9 Seattle Tourist Trap Restaurants That Are Actually Good (?) (Bellevue, Everett: home, cinema)

[CrazyDonkey]

https://seattle.eater.com/maps/best-...st-restaurants


1. Ivar's Salmon House

All of the seafood will astound as well, but the Sunday brunch buffet, which makes appearances on select holidays like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Easter, is a true spectacle to behold, with six different chef stations and dozens of buffet options...

2. El Gaucho

Seattle’s answer to NYC’s Peter Luger, El Gaucho and its mink-upholstered booths has a rep as a ritzy, unaffordable-to-the-common-man chophouse. But the killer happy hour menu has changed all that, and hey, a full meal is truly worth the expense.

3. Dahlia Lounge

Dahlia serves Pacific Northwestern cuisine at its most quintessential — dishes are based on local seafood, meat, and produce, often with an Asian influence.

4. Steelhead Diner

Perched on the east edge of Pike Place, Steelhead does classic American diner fare but with high-grade, market-fresh (literally) ingredients and a focus on Pacific Northwestern seafood.

5. The Crumpet Shop

On First and Pike Place, a bit outside of the main tourist fray, the Crumpet Shop has been slinging up English-inspired sweet and savory crumpets for more than 40 years, and it does what it does very well.

6. The Athenian Inn

...the 109-year-old Athenian’s oysters are as fresh as any you’ll find at Taylor Shellfish, and the fish and chips are a strong contender for best in the city.

7. The Alibi Room

Locals and tourists alike rave over the rustic brick-oven pies, which range from traditional styles like margherita or sausage and basil to fancy ones like Truffle Tre Funghi...

8. Ezell's Famous Chicken

There’s always a line at the original takeaway-only shop in the Central District for good reason: The fried chicken is exactly balanced among crispy, juicy, and greasy, and it’s all hand-floured and seasoned seconds before it hits the fryer.

9. Salumi

Order any of the sandwiches, any of the cured meat plates, the gnocchi if the restaurant has it — it doesn’t matter, because every single thing on the menu is just heartbreakingly good.

Any dissents? Which other "tourist traps" are actually "good"? Which are bad?

[Seacove]

Ivars is a family favorite for us, the food, the location, the kids feeding the birds and strolling around after.

Piroshky Piroshky is another we like, though there's always a line. We tend to bring a bag or two of them home and warm them for dinner. Whenever we take visiting family there, they always talk about it later.

[leastprime]

Not impressed with Ezell's on 23rd. Absolutely no seating except on the bus bench. Its walkable from DS's place but the walk back to his place lets the chicken get cold.

Ivar's by the ferries is OK. Best to have the salmon sandwich on warm days and chowder on the cold and rainy days. I had 3 bowls on Amtrak Cascades last winter with a Vietnamese bread roll. I threw away the cheap chowder crackers.

Pecos Pit on 99/SoDo, across from Starbucks HdQtr and near Museum of Flight. They close very early at 4 and closed on weekends. Warm your insides by putting fire in your belly.

Salumi's. I am always bypassing Pioneer/Old town area either because I take the bus or walk the waterfront. They don't have headcheese very often because people don't want to see recognizable parts of the head. Line is often very long.

Crumpets- Overpriced biscuits and strawberry jam.
Try instead, Bogetta Italiana, Gelato. 3 scoops, south end of Pike Market complex, on 1st.

[Natnasci]

Il Bistro? I'm assuming it's considered a tourist trap since it's right in Pike Place Market. We go every time we are in Seattle, kind of a tradition.

The food is perfectly fine.

[leastprime]

IMO, tourists should avoid summer and fall oysters. They may find that nature may make a call at the worse of places and times. If you must do summer/fall oysters, always have them cooked.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by leastprime

Not impressed with Ezell's on 23rd. Absolutely no seating except on the bus bench. Its walkable from DS's place but the walk back to his place lets the chicken get cold.

Ezell doesn't own Ezell's - he sold the franchise rights. He started another chain, Heaven Sent Fried Chicken, in Lake City, Renton, and Everett, however:

Heaven Sent - Home

Pickin' chicken: Ezell's vs. Heaven Sent | Seattle Refined

[leastprime]

I haven't tried the other places and thus no opinions.
Son took us to District 1 Saigon at Overlake. Vietnamese regional food. Very good and not Pho or variations of chinese.
Dough Zone dumplings in ChinaTown on 5th just 3 blocks south from Jackson, or in Redmond and Bellevue. An inexpensive Din Tai Fung , juicy dumplings, worldwide franchise where even Bill Gates has to wait in line. Also in Bellevue, Pacific Place, and Safeco Building.

[homesinseattle]

If you like sushi, Kashiba by Pike Place Market can be filled with tourists but it is exceptional. Chef Shiro completed years of grueling apprenticeships at Yoshino Sushi in the Ginza district of Tokyo, training hard alongside his senior supervisor, the world renowned (and now cinematically famous) sushi maestro, Jiro Ono. Now Shiro is an older man but time with him at the sushi bar is like watching an artist at work. Here is the link: https://sushikashiba.com/chef-shiro/

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Ivars is a family favorite for us, the food, the location, the kids feeding the birds and strolling around after.

Piroshky Piroshky is another we like, though there's always a line. We tend to bring a bag or two of them home and warm them for dinner. Whenever we take visiting family there, they always talk about it later.

My ex Russian GF scoffed at Piroshky Piroshky as a complete fraud. Regardless, I think their products are great and try to go yearly or so. The line moves fast and worth the wait.

El Gaucho is quite good, the Met is closer for me so that gets most of my business.

I mostly keep away from restaurants otherwise, wouldn't know. I'm more a cafe kind of guy.

[Flightoficarus87]

El Gaucho is a tourist trap? I always simply thought of it as a high end steakhouse that's great for special occasions/big wallets (along with the Met Grill). I was there fairly recently and quite enjoyed it.

I don't think of Ivars as being a tourist trap, or overrated/underrated for that matter. Not my first choice for seafood in Seattle, but far from my last - it's a reliable standby.

As far as other places go - it could be argued that the reincarnated "Paseo 2.0" (the version that opened after the originals closed) is a bit of a tourist trap. Still good sandwiches, but not quite the magic of the old version (which can be found at it's true successor, Un Bien). The name continues to generate plenty of buzz and business for them, though.