4 Best Restaurants in Yakima, Washington Wine Country

Named for one of the region's most famous canyons for hiking, this hip downtown restaurant offers contemporary, elevated comfort fare like tandoori chicken wings, balsamic-braised lamb shank, and butcher's cut steaks with a chimichurri glaze. Notable for its sleek design, the restaurant uses antique ice hooks and smudge pots, which double as light fixtures, to pay homage to the region's past, and the high-ceilinged bar is lined with the wood used to mold the restaurant's board-formed concrete walls.

The menu at this urbane farm-to-table downtown bistro changes according to whatever's fresh in the Yakima Valley, showcasing anything from braised short ribs with local cherries, horseradish, and pureed apples in summer to grilled albacore with a Thai chili vinaigrette, root vegetables, dried shrimp, and pickled ginger. Certain dishes you can always expect to find on the menu, like local oysters on the half-shell and wood-fired feta, along with seasonal sorbets for dessert.

This down-home pizza parlor between Zillah and Yakima celebrates the produce of Yakima Valley with wood-fired pizzas topped with an array of interesting ingredients, such as roasted garlic, house-smoked mozzarella, blueberries, pine nuts, and—most notably—locally grown Cascade hops. Aptly, there's a great selection of hoppy Northwest ales, too. A second location in Sunnyside is slated to open in mid-summer 2023.

From this humble mom-and-pop shop in Union Gap come heavenly tamales—shredded chicken and pork and, during spring, asparagus and pepper jack cheese. Order a pile of these delicacies that have been acclaimed by locals and critics alike—the restaurant even earned a vaunted James Beard Foundation award in the American Classics category. And what you can't eat during your visit, you can take with you to go. There's a newer, bigger, but somewhat less atmospheric branch on the west side of Yakima.