen to be a coffee roaster. This really is one of the hidden gems in Seattle. There place is really small, but they do have an outdoor bench in front of the store and an attached patio. Because it’s a general store, we can enjoy our coffee, while we can get snacks or ice cream for our kids. Everybody’s happy!
Zoka Coffee Roasters in Tangletown has been around for as long as I can remember and they definitely have a loyal following. Although the space is huge by Seattle coffee shop standards, it’s always crowded. It’s pretty much the only coffee shop in this neighborhood which might explain it. This is one place that can get overrun with students and laptops, but the crowd and seating arrangements make it a prime spot for neighbors to just hang out.
El Diablo is another neighborhood gem up on Queen Anne Hill. There is a plethora of coffee shop on the hill, but this one stands out for it’s unique quality of being in a house. The space is one of the biggest in Seattle and for us parents, the dedicated room for kids is a god send. It also has two patios one in the front and one on the second floor balcony. Yes, there is a whole second floor! It’s a perfect place for big gatherings(It won our Award for Top Coffee Shop for Groups). Perhaps it’s the quality of being in a house, that makes you feel your getting a local’s experience.
The last place is Preserve and Gather. We liked everything about this place-the fact that they made all their pastries in house, the numerous and varied types of seating, the general décor, how much pride the workers seemed to have in keeping the space clean and of course, the community feel. I believe it garnered one of our highest rating scores with a 4.9 out of 5.0. I have no idea the origin of the name, but we’d like to think they are “preserving” the act of getting together and catching up over coffee and are offering their space to “gather”. Clever, huh?
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 3
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers. These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes. In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets – Slate Coffee Roasters’ Deconstructed Espresso + Milk
These are the Seattle Coffee Shop versions of the McDonalds Happy Meals. Why just get one drink when you can enjoy a variety of preparations or combinations?
- Slate Coffee Roasters ($7)
- Kaladi Brothers Coffee ($6)
- Elm Coffee Roasters ($5)
- Cherry Street Coffee House ($3.35)
- Third Culture Coffee ($8)
Slate Coffee Roasters’s Deconstructed Espresso + Milk was featured in our Seattle Coffee Places For Each Stage of Dating post. We thought it was a great way to share a tasting. What makes this number one in our book is the extensive explanation of all the ingredients by the barista. You can also taste the quality of the ingredients. It was very evident, especially the milk. I think it was fun to taste the ingredients separately and together.
Kaladi Brothers Coffee has the most unusual drink set with their Brew and Brew, which is a very strange combination of a macchiato and a Rainier Beer. I’m not sure if you get drunk and use the caffeine to sober up or get hyped off caffeine and use the alcohol to come back down.
Elm Coffee Roasters has a few combinations, but the One of Everything has the most variety of coffee drinks. You get a macchiato, espresso shot and a brewed coffee for only $5.
Cherry Street Coffee House has a smaller version called the One & One, which is a solo macchiato and a solo espresso. Short and sweet, but you still get a variety to test the palette.
You’ve got to go all the way to Bellevue’s Third Culture Coffee to enjoy their Atalia combo set, which is an espresso, americano and a macchiato.
Best Seattle Coffee Shop View – Milstead & Co.
- Milstead & Co. – Fremont
- Storyville Coffee in Pike Place Market
- Cherry Street Public House – Pioneer Square
- Caffe Umbria– Pioneer Square
- Victrola Coffee Roasters – 3rd &
Pine(Crime)
Milstead & Co is located on Troll Ave & N. 34th Ave a few blocks down from the famous Troll under the 99 Bridge. Because it’s on a corner with windows facing east and south, you get an unobstructed view of the 99 Bridge and Lake Union. They also have a pretty big patio, so you can enjoy your coffee outside and really get a the full effect of the view.
If you sit right next to the huge half circle windows at Storyville Coffee in Pike Place Market you can look down on the market and also see the Puget Sound. It’s a great place to take out of town visitors and the view is one of the main reasons.
Cherry Street Public House is located right in Occidental Park in Pioneer Square. As little as 7 years ago, this was a pretty shady park, but with new businesses hear and an upgrade to the park, it’s now a nice place to sit and enjoy the view.
Caffe Umbria is right down the block in Pioneer Square and located on the pedestrian only stretch on Occidental Ave. It’s a nice place to people watch during First Thursday in Pioneer Square or people going to the Mariners/Sounders/Seahawks game. This last one doesn’t have a nice view like the other four, but the view might provide a good bit of entertainment.
Victrola Coffee Roasters on 3rd and Pine, which we deemed, The Most Heavily Guarded Coffee Shop in Seattle. As mentioned in the post, this corner is notorious for it’s constant crime and hang out for shady characters. Sit back in the café and watch the drug deals go down.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.