Inside Seattle’s New Rooftop Bar Overlooking the Great Wheel

Argentine restaurant Patagon and rooftop bar Fog Room are now open inside the new Charter Hotel downtown, and they sport somewhat minimalist decor and robust food and drink menus.

Fog Room’s 16th-floor perch looks out over the Great Wheel and the waterfront, and it has both indoor and outdoor spaces. The inside skews midcentury modern, with a large mirror installation and otherwise innocuous decor that lets the view do the heavy lifting. Furnishings are a mix of chairs facing low tables, couches, and bar stools.

Morgen Schuler for Eater

The Fog Room sits on the hotel’s 16th floor.

The menu here is a range of small bites, like day boat scallops, mussel escabeche, king salmon crudo, local oysters, stuffed piquillo peppers, grilled pork belly, and a local cheese board with fried green olives.

Former Rob Roy manager Jesse Cyr is the assistant general manager, mixing drinks like the Disarmer, a tropical cocktail with rum, banana, mole bitters, and an orange twist, and the on-tap Twisted Bliss, with mezcal, peach, manzanilla sherry, and a lemon twist.

Morgen Schuler for Eater

First-floor restaurant Patagon has darker tones, from the subway tiles in the open kitchen to brown leather chairs in the dining room. Modern touches include sculptural light fixtures and wood slab tables. A large, open grill is the kitchen’s centerpiece.

Morgen Schuler for Eater

The menu combines Argentine flavors with Pacific Northwest ingredients. That translates into plenty of meaty dishes, like cresta de gallo pasta with short rib and black truffle, empanadas, and chicharrones, but it’s not all carnivorous, as polenta with foraged mushrooms in a brandy cream sauce or chicharrones prove.

Patagon also has a cocktail menu distinct from that of Fog Room, including a dramatic smoked drink called Mouth of Florian, with Maker’s Mark, Pere Magliore calvados, demerara, bitters, applewood smoke, and an orange twist emerging from a glass-walled case. The clever cocktail menus are as good a reason as any to see what the latest hotel bars are offering.

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• Charter Hotel [Official]
• All Coverage of Patagon [ESEA]
• All Coverage of Fog Room [ESEA]