The Best Lunch Spots in Seattle’s Belltown Neighborhood
Pioneer Collective members share where they eat during a workday in the city
Local Knowledge
One of the under-appreciated perks of running coworking spaces is the crowd-sourcing of knowledge we get from our diverse membership base. Our members share recommendations about everything from barbers, to plumbers, to films and music, and of course, places to eat. We in turn, get to share that knowledge with our guests and readers, and amplify all the great work that local small businesses are doing around Seattle and Tacoma.
It’s been over ten years since we wrote out first lunch guide to Pioneer Square. Sadly, many of the restaurants we featured have since closed, as has our flagship location in that neighborhood. From the ashes though, rose TPC’s Belltown coworking space and as we prepare to expand that location, we felt it was time to give our favorite neighborhood lunch spots some love.
The rules:
Because TPC Belltown is located between Belltown, Pike Place Market, and Downtown Seattle we’re including restaurants from all three neighborhoods. 6th Ave is the eastern boundary, the water to the west, Denny to the north, and Madison to the south.
We focused on lunch spots. There are tons of great places to eat dinner and drink cocktails in Belltown, but those are beyond the scope of this guide.
We polled members and staff to come up with this list. Real people who have actually eaten at these restaurants. If you think we missed something, let us know and we’ll make an update!
TPC Member Nominations
Urara
Hours: 11am - 8pm
Address: 82 Stewart St, Seattle, WA 98101
Offerings: Sushi, Japanese cuisine
Nominated by: Dre
Favorite Dish: 8 Piece Omakase
Comment: “Staff is incredibly sweet, hardly ever a line even in peak tourist season.”
Chicken Valley at the Market
Hours: 9am - 4:30pm
Address: 1507 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA 98101
Offerings: Fried chicken
Nominated by: Julia
Favorite Dish: Chicken Gizzards
Comment: “Can't eat these often or would probably die but once in a while, especially when they are fresh during the lunch hours, these fill me with joy and a little bit of guilt. I know this won’t be for everyone...”
Friends of Carmela Michou Deli
Hours: 8am - 6pm
Address: 1904 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA 98101
Offerings: Sandwiches, soups, breakfast
Update! Michou is no longer, but it has rebranded as a new deli under the same ownership. The menu at Friends of Carmela looks more focused and the prices are more inline with other lunch spots in in the area (i.e. no longer a bargain), which isn’t entirely surprising giving the cost pressures facing restaurants. The new branding is pretty.
Nominated by: David
Favorite Dish: Sandwiches, broccoli soup, and dessert
Comment: “The sandwiches, broccoli, soups, and (sometimes) dessert. Affordable!!! And they have a killer breakfast menu.”
Sugo Handroll Bar
Hours: 11am - 9pm
Address: 2001 Western Ave #110, Seattle, WA 98121
Offerings: Sushi
Nominated by: Derya
Favorite Dish: Truffle Avocado roll
Comment: “Everything on the menu is great”
Three Girls Bakery
Hours: 7:00am - 5:00pm
Address: 1514 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA 98101
Offerings: Sandwiches, baked goods
Nominated by: Chris
Favorite Dish: The Northwestern, meatloaf, or breakfast sandwich
Comment: Sit in the back bar and be transported back in time a few decades. Pick up a book at the used bookstore while you wait, because there is no cell service in this part of the market, and scrolling would probably be frowned upon anyway.
Market Grill
Hours: 7:30am - 5:00pm
Address: 1509 Pike Pl #3, Seattle, WA 98101
Offerings: Grilled fish, bowls, sandwiches
Nominated by: Jaakko
Favorite Dish: Salmon Sandwich
Comment: Jaakko introduced me to this sandwich a few years ago. It’s a little pricey to be in the weekly rotation, but it’s excellent when you want to treat yourself to a nice lunch in a casual setting.
Staff Favorites
FOB Poke Bar
Hours: 11am - 9pm
Address: 220 Blanchard St, Seattle, WA 98121
Offerings: Poke bowls, miso soup, spam musubi
The surrounding block is seedy, even for veteran explorers of Downtown Seattle. For tourists, the open-air drug market and abject suffering on Blanchard must be downright shocking. That makes it all the more impressive that FOB has survived, serving fresh poke bowls to a steady stream of visitors and locals every day. My go-to order is a large ahi bowl with all the fixings: daikon, edamame, seaweed, green onions and more.
Wild Fish Poke
Hours: 11am - 5:30pm
Address: 94 Pike St, Seattle, WA 98101 (in Pike Place Market)
Offerings: Poke bowls, poke by the pound, miso soup
Another great poke spot tucked in the north end of the Market off of Pike St. Their ahi bowls are fantastic and the owners and employees are always pleasant. You’ll run into lines in the summer, but the queue always moves quickly.
Turkish Delight
Hours: 11am - 5:00pm (closed Tue and Wed)
Address: 1930 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA 98101
Offerings: Doner kebab, soups, stew, desserts
You’ll find this family-owned gem on the north east side of the market. In warmer months, they will have their large roll up doors open so patrons can dine while taking in the fresh air and watch passersby on Pike Place. Fans swear by the lentil soup, apparently the best in the city. I love their Doner Kebab and Chicken Combo Platter. I’m not much of a dessert person, but I’m told their namesake confection is also excellent.
Beecher’s
Hours: 10am - 5:00pm
Address: 1600 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA 98101 (in Pike Place Market)
Offerings: Handmade cheese, sandwiches, soups
This pick may be a bit of a cliche, but nothing beats a grilled cheese and tomato soup on a dreary February day in Seattle. Eat it inside or cross the market to enjoy the views of a misty Elliott Bay;
Kedai Makan
Hours: 11am - 9:00pm
Address: 2234 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
Offerings: Malaysian food
While visiting Tin Can’s new HQ in Belltown, I was treated to takeout from this Malaysian spot and it was easily the best lunch I had all year. I like to judge the price of a restaurant not just by dollars per calorie, but by how difficult it would be for me to recreate the meal on my own. By this metric, Southeast Asian cuisine is hard to beat based on the sheer number of ingredients and flavor profiles alone. The food Kedai Makan is no exception. The food was complex, light, and excellent. The restaurant started on Capitol Hill and changed ownership shortly after the pandemic before expanding to Belltown. Early reviews suggested it lost some of its spark after the changes, but they seem to have hit their stride a few years in.
