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The dining room at Bourbon Steak.
Bourbon Steak

20 Date-Worthy Seattle Restaurants Actually Open on Mondays

Where to have a nice night out on a day when most restaurants in the city are closed

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The dining room at Bourbon Steak.
| Bourbon Steak

For many restaurant-industry workers, Mondays are a day to relax, run errands, get drunk — whatever it takes to decompress from a busy weekend of service and prepare for the following week. In other words, Mondays (and sometimes Tuesdays) are the weekend for many people working in Seattle restaurants. This day of rest is necessary, especially during the ongoing labor shortage that’s left restaurants understaffed and employees overworked, but it also makes it hard to plan a dinner date on Monday — and what do you if you’re a service-industry who wants to go on a date on your day off ? The following list aims to help anyone looking for date-worthy restaurants on Mondays.

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Bruciato

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Chef Brendan McGill’s Bainbridge pizzeria serves delicate, slightly charred, Neapolitan pies baked in a scorching-hot wood-fired oven. The toppings include classic Italian ingredients like coppa, soppressata, and anchovies, but you can’t go wrong with the margherita. The bar side of the cafe is a perfect place for a casual weeknight date; sip a glass of wine or a cocktail with snacks like olives or prosciutto, and finish the meal with velvety tiramisu. 

Sunny Hill

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Sunset Hill landed this stellar pizzeria in 2020, focused on both Detroit-style square and 12-inch round pies served from a Wood Stone hearth oven. Options include the Gobb Shoppe, made with wild herb raclette, asparagus, and nettles, and the Death By Stereo, pizza topped with confit garlic, Nardello peppers, sprouted broccoli, and stracchino cheese. The smash burgers are sensational as well, topped with frizzled onions (don’t forget about the waffle fries). And the seasonal spritzes make for a refreshing cocktail best enjoyed on the comfortable back patio.

La Carta De Oaxaca

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This Ballard Mexican restaurant serves Oaxacan specialties like sweet and savory mole negro pooled over pork ribs and tlayudas (expansive expansive crispy corn tortillas) covered in toppings like chorizo, carne asada, cheese, and cabbage, as well as an excellent ceviche with pineapple. Don’t miss out on the excellent tequila and mezcal list and cocktail list.

The Walrus and the Carpenter

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Award-winning chef Renee Erickson’s Ballard restaurant serves eight varieties of Washington oysters, seafood dishes like raw albacore tuna with Meyer lemon sauce and blood oranges, and snacks like beef tartare, beef shank terrine, and plates of sliced cheese, along with a long wine list and a cocktail menu. The dining room is bright and airy, and there’s a heated, covered patio with string lights for al fresco dining.

Salt and Iron

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Shubert Ho’s Edmonds steak and oyster house serves steak frites with ribeye, filet mignon, or skirt steak, as well as with pork chops and dry-aged tuna belly. Starters include wagyu steak tartare and mussels with black garlic and tomato broth. And entrees feature creatures from the land and sea: braised lamb shank with root vegetables and lamb sugo, roasted chicken with brussel sprouts, pan seared Chilean sea bass with green lentils, and jumbo prawns, clams, and mussels in a massive white-wine seafood pot. The restaurant also offers a robust cocktail menu and wine list.

Toulouse Petit Kitchen & Lounge

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This Cajun-Creole restaurant in Uptown (formerly known as Lower Queen Anne), with hundreds of candles adorning the walls and the disco ball hanging in the dining room, feels like something between a shrine in a mountain cave and 80’s Miami drug lord’s den. The menu, inspired by the cuisine of New Orleans, is expansive, with oysters on the half shell, charcuterie and cheese plates, pasta and gnochi, steaks, and six preparations of half chickens. There’s also classic Southern dishes like gumbo and jambalaya. The wine, spirits, beer, and cocktail menus are just as long.

James Beard Award-nominated chef Rachel Yang and partner Seif Chirchi offer simple but refined dishes at their Korean-influenced Fremont restaurant, including a smoked mackerel kedgeree and a famed kalbi short rib over grilled kimchi. Expect inventive dishes too, like smoked tofu or beef tartare with Asian pear and pine nuts. With an inviting, open space and easy-going service, Joule offers a special night out sans pretension. Sit at the bar and watch chefs plating dishes, and sip on one of Joule’s creative cocktails, like the lapsang souchong tequila drink with lime and Thai chili agave.

Bourbon Steak Seattle

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Celebrity chef Michael Mina’s newest Seattle restaurant focuses on steak made from local beef, along with classic fine-dining seafood dishes like king salmon, halibut, and whole branzino. The cocktail menu — and whiskey list — is expansive. Recently, Mina started offer a special called Magnum Mondays, where a selection of magnums of wine from around the world are featured every week.

With an epic rooftop patio with views of Lake Union, the Space Needle, and myriad cranes soaring above the booming SLU neighborhood, Mbar is one hell of a spot to soak up the sun. It’s made even more memorable with a robust Middle Eastern menu with dishes like smoked eggplant croquettes, muhammara, falafel, and grilled lamb chops from the same restaurant group that owns Mamnoon, as well as some potent cocktails.

Lionhead

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This Capitol Hill restaurant serves Sichuan classics like mapo tofu swimming in chili oil, deep fried chicken cubes littered with chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, and velvety fried eggplant in a sweet and sour sauce with black vinegar, garlic, and ginger. Though there are other Sichuan restaurants in Seattle, Lionhead stands out for its creative cocktails with ingredients like red Sichuan peppercorn and smoked cardamom and an eye for artful presentation in its dishes.

Rondo Japanese Kitchen

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This Capitol Hill Japanese bar and restaurant serves a dizzying array of Japanese dishes: several preparations of ramen and udon, omakase and a la carte sushi, donburis, Japanese curries, bento boxes, and snacks like smoked tuna tataki and a shooter made with uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe) and yuzu soy sauce on rice. The $24 chirashi bowl features many of the restaurant’s best ingredients: seared wagyu beef, crab, unagi (eel), ikura, uni, tobiko (flying fish roe), and a selection of sliced fish. 

This nationally recognized restaurant by Renee Erickson (helmed by chef Taylor Thornhill) in Capitol Hill is a steakhouse that is a critique of steakhouses. The restaurant serves the whole cow, so what you’ll get in the five-course $125 tasting menu will likely include normally tough cuts rarely served at fine-dining restaurants like ball tip or brisket deckle that have been aged or cured to tenderize them — though the restaurant serves ribeye and filet mignon too. The beef is all grass-fed and finished at local ranches that aim to practice regenerative agriculture.

Pho Bac Súp Shop

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The Pham family’s Pho Bac “boat” restaurant was a pioneer in the Vietnamese dining scene — and the more modern Pho Bac Sup Shop continues its legacy with aplomb in Little Saigon. Tender beef falls off massive beef ribs on its internet-famous pho or on the spicy bun bo hue. Enjoy the fragrant bowls of broth with cocktails made with passionfruit and mango or herbaceous drinks made with Thai basil and Vietnamese coriander in the colorful, lively space.

Spinasse

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More than 10 years in, and this romantic trattoria on Capitol Hill continues to entrance diners with food from Italy’s Piedmont region. The nest of delicate tajarin pasta with butter and sage sauce is a Seattle mainstay, but every dish from chef Stuart Lane is memorable. After a satisfying dinner at Spinasse, one might want to head over to next door sibling bar Artusi for a digestif and dessert. Artusi is also now offering pasta and wine deals every Sunday and Monday evening, which includes two pasta dishes and a bottle of house red or white wine for $45, plus tax and tip.

Monsoon Seattle

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Monsoon is Eric and Sophie Banh’s first restaurant in Seattle, the one that launched their mini Vietnamese food empire, which now has five restaurants in the Seattle area including Ba Bar. The restaurant offers modern takes on Vietnamese classics, like fresh rolls made with avocado and raw ahi tuna, as well as excellent renditions of classic dishes like a green papaya salad made with perfectly charred shrimp. The cumin-chili lamb stir fry, made with house-fermented soybeans, is a standout, and the grilled marinated pork belly is a perennial favorite.

Cafe Lago

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Carla Leonardi’s Italian bistro has been serving Tuscan-inspired food on white tablecloths in an old brick building in Montlake since 1990. The wood-fired oven at the back of the restaurant churns out delicate, crispy pizza with classic toppings — only $10 on Mondays for customers dining in — the lasagna is some of the city’s best, and the desserts, like the pear and almond tart with whipped mascarpone, are excellent with espresso to cap off a satisfying meal.

Le Pichet

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Though this French bistro and cafe near Pike Place Market is probably best-known for its brunch and lunch and its charcuterie, pates, and quiches, but it’s also a great spot for a casual French date night, with entrees like duck leg confit, steak frites, and whole roasted chicken for dinner.

Pestle Rock

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Pestle Rock features Thai food from the Isan region of the country, which is known for dishes packed with fresh herbs and chili peppers and drenched in lime juice. Highlights include the crispy fried chicken wings, an excellent kao soi, and a Dungeness crab fried rice. Quality preparations also make deft use of local ingredients, such as the grilled wild boar collar served with lime juice, toasted rice, and lots of chili pepper.

Umi Sake House

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This late-night Belltown destination for sushi, sake, and Japanese whisky offers an impressive list of nigiri and sushi rolls — which include traditional Japanese versions as well as creative American-style specialty rolls like the Dragonfly, made with tempura shrimp, yellowtail, grilled shishito peppers and ghost pepper aioli. Omakase, (starting at $50 per person) is also an option.

Reckless Noodle House and Cocktails

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This Central District restaurant features bold flavors wielded expertly in dishes like roast duck crispy rolls with sambal hoisin, papaya salad, caramelized pork fresh rolls with Hanoi fish sauce, curry vermicelli bowl, and the tingly ma la noodles with melt-in-your-mouth beef cheek. Nothing about this place feels particularly reckless, just plain dialed in — ditto the original cocktails.

Bruciato

Chef Brendan McGill’s Bainbridge pizzeria serves delicate, slightly charred, Neapolitan pies baked in a scorching-hot wood-fired oven. The toppings include classic Italian ingredients like coppa, soppressata, and anchovies, but you can’t go wrong with the margherita. The bar side of the cafe is a perfect place for a casual weeknight date; sip a glass of wine or a cocktail with snacks like olives or prosciutto, and finish the meal with velvety tiramisu. 

Sunny Hill

Sunset Hill landed this stellar pizzeria in 2020, focused on both Detroit-style square and 12-inch round pies served from a Wood Stone hearth oven. Options include the Gobb Shoppe, made with wild herb raclette, asparagus, and nettles, and the Death By Stereo, pizza topped with confit garlic, Nardello peppers, sprouted broccoli, and stracchino cheese. The smash burgers are sensational as well, topped with frizzled onions (don’t forget about the waffle fries). And the seasonal spritzes make for a refreshing cocktail best enjoyed on the comfortable back patio.

La Carta De Oaxaca

This Ballard Mexican restaurant serves Oaxacan specialties like sweet and savory mole negro pooled over pork ribs and tlayudas (expansive expansive crispy corn tortillas) covered in toppings like chorizo, carne asada, cheese, and cabbage, as well as an excellent ceviche with pineapple. Don’t miss out on the excellent tequila and mezcal list and cocktail list.

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Award-winning chef Renee Erickson’s Ballard restaurant serves eight varieties of Washington oysters, seafood dishes like raw albacore tuna with Meyer lemon sauce and blood oranges, and snacks like beef tartare, beef shank terrine, and plates of sliced cheese, along with a long wine list and a cocktail menu. The dining room is bright and airy, and there’s a heated, covered patio with string lights for al fresco dining.

Salt and Iron

Shubert Ho’s Edmonds steak and oyster house serves steak frites with ribeye, filet mignon, or skirt steak, as well as with pork chops and dry-aged tuna belly. Starters include wagyu steak tartare and mussels with black garlic and tomato broth. And entrees feature creatures from the land and sea: braised lamb shank with root vegetables and lamb sugo, roasted chicken with brussel sprouts, pan seared Chilean sea bass with green lentils, and jumbo prawns, clams, and mussels in a massive white-wine seafood pot. The restaurant also offers a robust cocktail menu and wine list.

Toulouse Petit Kitchen & Lounge

This Cajun-Creole restaurant in Uptown (formerly known as Lower Queen Anne), with hundreds of candles adorning the walls and the disco ball hanging in the dining room, feels like something between a shrine in a mountain cave and 80’s Miami drug lord’s den. The menu, inspired by the cuisine of New Orleans, is expansive, with oysters on the half shell, charcuterie and cheese plates, pasta and gnochi, steaks, and six preparations of half chickens. There’s also classic Southern dishes like gumbo and jambalaya. The wine, spirits, beer, and cocktail menus are just as long.

Joule

James Beard Award-nominated chef Rachel Yang and partner Seif Chirchi offer simple but refined dishes at their Korean-influenced Fremont restaurant, including a smoked mackerel kedgeree and a famed kalbi short rib over grilled kimchi. Expect inventive dishes too, like smoked tofu or beef tartare with Asian pear and pine nuts. With an inviting, open space and easy-going service, Joule offers a special night out sans pretension. Sit at the bar and watch chefs plating dishes, and sip on one of Joule’s creative cocktails, like the lapsang souchong tequila drink with lime and Thai chili agave.

Bourbon Steak Seattle

Celebrity chef Michael Mina’s newest Seattle restaurant focuses on steak made from local beef, along with classic fine-dining seafood dishes like king salmon, halibut, and whole branzino. The cocktail menu — and whiskey list — is expansive. Recently, Mina started offer a special called Magnum Mondays, where a selection of magnums of wine from around the world are featured every week.

mbar

With an epic rooftop patio with views of Lake Union, the Space Needle, and myriad cranes soaring above the booming SLU neighborhood, Mbar is one hell of a spot to soak up the sun. It’s made even more memorable with a robust Middle Eastern menu with dishes like smoked eggplant croquettes, muhammara, falafel, and grilled lamb chops from the same restaurant group that owns Mamnoon, as well as some potent cocktails.

Lionhead

This Capitol Hill restaurant serves Sichuan classics like mapo tofu swimming in chili oil, deep fried chicken cubes littered with chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, and velvety fried eggplant in a sweet and sour sauce with black vinegar, garlic, and ginger. Though there are other Sichuan restaurants in Seattle, Lionhead stands out for its creative cocktails with ingredients like red Sichuan peppercorn and smoked cardamom and an eye for artful presentation in its dishes.

Rondo Japanese Kitchen

This Capitol Hill Japanese bar and restaurant serves a dizzying array of Japanese dishes: several preparations of ramen and udon, omakase and a la carte sushi, donburis, Japanese curries, bento boxes, and snacks like smoked tuna tataki and a shooter made with uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe) and yuzu soy sauce on rice. The $24 chirashi bowl features many of the restaurant’s best ingredients: seared wagyu beef, crab, unagi (eel), ikura, uni, tobiko (flying fish roe), and a selection of sliced fish. 

Bateau

This nationally recognized restaurant by Renee Erickson (helmed by chef Taylor Thornhill) in Capitol Hill is a steakhouse that is a critique of steakhouses. The restaurant serves the whole cow, so what you’ll get in the five-course $125 tasting menu will likely include normally tough cuts rarely served at fine-dining restaurants like ball tip or brisket deckle that have been aged or cured to tenderize them — though the restaurant serves ribeye and filet mignon too. The beef is all grass-fed and finished at local ranches that aim to practice regenerative agriculture.

Pho Bac Súp Shop

The Pham family’s Pho Bac “boat” restaurant was a pioneer in the Vietnamese dining scene — and the more modern Pho Bac Sup Shop continues its legacy with aplomb in Little Saigon. Tender beef falls off massive beef ribs on its internet-famous pho or on the spicy bun bo hue. Enjoy the fragrant bowls of broth with cocktails made with passionfruit and mango or herbaceous drinks made with Thai basil and Vietnamese coriander in the colorful, lively space.

Spinasse

More than 10 years in, and this romantic trattoria on Capitol Hill continues to entrance diners with food from Italy’s Piedmont region. The nest of delicate tajarin pasta with butter and sage sauce is a Seattle mainstay, but every dish from chef Stuart Lane is memorable. After a satisfying dinner at Spinasse, one might want to head over to next door sibling bar Artusi for a digestif and dessert. Artusi is also now offering pasta and wine deals every Sunday and Monday evening, which includes two pasta dishes and a bottle of house red or white wine for $45, plus tax and tip.

Monsoon Seattle

Monsoon is Eric and Sophie Banh’s first restaurant in Seattle, the one that launched their mini Vietnamese food empire, which now has five restaurants in the Seattle area including Ba Bar. The restaurant offers modern takes on Vietnamese classics, like fresh rolls made with avocado and raw ahi tuna, as well as excellent renditions of classic dishes like a green papaya salad made with perfectly charred shrimp. The cumin-chili lamb stir fry, made with house-fermented soybeans, is a standout, and the grilled marinated pork belly is a perennial favorite.

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Cafe Lago

Carla Leonardi’s Italian bistro has been serving Tuscan-inspired food on white tablecloths in an old brick building in Montlake since 1990. The wood-fired oven at the back of the restaurant churns out delicate, crispy pizza with classic toppings — only $10 on Mondays for customers dining in — the lasagna is some of the city’s best, and the desserts, like the pear and almond tart with whipped mascarpone, are excellent with espresso to cap off a satisfying meal.

Le Pichet

Though this French bistro and cafe near Pike Place Market is probably best-known for its brunch and lunch and its charcuterie, pates, and quiches, but it’s also a great spot for a casual French date night, with entrees like duck leg confit, steak frites, and whole roasted chicken for dinner.

Pestle Rock

Pestle Rock features Thai food from the Isan region of the country, which is known for dishes packed with fresh herbs and chili peppers and drenched in lime juice. Highlights include the crispy fried chicken wings, an excellent kao soi, and a Dungeness crab fried rice. Quality preparations also make deft use of local ingredients, such as the grilled wild boar collar served with lime juice, toasted rice, and lots of chili pepper.

Umi Sake House

This late-night Belltown destination for sushi, sake, and Japanese whisky offers an impressive list of nigiri and sushi rolls — which include traditional Japanese versions as well as creative American-style specialty rolls like the Dragonfly, made with tempura shrimp, yellowtail, grilled shishito peppers and ghost pepper aioli. Omakase, (starting at $50 per person) is also an option.

Reckless Noodle House and Cocktails

This Central District restaurant features bold flavors wielded expertly in dishes like roast duck crispy rolls with sambal hoisin, papaya salad, caramelized pork fresh rolls with Hanoi fish sauce, curry vermicelli bowl, and the tingly ma la noodles with melt-in-your-mouth beef cheek. Nothing about this place feels particularly reckless, just plain dialed in — ditto the original cocktails.

Related Maps