You can take a look at our scores down below. Our favorites are the biang biang noodles without soup. Our favorites are Mount Qi Pork and the Spicy Lamb Cumin. If you do decide to eat at Xian’ Noodles do try their noodles in soup. It’s not exactly conducive to taking out, but perfect for eating in. Their starters are also quite good and a great value-we like the cucumbers, bean sprouts and garlic broccoli. Their “burgers” are simply meat and bread, but you can see from the pictures below they stuff it with a lot of meat. Cumin Beef is our favorite here. The one area they fall short when comparing to other Seattle restaurants are the won tons and dumplings, which are not up to par with places like Dough Zone or Little Tings.
Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen
Recommended by: Nobody. With our recent patronage of Chi Mac right down the street on The Ave, we continue our visit to Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen.
Description on the Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen’s Facebook Page: We at Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen aim to provide our costumers with a uniquely Venezuelan dining experience.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address:1405 NE 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105
Type: Venezuelan
What we ate/drank: Best Bart Arepa-Pork and Shredded Beef w/cilantro sauce, Reina Pepiada Arepa-Chicken, avocado salad, mayonnaise.Chicken Empanada $9.65. Stuffed corn turnover filled with chicken. Beef Empanada $9.65. Stuffed corn turnover filled with beef. Pabellon Bowl -$9.95. Shredded beef, plantain, black beans & grated Monterey jack cheese with rice. Chochina Felix Arepas -$9.10. Signature pork, tomato & cilantro sauce. White corn-meal pockets.
Comments: Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is located a few blocks down the street from our last review, Sip House. It’s an unassuming little place right off The Ave(University Ave) on 50th. Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is family owned and established in 2015.
Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen specializes in arepas as you might have guessed. For those not familiar with arepas, it’s similar to the Mexican dish, gorditas and consists of a handmade corn flour, which is then grilled and stuffed with meats, veggies and sauces.
Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen has 19 different types of arepas, so you’re sure to find one to your liking. We were told that the Cochina Felix pictured below was one of their most popular. They have some vegetarian options, but have meat options of pork, chicken shredded beef, sirloin strip steaks and even hamburger. These are accompanied by cilantro sauces, cheeses, avocado salad, and various vegetables.
The arepas are made to order and the menu states that it takes about 15-20 minutes. Besides arepas, they also have empanadas that come three to an order. What makes these empanadas different from the ones we’ve had in the past is that these are deep fried instead of baked. We actually like the crispy outside and the filling is jam packed and really tasty. Of the beef and chicken empanadas we ordered, we really enjoyed the beef.
Another dish we’ve gotten is the Pabellon bowl. It’s a similar dish we had at Mojito, where we discovered that this was the national dish of Venezuela. Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is known for their arepas, but this dish was our favorite. It comes with sweet fried plantains, perfectly seasoned shredded beef, black beans and cheese over rice. The below picture might be misleading, the amount of shredded beef was substantial and went all the way down to the bottom of the bowl.
There aren’t many Venezuelan options in Seattle. As you would expect being near The Ave, Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen is a no-frills quaint and welcoming spot. Their food is a great take-out option and very much like Sip House is a great option when going to the University Farmers Market
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.50
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.50
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:
Related Articles:
****NOTE: This review was done during the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things get back to normal soon and hope you will continue these local businesses****
Sip House
Description on Sip House’s website: Coffee & tea have always been a big part of our daily lives. We named our cafe “Sip House” hoping to be your favorite destination to savor on your favorite drinks.
Neighborhood:University District
Address: 5001 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Matcha Coffee Latte- Matcha latte with phin dripped coffee, Coffee Crema-Vietnamese coffee latte topped with salted cheese flavor crema, Pistachio cream latte, Cinnamon Fall Apart from Macrina Bakery-brioche filled w/granny smith and cinnamon sugar topped with buttermilk glaze.
Comments: We first visited Sip House, the new Vietnamese coffee shop in the U District when it first opened in July of 2020, right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time you could still enjoy the interior while social distancing, but now it’s only take out*.
*this may have changed with the 2/1/21 updated policy.
The interior is L shaped and has an industrial feel with concrete floor and walls and wooden slats on the ceiling. There are floor to ceiling windows which lets in a lot of light as well as hanging Edison bulbs to provide some warmth.
Near the entrance there’s a high top table with stools and also a standing bar along the window with a gorgeous piece of flower art. The long part of Sip House has a continuous bench with individual tables and chairs. And more than any other coffee shop we’ve been to, Sip House is really set up for people to work with lap tops. There is literally outlets spaced out every 8 inches along this bench.
Some other nice touches are the wall of plants and the self serve faucet for water.
The coffee used is Nguyen coffee. There’s a ton of drink options both served hot or cold. My wife enjoys cold coffee drinks, while I enjoy hot. When asking which options were best served hot, they were very helpful and honest about certain drinks not being an option because they were best served cold.
Besides coffee drinks(including phin drip coffee options) they have fruit teas, milk teas and ice blended drinks. Sip House also has some pastries. We’re not sure if all their pastries are from Macrina Bakery, but the cinnamon fall apart we ordered was.
It’s nice having a coffee shop that really focuses on Vietnamese coffee drinks. When things go back to normal, I can see Sip House being jam packed with UW students. It’s also a block away from the University Farmers Market on Saturdays, so it’s a good option if you happen to be there.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Vietnamese-centric menu
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.50
Eavedropping Convo: None
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- 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
****NOTE: This review was done during the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things get back to normal soon and hope you will continue these local businesses****
Mr West Cafe – University Village
Description on Mr West Cafe’s website: Mr. West Cafe Bar is proud to partner up with Campos Coffee, originally from Sydney, Australia. For over two decades Campos has been a leader in the specialty coffee movement, setting the standard for great quality coffee. Campos recently started roasting here in the U.S and we are excited to bring their coffee to our patrons.
Neighborhood: University District
Address: 2685 NE Village Lane, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Cortado
Comments: The other Mr West Cafe location in downtown has been deemed our favorite coffee shop in the entire city, so when we heard another location was opening closer to our house we were elated. Unfortunately, now that we’re working from home we definitely visit the original downtown location less frequently.
We love not having to commute downtown, but we definitely miss our frequent visits to Mr West Cafe-Downtown, which were always relaxing when visiting prior to work or for an afternoon pick-me-up.
The Mr West Cafe – University Village location definitely has the same aesthetics as the downtown location with lots of plant greenery, warm inviting lighting and white marble counters/table tops. The main differences are the larger patio areas and the much larger interior.
At this moment, we’re not allowed to eat/drink indoors, but they have a rather large heated patio in the front and a make shift outdoor covered area in the back. The interior is very reminiscent their downtown location – clean, sleek, modern and warm. Where the downtown location is more of an open floor plan, the University Village location has more booths and segregated seating areas.
If you frequent University Village, the premier shopping center in Seattle, you’ll know that the only place to get a coffee was Starbucks, which we believe had four stores if you count the one in QFC. So finally having an alternative and a local one at that was a long time coming.
We typically come here for coffee and maybe a pastry, but they do have heartier meals here such as salads, sandwiches, soups, salads and even roasted chicken.
Mr West Cafe – University Village is the perfect alternative to Starbucks while at University Village if you need a coffee or just a relaxing spot to take a break from shopping or an after dinner night cap from the various restaurants.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Finally a coffee alternative in University Village.
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 4.50
Food Options: 4.75
Overall: 4.75
Eavedropping Convo: None
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- 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
Chi Mac – Korean Fried Chicken
Recommended by: We talked about The Ave(University Ave) in the University District becoming a Korean Fried Chicken epicenter with the opening of Bok A Bok and bb.q Chicken. We review another such spot, Chi Mac.
Description on the Chi Mac’s website: Inspired by this national dining culture and pastime, we created “Chi Mac”—“Chi”—short for Chicken in English; and “Mac” short for Beer, or “maekju” in Korean; as a way to bring this uniquely Korean-American experience and delicacy to Seattle—where East and West go together like chicken and beer.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 4525 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: See Below
Comments: We visited Chi Mac at the brick and mortar location prior to Covid-19 and have ordered take out a few times after that.
Their physical location has a massive Banksy-Inspired mural, which is cool, but we’d say the cleanliness of the place is on par with normal restaurants on The Ave. Take that for what you will. It’s definitely more of a “shoot the shit” with your boys type of place having some wings and beer versus an “impress-your-date” or “bring the parents” type of place. Nothing wrong with that. Just letting you know what to expect.
Their chicken sandwich was just okay. The flavors were there, but as you can see from the picture below, the cheese was cold and not close to being melted. We also had some wings and fries and while the wings were good the fries were pretty sad. So this made our decision for future orders to be strictly chicken and mainly wings only.
So our normal take out dishes from Chi Mac are as follows:
We’ve gotta say the Popcorn Chicken is better than what we’d expected. We typically get these for our girls because it’s easy to eat with no bones. Normally when we get this from other places, they can be rock hard small pieces of chicken. These were much bigger pieces and are quite tender, so this dish is definitely one of our regulars.
My favorite is the snow wings that has parmesan and onion powder. It has a bit of sweetness to it and the right amount of powder that’s not overpowering.
This ain’t fried chicken. This is Pride Chicken. I believe this is their standard base fried chicken and you can get either a 5 pc or 10 pc chicken. It’s not earth shattering, but it’s decent. Nice and crispy on the outside and super tender on the inside.
This is my wife’s favorite. Again perfectly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. This is a bit spicy, but not mouth-on-fire spicy. Definitely flavorful and another regular dish we order.
Our suggestion is to stick with the wings and popcorn chicken. This is where they really shine. We’d put Chi Mac ahead of b.q Chicken and slight being Bok A Bok. If The Ave ain’t your style, they have another location in Bellevue.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.25
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.25
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Staying with our theme of ethnic foods found on The Ave, we’ll be visiting Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen right down the street.
bb.q Chicken
Recommended by: After publishing our Bok A Bok review, we noticed another Korean fried chicken restaurant opening up in the old Radio Shack spot down The Ave.
Description on the bb.q Chicken’s website: Established in 1995, bb.q Chicken’s visions to always provide the most delicious and healthiest premium chicken in the world. bb.q Chicken is continually motivated to prepare and share only the best flavors with you as our brand name.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 4223 University Way Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Golden Original Chicken, Kimchi Fried Rice, Secret Sauced Chicken, Cheese Balls.
Comments: The Ave in the University District has become ground zero for Korean fried chicken- There’s Bok A Bok, Chi Mac Chicglet and now, bb.q Chicken.
bb.q Chicken has been in rapid expansion mode after opening over 1000 stores in Korea. They have a facility dedicated to research, development and franchisee education called, Chicken University.
They’ve become so ubiquitous in Korea that bbq.Chicken has been prominently featured in many Korean movies and TV shows. They’ve now set their sights on the rest of the world with a lofty goal of opening 50,000 franchises around the world by this year. One of which just opened in the University District.
“WE NOT MAKE CHICKEN; WE MAKE THE DIFFERENCE” – bb.q Chicken
bb.q Chicken specializes in fried chicken, so you may ask, why is it called, “bb.q”. Don’t let the name fool you. “bb.q” stand for “best of the best quality”
The various types of chicken include spicy, honey garlic, soy garlic, cheeseling. In addition to whole chicken(20 pc), half chicken(10 pc) and wings(8 pc), they also have chicken sandwiches. They also have a few roast chicken options and sides such as fries, kimchi fried rice and cheese balls.
We ended up getting the “half and half” of the secret sauce and golden fried chicken at $27.99. We also got a side of kimchi fried rice and complimentary cheese balls(holla!).
The chicken was decent. The secret sauce was a sweet and a bit spicy. It reminded us of a gochujang flavor you might find in bibibop. The golden original fried chicken was crispy and juicy and well seasoned, but the pieces are a bit on the small side.
The cheese balls were sweet with savory cheese and had a consistency similar to mochi. Best of all they were free.
This is your quintessential simple Korea fried chicken place for college students and optimal for sharing. If we’re being honest we prefer our local Korean fried chicken spots on The Ave, Bok A Bok and Chi Mac a little better, but we’ll definitely try some of the other flavors and give it a chance.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 3.75
Bang for the Buck: 3.00
Overall: 3.75
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: We mentioned the Chi Mac comparison, so we’ll visit this other Korean fried chicken spot on The Ave
Related Articles:
*****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Koa
Recommended by: We were having friends over for a visit and craving Hawaiian food. Since we were going to the University Farmer’s Market, we decided to head over to nearby Koa for take out.
Description on the Koa’s website: Hawaiian Food. Coffee + Food
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 4754 The Ave, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Japanese-style curry (beef or veggies) with rice, kahlua pork and cabbage with rice, or Portuguese sausage & eggs with rice
Comments: We’re big fans of Hawaiian grub. It’s the ultimate comfort food for us. Seattle has a wide variety of Hawaiian food places from the upper scale, Ma’ono and Super Six, to the more relaxed casual places like Kona Kitchen and Kauai Family Restaurant. Koa is even more “relaxed” and “casual”. It’s located on The Ave. That’s all you need to know.
Koa is actually in the old location of Morsel, which moved down the street to a brand new building. And the owner of Koa also happens to be the owner of Morsel, but that’s where the similarities end. The menus could not be more different. Where Morsel specializes in fancy biscuit sandwiches, Koa specializes in just three Hawaiian dishes.
- Japanese Style Curry
- Portuguese Sausage & Eggs
- Kahlua Pork
That’s it! When you only have three dishes, you can run lean and mean with the number of ingredients needed and you can really concentrate on those three. Although they only have three dishes and it’s easy to try each one on it’s own, Koa allows you to split dishes. For example you can order half a plate of curry and half a plate of Kahlua Pork.
The Portuguese sausage and eggs is pretty basic. Can’t really screw that up. But still it’s nice to have a place to get it when you have a craving.
Kahlua Pork is also a simple dish, but it’s gotta be seasoned correctly. Koa’s has the perfect amount of salt and smoke and is tender and juicy. It’s topped on top a bed of shredded cabbage and rice.
Japanese style beef curry are normally thicker and a little sweeter than say Thai or Indian curries. Koa’s curry is indeed thick with beef and huge chunks of potato and carrot. This is the perfect dish for those cold PNW days.
When we first discovered Koa in the beginning of 2019, their prices were lower as you can see in the table below:
We really don’t have an issue with the higher prices for one reason. Let’s talk about the portions. Take a look at the photos. On this particular visit we bought three large portions and split it amongst 4 hungry adults and 2 kids. We didn’t even make a dent. We had left overs for a few more nights. When you look at the portion size even with the price increase, it’s still a screaming deal.
Koa fits the bill for when our family has a hankering for Hawaiian food. They have 3 simple dishes that they do well, huge portions, quick service and guaranteed leftovers.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.25
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.40
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:
Related Articles:
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Bok a Bok Fried Chicken
Recommended by: While eating our Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwiches at Lil Woody’s., my co-worker mentioned Bok A Bok Fried Chicken. And said they don’t have burgers, but have the best chicken sandwiches. We had to check it out.
Description on the Bok a Bok Fried Chicken website: It’s air-dried, hand-dipped and double-fried to order. This process isn’t fast but it makes for super juicy chicken with an unforgettable crunch. It’s fresh, never frozen, antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken. It’s hand-made biscuits and sides made from scratch, using fresh, responsibly sourced ingredients that we prepare with care and integrity.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address:5201 University Way Unit D, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: 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, Umami BBQ Chicken Sandwich-Soft bun, gochujang bbq sauce, ginger cabbage slaw, mint and cilantro. Served with boneless chicken thigh. Bulgogi Chicken Tacos(3) on flour tortilla with ginger slaw, kim chi, cilantro and spicy lime cream. Yuzu Green Chili Chicken Sandwich – Charred pasilla peppers, dill pickles, pea sprouts, yuzu aioli. Boneless Chicken Thigh. 10 pc chicken wings.
Comments: The northern part of The Ave(University Ave) has become quite a hot spot lately. Bok a Bok Fried Chicken is another addition to the area in between Morsel & Koa and Xian Noodles & Snowy Village.
Bok a Bok Fried Chicken’s first branch was opened in 2016 in the White Center neighborhood and soon gained huge following and lines out the door and wings being sold out prior to closing. It was created by a former Skillet Diner chef, Brian O’Connor. He had been cooking fried chicken for many restaurants during his career and decided to make a go of it on his own and Bok a Bok Fried Chicken was born.
This particular branch in the University District is a walk up window only. There are no seats or benches outside either, so take out is your best bet, unless you want to eat it right there on the sidewalk. Their other locations in White Center, Capitol Hill and Burien all have indoor eating areas.
Just a warning, be prepared to tack on some calories. Heavy sauces, fried foods, mac & cheese. Ohh..but your mouth will thank you.
The first thing we noticed was that the fried chicken was not greasy and yet the inside was really juicy. We later found out that a special batter is used the covers the chicken for a crispy outside, but locks in the juices from the chicken keeping it tender. We understand the chicken is brined which also seasons and preserves the chicken and increases the flavor.
We got the wings and a boneless chicken thigh, which is the chicken in it’s simplest form at Bok a Bok Fried Chicken. There are four sauces for $.50 each. They are four-chili hot sauce, sesame soy garlic, bok a bok ranch, and Korean BBQ. Trutfully you don’t need them. The chicken stands on it’s own and is flavorful without using any of the sauces.
The bulgogi tacos weren’t our favorite, but the sandwiches are on a whole nother level. 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.
The one dish that was truly life changing was the Bowl O Shame. The name of the dish is so apropos, because we did feel shame devouring the whole thing, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. It was so good! We broken open the poached egg and the yolk mixed with the chili sauce along with the kimchi mac n cheese, tater tots, fried chicken bits was sinfully good.
Who cares about the 2000 calories we just put in our body. This is the perfect meal for a hangover or a meal where you just want to cheer yourself up and don’t care about the consequences like when you just got dumped or got fired from your job. Here’s a video from Food Network extolling it’s virtues:
The fried chicken at Bok a Bok is in a different category than Ezells or Heaven Sent. The way their chicken is integrated into their bowls and sandwiches is distinctive.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: N/A It’s a take out stand
Service: 4.25
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.50
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: After publishing our Bok A Bok review, we noticed another Korean fried chicken restaurant, bb.q Chicken opening up in the old Radio Shack spot down The Ave.
Related Articles:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2019 (Part 1)
- Snowy Village
- Seattle Food Wars
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Zoka Coffee Roasters – University District
Description on Zoka Coffee Roasters’ website: Located just around the corner from the popular University Village, this Zoka is a staple to students. Bringing together baked-on-site pastries, outstanding espresso, and more seating than you know what to do with, Zoka Two can’t be beat. Beautiful windows run the length of the shop and fill it with natural light. Hardwood floors echo the click of someone’s favorite boots. Outlets power the progress of humming laptops. This shop offers a warm environment and a great place to stretch out and relax.
Neighborhood: University District
Address: 2901 NE Blakeley St, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Gibraltar and Chocolate Croissant, Macchiato, Raspberry Ginger Cruffin.
Comments: Very similar to the Zoka Coffee Roasters in Tangletown, this branch located near University Village, is one of the bigger coffee shops in Seattle. The space kind of curves along Blakely Ave. It could offer even more seating, but a portion of the space seems to be cordoned off. Also similar to the Tangletown location, the aesthetics are again warm wood beams, floors, chairs and tables.
There’s no parking lot, so you have to find street parking in the area, which can be difficult. Their wifi is free for 6 hours, but we’ve noticed it can be rather slow. So a warning if you plan to work or study there.
There’s a variety of baked goods, which are house made.
It’s a solid alternative for your coffee, but nothing that really stands out. It’s conveniently located if you are on your way to University Village for some shopping. Otherwise, it’s not someplace we’d go out of our way to visit.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: It’s big enough so that you won’t have any issue finding a seat even with the amount of Udub students there.
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.00
Food Options: 3.75
Overall: 4.3.85
Eavedropping Convo: Looked like two nurses coming off their shift and having a cup of coffee.
Nurse 1: Looked like you had a difficult time this evening.
Nurse 2: He came in with so much PCP in his system.
Nurse 1: PCP? I thought that was out of style?
Nurse 2: That’s what I thought . I was thinking, “What year is this?”
Related:
Snowy Village
Recommended by: When we asked the cashier, Eldon at Xi’an Noodles, if he could recommend another place that he enjoys eating at, he advised he doesn’t go out to eat much, but the place across the street, Snowy Village, has really good shaved ice(bingsoo) desserts. We can’t pass that up.
Description on the Snowy Village’s website: Snowy Village USA only uses the freshest ingredients available. This keeps customers coming back for more and enjoying our product again and again.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 5264 The Ave, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Strawberry Bingsoo, Mango Bingsoo, Green Tea Bingsoo, Espresso Bingsoo
Comments: Very similar to when Cinnaholic and The Donut Factory opened, if you looked on Instagram the first week that Snowy Village was open all you saw was photo after photo of food shots coming out of Snowy Village.
Snowy Village is a chain from Korea that specializes in Bingsoo and Taiyaki. Bingsoo is the Koran version of shaved ice. It’s typically flavored with milk, chocolate or green tea and topped with fresh fruit, red beans, cookies, cake crumbs and rice cakes. It also typically comes with condensed milk that’s poured over the shaved ice. Taiyaki is a Japanese cake normally bought on the streets and in the shape of a fish. There’s normally a filling of azuki beans, but can also include chocolate, custard or sweet potato.
This is Seattle Snowy Village location is only the 4th in the US. The others being in LA, San Diego and Houston.
First thing you need to know is that Snowy Village is located at the northern end of The Ave(University Ave) near UW and it’s always packed. They opened in May of this year and waited for the hype to die down. Whenever we went there we always ordered our Bingsoo to go and ate it at home because there was always a line for seats. They have seating for maybe 25 people? Don’t come here expecting to get a seat anytime soon if you have a party of more than 4.
All throughout the summer we took our Bingsoo to go and thought when autumn comes around and the tempature goes down, we’ll then be able to eat inside since the crowds have all tried it and people wouldn’t want Bingsoo when it’s cold. We were wrong. Even now as the tempatures get down to the 30’s, we’ve been able to eat inside exactly one time. They do have an ipad to check in, so the process for waiting is at least automated.
Another thing you should know is that they make everything from scratch. You can actually see them peeling mangos and cutting strawberries. This means it will take some time to make your bingsoo. My friend told me she brought her family there and when they saw how crowded it was and ordered 3 bingsoo to go. They made one bingsoo and she took it to her family who were waiting in the car. IT was taking so long to make the second bingsoo , the first one was melting and they had to furiously eat it in the car. They finally finished making the 2nd bingsoo and took that one to the car and her family had to do the same thing because the third one also took a long time to make. She was not too pleased, but we thought it was hilarious. Rookie mistake. She thought 3 workers would be making the 3 bingsoos simultaneously, but apparently how their system works is that one worker completes the entire order, so the same worker made all three bingsoo one after the other.
If you look at the pictures of the bingsoo, you can tell why it takes so long to make and why it’s so photogenic for Instagram.
The real distinction is that the ice in the bingsoo at Snowy Village is 100% milk, not water like most shaved ice.
You can see the variations of bingsoo from their website up top. That’s not even all of them. There’s more than that. Some of the choices are seasonal like watermelon or honey dew melon, so it may not be available in the fall/winter.
They have 3 different sizes single($5.95 fruit/ $5.45 other) for one person, regular($8.95 fruit/$7.95 other) for 2-3 people and large($11.95 fruit/$10.95 other) for 4-5 people.
For our family, Snowy Village is synonymous with bingsoo. We jumped for joy when we heard Snowy Village was coming to Seattle. And now, our entire family gets excited when we decide to come here on a whim. We’re so lucky to live nearby so when ordering one large bingsoo to go, we don’t have to worry about it melting. The fruit based Bingsoos are the showstoppers and the most popular amongst our family. The Green Tea Bingsoo isn’t really my cup of tea, but the rest of the family likes. The Espresso Bingsoo is Snowy Village’s version of the affagato. It’s a perfect dessert choice.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.50
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: A reader advised us of a new challenger to Snowy Village called, Kakigori that also specializes in Instagramable bingsoo.
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Xi’an Noodles
Recommended by: We met a couple at a house warming party that we had just seen at Mike’s Noodle House right before. We 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. After visiting, we’ve made it our main take out spot.
Description on the Xian Noodles’ website: Authentic Western Chinese Food from Xi’an City, hot pot, dry hot pot.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 5259 University Way, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Cumin Beef Burger, Cumin Lamb Burger, Stewed Pork Burger, Garlic Cucumber Salad, Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles, Stewed Pork Hand-Ripped Noodles, Won Tons in Chili Sauce, Mount Qi Pork Hand-Ripped Noodles, Bean Sprouts Gluten Salad, Dumplings(Chive/Shrimp/Pork), Stewed Pork Rice
Comments: We’ve eaten at Xian Noodle’s exactly one time, but we have done take out quite a few times since discovering this place. It’s one of our go-to take out places. We ain’t gonna lie, the simple aesthetics(we are talking about The Ave after all) of Xi’an Noodles space, make it a perfect place for take out.
Xi’an Noodles is known for their biang biang noodles, which are named after the sound the noodles make as it’s being slammed against the table/counter while being made. The noodles are wide, thick and hand ripped that allows sauce to stick to the noodles.
They also have “burger” or Rou jia mo that are also quite good. It’s marinated meats between crispy flatbread.
If the Chinese food you’re expecting is General Tsao’s Chicken, Egg Foo Young or Egg Rolls, open your mind and try some authentic Chinese food. We have friends who we’ve introduced to Xi’an Noodles and had to “trick” them into trying some dishes by not telling them what’s in it until after they’ve tried it and all have been converted. After saying they enjoyed the dish, we then tell them it was lamb or intestines and explain what makes the dishes “tingly”(Sichuan Peppers, illegal in the US untill 2005).
All dishes here are below $10, but to be transparent most are at the $9.99-$9.95 price, but still pretty good value.
Recently Xian Noodles made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant. Honestly, one of the reasons Xi’an Noodles is our go to take out spot is proximity, but it also has to do with bang for the buck, how easily you can split up the dishes for a family/group and because it just simply tastes really good.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.25
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.50
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 Cashier recommendations to visit in the future: When we asked the cashier, Eldon, if he could recommend another place that he enjoys eating at, he advised he doesn’t go out to eat much, but the place across the street, Snowy Village, has really good shaved ice desserts. We can’t pass that up. Visit coming soon.
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