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.
**********12/20-Unfortunately, This Restaurant Has Closed Down**********
The Wandering Goose – Best Breakfast in Seattle?
Recommended by: Our server, Marissa at the The 5 Spot recommended The Wandering Goose to try out. She advised they had breakfast everyday and had some of the best fried chicken in the city.
Description on the The Wandering Goose’s website: The Wandering Goose is a thirty seat Southern influenced cafe in the heart of Seattle’s North Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Wandering Goose is warm and inviting with bright natural light streaming in through the east facing windows. The demising wall between the neighboring restaurant is made from vintage leaded glass windows allowing for even more light and a sense of openness in this tiny but magical café. Offering Southern inspired breakfast and lunch fare including biscuits, cookies, layer cakes, biscuit sandwiches, hushpuppies, crock pot grits, country ham, sawmill gravy, country sausage gravy, greens, pimento cheese, chow-chow and fresh salads. All ingredients are seasonal and affordable fare. We will offer baking classes, cooking classes and retail sundries.
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Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 403 15th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112
What we ate/drank: Hangtown Fry-fried oysters, cured pork belly, poached eggs. Fried Chicken Plate w/collard greens, coleslaw, butter milk biscuit. The Sawmill Biscuit Sandwich-fried chicken, sawmill gravy, cheese, poached eggs. Machiatto using Caffe Vita coffee.
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Wandering Goose just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Marissa at The 5 Spot did not let us down with her suggestion! We’ve now been here multiple times and The Wandering Goose is now in our rotation of breakfast places.
Wandering Goose has two similar characteristics of two other recently reviewed restaurants:
- Like Il Corvo, you line up, put your order in toward the back of the restaurant, pay and then take a seat. They’ll bring out the meals to you. Also similar to Il Corvo lines through the restaurant form regularly due to it’s small size and popularity.
- Like Citizen Cafe and The 5 Spot, it’s one of those rare Seattle restaurants that’s opens for breakfast at 7:00am not only on weekends, but on weekdays.
If there is anything you take from this post it’s if you have a group of four or more, you’d better get there as soon as it opens or you’ll be waiting awhile. The Wandering Goose only has 30 seats. We’ve only come on weekdays in between 7-8 am to ensure we get a table. We won’t even think about going on the weekends unless we do takeout. There’s basically two rows of long benches on either side of the restaurant with tables and adjoining chairs.
The Wandering Goose specializes in Southern comfort food and has the decor to match. It feels like a diner in a small farm town – branded wooden tables, weathered window panes, ceiling fans with long downrods, lamps made of burlap sacks, old cases behind the cashier. It has that laid back country feel, which is a nice departure from the modern hip restaurants that permeate the Seattle landscape.
Here are some of the yummy dishes we’ve had. There aren’t many places that serve a Hangtown Fry(typically eggs, bacon and oysters) in Seattle, so whenever I see it, I normally order it. Usually the ingredients are all scrambled together or as an omelette. I like Wandering Goose’s variation on the dish. You have a poached egg, so you have the runny yoke. You have the pork belly instead of bacon. Take a look at the picture down below to see how thick the piece of pork belly was. Whoa. Lastly you have fried oysters on top of a bed of potatoes in a skillet. Lots of savory flavors in this dish. I added a bit of their house made “sweet heat” sauce too. As with all their dishes, the portion size will leave you full.
Note: There are two entertaining origin stories of how the Hangtown Fry came into existence. The first was a gold prospector hitting it rich and going to a hotel in California and ordering the most expensive things on the menu which in those days were eggs, bacon and oysters. The other story is that a condemned man was due to be executed and for his last meal he specifically ordered oysters, because he knew it would take more than a day to get them, so he gained an extra day of life.
Fried Chicken Plate w/collard greens, coleslaw, butter milk biscuit. Their fried chicken definitely deserves mentioned when talking about the best fried chicken in the city. Perhaps Wandering Goose will enter the fray in the war over who has the best fried chicken in Seattle between Ezell’s and Heaven Sent. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The seasoning on the crispy skin was flavorful, but not overly seasoned like many other places. Our two year old devoured the drum stick like the Tasmanian Devil from WB. The Fried Chicken Plate also came with collard greens which were sweet and spicy and cole slaw which was crisp and fresh. It also came with one of their biscuits.
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?
This is not really a traditional sandwich you can eat with your hands. You’ll need a knife and fork. The biscuits are huge and fluffy. I always expect biscuits this big to be dense. Everything about this dish is substantial from the size of the biscuit and chicken to the amount of thick gravy. The sandwich was delicious and despite it being so substantial, I finished it. Needless to say, there was no need for lunch that day. I think the next time I order this, I’ll try it without cheese. The cheese melted into the gravy, making it cheezy. It was still delicious, but I’d like to taste the gravy on it’s own.
The Sawmill – **Before**cutting into it $13.00- fried chicken, sawmill gravy, cheese add poached eggs $1.25. Score: (5.0/5.0)
Summary: Are we ready to crown The Wandering Goose as our favorite breakfast spot yet? Not quite yet, but it’s a front runner. I think if we were to put it in a category, it would be our favorite breakfast spot when playing hooky from work. Due to it’s small seating capacity and popularity, I think we’d only come here during early morning weekdays.
If you want to learn more about the history of The Wandering Goose you can read about it here.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.85
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: The cashier recommended Fat Hen as a suggestion. We’d heard of Fat Hen and have a funny story about it, but we’d never been there. Stay tuned for our visit and review of Fat Hen and the funny story connected to it.
Related Articles:
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 2
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 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
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Big Groups – El Diablo Coffee, Espresso Vivace-SLU, La Marzocco Cafe
These places are huge by Seattle Coffee Shop standards, but they not only have a lot of space, but also have areas for bigger groups to gather. Large coffee shops are a rarity in Seattle, so keep this list handy.
l Diablo Coffee(RIP) -Queen Anne- Espresso Vivace-Alley 24 -South Lake Union
- La Marzocco Café -Seattle Center
- Kaladi Brothers Coffee -Capitol Hill
- Caffe Umbria-Pioneer Square
El Diablo Coffee not only has big front patio, a living room area and a kids room, but it also has an entire second floor that is big and another huge patio. You will have no problem for a group meet up here. Espresso Vivace also has areas conducive to group gatherings, but also has a separate room for groups. La Marzocco Café has a radio station and a rotating group of roasters that take over the café, but it’s a wide open space and although it can get crowded, we think it’s good place for big groups. Kaladi Brothers Coffee is another unusually large place and it’s in normally-cramped Capitol Hill to boot. They not only have a massive community table, but also a second floor perch that is also quite spacious. This particular Caffe Umbria location in Pioneer Square has a section for ordering and preparation with standing only counters/tables, but a whole separate section with tons of seating.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops For When You Want To Be Left Alone – Pegasus Coffee
This is the opposite of the above category. Sometimes you just want to be alone while enjoying your coffee. You might want to read a book or listen to a podcast or get some studying or work done. There’s a good possibility that you might bump into a colleague or a friend at some of the more popular coffee places. Whatever the reason or circumstances, here are some suggestions for coffee shops if you want to be left alone:
Pegasus Coffee is small standing room only coffee shop that used to be an old cigar shop. It has a counter with a seat for one person only on either side of the front door. So if you bump into somebody you know here, they’ll have to sit in the other seat across the door, so you can continue to enjoy your coffee solo. Tempesta Coffee (RIP)has one standing table for just one person. That’s it. Again, even if you bumped into somebody you know there, they can’t join you. Plus as mentioned before they have a damn good Americano and even better doughnuts. Convoy Coffee is another small place, although it has a big seating area up the stairs. I don’t think many people know about Convoy, so they go to the many more-established coffee shops in Pioneer Square, which is the reason you won’t bump into anybody hear. As mentioned in our previous post, it’s a very underrated cafe. Caffe Ladro – The “Jetson’s” location. It’s near the Convention Center and some hotels, so it seems like it’s mostly tourists and taxi drivers who come here. It’s also in that weird spot between downtown and Capitol Hill, so I don’t think it has many regulars. This place is two blocks from my office and I have never seen another co-worker come here.
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 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
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
The 5 Spot – Seattle’s Best Diner?
Recommended by: When we asked our server(Brian) at Citizen Cafe for other breakfast spots in Seattle, he recommended The 5 Spot right up the hill in Queen Anne as a suggestion.
he 5 Spot’s website: Home of the “American Food Festival Series“, 5 Spot’s menu offers big flavored food and kitsch from all points of the continental U.S. Our menus are inspired by our nation’s cultural roots and history that’s found on kitchen tables across America. Our roaming menu might find us parlez vous-in’ down Bourbon Street, two steppin’ into Texas, or soakin’ up those lazy, languid days along Florida’s Gulf Rim. Not feelin’ like goin’ too far outta town? 5 Spot highlights its regular Melting Pot Meals from 5 defined regions (or spots) year-round for those who like to stick with a sure thing.
Neighborhood/Type: Queen Anne
Address: 1502 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
What we ate/drank: Bag O’ Beignets, Kids Waffle and Fruit, The Big Nashty Sandwich, Enchilada De Desayuno, Coffee
Comments: First thing we want to point out is The 5 Spot is not to be confused with The 5 Point, which we mentioned as our “Drive Off the Date Bar” in our Seattle Bars For Each Stage of Dating post
Now that we have that service announcement out of the way let’s get to The 5 Spot. Brian at Citizen Cafe recommended The 5 Spot. It has been over 10 years since I’d been there and my wife had never been. The 5 Spot is out of the way for us being up on Queen Anne Hill, but after going here my wife may insist on putting it in our restaurant rotation.
As mentioned I’d not been here for over 10 years, but it’s been a Seattle institution since I can remember. More than 20 years? The 5 Spot’s claim to fame is their roaming menu of American cuisine, so you can always get new dishes no matter how many times you’ve been there. Also, if there is a particular dish you’ve enjoyed, you better go back quickly if you want it again because it might be gone once they change the menu. They do have their standard dishes that always remain on the menu though.
The 5 Spot is one of the bigger diners you’ll find in Seattle. It doesn’t matter, you’ll most likely be waiting for a seat due to it’s popularity. In totality, it probably seats over 100 people.
Another thing you’ll notice is that it’s very kid-friendly. They provided our two year old with crayons and a kids place mat. They provided a car seat stand to put our 4 month old in. And they have a kids menu, which is greatly appreciated for us parents on a budget. More than half the parties at the 5 Spot on a Monday morning had kids, so it shows you how kid-friendly they are.
One of the nice things about many of the brunch/breakfast places we’ve visited lately is that they are open on the weekdays. The 5 Spot is no exception opening every day at 8:00am. They are also open til 11pm on the weekdays and til midnight on the weekends.
The atmosphere is nostalgic diner. It has the old-style coat hangers at each booth and also has individual lighting at each booth. It’s bright, airy and busy.
On this particular visit they have a Nashville theme going on. So a huge Elvis cut out met us at the door and guitars hung from the ceiling.
At home, the best our 2 year old gets are microwaved French toast, so getting real ones was a treat for her. The Enchilada De Desayuno is from their normal menu and was prepared in an iron skillet. It came with black beans, pepper jack and Oaxaca cheese and two over easy eggs with massive potatoes on the side. I also went with an addition of smoked pork. The portion is huge, but you definitely pay for it at $16.50($13.50 for the dish + $3.00 for the addition of the smoked pork). It was a delicious dish overall and I think the potatoes paired well with the enchilada sauce, pork and cheese.
We agreed the definite favorite was the Big Nashty off the Nashville menu. It’s a “Big ass shpicy breakfast sandwich” with chicken thigh, bacon jam, vinegared greens, pair of over easy eggs, and pickles on Ciabatta. Take a look at the picture below. As you can see the chicken is massive and impossible to fit in your mouth. The sourness of the vinegared greens and pickles mixed with the bacon jam and chicken was so flavorful.
Although the portions were big, there were no left overs. The sign of a delicious meal. Bag of Beignets accompanied with a chocolate dipping were a good way to top off the meal, especially with a coffee.
Below are our the ratings of some of our dishes from our visit.
Egg dipped and griddled golden brown slices of country white bread with Vermont maple syrup, powdered sugar and fresh fruit. Score: (5.0/5.0) <<<based on our daughter’s empty plate
Enchilada De Desayuno $16.50. Score: (4.75/5.0)
The Big Nashty $13.50
Score: (5.0 / 5.0)
Summary:
The food is a bit on the expensive size but the service was top notch and over accommodating to our family and the atmosphere and everchanging menu is a very rare treat in Seattle. So the higher prices are justified in our opinion. This is a great places to bring visitors out of town and any large group. The size of the diner and the number of choices on the menu means you can accommodate all.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.75
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: Our server Marissa suggested Wandering Goose(RIP 2020) in Capitol Hill to try out. She advised they had breakfast everyday and had some of the best fried chicken in the city.
Related Articles:
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards-Part 1
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 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
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Shop Neighborhood – Pioneer Square
There are only really two choices. Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square. South Lake Union has ton of satellite branches of local Seattle cafes, but they’re mainly in the lobby of Amazon buildings and don’t have the atmosphere that most cafes have. I also don’t consider Downtown Seattle a neighborhood. We’re giving the nod to Pioneer Square. You’ve got Convoy Coffee, Slate Coffee Roasters, Elm Coffee Roasters, Zeitgeist Coffee. In our opinion you have the best Caffé Vita, Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House locations in Pioneer Square. You also have a wide variation of styles. You’ve got the old cafes with tons of character in Caffé Vita and Zeitgeist Coffee. You’ve got the more modern cafes with great views in Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House. You’ve got the bright little start up spot of Convoy Coffee. You’ve got the hardcore roasters of Slate Coffee Roasters and Elm Coffee Roasters.
Most Mentioned/Most Popular Seattle Coffee Shops – Espresso Vivace and “The Caffes”
When talking favorite coffee shops with local friends, there four names continuously pop up. These are the granddaddies of the Seattle Coffee Shop scene.
This actually makes sense because they all have an empire of multiple locations and all have been around for a longggggg time. And of course they have great coffee and roast their own beans. In no particular order……
- Espresso Vivace– 3 Seattle locations. Established 1988.
- Caffé Vita– 6 Seattle locations. Established 1995.
- Caffe Ladro– 15 locations in the greater Seattle area(incl Bellvue, Kirkland, Edmonds, etc). Established 1994.
- Caffe Umbria– 3 Seattle locations. Established 2002 , but family behind Umbria has been involved in Seattle cafes since 1986.
Caffe Umbria
Most Underrated Seattle Coffee Shops – Tempsta Coffee, Convoy Coffee, Ghost Note Coffee
These are the exact opposite of the popular coffee shops. We never hear anybody mention these coffee shops.
Tempesta Coffee(RIP)- Convoy Coffee
- Ghost Note Coffee
- Realfine Coffee
- Seven Coffee Roasters
- Anchorhead Coffee Co
- Analog Coffee
We believe these places are never mentioned, because they have never been visited by most people. There are a lot of reasons why. Here are our theories. In the case of Tempesta Coffee (RIP), they’re in a super small unassuming space in the middle of Belltown. It’s so small there’s not even a single seat, but damn, do they have good Americanos. Convoy Coffee is also a small place and might be drowned out in a sea of great more established coffee places in Pioneer Square(see above). Most people know them as the bicycle coffee bar at the University and Ballard Farmers Markets. Ghost Note Coffee is off the main streets of Pine and Pike in Capitol Hill and is relatively new. And although Realfine Coffee is not new to West Seattle, it’s very new to Capitol Hill and perhaps just gaining it’s footing. Seven Coffee Roasters is roaster in the middle of the Ravenna neighborhood and is disguised as a general store. Most people pass it and don’t even know it’s a roaster. Anchorhead Coffee Co is probably the most Instagrammable of the bunch, but it’s also relatively new being open for only two years. Lastly, I think Analog Coffee has actually gotten a lot of accolades and publicity, but nobody ever seems to mention it. Perhaps because it’s also in the middle of a neighborhood and not on a main avenue. We’re totally fine with these places being underrated and undiscovered, so we have them all to ourselves.
Next: Stay tuned for our next installment of The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
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
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Mike’s Noodle House
Recommended by: A fellow diner at Dough Zone Dumpling House advised they were there, because they intended to go to Mike’s Noodle House, but it had a long wait and mentioned they had the best Wonton Soup in Seattle.
Description on the Mike’s Noodle House website: Not surprisingly, they ain’t got one.
Neighborhood/Type: International District
Address: 418 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
What we ate/drank: Wonton Noodle Soup, Wonton & Beef Brisket Noodle Soup
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Mike’s Noodle House just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
You can call Mike’s Noodle House, “The Il Corvo of the ID(International District)”. Like Il Corvo, Mike’s Noodle House has the following qualities:
- It has a loyal following that often leads to lines out the door.
- It has a limited amount of seats, so don’t be surprised if you’re sharing a table with fellow diners.
- Noodles(and wontons) are their specialty.
Like many places in the ID, Mike’s Noodle House is a no frills establishment. If you’re looking for pristine conditions and over the top service, this ain’t your place. If you want fast efficient service and great food that’s served very quickly, then you’ll love Mike’s Noodle House.
First things first, CASH ONLY. Don’t get caught going out on a date and only having plastic on you.
One of the things I like about Mike’s Noodle House’s Wonton Soup is the soup is very subtle and not overpowering. It reminds me a little of saimin. The plump wontons each have an entire shrimp and ground pork that are encased within the thin, but sturdy wrapping. The noodles are long, thin and plentiful.
One of the nice touches is that they provide a pair of scissors when we are sharing a bowl of soup with our 2 yr old. They bring a small bowl for her. If you’ve ever tried to transfer long noodles from one bowl to another, you know it’s going to be a mess. Having the scissors there to cut the noodles during the transfer from bowl to bowl is ingenious. I’ve not seen this in any other restaurant before.
I typically order the OG, Wonton Noodle Soup that comes with 5 wontons. The soup doesn’t come with any veggies which is a bit unusual. My wife orders the Wonton Noodle Soup with Beef Brisket. Their soups are perfect during the cold months in Seattle. Another cool feature is the big window that you can peer through as the cooks prepare the dishes.
In summary, you may have to wait, you may have to sit with strangers, you won’t be getting any travel point since you can’t use a credit card and you won’t get a warm greeting or small talk from the staff, but the soup is totally worth it.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 4.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
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!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: The servers here are too busy for small talk. But a funny story. We were here eating before going to a friend’s house warming party. We noticed a couple that came in around the same time as we did. We end up at the house warming party and noticed the same couple from Mike’s Noodle House there. We both laughed. Great minds think alike. We made some small talk and we both talked about how much we liked Mike’s Noodle House and asked for some of their other favorites. They recommended Xian Noodles in the University District as a place that specializes in biang biang noodles at a reasonable price.
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Ventoux Roasters – Ravenna
Description on Ventoux Roaster’s website: Providing the highest quality coffee, and promoting our love for cycling in everything we do. Nestled between Seattle’s University District and Wedgwood neighborhood, we’ve supported our community in the Bryant neighborhood with specialty coffee and a gallery of fine racing bikes for 3 years. Come by and meet your neighbors!
Neighborhood: Ravenna
Address:3404 NE 55th St, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Cortado, Macrina Fresh Fruit Muffin
Music Playing: Sade – Hang On To Your Love
Comments: Ventoux Roasters is on a small quiet corner of 35th Ave NE & NE 55th Street. As soon as you walk in you can tell the owner’s love of cycling. There are hanging bikes from the roof and on the walls, cycling jerseys displayed and bike-themed posters. The cafe name is derived from Mont Ventoux, which is one of the stages in the Tour de France.
Their name implies Ventoux roasts their own coffee beans, but on this particular day they were using Everett-based Veltons coffee. They had a small variety of Macrina Bakery pastries. We got the Fresh Fruit Muffin. There’s definitely a neighborhood feel to Ventoux Roasters and I get the feeling most of the people hanging out here are regulars.
The space is long and narrow, so you’d expect the seating to be limited, but surprisingly there’s a lot of seating. You’ve got the store front Adirondack chairs, counter seating looking out on 55th and in towards the back, a few individual tables and bench seating. As you would expect the front of the space is very bright from the store front windows, but unlike many other long and narrow spaces, there is actually windows that let in a bit of natural lighting in the back too. One thing I did notice is that they have electrical outlets all over the place, so if you’re planning on working on your laptop here, you’re covered.
I have a question. There seems to be an inordinate amount of coffee places in Seattle that are bike-themed. In addition to Ventoux Roasters, there’s Meiter in First Hill, Peloton in Capitol Hill, Rapha in Capitol Hill and Good Weather Bicycle also in Capitol Hill. This cannot be a coincidence. I also have a friend overseas and his two passions are coffee and cycling. What is the relationship between coffee cafes and cycling? Perhaps I’ll research and create a post on my findings. I’m curious now.
Here’s a Youtube video that best describes Ventoux Roasters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzw76rT23hQ&feature=youtu.be
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Quaint neighborhood spot with a distinct bike theme. Least Favorite Thing– Owner is a SF Giants fan ;). Go Dodger Blue!
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.50
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.30
Eavedropping Convo: Two older gentlemen talking right after the 2019 snow storm in Seattle
Gentleman 1(G1) – You still got snow at your place?
Gentelman 2(G2) – Yup. I also live on a slope, so it was a bitch getting in and out of my place. My idiot neighbor tried driving in the midst of it all, hit an ice patch and nearly hit my parked car. No chains, no nothing. Luckily he only hit the curb and slid down the hill until hitting a level area. What a moron!
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Dough Zone Dumpling House – International District
Recommended by: I briefly mentioned Dough Zone Dumpling House in my Little Kitchen review. Friends of ours gave their own opinion on who had the best dumplings in Seattle. They said if you take everything into consideration-price, quality, clean environment, taste, that Dough Zone Dumpling House was the best. We’d thought we’d revisit Dough Zone Dumpling House to see if they were right.
Description on the Dough Zone Dumpling House’s website: Our house special Q-bao are originated from the famous Shanghai Sheng Jian Bao (Pan Fried Buns). They are tasty buns fill with moist pork and wrapped with half fluffy, half crispy dough. Our Q-bao are made with quality ingredients and prepared in a traditional way. After being half steamed and half pan fried, buns are becoming soft on the top and crispy crust on the bottom. it’s PERFECTION.
Neighborhood/Type: International District
What we ate/drank: Pork Q Bao Buns, Beef Stew Noodles, Pork & Shrimp Steamed Dumplings, Pork Xiao Long Bao, Dan Dan Noodles, Broccoli w/Oyster Sauce, Pork Wonton in Szechuan Sauce
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Dough Zone Dumpling just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
You can call Dough Zone Dumpling House, “The Local Din Tai Fung” or “The Seattle Din Tai Fung”. It’s the restaurant that Dough Zone Dumpling House is most compared to. We thought about doing a Dough Zone vs Din Tai Fung review as part of our Food War Series, but the logistics were just too hard to pull off.
Our history with Din Tai Fung:
Back in 2013, Din Tai Fung opened their first Seattle location in University Village. At the time Din Tai Fung only had branches in Los Angeles and Bellevue in the entire US. The long waits started immediately. For the early goers who stood in line, there were bragging rights to have waited so long and posted pictures of meals on Instagram to rub it in their friends’ faces. To this day, we still enjoy Din Tai Fung. We love their efficiency and consistently delicious dishes, but we’ve got to admit, we’ve seen the price go up and up the last few years, which is warranted. Obviously, with long lines still happening anybody who took Econ 101 knows prices will rise until demand is met. And the demand is still there. When Din Tai Fung first opened we felt the food portions, the yumminess and the low prices at the time, made for a screaming deal. Screaming deal now days? Not so much.
Back to our Dough Zone Dumpling House story:
During this time(2014) we heard of a place in the Eastside that had a same type of fanatical following. We’d heard the stories of a place called, Dough Zone Dumpling House that had better food than Din Tai Fung. As you know from our Third Culture Coffee post, we don’t go to the Eastside much, so all we could do was speculate and wonder if the stories were true. We heard that they were expanding their empire on the Eastside with 2 Bellevue, a Redmond and Issaquah locations, so we knew it must be good to sustain 4 branches in a relatively small area.
Then in 2017 word that they were finally expanding to Seattle spread like wildfire. Finally we’d be able to taste for ourselves. In the Fall of 2017, Dough Zone Dumpling House opened in a brand new building in the ID(International District). Of course the lines started as soon as the restaurant opened. We figured we’d wait a bit and let them work out the kinks and perhaps the lines would die down. Our first time going was Christmas Eve of 2017 and we’ve been regulars ever since.
Like Din Tai Fung, there’s normally a long wait. We’ve been extremely lucky each visit we’ve made to Dough Zone in that we’ve been seated immediately. Thank you, Food Gods! And then when we leave the waiting area is packed and we look at each other and say, “perfect timing”.
The prices per dish are definitely cheaper, but smaller than Din Tai Fung. I think we prefer it this way, because we’ve been able to try a lot of different dishes without getting too full. And if you really like a certain dish you can always create your own bigger portion by ordering multiple orders.
The minute you sit down they give you a paper checklist to mark the dishes you want. They are literally back in 5 minutes to see if you’re ready. Like us, I’m sure most returning visitors have their favorite dishes already in mind, so a quick turn around must be normal. No matter how busy it is, the dishes come out in rapid fire succession shortly after ordering. If you’re starving, this is a good thing. If you’re there to have a leisurely meal and catch up with friends and family, shut your pie hole and start eating. There’s an angry mob of people on the wait list screaming to get a seat.
One of the best qualities of Dough Zone Dumpling House is that it is right across the street from the International District Link Light Rail Station, so if you use the Link Light Rail or any of the buses that use the tunnel, it’s super convenient to get to. We typically do take the Link Light Rail, but we’ve also just spent $20 worth of groceries at Uwajimaya a block away and got two hours of free parking.
Below are our ratings of some of our favorite dishes from our various visits. All are very good, but some are damn good!
Because we were advised to go hear specifically to compare the dumplings from our Little Kitchen’s Review, I have to say that Dough Zone’s are better than Little Kitchen’s dumplings, but not as good as Little Ting’s Kitchen.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.70
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: Not a server recommendation, but a fellow diner at Dough Zone Dumpling House advised they were there, because they intended to go to Mike’s Noodle House, but it had a long wait and mentioned they had the best Wonton Soup in Seattle.
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Woodland Coffee
Description on Woodland Coffee’s website : Good Coffee Good People
Neighborhood:Frelard (Fremont/Ballard)
Address: 1417 NW 54th St #101, Seattle, WA 98107
Music Playing: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart by Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus
What we ate/drank: Cortado
Comments: Stumbled upon this place when going to the El Camion Taco Truck(which is not there anymore!) on 54th. Woodland Coffee is in a newer building(Studio Works) which houses a lot of small businesses.
Here’s the history of how Woodland Coffee came to be from their website:
Woodland Coffee began in 2016 out of our family’s love for coffee and a nonchalant place to get it. It all started with our mom and dad’s love for coffee in Seattle in the 80’s, 90’s. The coffee scene was small but growing, and we went to the places that got it right, like Allegro. Our weekend ritual was to grab the dogs, drive to the U-district for coffee and head to Woodland Park. The dogs would run, we would get muddy but at least we were caffeinated. Twenty or so years later, while we don’t spend every weekend together, the tradition of grabbing coffee and getting outside persists. Finally in 2016 our dad built StudioWorks in Ballard with a small allotted space for his dream coffee shop. The youngest (of us) runs the store and the rest of the family pitches in. At Woodland we want everyone to be able to have the feeling of the good old 90’s coffee shop, where we want no snobbery just good coffee.
I like it. It’s a mish mosh of styles and seating areas. You have the modern 4 leather chairs in the corner, the long high counter for single seating looking out on the patio. You have a oval community table that has 8 chairs in the middle and few bar type high tables for four and then the bench seating near the store front. As mentioned there’s also a patio area, which is rather large.
There are plants throughout which makes the space feel fresh and there’s a lot of decorative woodwork on the wall. It’s a dog friendly place, so that’s a plus. They use Olympic Coffee Roasters for their beans. There is a small case of pastries and a few sandwiches.
I have a few qualms, but this is more personal preference, so others may love it. 1) The music is really loud. 2) The lighting is a bit on the bright side. It’s probably due to the fact that it’s north facing storefront, so not much natural light gets in. My preference is warm lighting when going to a cafe. The lighting here reminds me of being in school. 3) The other thing might be small issue, but may be important to others. The website menu is off by about 30% to what is being charged in the actual store. For example, a Cortado is listed as $2.50 on the website, but is actually $3.25. It’s only .75 cents, right? So why quibble? But……
This is an area(Frelard between Fremont and Ballard) rife with breweries(Reubens, Lucky Envelope, Stoup, NW Peaks, Lagunitas, Peddler, Popluxe) but it is a wasteland for coffee. I think it’s because it’s more of an industrial area moreso than a neighborhood. But if you want a good coffee and a cafe to relax in after visiting all the breweries, Woodland Coffee definitely fits the bill.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Really the only option in the area as far as we’re concerned and it’s a good option.
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.25
Food Options: 4.00
Overall: 4.25
Eavesdropping Convo: Couldn’t eavesdrop due to the music volume.
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D’La Santa Mexican Cuisine & Grill
Recommended by: We advised in our Senor Moose review that we thought Senor Moose was the best Mexican restaurant in Seattle for the mid-tier level(see below) and probably the best overall Mexican restaurant in Seattle. A reader suggested that we try D’La Santa Mexican Cuisine & Grill and promised we would be impressed.
Description on the D’La Santa’s website: We pride ourselves on being 100% family owned. A team of brothers, uncles, aunts and daughters serving grandmothers old recipes. Combined with new rustic and old traditional Mexican food we thrive to serve you the best quality prime meats and organic vegetables.
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 2359 10th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102
What we ate/drank: Tuetanos-Fire roasted bone marrows boat with cotija cheese and green onion, Picocitos- Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon, 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)
Comments: Not taking into account taco trucks, because you know we love us some taco trucks, but in our opinion there are three tiers of Mexican restaurants in Seattle.
- The fancy modernish ones like Barrio, Mezcaleria Oaxaca, Chavez, Fogon Cocina Mexicana, Poquitos
- The mid-tier ones like La Carta de Oaxaca, El Quetzal, Casco Antiguo, El Borracho, 418 Public House, Senor Moose
- The hole-in-the-wall cheaper ones like La Conasupo, Mendoza’s Mercado, Taco Chukis, Gorditos
D’La Santa falls in the mid-tier category.
As mentioned above, a reader suggested D’La Santa as a worthy adversary for best Mexican restaurant in Seattle. We’d never heard of D’La Santa, which opened in late 2017. And I don’t think anybody could blame us since it’s located near a secluded stretch of businesses in North Capitol Hill on 10th Ave E away from the more popular areas of Broadway and the Pike/Pine Corridor. It’s almost borderline Eastlake. Regardless, we gotta give props to this reader for pointing us in the direction of D’La Santa. It is indeed a worthy adversary.
Because the area is away from the more popular streets, parking is no problem at all. The outside has a façade of hanging lanterns that continue inside with a massive tree in the middle of the restaurant also with hanging lanterns. The lights are dimmed, so it definitely gives a romantic vibe that would be a perfect date spot. It did seem like a lot of couples there were on dates, but there was also a good number of groups there with kids in tow.
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
One other item that most tables ordered, but we didn’t, was the House Margarita that came in a coconut shell. I noticed there were four tables in a row that each ordered it. We also ordered some appetizers. The Picocitos, which are jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon. This dish was $4.99 and again we felt it was a very reasonable price considering how big the peppers were and how much cream cheese was applied. It had just the right amount of bacon for a very balanced dish.
The other appetized we got was the Tuetanos, a fire roasted bone marrow boat with cotija cheese and green onion. This was more of a dish for me since my wife doesn’t really enjoy bone marrow. The frustrating thing about bone marrow is there’s just so little of it per bone, but oh how I love me some fatty goodness.
Picocitos $4.99 (3) Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon
I have to say that service started out a little rough. We arrived and we had to wait awhile to be seated as there was no workers to be seen even though there were about 6 tables already being served. Somebody eventually came out from the back and we were seated with menus. Again, we waited quite a while before our order was taken. In fact, in thinking back we actually had to flag down somebody to take our order.
To their credit, after this service was impeccable. Our server answered our questions about the dishes, warned us that the bone marrow would take a little longer due to the preparation, periodically checked on us, took away dishes as we finished, asked if we needed more tortillas and also asked if we needed anything boxed up.
Aside from the dishes we got there are so many other interesting dishes that we’d love to try in the future like the Torta Caramelo, which is bread stuffed with anaheim pepper and melted asadero cheese, filled with your choice of meat. Taco Gobernador, which is shrimp sauteed with garlic, onion, butter & cheese.
Let’s not forget their extensive steak menu, starting with a reasonably priced (Wagyu) Mishima Reserved Ultra, grade 8 at $29.99 all the way up to their 40oz Tomahawk for two that’s $119.99. We’ll save that one for a very, very special occasion.
Finding this undiscovered(to us) restaurant is the main reason we try to ask locals where they like to eat. We would have never visited D’La Santa without a local reader suggesting it. This quaint family run restaurant would probably never appear in a Seattle city guidebook. We’re not quite ready to hand over the mantle from Senor Moose as Best Mexican Restaurant in Seattle. We’ll take a few more visits and try a few more dishes, but they are in fact a worthy adversary.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.65
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: Up above we mention La Conasupo Market,which is one of favorites.
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