The Space Needle’s Loupe Lounge Set to Reopen on April 9

One major Seattle tourist destination is starting to bring back more food and beverage services. The Space Needle’s Loupe lounge — a bar known for its rotating floor and views of the city 500-feet above the ground — will open Friday, April 9, with reservations starting at $200 per person.

That lofty price tag includes admission to the building, a table reservation for two hours, food, drinks, and parking. While the lounge is more about the fancy schmancy cocktails (think Negronis with liquid nitrogen flair), guests can find a few substantial snacks on the menu, including wagyu sliders, a seafood tower with Kusshi oysters, and Dungeness crab cakes.

The Loupe’s reopening expands the small selection of hospitality services at the Space Needle. Visitors can eat and drink on the lookout deck, which opened in January at a limited capacity, while espresso bar Atmos Cafe is eyeing a possible spring return. Many may also remember the famed SkyCity Restaurant (formerly the Eye of the Needle), which closed in September 2017 as part of the landmark’s renovation project. Since then, there has been no full service restaurant inside the building.

Pre-pandemic, the Space Needle welcomed more than a million visitors per year, but was shut down for several months in 2020 due to the pandemic, before reopening last summer. According to the official website, COVID-related precautions include utilizing UV-C light to clean the air and surfaces, limiting tables to parties of six people (the current Washington capacity is 10 per table), ventilating the tight elevators, and eliminating the use of cash for payments.

The Loupe lounge isn’t the only sky-high sightseeing dining spot in Seattle. The Smith Tower downtown recently reopened the Observatory again after with a happy hour special, as well as an option to order takeout drinks for curbside pickup. And the Seattle Great Wheel at Pier 57 now offers four-course dinners on the ride’s gondolas, which reach about 175 feet above ground, overlooking Elliott Bay.

• The Loupe [Official]