Seattle Area Restaurant Recommendations

Osteria La Spiga is a great place for a large group. Solid food, reasonably priced wine list and you can usually get a reservation fairly easily.

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If you can’t appreciate an upscale dive bar, then I don’t know what to say. I love the Roanoke Inn out on Mercer Island too…used to drink a lot of nice wines with burgers and wings.

I’ll add a couple of spots & notes on what others have suggested (noting your goal is a place that can handle a party of 10) -

Rays Boathouse - Seafood focused - https://www.rays.com/
They have two options, a Cafe (more casual) and the Boathouse. Both should be able to handle 10 and it’s right on the water at the bottom of the Ballard neighborhood.

El Goucho - steak focused - El Gaucho - Seattle
Consistent, solid and they have a nice wine list. Expensive.

Cafe Campagne - French focus, in Pike Place Market, W-Su only - https://cafecampagne.com/

Place Pigalle - French/PNW focus - in Pike Place Market - https://placepigalle-seattle.com/
Awesome food and space, their French Onion soup is my benchmark.

Terra Plata - fresh PNW ingredient focus - Capitol Hill area - https://www.terraplata.com/
They have a great rooftop seating area if it’s nice out. Always consistent.

Bateau - meat focused - Sea Creatures | Restaurants
Have friends that rave about this spot, not sure they can handle a party of 10. Is part of the Rene Erickson empire and she has other spots that may be able to handle & you can peruse her list at the link above.

Pink Door - Italian focused, right above Pike Place Market - Welcome Mobile-Main — The Pink Door
Solid food, good service, nice ambiance.

Wild Ginger - Asian focused - https://www.wildginger.net/
Haven’t been in years so not sure if it’s still as good as I remember, is a local favorite.

Beast & Cleaver - butcher shop that does occasional dinners - https://beastandcleaver.com/
Have not dined here only b/c it’s $180/pp w/o wine - have had some of their meats/poultry and they are top notch, high quality, but expensive

Other notes -
Theo Chocolate sold to American Licorice Co in Jun 2023 and closed their long-running shop in the Fremont neighborhood. You can still get their chocolate, but it’s not as good as it was.

May want to poke around Eater Seattle - The 38 Best Restaurants in Seattle - Eater Seattle
You can see location and skim through their list

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The Roanoke is legendary, and they always seem to come up with random stuff on their beer list - I showed up one time and they had Goose Island BCBS by the keg. Great place for eastsiders to meet the Seattle crowd for lunch and split the travel difference.

For 3 or 4 years we had a “Reserve” wine list out there with Ravenswood Teldeschi Zin, Cakebread Chard, Jordan Cab and other staples that would sell on MI…list did great and we got to drink SV Zin for $45 and eat wings.

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Is this the same Roanoke that used to actually be on Roanoke in Cap Hill, which I used to go to after soccer games up that way back in the late 90s/early 00s?

I dont think so… the Roanoke had been on MI for 100 years or something crazy.

The only other Roanoke I know is over off Eastlake with ivy all over it.

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That’s the one, but since it’s on the west side of I-5 I considered it Cap Hill v Eastlake. Guess it’s still there. And the one on MI sounds like a cool place.

Floored you haven’t been there. Go in Spring and sit out on the lawn. They have spirits now too and usually good whiskey/bourbon selection.

Order wings and a burger.

I’ll try to make it there. I don’t get to MI much. Though my dentist is there.

Order the French Dip. Kris lives in Idaho or something crazy like that; what does he know?!?

Damn you for State-shaming me.

Ohhh that’s why the man likes Wild Ginger…. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

WG down on Western was awesome. Period.

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Dunno what the budget is, but Canlis ($180/pp menu) is for sure birthday caliber and my favorite restaurant in Seattle and has the most epic views.

They are extremely accommodating and there’s a decent chance you could book their private dining room.

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Bumping this rec - I love Ray’s Boathouse. It’s an old school Seattle staple with an awesome view. Their wine list isn’t massive but it’s priced very fairly - I’ve found gems like Dauvissat at very reasonable prices.

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Random fact - Chris Cornell, of Soundgarden and Audioslave fame, was a sous-chef at Ray’s Boathouse for a while.

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Ray’s Boathouse and Canlis were the two signature Seattle restaurants when I started dating my wife, who is from there. We’ve enjoyed both over the past 50 years. God, I’m old, and suddenly, without warning.

Found myself with a last minute family trip to see nieces performing near Pikes for a School Choir event early this week. I happened upon this thread and took some notes! A HUGE shout-out to @Pete_C for the PLACE PIGALLE recommendation. Went for lunch with the Father In Law and wife - had the French Onion soup (yes - you are correct - a stand-out and a benchmark of what that dish should be), special grilled King Salmon and a Cioppoino along with a very reasonably priced Bourgone. Nice wine list, excellent vibe, excellent view and scored double points with the wife and FIL. Next up was family dinner for 5 of us at Batteau. Thanks to @B3n-H3rb3rt for this recommendation. Short but good wine list with a different twist on steaks and sides. The Beet and Batteau salads were tremendous. One thought for me: they have a menu of different complimentary butter to be added as a finishing butter to your steak. I went with the bone marrow butter and on second thought, the steak quality was so good that the butter made it too rich for me. Would skip that next time. Anyway - for us, these restaurants were terrific, and I appreciate this board for pointing them out.

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