Michelin-Star Restaurants in Seattle (2025)
This 12-seat Filipino American tasting-menu restaurant braids Pacific Northwest ingredients with Filipino history and storytelling. Featured in The New York Times and frequently cited by Eater Seattle and James Beard judges, it’s a South End experience rooted in community.
Set in a Craftsman house, Atoma channels fine-dining precision into playful, seasonal plates. Named Seattle Met’s Restaurant of the Year and listed among Seattle’s best by The New York Times, it showcases PNW produce with polish and personality.
If you try to book a reservation for two people at Taneda Sushi In Kaiseki, you'll notice that absolutely no time slots are available, even 60 days in advance. Refresh your search for just one person and, much like us, you'll probably have better luck. Having a solo meal here is anything but a bummer though. Just like running a marathon or traveling to another country, you can enjoy this 25-course sushi and kaiseki meal all by yourself and still have an incredible experience. Located in the back of a two-story indoor mall on Capitol Hill, Taneda is one of the best-value omakase experiences in Seattle. At the other well-known omakase spots, you’ll pay at least $250 for around 30 courses. At Taneda, it costs around $180 for a substantial meal of 25 courses, served by the chef himself. There are only a handful of places you can have this kind of experience in town, like Sushi Kashiba, but you have to wait in very long lines, and the atmosphere feels very serious and not as laid-back as the one at Taneda. The nine-seat dining room is relatively quiet, but throughout your meal you’ll hear things that will immediately grab your attention. There’s the hiss of the blowtorch as the chef sears tuna cheeks, knives chopping salted flounder on wooden cutting boards, and the occasional loud, hollow clap that the chef makes with his hands just before serving a sushi course. When he does this, it feels similar to how a conductor taps his baton on a music stand to alert the orchestra that it’s go time. And for you, it’s a fun reminder that you’re about to have some excellent snapper placed in front of you, or receive a grilled eel nigiri directly in your open hand. photo credit: Nate Watters The mood during your hour-and-a-half meal is relaxed. The chef will ask you where you’re from while casually smoking salmon, and there’s still plenty of time to have a personal moment savoring each piece that’s basted in soy sauce with dollops of wasabi or daikon pickle. You’ll get things like chopped toro handrolls, chutoro and otoro nigiri, uni wrapped in sweet shrimp, Japanese scallops, seared A5 miyazaki wagyu topped with caviar, and even a second uni course. Not every single bite is flawless—we’ve had wagyu katsu that was too thick and chewy, black cod miso that tasted great but had a couple of stray bones, and a cube of monkfish patè that’s way too rich to eat without some kind of cracker or toast. But those things are few and far between, and overall, you’ll walk out feeling fantastic. The $180 price tag might seem like a lot to drop on a solo meal, but think of it like taking yourself out on a date, only one where you’ll reach out for a piece of eel instead of someone else’s hand. Even if you’re forced to book the ninth lone seat in a sea of couples to get in here, you’ll never feel alone. You have 25 delicious courses, a friendly chef, and a surplus of uni to keep you company. How to get into Taneda Sushi In Kaiseki The restaurant’s Instagram announces when reservations will go live, typically at 11am on the second to last Saturday of the month. It’s in your best interest to try to secure one at that time exactly. If you miss it, try again next time or sign up for the waitlist. RESERVE A TABLE WITH RESERVE A TABLE Food Rundown Ultimate Omakase With around 25 courses that change by the season, it’s difficult to highlight everything you should expect. But we do have favorites. You’ll start with something light, like housemade silken tofu topped with salmon roe or lobster and scallop tossed in quince sauce. Then, you’ll get a bunch of dishes back-to-back, including pieces of excellent nigiri like torched golden sea bream and raw toro to kaiseki plates involving multiple small bites like portobello sushi, teriyaki corn, steamed abalone, edamame patè, and smelt tempura. There’ll typically be some A5 miyazaki wagyu beef on the menu, whether it’s seared on top of rice with a dollop of caviar or panko-breaded and fried, and right before dessert, you’ll always get a delicious chopped toro handroll stuffed with pickled daikon and wrapped in crunchy seaweed that’s only available in Japan. You’ll end with a sweet bite like yuzu mousse before inevitably pulling up the calendar on your phone and planning your next visit. photo credit: Nate Watters
An intimate tasting menu inspired by Italian technique and Northwest seasonality. Frequently recommended by local critics and national writers, Altura delivers thoughtful pacing, a balancing-act beverage pairing, and a chef’s counter worth seeking out.
Spinasse helped define Seattle’s pasta culture with Piemontese classics like tajarin and agnolotti. Regularly featured by Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times, and Eater Seattle, it remains a heartfelt, handmade benchmark for Italian dining here.
Chef Mutsuko Soma’s hand-cut soba and tempura spotlight Japanese craft through a Pacific Northwest lens. Lauded by Condé Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, and Eater Seattle, it’s a Fremont must for noodle aficionados and sake lovers.
A serene kaiseki experience where monthly menus trace Japanese seasonality with Northwest ingredients. Celebrated by The Infatuation and local editors, wa’z offers chef’s-counter interaction and meticulous hospitality rooted in Kyoto tradition.
Ltd Edition is another exclusive sushi omakase in a city where those are not too hard to come —but this is one you should prioritize. The small dark waiting area is filled with groups of two or three quietly murmuring to themselves, and trying to figure out what to do and where to put their hands before the $170 meal begins. Just wait till the uni cart comes out—there are few moments more exciting than receiving a buttery sea urchin hand roll as if it were a sidewalk snow cone. And don’t skip the sake pairing that is generously refilled after every sip you take. Whether you sit at the counter or high-top table, you’ll receive a history lesson on every piece of fish that comes out, and know exactly how to eat it—one bite or two? Chopsticks or hands? The Dungeness nigiri in particular is a great way to experience the Miss Universe of the PNW crustacean world, with succulent crab meat and a gelatin topping made from its own juices. Be sure to enjoy it with someone who will equally appreciate crab-flavored Jell-O—not someone you just met on Hinge who knits sweaters out of dog hair. Whatever you need to do to book this 16-seat sushi spot, be prepared to do it. If it takes setting four alarms, buying your neighbor's kid a drum set, and constructing a booby trap to wake you up the morning that reservations are released, so be it. How to get into Ltd Edition Sushi Ltd releases bookings at 11am on the 15th of every month for the following month, and we wish you the best of luck when the entire Seattle population clicks around the reservation platform at the same time. If you don't get in, add yourself to the waitlist and hope for cancellations.
John Sundstrom’s fine-dining standard-bearer champions small farms and foragers with a seasonal menu and optional tasting format. A James Beard Award–winning chef and a longtime local favorite, Lark delivers polished Northwest cooking without pretense.
I'm relieved to report that Musang has officially reopened after a five-month hiatus caused by frozen pipes that burst in late January; the Beacon Hill Filipino restaurant — one of Seattle's most famous dinner spots and a James Beard Award finalist — is back in service at 2524 Beacon Avenue and is currently open Wednesdays through Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m., with owner Melissa Miranda saying it may add Mondays in the fall.
