Holly Robinson’s East Side destination restaurant has been earning its reputation over and over again since it opened in 2000. One way it’s kept up with the times is by maintaining an excellent rotation of mocktails that’s on par with its cocktail and wine options. Cafe Juanita is in general great about catering to people with dietary restrictions – it boasts both vegan and vegetarian tasting menu options — and isn’t “I can’t drink” basically a dietary restriction? 

This family-owned pub and restaurant has everything you’d want in a neighborhood bar: close proximity to the Kraken Community Iceplex and the Northgate transit center, indoor and outdoor seating, and a long tap list. It also has a dedicated nonalcoholic cocktail menu as well as simple pleasures like a jasmine lemonade and an iced tea with mango puree.

This newly opened Kirkland Caribbean restaurant (from the owner of Island Soul) doesn’t have a big mocktail list — on the menu the standout NA drink is called “Whimsy,” a.k.a., tell the bartender what you like and they’ll whip something up. (On our last visit, that meant a concoction that was not too sweet with strong notes of stone fruit.) The sophistication, creativity, and improvisation on display here is pretty dang rare on the mocktail scene; it more than justifies its $17 price tag. 

This is technically a coffee shop, but the drinks produced here are just as complex as anything you’ll get at cocktail bars. The Sun Ship, for instance, includes smoked grapefruit rosemary syrup, coconut water, lime, and sparkling water — it’s so refreshing and has such welcoming tropical fruit notes that it might take you a minute to remember that there’s also espresso in here. With the mocktail and espresso drink scenes both evolving, there’s no reason they can’t one day merge. Come to Capitol Hill and get a preview of the singularity to come. 

Rachel Marshall died in 2023 after struggling with alcohol; her legacy is one of Seattle’s most famous nonalcoholic beverages, a ginger beer that is sweet and sharp and gingery. At any of the Rachel’s Ginger Beer locations you can get a wide variety of flavors and also order cocktails that use RGB as a base ingredient.