17 Restaurants Worth the Drive from Seattle

I plan all my travel around food, so if there are restaurants worth the drive from Seattle I will take a trip just to try it. For example, for our anniversary one year Dan and I made the trip to a farm-to-table restaurant serving 20 courses that we’re confident would be a Michelin star if they came to Seattle.

So if you’re like me and plan all your itineraries around food, here are the best restaurants worth the drive from Seattle — even if you take a road trip just for a meal!

17 Restaurants Worth the Drive from Seattle

Here are the restaurants I’d drive to eat at again, starting closest to Seattle and expanding. Save this to Pinterest for later, as I’ll add more to the list as I discover them.

Ono Poke

website | 10016 Edmonds Way (Edmonds, WA) | best for: authentic poke

I’m always on the hunt for the best poke in Seattle and top North Seattle restaurants, so imagine my surprise when I discovered the best poke is actually in Edmonds about 20 minutes north of Seattle!

I discovered Ono when I was doing research for my best restaurants in Edmonds, Washington article. It was opened by a Hawaiian transplant who makes super traditional poke with some of the freshest fish I’ve had at a poke bar.

My favorite thing to do when going on my annual 5-day trip to Maui is make the rounds at the poke shops. Ono’s is exactly like that. There’s no toppings bar to mix and match, just pre-mixed poke with the freshest catch of the day in the case. This poke is worth the trip to Edmonds alone!

Bruciato

website | 236 Winslow Way E (Bainbridge Island, WA) | best for: pizza and meatballs

I discovered Bruciato while spending a day on Bainbridge Island. It’s owned by restauranteur Brendan McGill of the Hitchcock Restaurant Group.

This is his Italian wood-fired pizza spot and let me tell you, it’s serving some of the best pizza in Seattle…even though it’s not in the city! The crust is just the right texture and the sauce has the perfect depth: a bit sweet, with not to much acid.

And what brings this place over the top? The meatballs. I’m a total hater when it comes to meatballs. My bar is super high because I grew up on the east coast. Oftentimes they’re either too dry or too dense and lack flavor. These are the perfect consistency and extremely flavorful. Bruciato’s pizza along with a side of meatballs is a restaurant near Seattle that’s worth the ferry ride!

Seabird

website | 133 Winslow Way E (Bainbridge Island, WA) | best for: fancy seafood and an oyster happy hour

Seabird is also part of the Hitchcock Restaurant Group alongside Bruciato and it’s conveniently located across the street. This restaurant’s focus is sustainably-sourced seafood and vegetables grown on their island farm. You can expect beautifully-plated dishes highlighting what’s in season.

If it’s on the menu, don’t mis the crab melt. It’s reminiscent of the OG tuna melt, but it’s way lighter with cheese foam and a heaping amount of fresh Dungeness crab. Other standouts include the fried scallops, seaweed focaccia, and halibut.

Love oysters? They have a great oyster happy hour with $2 oysters when you order half and full dozens.

Proper Fish

website | 112 Madison Ave N (Bainbridge Island, WA) | best for: fish and chips

Luckily while you’re on Bainbridge visiting Bruciato and Seabird, you can go to one of the other best restaurants on Bainbridge Island: Proper Fish. This used to be a food truck in Seattle called Nosh. When they closed I was devastated, so you can imagine my happiness when they opened a permanent brick and mortar on Bainbridge.

This restaurant worth the drive from Seattle is serving the best fish and chips in Seattle, hands down. The fish is huge and perfectly batter fried. Plus they salt the fish. You know how many fish and chips spots don’t salt the fish thinking the salt in the batter is enough?! Proper Fish doesn’t make that amateur move. Plus they serve the fish with some of the best minty mushy peas I’ve ever had.

Hell, I’ve had worse fish and chips in London, so if you like this dish, add this restaurant to your list.

The Grouchy Chef

website | 4433 Russell Rd #113 (Mukilteo, WA) | best for: affordable fine dining

I’m nervous about sharing this restaurant worth the drive from Seattle. The Grouchy Chef is run by Chef Masumoto who came to the US from Japan 35+ years ago and opened a French restaurant. The moniker “grouchy” comes from his brusk demeanor and rules, which he’ll call you out on if you don’t follow. One of those rules is no photos except for the food. I hope I’m not breaking this rule by sharing! 😅

Masumoto believes America should dine as it used to with nice attire and proper etiquette. He rejects modern norms where we wear jeans out, are loud, and spend a lot of money on fancy food. So he opened a restaurant where he does everything (host, cook, serve, clean) to reduce costs and provide a coursed meal starting at ~$20 per person.

Here’s what to expect: Call for reservations, dress up, arrive on time, and bring cash, proof of vaccination, and ID. He’ll ask you to wash your hands before sitting. Men: Pull out the chair for ladies. It’s antiquated, but the rules. Once seated, read the binder.

It’ll have an intro to his philosophy and rules like no makeup on napkins, clinking china, or tipping. It also has the menu. You choose your drink, main, and side to pair with the soup, salad, and dessert du jour. No substitutions. You’ll place your order and pay ahead in cash. We spent ~$143 for a 4-course meal and glass of wine for three people.

I’ll admit I was on high alert the whole meal trying to have my best manners, but there’s no denying the food is good. The tortellini soup I had included a ton of caraway, which added interesting flavor and texture. The salad had truffle dressing and smashed chips, which was awesome. All the mains were awesome, my Chateaubriand steak and bacon mashed potatoes being the star. While the assorted dessert plate was our least fave, it was still solid. Overall, we kept gushing about the food and agreed we’d come back.

Chops

website | 7405 Hardeson Rd (Everett, WA) | best for: sandwiches

One of my Instagram followers recommended checking out this hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop in Everett. I’m so happy she did because I would have never discovered this spot that rivals the best sandwiches in Seattle. It’s in a strip mall and looks really bare bones…not a place that you’d come and be like, “This sandwich is going to change my life.”

However, that saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” was never more true than with this place. They’re serving huge subs with extremely flavorful and interesting flavors. For example, they have a beef bulgogi sub that is extra flavorful and juicy. Or a seafood sub with French fries. Yes, French fries. And it works.

This restaurant has not become a place I visit anytime I’m making the drive north because it’s just so damn addictive.

Skagit’s Own Fish Market

website | 18042 WA-20 (Burlington, WA) | best for: lobster roll and ‘po boys

This spot has become one of my must-visit Skagit Country restaurants in addition to one of the restaurants worth the drive from Seattle. Being from the east coast, I went to the shore every year from age 7 through 19. As a result, I have fond memories of pulling up to roadside fish shacks for some fresh fish and fried seafood.

It’s disappointing to me that most of the best fish restaurants in Seattle don’t cater to this fish-shack vibe. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned about Skagit’s Own Fish Market. It’s a fishmonger that would rival even the best places to buy seafood in Seattle, but they also have a small menu of incredibly fresh seafood that transports me back to those days enjoying fried foods with my beachy hair.

You’ll find everything from Dungeness crab to scallops, but the lobster roll and fried oyster ‘po boy sandwich are the real draw. They are so flavorful and rival some of the versions I had growing up on the east coast. Anytime I’m headed to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, I make sure to make a stop at this restaurant.

Taylor Shellfish Farms

website | 2182 Chuckanut Drive (Bow, WA) | best for: oysters

One of the best things to do in Skagit Valley is go on a food retreat of Skagit County. It’s an area about an hour north of Seattle that’s known for grains and fresh seafood.

Besides Skagit’s Own, another can’t miss stop is the oyster bars in the area. Right on Chuckanut Drive, one of the most scenic day trips from Seattle, is Taylor Shellfish Farms.

Sure, you can go to their restaurants in the Capitol Hill or Queen Anne neighborhoods of Seattle, but there’s nothing like visiting their working farm and slurping these sweet bivalves from the oyster bar overlook the Samish Bay with views of the beautiful San Juan Islands. It’s the perfect stop whether you want just a few bivalves to snack on or a full meal.

TibbittsFernhill

website | 8237 S Park Ave (Tacoma, WA) | best for: breakfast

Another one of th erestaurants worth the drive from Seattle is the most unassuming, tiny diner-like spot in the Fernhill area of greater Tacoma. It’s owned by Shawn Tibbitts who had a hard life, but who turned it around with his restaurant that is serving some of the best food in Tacoma, Washington.

One of my favorite things to do in Tacoma, Washington is make a reservation at Tibbitts so I can start my day with their lobster bomb and French toast. I’m not even a French toast person, but their apple or pumpkin pie version (depending on the season) is honestly the best French toast I’ve ever had in my life. And the lobster bomb is like a deconstructed eggs Benedict with lobster, married with one of those bread bowls you’d get in soup at a fast-casual restaurant growing up (was that just me?!).

Finistére

website | 1025 Lawrence St (Port Townsend, WA) | best for: happy hour

Finistère is one of the fancier restaurants in Port Townsend, a historic town on the Olympic Peninsula near all the best Washington coast attractions. It serves farm-to-table food with an Italian slant thanks to the consistent present of excellent homemade pasta on the dish. It’s a must visit when exploring the things to do in Port Townsend.

Despite being a fancier restaurant, it has a fantastic happy hour with a more casual vibe. We ordered 2 drinks and a ton of food for under ~$65 for 3 people, which is unheard of in Seattle. The menu changes regularly, but we loved the fried oysters, deviled eggs, and salmon dip we ordered.

Mana

website | 1033 Commercial St (Leavenworth, WA) | best for: vegetarian-leaning tasting menu

I’ve been on the hunt for the best Leavenworth restaurants ever since I started going there and had a lot of really mediocre food. In my obsessive hunt I found an incredible dining experience worth the drive: Mana.

This multi-course tasting menu spot is owned by ex-Top Chef contestant Colin Patterson who used to own one of the best vegan restaurants in Seattle, Sutra. However, he closed up shop to open this non-vegan-but-still-vegetable-forward restaurant in downtown Leavenworth.

During my meal I had some of the most interesting and yummy presentations of food, such as a deconstructed vegan version of a charcuterie platter and an egg inside a Parmesan crisp bowl. But one of the most memorable experiences was the beverage program. They went beyond your typical wine list to offer non-alcoholic elixir pairings that seriously rocked my world…and I don’t really drink anything but water, wine, beer, and coffee!

Ursa Minor

website | 2010 Lopez Rd (Lopez Island, WA) | best for: burgers

This restaurant is one of the best things to do on Lopez Island, the quietest of the San Juan Islands about 3 hours away from Seattle. Owners Nick Coffey and Nova Askue host guests for a fine dining affair using hyper local ingredients from the island.

During the pandemic the menu was more casual and takeout only. I still can’t stop thinking about their burger that would rival some of the best burgers in Seattle. It used to be a secret menu item, so now that the pandemic is over you should ask for it. It has fresh ground beef using local beef, special sauce, cheddar, greens, and homemade pickled shallots. It may sound humble, but it’s one of the juiciest, most flavorful burgers ever.

Another must get is the fried chicken sandwich that rivals some of the best fried chicken in Seattle. It has a great kick from the spicy mayo and buttermilk-brined chicken, and it’s served with kraut and coleslaw. The skin crackles and the meat oozes with juice. Despite pivoting to a more low-brow menu, Ursa Minor is making sandwiches worth the drive from Seattle.

Zona Blanca

website | 157 S Howard St (Spokane, WA) | best for: ceviche

During a trip a few years ago, I asked locals the best things to do in Spokane. Multiple people recommended heading to Zona Blanca, a ceviche spot inside a brewery. Ceviche and beer? Count me in.

Zona Blanca honestly blew my mind, so it’s one of the best restaurants worth the drive from Seattle. They take the concept of a poke bar and apply it to a super under-rated dish: ceviche. I actually @ chef Chad White to ask him to pretty please open up a location in Seattle. He’s serving some incredibly fresh seafood in interesting takes on ceviche.

The most interesting? The ceviche served with Doritos and gummy bears. Honestly, I bought it for the ‘grams but I don’t regret it at all. It was incredible and I still think about the dish!

Tusk

website | 2448 E Burnside St (Portland, OR) | best for: Middle Eastern

I often make foodie pilgrimages south to Portland, and Tusk is always on my list of restaurants worth the drive from Seattle. It’s a Middle Eastern place serving some of the best hummus and vegetable-forward small plates I’ve had in the US. And the ambiance of their dining room is swoon worthy. It’s a must visit if you like finding fun places to eat in Portland.

Langbaan

website | 1818 NW 23rd Pl (Portland, OR) | best for: fancy Thai

Langbaan completely changed the way I think about Thai food. It helped me realize that most Thai restaurants in the States focus on comforting curries, rice, and noodle dishes perfect for a takeout night. But Langbaan focuses on putting a chefy spin on authentic Thai flavors and creates a beautiful tasting menu that feels worthy of a Michelin star (the owner has gotten a James Beard!).

Pro tip: Any trip to Portland warrants a stop at the best Willamette Valley wineries nearby.

Vij’s

website | 3106 Cambie St (Vancouver, BC) | best for: Indian

There are so many restaurants I still need to try in Vancouver, but every time I make the trek up to Canada to explore the best things to do in Vancouver, we make a reservation at Vij’s. It’s one of the hidden gem restaurants in Vancouver worth the trek to this BC city alone!

This fine dining Indian restaurant is serving some of the most authentic Indian food out of India. It’s a staple among the Vancouver dining scene, known for providing a memorable dining experience worth the drive thanks to the dim lighting, beautiful decor, and extremely knowledgeable staff.

One of the must-get dishes here are the lamb lollipops. They’re served in a yellow curry dish that will have you licking the bone with your fingers, hoping no one noticed you using the cloth napkin to wipe your face between bites.

Fergie’s

website | 70002 Squamish Valley Rd (Squamish, BC) | best for: breakfast

Similar to my obsession finding the best restaurants in Leavenworth, a lot of mediocre food during my annual Whistler trip got me on a mission to find the best restaurants in Whistler Village.

I’m sorry to say the best restaurant near Whistler is actually in Squamish. It’s about 30-minutes before you get to the ski resort, but absolutely worth the drive for breakfast. You’ll find breakfast fare like salmon eggs Benedict, pull pork hash, and other breakfast staples inside a hip restaurant that was remodeled after a devastating fire.

The dish I always get is called the Dubliner eggs Benedict. People…it has friggin’ apple. I’ve never had apple on an eggs Benedict but can tell you it’s a revelation that makes me wonder why it’s not a staple.

More foodie activities near Seattle

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