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A bowl of mussels and bread
Mussels at the Virginia Inn
Harry Cheadle

The Most Underrated Restaurants in the Seattle Area

Fantastic under-the-radar restaurants that we regret telling you about

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Mussels at the Virginia Inn
| Harry Cheadle

The term “underrated” is unavoidably loaded because, well, underrated according to who? Does it mean an unknown restaurant that should be widely known, or a fairly well-known place that should be getting more hype, or maybe a once-fashionable spot that shouldn’t be forgotten?

So here are the rules for this map: The restaurants here aren’t on many of our other maps and aren’t in any way “buzzy” or “hip.” We don’t get emails from PR teams about them because they probably don’t have PR teams. Often, they won’t have strong social media presences or frequently updated websites either. They are neighborhood places or industry hangouts, and in some cases we kind of regret telling you about them because we like how comfortable and uncrowded they are. But gatekeeping is silly, and you should know about these places. You’re welcome.

As usual, this map isn’t ranked but organized geographically. Know of a spot that should be on our radar? Send us a tip by emailing seattle@eater.com.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

La Copa Cafe

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There are literally dozens of slightly funky neighborhood bakery-cafes in Seattle that are chill places to work remotely or decompress, but Loyal Height’s La Copa stands out for its savory pastries, which have a rotating selection of fillings. The mushroom-filled one knocked us back in our seat the last time we had it and forced us to take a five-minute break from work to appreciate it. The breakfast sandwiches are warm and filling and cheap too.

S/T Hooligans

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The unifying theme of this map-jumping soul food/Creole/Chamorro joint is “chef Rodel Borromeo’s favorite foods.” It’s an irreverent approach in an era where ultra narrow menu focus is the prevailing expectation, and it absolutely works. There are too many standouts to name ‘em all: a roasted adobo pork sandwich, jalapeno-cheddar hush puppies that easily rank as Seattle’s best, decadent gumbo boosted with brisket and house-made bacon, fried chicken that can throw elbows through this city’s crowded poultryscape, we could go on. And heads up: It’s not even on the menu, but there is often lumpia available. 

A plate of mac salad, fried chicken, coleslaw, and pickles.
The fried chicken plate at S/T Hooligans
Mark DeJoy

This Phinney Ridge bar and restaurant serves over 300 gins (the biggest gin list in the country, it claims), a long list of house cocktails, and a shockingly good menu of New American bites. The steak frites here with a couple of appetizers and cocktails always hits the spot for a date-night meal. For something on the more affordable side, stop in at happy hour for the fried chicken sandwich (on a Sea Wolf bun) or the burger, which comes with white cheddar and pork belly.

Sal Y Limón

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This Uptown Mexican restaurant receives shockingly little recognition considering the breadth and consistent quality of its menu. The red pozole here is deeply satisfying with big, juicy, tender pieces of pork, and the green ceviche is balanced and generously portioned. Go on a weekday lunch, and you’ll have the restaurant almost all to yourself.

Virginia Inn

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There are a lot of places around Pike Place serving market-sourced, French-inflected Pacific Northwest cuisine worth trying, but when we want to go someplace comfortable the V.I. is always a good bet. You can get all the usual suspects — mussels, chowder, fish and chips, local beer on tap — at wallet-friendly prices. A block away from the market itself, it feels like a refuge from tourist destinations and a retreat into history. It’s been around for 120 years and should be around for at least another 120.

A bowl of mussels and bread
Mussels at Virginia Inn
Harry Cheadle

Kabul Afghan Cuisine

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Kabul’s location on 45th Street makes it easy to notice on the way to I-5 and then forget about in the ensuing mind-numbing traffic. But this intrepid spot has been serving as Seattle’s only Afghan restaurant for over 30 years, with a concise menu of Afghanistan’s quintessential dishes. Ashak is a standout; scallion and cilantro-filled pasta dumplings are topped with rich turmeric-coriander minced beef and generously crisscrossed with bright tomato and mint-yogurt sauces. There are also a variety of enticingly aromatic stews, each served with Kabuli Palaw, a saffron rice pilaf dish studded with carrots and raisins. All entrees are available in vegetarian form. 

A plate of rice with a dish of lamb and spinach.
Kabuli Palaw accompanying lamb and spinach Qorma-i Sabzi
Mark DeJoy

Gan Bei 21 and up

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This Chinatown-International District restaurant, open until 2 a.m. most days, is a favorite among Seattle restaurant industry folks for its comforting rice claypots filled with sausage, chicken, bok choy, and other ingredients, and for its fried chicken — served with rice and gravy. The XO-sauce-covered green beans are also not to be missed. The intimate bar at the restaurant is the perfect spot for a shot, a beer, and conversations with strangers after a long shift. Despite being one of Shota Nakajima’s favorite restaurants in Seattle, Gan Bei is not well-known outside of the industry.

Little Duck

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This pint-sized restaurant (with just a few tables inside) next to a laundromat in the University District serves some of the best Chinese food in the city. The focus here is on Northeastern Chinese dishes, like the braised pork ribs potatoes and green beans, but the menu also includes dishes from other parts of China, and the fried rice dishes here are consistently satisfying. It also serves particularly refreshing jellyfish salad with cucumber matchsticks.

Guanaco's Tacos Pupuseria

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This University District gem is wedged unassumingly between a Korean joint and a Taiwanese spot a ways away from the bustle of the Ave, which is perhaps why it doesn’t get much love outside of a dedicated contingent of lunchtime regulars. The combo plates are the way to go, here, allowing you to sample a spread of Salvadorian morsels like the signature pupusas, fried yuca, or savory pastelitos, a golden pocket of pastry similar to an empanada. You get to choose your own blend of fillings for the pupusas, and the glorious options range from pork and refried beans to traditional nopales and loroca, a South American herb with a distinctive woody, vegetal flavor reminiscent of asparagus or spinach. All the combo plates come with an expertly-executed side of beans and rice and a bracingly hot, vinegary salsa. 

Dosa House Pure Vegetarian Indian Food

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Bellevue’s Dosa House is packed late into the night with people speaking Hindi and eating affordable, satisfying dosas and other vegetarian Indian snacks, but the restaurant is largely unknown outside of the Eastside. Most of the dosas, which all come with some sides, are only around $11. The potato-filled masala dosa is a good choice, as is the schezwan dosa, an Indo-Chinese fusion dish filled with what tastes like spicy chow mein.

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La Copa Cafe

There are literally dozens of slightly funky neighborhood bakery-cafes in Seattle that are chill places to work remotely or decompress, but Loyal Height’s La Copa stands out for its savory pastries, which have a rotating selection of fillings. The mushroom-filled one knocked us back in our seat the last time we had it and forced us to take a five-minute break from work to appreciate it. The breakfast sandwiches are warm and filling and cheap too.

S/T Hooligans

The unifying theme of this map-jumping soul food/Creole/Chamorro joint is “chef Rodel Borromeo’s favorite foods.” It’s an irreverent approach in an era where ultra narrow menu focus is the prevailing expectation, and it absolutely works. There are too many standouts to name ‘em all: a roasted adobo pork sandwich, jalapeno-cheddar hush puppies that easily rank as Seattle’s best, decadent gumbo boosted with brisket and house-made bacon, fried chicken that can throw elbows through this city’s crowded poultryscape, we could go on. And heads up: It’s not even on the menu, but there is often lumpia available. 

A plate of mac salad, fried chicken, coleslaw, and pickles.
The fried chicken plate at S/T Hooligans
Mark DeJoy

Joli

This Phinney Ridge bar and restaurant serves over 300 gins (the biggest gin list in the country, it claims), a long list of house cocktails, and a shockingly good menu of New American bites. The steak frites here with a couple of appetizers and cocktails always hits the spot for a date-night meal. For something on the more affordable side, stop in at happy hour for the fried chicken sandwich (on a Sea Wolf bun) or the burger, which comes with white cheddar and pork belly.

Sal Y Limón

This Uptown Mexican restaurant receives shockingly little recognition considering the breadth and consistent quality of its menu. The red pozole here is deeply satisfying with big, juicy, tender pieces of pork, and the green ceviche is balanced and generously portioned. Go on a weekday lunch, and you’ll have the restaurant almost all to yourself.

Virginia Inn

There are a lot of places around Pike Place serving market-sourced, French-inflected Pacific Northwest cuisine worth trying, but when we want to go someplace comfortable the V.I. is always a good bet. You can get all the usual suspects — mussels, chowder, fish and chips, local beer on tap — at wallet-friendly prices. A block away from the market itself, it feels like a refuge from tourist destinations and a retreat into history. It’s been around for 120 years and should be around for at least another 120.

A bowl of mussels and bread
Mussels at Virginia Inn
Harry Cheadle

Kabul Afghan Cuisine

Kabul’s location on 45th Street makes it easy to notice on the way to I-5 and then forget about in the ensuing mind-numbing traffic. But this intrepid spot has been serving as Seattle’s only Afghan restaurant for over 30 years, with a concise menu of Afghanistan’s quintessential dishes. Ashak is a standout; scallion and cilantro-filled pasta dumplings are topped with rich turmeric-coriander minced beef and generously crisscrossed with bright tomato and mint-yogurt sauces. There are also a variety of enticingly aromatic stews, each served with Kabuli Palaw, a saffron rice pilaf dish studded with carrots and raisins. All entrees are available in vegetarian form. 

A plate of rice with a dish of lamb and spinach.
Kabuli Palaw accompanying lamb and spinach Qorma-i Sabzi
Mark DeJoy

Gan Bei 21 and up

This Chinatown-International District restaurant, open until 2 a.m. most days, is a favorite among Seattle restaurant industry folks for its comforting rice claypots filled with sausage, chicken, bok choy, and other ingredients, and for its fried chicken — served with rice and gravy. The XO-sauce-covered green beans are also not to be missed. The intimate bar at the restaurant is the perfect spot for a shot, a beer, and conversations with strangers after a long shift. Despite being one of Shota Nakajima’s favorite restaurants in Seattle, Gan Bei is not well-known outside of the industry.

Little Duck

This pint-sized restaurant (with just a few tables inside) next to a laundromat in the University District serves some of the best Chinese food in the city. The focus here is on Northeastern Chinese dishes, like the braised pork ribs potatoes and green beans, but the menu also includes dishes from other parts of China, and the fried rice dishes here are consistently satisfying. It also serves particularly refreshing jellyfish salad with cucumber matchsticks.

Guanaco's Tacos Pupuseria

This University District gem is wedged unassumingly between a Korean joint and a Taiwanese spot a ways away from the bustle of the Ave, which is perhaps why it doesn’t get much love outside of a dedicated contingent of lunchtime regulars. The combo plates are the way to go, here, allowing you to sample a spread of Salvadorian morsels like the signature pupusas, fried yuca, or savory pastelitos, a golden pocket of pastry similar to an empanada. You get to choose your own blend of fillings for the pupusas, and the glorious options range from pork and refried beans to traditional nopales and loroca, a South American herb with a distinctive woody, vegetal flavor reminiscent of asparagus or spinach. All the combo plates come with an expertly-executed side of beans and rice and a bracingly hot, vinegary salsa. 

Dosa House Pure Vegetarian Indian Food

Bellevue’s Dosa House is packed late into the night with people speaking Hindi and eating affordable, satisfying dosas and other vegetarian Indian snacks, but the restaurant is largely unknown outside of the Eastside. Most of the dosas, which all come with some sides, are only around $11. The potato-filled masala dosa is a good choice, as is the schezwan dosa, an Indo-Chinese fusion dish filled with what tastes like spicy chow mein.

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