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A refrigerator case with bowls of poke, oysters on the half shell, smoked fish fillets, and more.
Seattle Fish Guys serves some of the best poke in Seattle, though it’s mostly unknown outside of the Central District.
Jade Yamazaki Stewart/Eater Seattle

The Most Underrated Restaurants in the Seattle Area

Fantastic under-the-radar restaurants that should be getting more love

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Seattle Fish Guys serves some of the best poke in Seattle, though it’s mostly unknown outside of the Central District.
| Jade Yamazaki Stewart/Eater Seattle

Over the last few years, Seattle’s restaurant scene has risen to even greater national prominence, and some of the city’s best establishments and chefs have attracted an enormous amount of media attention.

But what about those hidden gems, the neighborhood favorites that make outstanding food without the praise showered on the shinier spots? Maybe they're way off the beaten path, tucked away in a lesser-known corner of the neighborhood, or maybe they don't have dedicated PR teams. Whatever the case, they deserve more love. With that in mind, here's a map highlighting 16 of Seattle's seriously underrated restaurants.

New this month: Joli, Seattle Fish Guys, Kisaku, Dosa House

Know of a spot that should be on our radar? Send us a tip by emailing seattle@eater.com.

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Samburna Indian Restaurant

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Samburna is one of the Seattle area’s best options for Indian food, and is rare in focusing on well-executed South Indian cuisine. The owners of the restaurant grew up in Tamil Nadu, on the Southern tip of the Indian Subcontinent, where dosa is a staple, and the restaurant serves several excellent versions, including one that’s over three feet in length; all dosas are served with sambar and a variety of chutneys. The goat curry is also a must-try, and madras coffee with a milk-based dessert makes a nice end to the meal. Order Samburna to go, or enjoy a meal with quick service in the dining room.

A dosa on a metal tray with sambar and various chutneys.
One of Samburna’s selection of dosas.
Madhi Oli

This Thai restaurant, which started off as Fremont Noodle House in 1995, consistently offers some of the best Thai classics in town, served with carefully crafted cocktails in a restaurant space with a large outdoor patio. The yum tua fahk yow is a nicely balanced dish of prawns, ground pork and toasted coconut in a tangy-sweet coconut milk sauce, the papaya salad is funky with small dried shrimp, and the khao soi’s turmeric-heavy broth is restorative.

This Phinney Ridge bar and restaurant serves over 300 gins, 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, order the fried chicken sandwich (on a Seawolf Bakers bun) or the burger, which comes with white cheddar, mushroom marmalade, and poblano aioli.

Kisaku Sushi

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This Greenlake sushi spot looks like any other neighborhood sushi spot in the Seattle area, but it quietly serves some of the best sushi in Seattle. It’s easy to grab a quick, affordable chirashi bowl or sushi set for lunch here, but if you’re willing to splurge a little, sit at the sushi counter and try whatever nigiri chef Kyu Bum Han reccomends, whether it’s soy-marinated chuutoro or fish finished with unusual ingredients like browned butter or Spanish extra virgin olive oil. Unlike some of the other good sushi spots in Seattle (like Sushi Kashiba and Sushi By Scratch Restaurants), you can normally grab a table at Kisaku without a reservation.

Sen Noodle Bar

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This small Thai noodle spot, a sister restaurant to Pestle Rock next door, serves some of the best pad see ew in the city and a huge selection of excellent noodle soups and stir fries made with locally sourced meat, a rarity in Seattle’s Thai food scene. Diners can build their own noodle bowls (the clear broth soup with a pork patty and thin rice noodles is a restorative option), or choose dishes like guay jab, rolled rice noodles with pork spare ribs, tofu, and a hard boiled egg in a five-spice broth fragrant with star anise. 

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. Open for indoor dining and takeout.

Dan Gui Sichuan Cuisine

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This restaurant in a strip mall in Bellevue’s Bel-Red neighborhood serves some of the best Sichuan food in the Seattle area, at much lower prices than most of its competitors. The mapo tofu (made with fermented black beans and chili fava bean paste) has unparalleled depth. The cold dishes, like cucumber salad and wood-ear salad, are refreshing and satisfying. And the restaurant also serves excellent renditions of American Chinese dishes like sweet and sour chicken — something that some of the other Sichuan restaurants in the area don’t offer.

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.

Sal Y Limón

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This Lower Queen Anne (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.

Saigon Vietnam Deli

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Saigon Vietnam Deli has a longstanding reputation for quick, inexpensive eats. Banh mi options include pork, chicken, fish, tofu, and more, all around $4.50. The deli serves other grab-and-go items like fresh spring rolls and sesame balls. Though there’s no seating area, this busy deli is the definition of a hidden gem.

Seattle Fish Guys

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Seattle Fish Guys is easily one of the top poke destinations in the Seattle area, and one of the best seafood markets, but is largely unknown by people outside of the Central District, where the market is located. Load up on generous plates of poke, with soy-marinated tuna, spicy salmon, octopus, and scallop options, along with sides like mac salad, seaweed salad, squid salad, and kimchee. Beyond poke, the market also sells a fantastic array of ready-to-eat seafood including oysters on the half shell, smoked fish, mussels, and scallops, and local jumbo uni (when in season).

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.

El Cabrito

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After five years as a food truck, El Cabrito became a brick-and mortar-restaurant in Burien’s Ambaum Boulevard in 2019. Chef-owner Leticia Sánchez started making moles with her grandmother in Oaxaca when she was five years old, and the years of experience show in the expertly balanced mole coloradito that pools around her pork enchiladas, and in dishes like the molotes (fried masa dumplings filled with potato and chorizo), drowned in smoky morita pepper and avocado salsas, all served on brightly hued ceramics. Sanchez also serves weekly specials like rockfish ceviche, and banana-leaf green mole tamales are available during the winter. There’s a few indoor seats at El Cabrito and a few tables on a covered patio behind the restaurant.

Molotes (fried corn dough dumplings) drizzled with red and green salsa and topped with cabbage and cheese.
The molotes at El Cabrito Restaurant.
Jade Yamazaki Stewart

Antigua Guatemala Restaurant

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Wilfredo and Elvi Reyes opened the Seattle area’s only full-service Guatemalan restaurant in a Kent strip mall in 2019, which they decorated with bright photos of symbols of their home country: a yellow clocktower on an arch in the country’s old capital, the volcanic lake Atitlán, and the turquoise-colored national bird (the resplendent quetzal). Since then, diners have flocked to the restaurant to eat comforting pre-colonial dishes like banana-leaf tamales made with loroco and chipilín (both indigenous Central American plants) while upbeat salsa music plays. The Spanish-influenced, slow-grilled churrasco chapin strip steak, marinated with tomato and garlic, is one of the best steaks in Seattle, and the tostada topped with chow mein (a popular Guatemalan street food) provides a satisfying contrast of crispy tostada and soft noodle. The restaurant also serves Guatemalan breakfast foods, a comforting atol de elote, and fried plantains stuffed with a sweet bean mixture.

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Samburna Indian Restaurant

Samburna is one of the Seattle area’s best options for Indian food, and is rare in focusing on well-executed South Indian cuisine. The owners of the restaurant grew up in Tamil Nadu, on the Southern tip of the Indian Subcontinent, where dosa is a staple, and the restaurant serves several excellent versions, including one that’s over three feet in length; all dosas are served with sambar and a variety of chutneys. The goat curry is also a must-try, and madras coffee with a milk-based dessert makes a nice end to the meal. Order Samburna to go, or enjoy a meal with quick service in the dining room.

A dosa on a metal tray with sambar and various chutneys.
One of Samburna’s selection of dosas.
Madhi Oli

Thaiku

This Thai restaurant, which started off as Fremont Noodle House in 1995, consistently offers some of the best Thai classics in town, served with carefully crafted cocktails in a restaurant space with a large outdoor patio. The yum tua fahk yow is a nicely balanced dish of prawns, ground pork and toasted coconut in a tangy-sweet coconut milk sauce, the papaya salad is funky with small dried shrimp, and the khao soi’s turmeric-heavy broth is restorative.

Joli

This Phinney Ridge bar and restaurant serves over 300 gins, 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, order the fried chicken sandwich (on a Seawolf Bakers bun) or the burger, which comes with white cheddar, mushroom marmalade, and poblano aioli.

Kisaku Sushi

This Greenlake sushi spot looks like any other neighborhood sushi spot in the Seattle area, but it quietly serves some of the best sushi in Seattle. It’s easy to grab a quick, affordable chirashi bowl or sushi set for lunch here, but if you’re willing to splurge a little, sit at the sushi counter and try whatever nigiri chef Kyu Bum Han reccomends, whether it’s soy-marinated chuutoro or fish finished with unusual ingredients like browned butter or Spanish extra virgin olive oil. Unlike some of the other good sushi spots in Seattle (like Sushi Kashiba and Sushi By Scratch Restaurants), you can normally grab a table at Kisaku without a reservation.

Sen Noodle Bar

This small Thai noodle spot, a sister restaurant to Pestle Rock next door, serves some of the best pad see ew in the city and a huge selection of excellent noodle soups and stir fries made with locally sourced meat, a rarity in Seattle’s Thai food scene. Diners can build their own noodle bowls (the clear broth soup with a pork patty and thin rice noodles is a restorative option), or choose dishes like guay jab, rolled rice noodles with pork spare ribs, tofu, and a hard boiled egg in a five-spice broth fragrant with star anise. 

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. Open for indoor dining and takeout.

Dan Gui Sichuan Cuisine

This restaurant in a strip mall in Bellevue’s Bel-Red neighborhood serves some of the best Sichuan food in the Seattle area, at much lower prices than most of its competitors. The mapo tofu (made with fermented black beans and chili fava bean paste) has unparalleled depth. The cold dishes, like cucumber salad and wood-ear salad, are refreshing and satisfying. And the restaurant also serves excellent renditions of American Chinese dishes like sweet and sour chicken — something that some of the other Sichuan restaurants in the area don’t offer.

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.

Sal Y Limón

This Lower Queen Anne (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.

Saigon Vietnam Deli

Saigon Vietnam Deli has a longstanding reputation for quick, inexpensive eats. Banh mi options include pork, chicken, fish, tofu, and more, all around $4.50. The deli serves other grab-and-go items like fresh spring rolls and sesame balls. Though there’s no seating area, this busy deli is the definition of a hidden gem.

Seattle Fish Guys

Seattle Fish Guys is easily one of the top poke destinations in the Seattle area, and one of the best seafood markets, but is largely unknown by people outside of the Central District, where the market is located. Load up on generous plates of poke, with soy-marinated tuna, spicy salmon, octopus, and scallop options, along with sides like mac salad, seaweed salad, squid salad, and kimchee. Beyond poke, the market also sells a fantastic array of ready-to-eat seafood including oysters on the half shell, smoked fish, mussels, and scallops, and local jumbo uni (when in season).

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.

El Cabrito

After five years as a food truck, El Cabrito became a brick-and mortar-restaurant in Burien’s Ambaum Boulevard in 2019. Chef-owner Leticia Sánchez started making moles with her grandmother in Oaxaca when she was five years old, and the years of experience show in the expertly balanced mole coloradito that pools around her pork enchiladas, and in dishes like the molotes (fried masa dumplings filled with potato and chorizo), drowned in smoky morita pepper and avocado salsas, all served on brightly hued ceramics. Sanchez also serves weekly specials like rockfish ceviche, and banana-leaf green mole tamales are available during the winter. There’s a few indoor seats at El Cabrito and a few tables on a covered patio behind the restaurant.

Molotes (fried corn dough dumplings) drizzled with red and green salsa and topped with cabbage and cheese.
The molotes at El Cabrito Restaurant.
Jade Yamazaki Stewart

Antigua Guatemala Restaurant

Wilfredo and Elvi Reyes opened the Seattle area’s only full-service Guatemalan restaurant in a Kent strip mall in 2019, which they decorated with bright photos of symbols of their home country: a yellow clocktower on an arch in the country’s old capital, the volcanic lake Atitlán, and the turquoise-colored national bird (the resplendent quetzal). Since then, diners have flocked to the restaurant to eat comforting pre-colonial dishes like banana-leaf tamales made with loroco and chipilín (both indigenous Central American plants) while upbeat salsa music plays. The Spanish-influenced, slow-grilled churrasco chapin strip steak, marinated with tomato and garlic, is one of the best steaks in Seattle, and the tostada topped with chow mein (a popular Guatemalan street food) provides a satisfying contrast of crispy tostada and soft noodle. The restaurant also serves Guatemalan breakfast foods, a comforting atol de elote, and fried plantains stuffed with a sweet bean mixture.

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