Readers' Choice 2026

At Portage Bay Cafe, ordering pancakes or French toast comes with a decision: how high to pile the toppings. The cafe’s signature toppings bar, stocked with berries, other fruit, and organic whipped cream, lets diners fi nish their plates exactly as they like. There’s plenty for the savory brunch crowd, too, with benedicts, scrambles, hashes,…

A recurring winner in the Fine Dining category, Canlis has been a Seattle staple for more than 75 years. Perched over Lake Union in a building designed by Northwest modernist architect Roland Terry, Canlis offers fine dining rooted in regional cuisine and unmatched service. Last year, the restaurant appointed a new executive chef—Seattle-area native James…

Tacos for breakfast? Absolutely. Good Morning Tacos owner Kinga Borkowski started the business as a pop-up in spring 2022 before taking the operation on the road, serving a lineup of Austin-style breakfast tacos. The Classic piles scrambled eggs, cheese, seasoned tater tots, and chipotle crema onto a tortilla, with bacon or chorizo. Better yet, there…

Fresh mint on a corned beef sandwich tells you everything you need to know about MEAN Sandwich. It’s playful, creative, and not particularly interested in doing things the expected way. The Ballard shop’s namesake layers thick-cut griddled corned beef with house- made yellow mustard, pickled red cabbage, and mint. There’s also a Hama Hama oyster…

Born from one man’s love for the street tacos he ate growing up in Tijuana, Tacos Chukís started in an upstairs space on Capitol Hill, where guests lined up to snag cheap, no-frills tacos loaded with marinated pork (topped with a slice of grilled pineapple), steak, or pollo asado. The taco empire has grown to…

Offering handcrafted sushi in Capitol Hill and South Lake Union, Momiji’s menu has something for every palate—even vegetarians. The multi-page odyssey of a menu takes diners from raw bar options through appetizers, grilled and fried options, noodles, salads, and then dives into the hefty sushi list, starting with sashimi for the purists, and rolls that…

Outsider BBQ got its start as a food truck before opening its Fremont restaurant in early 2025. Owner Onur Gulbay learned Texas barbecue while living in Austin, and his Turkish background shows up in sides such as potato salad with yogurt and sumac and Turkish-style rice with cinnamon and raisins. Brisket, ribs, beef cheeks, and…

If you attended the University of Washington between 1979 and 2018, you likely have memories of grabbing a quick slice of pizza at Pagliacci on the Ave. From a popular student hangout to one of the city’s top pizza slingers—now with 2 locations across Puget Sound—Pagliacci serves classics like pepperoni, margherita, and Italian, made with…

Sometimes, the best thing s are the most straightforward. When it comes to a burger, most people don’t care about the bells and whistles—it’s attention to ingredients and quality preparation that truly stands out. At Great State Burger, that means using beef from Pure Country Farms, a farm in Ephrata that prides itself on grass-fed…

Originally opened as a boat rental and bait house, Ray’s operated as a casual café—think fish-and-chips and coffee—for several decades before becoming a waterfront seafood destination. Sitting on Shilshole Bay, just north of the Ballard Locks, Ray’s Boathouse boasts an expansive outdoor deck that offers diners panoramic views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains….

Peruvian cooking reflects centuries of cultures coming together, and Pink Salt makes that breadth the point. The Magnolia restaurant moves from classics such as lomo saltado, a beef tenderloin stir-fry with tomatoes and onions, and ceviche with leche de tigre to Nikkei, the Japanese-Peruvian tradition represented in yellowfin tuna tiradito dressed in a passion fruit…

There are plenty of ways to order steak at Vista Prime Steaks & Seafood. A Washington ribeye flight puts grass-fed, dry-aged, and domestic wagyu cuts side by side, while Japanese A5 wagyu includes Miyazaki filet, Hokkaido snow beef ribeye, and Saga Prefecture New York strip. For a little tableside theater, the 42-ounce Australian wagyu tomahawk…

Cookie’s Country Chicken starts with chicken fried to order. Choose bone-in pieces or tenders—and your level of heat—or go for one of the chicken sandwiches or bowls. Collard greens, mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes with chicken gravy keep the comfort-food theme going, and there’s a long list of sauces for dipping. Owner Brian Chandler…

Throw down $11 at dick’s and you can still walk away with a hamburger, fries, and a sundae. Since opening its original Wallingford walk-up in 1954, Dick’s has kept its menu tight and its prices low, all while earning a reputation for strong wages and employee benefits. Late at night, standing under that familiar glow…

Rooted in Ballard’s longstanding fishing community, Ray’s Boathouse captures everything that makes Northwest dining unique. Known for championing regional seafood such as Copper River Salmon, singing scallops, and Olympia oysters, Ray’s was the first Seattle restaurant to obtain its own wholesale fish-buyer’s license (in 1976), allowing it to purchase the freshest catch directly from local…