Seattle is full of seafood restaurants, for good reason—the water’s right there, and the city is home to several marine-focused culinary cultures—but sometimes eating yet another piece of salmon or black cod can feel stale, no matter how fresh the fish is. So why have I been seeing Sea’d Inn, a new seafood restaurant inside Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row, all over my social media timeline? 

One answer is that Sea’d Inn has a notable pedigree: It’s the newest spot from Heong Soon Park, the longtime restaurateur who owns several places around town, including the Pike Place Market–adjacent Bacco Cafe, Gol Mok Korean Market Bar (near Sea’d Inn), and West Seattle’s famed Luna Park Cafe, which he bought in 2024. He also used to own Meet Korean BBQ and the Cheese Room, according to Puget Sound Business Journal, but recently sold those Capitol Hill concepts as he tries to simplify his business—he told PSBJ that Sea’d Inn will be the final restaurant he opens. “I want to go back and master my basic cooking skills, and hopefully this can be the last of my career,” he said.

By “basic cooking skills,” Park means dry-aging and wood-fired cooking, the two techniques that Sea’d Inn specializes in and that make it stand out in an ocean of seafood joints. The fish served here—from small whole mackerel to slabs of fatty tuna—spend anywhere from days to weeks drying out in a walk-in dry-aging refrigerator, then get cooked (and often charred) by an open flame. “We have stripped the modern kitchen back to its two most honest foundations: Time and Fire,” the restaurant somewhat grandiosely announced to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog a while back. 

Sea’d Inn’s intimate dining room, where large windows let in sunlight on warm days.

Courtesy of Sea’d Inn

Dry-aged fish became trendy several years ago, with fans of the practice saying that it makes fish more tender, less fishy, and more loaded with umami flavor. Liwei Liao, a Los Angeles–based fishmonger who goes by “Dry Aged Fish Guy” and who is as responsible as anyone for the trend, has a slightly rude motto: “fresh is boring.” In the Seattle area, there’s plenty of dry-aged fish scattered across menus, especially at higher-end places like Bellevue’s Takai by Kashiba, where dry-aging typically plays a major role in its omakase menu. 

But Sea’d Inn may be the only restaurant in Seattle to place such an emphasis on dry-aging. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, order some crudo (around $22). When I visited in early August, I had some smoky, smooth madai that was topped with a sweet and acidic umeboshi foam; that item is off the ever-rotating menu as I write this, but Sea’d Inn often pairs its fish with something fruity, whether that’s sea bream with roasted pineapple or otoro tuna with compressed watermelon. 

The entrees are dry-aged as well, though since they’re also cooked on an open fire guests may be hard-pressed to identify what virtues the dry-aging has imparted to the fish. Regardless, there’s some good stuff here. The whole branzino is popular, but I ended up getting the black cod, which had a richly umami koji glaze and was served with pickled green strawberries for a bit of brightness—but the real highlight was the skin underneath the flesh, blackened and irresistible. 

If you don’t like (or can’t eat) fish and someone has dragged you to Sea’d Inn, your options are pretty much limited to the steak entree and some vegetable sides. This doesn’t mean you’ll have a bad time, but most of the menu will be wasted on you.

On the other hand, the menu is flexible enough for you to either have a full meal here (the bigger entrees cost around $50 and up) or have some drinks and snacks. This space used to be Light Sleeper, and before that it was Bar Ferdinand, and Sea’d Inn carries those wine bars’ legacy forward with a wine list featuring reds, whites, oranges, and sparkling bottles from Europe and the Pacific Northwest. (There are options for under $50.) Sea’d Inn also serves cocktails, beer, sake, and, intriguingly, makgeolli, a lightly carbonated Korean rice wine that isn’t all that common in the U.S. Non-drinkers can get some NA wine, but they should consider the tea menu, which features green and decaf teas from Ballard’s Miro served in stylish glassware. (It’s $12 for a whole pot.) 

Sea’d Inn’s biggest draw, at least during these last few days of summer, might be its location. Chophouse Row is a narrow, alley-like courtyard between 11th and 12th avenues. Sea’d Inn is right in the middle of it, with large windows that can open on warm days. On those days, when you’re inside, in view of the fish dry-aging in the fridge and the fire roaring in the oven, you can feel the breeze and sunlight from outdoors. If you’re sitting outside, you’re secluded from whatever else is happening on Capitol Hill around you in a little oasis of calm, culture, and pleasantly chilled wine. And, of course, the dry-aged fish.