After operating as a pop-up for two years, Wero officially became a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the spring of 2022, taking over what was formerly a gastropub called the Gerald, where chef Wes Yoo had already been at the helm. Yoo’s small menu comprises updated takes on classic Korean comfort food (Wero means “comfort”). Highlights include jeon (a huge, crispy pancake made with potato, kimchi, and mung beans), kalbi-marinated steak ssam, and jiajang dubop (roasted pork shoulder with mushrooms and vegetables in fermented black bean sauce). The cocktails shine too, like the luminous green sumnara, with vodka, soju, vanilla, coconut, honey, lemon, matcha, and ginger beer. 

Ballard’s Korean-influenced coffee shop serves wonderful brews and Instagram-worthy French toast, which has the perfect combination of crunchiness and sweetness thanks to a cereal-coated crust (options include Fruity Pebbles or Frosted Flakes). Those with a strong appetite may want to tackle the barbecue plate, with roasted pork, samjang, and various kimchi, or the Korean poutine.

This cozy Lower Queen Anne restaurant serves up contemporary takes on classic dishes like yukhoe (beef tartare) and haemul pajeon (seafood pancake). But the Paju fried rice is the real showstopper with a smoked quail egg yolk centered on the squid ink-blackened, kimchi and bacon-enhanced rice. In 2021, the restaurant was listed as one of the New York Times’ best restaurants in America.

This restaurant at the northern edge of Seattle is particularly popular for its grill-your-own Korean barbecue. Diners can choose from platters of kalbi (boneless, or even better, with the bone), skirt steak, brisket, and beef tongue.

This Korean pub in Edmonds, formerly known as Stars in the Sky, draws large groups of twenty-somethings for its karaoke, but what really sings here is the chicken, especially the SIS Famous Half and Half, which comes with both fried and sweet-spicy pieces. (Other choices include Asian garlic sweet, charbroiled BBQ, and seasoned fried chicken.) Diners should also try the rabokki (spicy tteokbokki rice cakes with ramen noodles), the corn cheese (or pizza version), and perhaps the sliced canned peaches.

This restaurant's namesake dish (called seolleongtang in Korean) features a broth made from ox bones, brisket, and other beefy body parts, cooked for more than 24 hours. The “mixed” version is a treat with brisket, tongue, and shank. The spot is open for dine-in, but the soup is a comfort food classic that still holds up when reheated at home.

The bingsu (shave ice) here in the International District and at the Edmonds location is lusciously snowy and comes in a variety of flavors including taro, green tea, and black sesame. Diners can also get them topped with fresh mango or strawberries. There’s also a selection of toast made with injeolmi — a chewy, soft rice cake similar to Japanese mochi.

This new Capitol Hill Korean barbecue spot has launched a takeout and delivery service in conjunction with Pike Place sibling restaurant Chan. Items include corn cheese and wagyu soybean stew, as well as a chef’s choice of four cuts of assorted meats, either grilled or raw, with japchae, banchan, ssam, and pa muchim. It’s also open for dine-in service.

The area’s first Sodam chicken location (a fried chicken chain in Korea) is a standout among the many Korean fried chicken spots that have recently opened in Seattle. The batter is crispy, the chicken is well-flavored, and the bright kimchi is the perfect side to cut the grease. If you’re looking for something besides fried chicken, the kalbi is also well-executed. You can get the chicken without sauce, with a soy-garlic sauce, with sweet sauce, and gochujang sauce (yangnyeom).

Chi Mac feels like a good fit for the Ave (University Way) in the University District, offering a college bar vibe, crushable chicken wings, and Korean beer and soju. The restaurants batters and sauces its chicken with a refreshingly light touch, whether diners choose dry, parmesan-sprinkled snow wings or delicately glazed, crispy soy garlic wings. It’s open for takeout and dine-in service, and there’s a newer Bellevue outpost as well.

Here’s another Lynnwood standout boasting a broad menu, with a few items of special interest. The chung gook jang chigae is a fermented soybean and soybean paste soup that has a strong, funky flavor. Gamjatang is a spicy pork-bone stew with vegetables, and the ganjang-gejang (raw crabs in soy sauce) is a saline, nectarine treat.

Folks are doing some revolutionary fast-food work in a little hut in the Lynnwood H-Mart parking lot. The little sister of Everett’s Chop Express, the Lynnwood Chops only does bowls and Korean burritos, but not quite like their inventor, L.A’.s Roy Choi, does them. These are lined with white rice, like a sushi roll, then wrapped in a tortilla. Chops also ups its Korrito (Korean burrito) game by offering eight different fillings, including the Flaming Boar, with barbecued pork, daikon, cilantro, cabbage, and spicy mayo, and the Locosoba, with bulgogi beef, soba (noodles), scrambled eggs, cheese, cabbage, and mayonnaise. It’s a whole new level.

The casual Korean chain offers some of the best value for soondubu jigae (silken tofu stew). There are other solid items on the menu, but the soft tofu soup is the main draw, the fiery bowls filled with a choice of beef, pork, seafood, intestines, dumplings, vegetables, and more.