Best Pasta in Seattle According to a Local (2022)

Seattle isn’t known for its Italian American immigrants, so finding the best pasta in Seattle can be challenging. Lucky for you I’m an Italian American that grew up on the east coast, which means I developed a discerning palate for Italian food in the States.

When I moved to Seattle over a decade ago, I was appalled at the lack of Italian restaurants serving good pasta. Naturally, I made it my mission to find the best pasta in Seattle. I ate pasta after pasta, and luckily I can say I’ve found the pasta dishes worth seeking out.

Here’s my roundup of the best pasta in Seattle, ranging from handmade pasta to more casual places creating excellent versions of Italian American classics often found at red sauce joints on the east coast.

The Best Pasta in Seattle

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Pasta Casalinga

website | location: 93 Pike St (Downtown) | best for: bolognese

No tour of Pike Place Market is complete without visiting this hidden pasta restaurant in the atrium. Many tourists miss it, but locals know this is the place to get the best pasta in Seattle.

Co-owner and chef Michela hails from Torino, Italy and makes the most supple, flavor-packed pastas. You can watch her making pasta regularly from the open air kitchen, or buy some to take home if you’re in a rush.

But missing out on her warm pastas would be a mistake. The menu changes regularly, but you’ll almost always find her lasagna and wild boar ragu. I love how earthy the ragu is thanks to both the meat and a generous sprig of thyme. Each dish is finished by Michela with fresh cheese and olive oil before serving, adding just the right finishes to create an over-the-top excellent pasta dish.

Spinasse

website | location: 1531 14th Ave (Capitol Hill) | what to get: Tajarin al Ragu

Spinasse is one of my OG Italian restaurant favorites and also one of the best fine dining restaurants in Seattle. They’ve been making fresh, hand-cut pasta since back when Jason Stratton (now as Mezzanotte) was the executive chef.

Their tajarin is thicker than angel hair, but thinner than fettuccini. If your hair got tangled the way this pasta does you’d call it tangled, but in a pasta dish it’s heavenly because it means the sauce gets tangled too.

The result? The taste of their addictive sauce in every single bite. Just thinking about this at one of my favorite go-to restaurants in Seattle is making me salivate.

Il Nido

website | location: 2717 61st Ave SW (West Seattle) | what to get: any pasta they serve

Mike Easton is the godfather of pasta in Seattle. He used to sell handmade pasta for ~$10 a dish out of his order-at-the-counter fast casual spot in Pioneer Square. The lines were always so long, which should be a sign that this pasta is good.

He’s since closed his more casual spot Il Corvo in Pioneer Square, but luckily you can still get his exceptional pasta in West Seattle at his fancier restaurant Il Nido. He’s making not only best pasta in Seattle, but hands down one of the best restaurants in West Seattle.

Stoneburner

website | location: 5214 Ballard Ave NW (Ballard) | what to get: carbonara

If you remember my post on must try dishes in Seattle, you know the carbonora from Stoneburner is on it. It also graces the cover of my self-guided Seattle food tour of Ballard and is on my list of where you must eat in North Seattle. So to say I like this pasta is an understatement.

Stoneburner sometimes serves the carbonara with lamb belly instead of pancetta, but no matter the meat it’s always addictively sweet thanks to caramelized onions. It balances off the salty fattiness of the meat, cheese, and egg yolk beautifully.

Craving pasta in Seattle for breakfast? You can get this dish on their brunch menu. It’s one of my favorite brunch dishes in Seattle.

The Pink Door

website | location: 1919 Post Alley (Downtown) | best for: bolognese and lasagna

This spot is tucked toward the end of Post Alley in Pike Place Market. It has a speakeasy vibe thanks to its discreet pink door (get it?) and only a small placard announcing its presence.

But when you enter the restaurant you’re met with a ton of character. It’s decorated like Carnival in Venice, with apparatus hanging from the ceiling for Burlesque performers and all (which is typically Saturday nights pre-pandemic). They also have a great outdoor patio tucked in the market with views of the Seattle waterfront, making it one of the best restaurants in Seattle for views.

Given its prime location I thought for sure this place would have mediocre food. However they’re making some of the best pasta in Seattle hands down. While I’ve had a few dishes that were just ok, the bolognese and lasagna here are out of this world.

The bolognese is a hefty portion of deeply-flavored meat sauce. And the lasagna…omg. It reminds me of those crepe layer cakes with layer upon layer of thin pasta sheets perfectly cooked in a ramekin, stuffed with the creamiest ricotta, and topped with pesto.

San Fermo

website | location: 5341 Ballard Ave NW (Ballard) | what to get: saffron bolognese

San Fermo is in a cute-as-a-button, refurbished house in downtown Ballard. It has excellent decor and solid Italian food, but the real star is their pasta.

The must get dish here is the saffron spaghetti. It’s available for both brunch and dinner and is crazy addictive. Its secret ingredient is fennel, which makes it slightly sweet and adds that, “Hmm, what is that?” element to the dish. If you end up at this Seattle Italian restaurant, make sure you get this dish because it’s one some of the best pasta in Seattle!

Haymaker

website | locations: 1903 Yale Pl E (Eastlake) and 4706 California Ave SW (West Seattle) | what to get: bolognese

The rigatoni bolognese at Haymaker is next level. They invited me to try their restaurant a while back when they were still called Le Messe and I was completely blown away by this dish.

Its depth of flavor is nearly unmatched. It’s like you can taste each fat module from the ground meat, which signals to me that it was likely cooked over multiple hours to bring out the nuances of each ingredient.

The sauce has a thicker viscosity to it and clings to the al dente pasta. Some of the pastas on this list are saucier, but true Italians know that most pastas aren’t meant to be swimming in liquid. Le Messe does this dish right, which makes it one of my favorite pastas in Seattle right now.

Cortina

website | location: 621 Union St (Downtown) | what to get: bucatini

Ethan Stowell is known for his pasta, which most people get at his flagship restaurant Tavolata. However, I’m a fan of Cortina.

There are quite a few pastas on the menu at Cortina, but the dish that I think you must get when you want the best pasta in Seattle is the bucatini with beef and ricotta meatballs and bone marrow.

If I’m honest, the meatballs are just ok. Typically this would have me writing off a dish, but the flavor of the sauce was so good I looked pass this miss. It reminds me of the bolognese at Haymaker with its depth of flavor, thanks to the addition of bone marrow. I just kept saying, “Oh my god, this is so good,” as I messily slurped down the noodles.

The flavor is reminiscent of the bologneses and ragus at other Ethan Stowell restaurants, so if you can’t make it to Cortina, get this dish at his other spots Tavolata, mkt., or Rione XIII. Basically if you’re at one of Stowell’s Italian spots, you’re going to be eating some of the best pasta in Seattle.

Conversation

website | location: 110 Stewart St (Downtown) | what to get: bolognese

Conversation isn’t a pasta restaurant per say, but they have one of the best pasta dishes I’ve had in Seattle. It’s a lamb-beef bolognese that is deeply meaty thanks to the higher fat content and gaminess lamb brings to the table. The ration of meat to sauce leans heavily in favor of protein, so carnivores will absolutely love this dish.

Pro tip: Conversation is located inside Thompson Seattle, one of the coolest places to stay in Seattle. They also have excellent salad and a warm cookie with ice cream for dessert, so get those too to round out your meal!

Disclaimer: Conversation provided me a free meal to be considered (not promised) for this article. I enjoyed my meal and so added them. As always, all opinion are my own.

G.H. Pasta Co.

website | location: 2305 6th Ave (South Lake Union) | what to get: tonnarelli

The people behind Haymaker have a more casual pasta restaurant aimed at serving the hungry tech workers in SLU. You’ll see bins upon bins of fresh-made pasta when you enter, so you know it’s the real deal.

The dish to get is the tonnarelli, or pasta with truffle butter, Parmigiano, and black pepper. It’s like a cacio e pepe, but elevated in earthiness thanks to the truffle. I kept moaning while eating it, making this place one of the top restaurants in South Lake Union.

Due’ Cucina

website | locations: 412 Broadway E (Capitol Hill) and 12670 120th Ave NE (Totem Lake) | what to get: cacio e pepe

Due’ Cucina is a fast casual pasta spot opened by two Italian graduates out of MIT. They got the school to fund the development of a healthy ancient grain pasta.

They really elevate their proprietary pasta recipe in their cacio e pepe. This traditional Roman pasta dish has Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, and that’s it. Due’ Cucina puts a unique spin on it by using pink peppercorns to create a more subtle, nuanced flavor I’ve never experienced before but absolutely love!

NoLIta

website | location: 5909 15th Ave NW (Ballard) | best for: bolognese and tortellini Alfredo

This Seattle newcomer took over the Pasta Bella space on busy 15th Ave running through Ballard. It reminds me exactly of the types of places that were everywhere in New Jersey when I was growing up. I’m talking those Italian American joints serving homey classics like chicken Parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs, and so on.

Just like those places on the east coast, NoLIta doesn’t make their own pasta, but their sauces are excellent. The must gets here are the bolognese and Tortellini ai Formaggi e Proscuitto, that is four cheese pasta with prosciutto and peas. Both are so flavorful. Trust me, you aren’t going to want to share!