12 Best Restaurants in Seattle, Washington

Renee Erickson made her name serving Seattle's seafood, and takes a new spin on the same at this cool, marble-topped ode to Parisian fish and shellfish bistros. The menu offers seafood both raw and cooked, as well as meaty continental classics like steak tartare and a burger (and steaks borrowed from Bateau next door). Seafoam-green seats pop with color from the white walls in front of the long L-shape bar and tables that surround it. Baskets of fresh oysters await shucking from beds of ice, while nautically named cocktails are shaken nearby. Boat Bar is part of Erickson’s trio of restaurants on this corner: General Porpoise Coffee and Doughnuts serves oversized filled doughnuts until the afternoon, and diners looking for a more substantial meal can head to the steakhouse sibling, Bateau.

Walking into the light-filled dining room of Manolin, with its horseshoe-shape bar framing the open kitchen, transports you straight to the sea. Blue tiles, the wood-fired oven in the center, the cool marble bar, and the seafood-laden menu all bring diners to an ambiguous maritime destination where ceviches are inspired by coastal Mexico, plantain chips come from the Caribbean, smoked salmon has vaguely Scandinavian flavors, and the squid with black rice and ginger is as if from Asia, all mingling on one menu. Opened by disciples of Seattle’s seafood queen, Renee Erickson, it pays homage to the ocean. Plates are on the small side, so prepare to order more than you normally would.

The first oyster bar from a fifth-generation family-owned aquaculture farm, it's designed to give the diner the ultimate experience of eating a raw oyster. The elegant but casual wood bar and subway-tiled walls frame big tubs of bubbling water keeping the shellfish alive. The menu stays simple, with a focus on the half-dozen varieties of oyster usually on offer and helpful staff that explain each one and shuck them to order. They also sell geoduck (the local giant clam) sashimi, cracked Dungeness crab, shellfish chowder, and a few other dishes for those who want a more complete meal. The wine list is specially curated with glasses that pair well with raw oysters. You can also purchase raw and live shellfish here, to shuck or cook yourself. The Queen Anne and Pioneer Square locations serve more complete meals, while the Samish Bay location makes a great day trip stop.

Westward singularly nails the dream of Seattle visitors and locals alike: serving high-quality, fresh local seafood from a waterfront location with a view. Lake Union laps at the rocky shore just feet from where diners look out toward Downtown as just-shucked oysters gleam from seafood towers. Owned by Seattle's seafood queen, Renee Erickson, Westward takes its mission to present pristine seafood in a simple fashion very seriously, starting with the splurge-worthy shellfish tower. The short menu focuses on chilled and raw seafood, but also includes a few small salads and larger dishes that come from the wood-fired oven. The wine list is excellent, but the full bar also offers a flight of mezcal to pair with the oysters.

Weaving local seafood into gastropub-style favorites, this waterfront restaurant makes food as good as the view, which stretches up to the Space Needle to the west and over to Lake Union to the north. Seafood chowder, both on its own and over fries as "Poutine o' the Sea," Dungeness Crab Louie salad, and amazing oysters show off the kitchen's skill with the local treasures. The menu offers plenty of options from snacks to seafood platters, plus some meat and vegetable dishes for any landlubbers. In the summer, grab a quick chowder at the 100-Pound Clam, the restaurant's sister shack on the patio, or stop by on weekday afternoons for "Shells and Champagne" happy hour specials.

This long dining room facing Lake Union has original Northwest Indian artwork collected by the restaurant's namesake founder. It's touristy, often gimmicky, and always packed. You are paying for the setting here: a building designed as a loose replica of a traditional longhouse with terrific views of Lake Union and Downtown. Try to snag a table on the deck.

The view of Shilshole Bay might be the main draw, but the seafood is also fresh and well prepared. Perennial favorites include grilled salmon, Kasu sake–marinated sablefish, Dungeness crab, and regional oysters on the half shell. Ray's has a split personality: there's a fancy dinner-only dining room downstairs (reservations essential) and a casual café and bar upstairs. Be forewarned that during happy hour in high season, the café's service can suffer greatly because of the crowds.

Sure, it's touristy, but snagging a spot on the sun-drenched balcony to watch the boats floating past after an afternoon exploring the Ballard Locks is quintessential Seattle summer fun.

A temple to uniquely prepared seafood, this is the restaurant that locals want to bring visitors to: an example of the casual way seafood weaves into all sorts of dishes when you live so close to such bounty. The mix of appetizers, oyster shooters, small plates, and full entrées makes the long menu an epic adventure filled with fresh local, domestic, and global fish—from local oysters to Hawaiian tuna, and back to black cod from Washington’s own Neah Bay. The dining room, built with ample wood and wall-sized murals of waterscapes, invokes the idea of a modern fishing lodge, but the high ceilings and sharp metals keep it more lively than cozy.

It's undeniably touristy, but the views simply can't be beat on a summer afternoon. Famed for its Sunday and holiday brunches and view of Seattle's skyline across the harbor, Salty's offers more in the way of quantity than quality—and sometimes a bit too much of its namesake ingredient—but it's a couple of steps up from the mainstream seafood chains. If you can get a table with a view, order a wine by the glass and a cup of chowder or some crab legs, and enjoy.

Like the Edgewater Hotel that houses it, Six Seven would be noteworthy for its views of Elliott Bay and the Puget Sound alone, especially if you opt to dine at the café tables lining the deck at sunset. Regionally sourced seafood such as planked salmon, miso-glazed black cod, and a flavorful bouillabaisse take top billing on the menu, which also features dishes like lamb ragout pasta and Roquefort-crusted filet mignon alongside an award-winning wine list.

The seafood is as blindingly fresh as one would hope for at a Seattle sushi bar, but chef Taichi Kitamura ups the ante by adding seasonal, sustainable, and Northwest touches such as pork loin from sustainable Skagit River Ranch with organic watercress. Order a series of small plates at the blond-wood tables, like oysters from nearby Totten Inlet in ponzu sauce, or impeccable spot prawns in soy-butter sauce—or put yourself in Kitamura's more-than-capable hands for omakase at the 13-seat bar. This is in the Eastlake neighborhood, a short cab ride from Capitol Hill.

Renee Erickson was inspired by the casual oyster bars of Paris to open this bustling shoebox of a restaurant. Seats fill fast at the zinc bar and the scattered tall tables where seafood fans slurp on fresh-shucked Olympias, Blue Pools, and other local oysters. The menu also offers refined small plates like grilled sardines with shallots and walnuts or roasted greengage plums in cream. In true Parisian style, the service can be disappointing, but for those in search of stellar seafood, it's still worth the slog. Arrive soon after the 4 pm opening or you may be in for a long wait, though you can get on the waitlist via their website before you head over. If you do have a long wait, kill time at Erickson's tiny Barnacle bar next door.