U Village Continues to Heat Up With the Addition of Ba Bar

The University Village shopping mall’s dining scene has gotten improbably hot lately, thanks to a slew of openings that includes a Rachel’s Ginger Beer/Ma’Ono fried chicken mashup, an upcoming outpost of internationally renowned ramen chain Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, and, as of today, a third location for impeccable Vietnamese restaurant Ba Bar. It’s located across from Piatti and Blue C Sushi.

The U Village menu will feel familiar to anyone who has patronized owner Eric Banh’s other outposts in the Central District and South Lake Union: perfected Vietnamese dishes like pho, bun bo hue, and other small plates run alongside original cocktails and from-scratch pastries ranging from macarons to kouign amanns to croissants. Ba Bar replaces Liam’s, the restaurant owned by Kurt Dammeier (Beecher’s, The Butcher’s Table), which closed on New Year’s Eve.

Other new additions to the U Village restaurant selection include a third Seattle outpost of Rachel’s Ginger Beer that serves virgin ginger beer and boozed-up cocktails alongside spicy chicken sandwiches from Ma’Ono. And on Saturday, August 5, highly regarded international ramen chain Hokkaido Ramen Santouka arrives in the mall’s central corridor across from Glassy Baby. All of a sudden the urge to shop is rising.