3 Best Restaurants in Downtown, Seattle

Located in the hip State Hotel, Ben Paris has become a neighborhood favorite for elevated classic American fare for brunch and dinner. Consider a fried chicken sandwich with spicy mayo and kimchi coleslaw, breakfast hashes, or mussels in a garlic wine sauce, dished up in a stylish space with graphic wallpaper and a bustling bar. Don't miss the outstanding braised octopus or the creative cocktail list designed by Abigail Gullo, a star bartender from New Orleans. 

Slate tabletops, a tile floor, and a rolled-zinc bar will transport you out of Downtown Seattle and into the charming 6th arrondissement. The menu is quintessentially French: at lunch, there are rustic pâtés and jambon et fromage (ham and cheese) sandwiches on crusty baguettes, while dinner sees homemade charcuterie, salads, daily fish specials, and a selection of cheese. The roast chicken (for two) takes an hour to prepare and is worth every second that you'll wait. Blackboards spell out the specials, and wines are served from the earthenware pichets that inspired the brasserie's name.

Tucked into the maze of Pike Place, if you don't know where to look, you might just miss Lonely Siren, one of Seattle’s only Portuguese eateries. Its tricky-to-find location is part of what keeps this half-bar, half-restaurant more local than other food spots around the market. A hodge-podge collection of wooden chairs and tables, plants, and art gives off eclectic grandma’s house vibes—and that's the intention. Inspired by the recipes of the chef’s grandma, who grew up in the Azores, Lonely Siren serves up snacks, mains, and cocktails inspired by the flavors of Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula. Snack on salt cod croquettes, grilled pineapple, and fried anchovies (endearingly named "fries with eyes"). Come for food, come for drinks, come for both—they don’t care as long as you make yourself at home.