You could spend weeks dining at Chinese restaurants in Seattle town and still not have covered all of them. New places appear faster than you can visit the “must-tries” on your list.
The classics will remain classics, and the well-known chains will thrive. This tour of Chinese restaurants highlights establishments with a particular specialization or a very good rendition of a specific dish.
Restaurants often take inspiration from various regional Chinese and Taiwanese cuisines in order to satisfy the needs of the dining public.
So, Cantonese or Northern-style dim sum or dumplings may likewise be served at a Sichuanese restaurant. Maintaining strict limits within a region can be harmful to a restaurant’s ability to survive.
Best Chinese Restaurants in Seattle
From traditional Szechuan dishes to modern fusion cuisine, Seattle offers an array of Chinese restaurants that will tantalize your taste buds.
Whether you’re in the mood for dim sum or a savory Peking duck, you’ll find it in Seattle’s Chinatown and beyond. So grab your chopsticks and get ready!
1. Dumpling Generation
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Phone: (206) 420-1661
Address: 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
Baskets of steaming dumplings are the thing here, as the name suggests. The fillings are juicy and flavorful, and the wrappers are hand-rolled without being overly thin or thick.
Choose the dumplings with Chinese chives, which have big, flat leaves that don’t hesitate to make an appearance, if you want your food spicy.
The kitchen produces its own noodles, which elevates meals like tomato egg and noodles and beef noodle soup. Tomato eggs are usually a treat to find on a menu. The pleasure is doubled when one finds this meal with noodles.
2. Spicy Style of Sichuan
Phone: (206) 468-3511
Address: 13200 Aurora Ave N Ste D Seattle, WA 98133
The restaurant’s Mandarin moniker cleverly parodies the phrase “we’re No. 1 and No. 2 best Sichuan” eateries. The boast is clear when you taste dishes like stir-fried sour and spicy shredded potatoes, eggplant with chili peppers and preserved eggs, and steaming pork belly with buns.
The potato dish is superb, which is a good sign of how well-thought-out the kitchen is. The ma po tofu’s ma la tingling of Sichuan pepper is strong and needs more rice to counterbalance it.
Because Spicy Style is located within the Asian Family Center on Aurora Avenue North, schedule your visit around the time you need to refill on Asian ingredients.
3. Looking for Chai
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Phone: (425) 502-7766
Address: 12121 Northup Way #205, Bellevue, WA 98005
When the Three Spiced Chicken with Basil—also referred to as three-cup chicken—is presented, there is a moment of joy and elation.
Perfectly browned edges adorn bone-in chicken portions, paired with a caramelized soy sauce and wine mixture. The basil brings everything together.
Lovers of crispy, dry-fried green beans will appreciate the addition of crispy pork bits and dried shrimp in Looking for Chai’s recipe. Many folks can’t help but be drawn in by the gastronomic mayhem that is a sizzling dish of chicken or pork steaks.
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4. Imperial Garden
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Phone: (206) 259-7000
Address: 2400 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
All the favorites are on the dim sum menu, and any leftovers make excellent takeout. The kitchen specializes in making excellent pork for its steaming BBQ pork buns, employs lump shrimp in its har gow, and serves perfectly fried sesame balls that aren’t oily.
The Beijing Duck, which consists of shaved meat chunks covered in planks of lacquered duck skin and served with translucent steamed pancakes and sauces, is still the highlight of Imperial Garden.
A half order allows you to sample more of the menu, whereas a full order commands the table.
The restaurant is large enough to host huge banquets and has white tablecloths, yet the atmosphere isn’t formal. People are just as likely to visit 99 Ranch Market next door after buying there as they are on a special occasion.
5. Mama’s Dough
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Phone: (253) 236-2165
Address: 8230 E Valley Hwy Ste 156, Kent, WA 98032
In the Seattle area, there are camps for the soup dumpling game. Mama’s Dough can compete thanks to its xiao long bao, which have delicately pleated, thin wrappers.
Pork, crab, or veggies can be used as fillings; however, the vegetarian version does not include soup. There are surprisingly few eateries in town that sell braised beef pancake rolls.
This particular variation, however, is difficult to split between more than two people because it entails wrapping a scallion pancake around a cut shank. Serve a couple of cold items, like the cucumber salad or seaweed, to round out your dinner.
6. A+ Hong Kong Restaurant
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Phone: (206) 602-6008
Address: 667 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104
A+ Hong Kong Restaurant is the best braised beef brisket stone pot in Seattle, if you care about the opinion of an 80-year-old Chinese grandma.
Yes, the tendon and brisket stay connected until you eat into it. The napa cabbage bed beneath the braised beef is deserving of its own accolade; it should be cooked until it becomes translucent without sacrificing its structural soundness.
Other stone pot options are the sliced beef with just enough funk and served still seething in its cauldron, as well as the eggplant with XO sauce. There is enough rice on the lunch plates for two meals if serving size is a factor.
The chicken wings with salt and pepper are crispy and deep-fried, with just the right amount of curry spice to satisfy your cravings without overpowering the flavor profile. We could carry on. Or simply leave right now.
7. 151 Days Chicken Soup House
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Phone: (425) 406-8691
Address: 2720 152nd Ave NE #150, Redmond, WA 98052
It makes sense that you would order the chicken noodle soup if you visited a chicken soup restaurant that produces its own Arlington Bresse hens on a farm an hour north of Seattle.
151 Days is known for its famous noodle soup, which is served with soft-cooked egg, greens, fried shallots, chopped cilantro and green onions, and pieces of chicken.
The broth has a light body that is easy to drink. The distinctively clean and fresh flavor of the Berkshire pork stuffing makes potstickers stand out. Tofu is fried and served with radish and potato slices in a salad. It is a dish that is so delicious that it might pass for an entree salad. I can’t stop eating it.
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8. Xi’an Noodles
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Phone: (206) 522-9999
Address: 400 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101
The delightful thwack that occurs when cooks slam skeins of dough down the counter is the inspiration behind the name of biang biang noodles.
The collision causes cracks that eventually lead to broad ribbons with jagged edges, which are Xi’an’s (a city in northwest China) specialty.
Most menu items feature these tender, hand-ripped noodles as a main ingredient. Get them as a soup, or in a bowl with sizzling oil flecked with chile or spicy cumin lamb.
The downtown branch is a counter on the second floor of Westlake Center; the original U District store just had a comprehensive refurbishment.
9. Xiaolongbao House
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Phone: (206) 457-4483
Address: 14725 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline, WA 98133
Translating to “No. 1-ranked Sichuan and Hunan,” are the Mandarin characters for Xiaolongbao House (previously known as Royal Dumplings House).
The alleged specialty, soup dumplings, has nothing to do with this, as you may have seen. This restaurant’s actual character emerges when you explore the entire menu, even though the limited dim sum lineup pays homage to its English moniker.
Together with a pool of ma la chile oil tinged with a hint of sesame paste, thin dan dan noodles showcase a combination of caramelized ground pork and sui mi ya cai, or minced pickled mustard stems.
The kitchen is skilled in preparing eggplant with preserved egg and green chili peppers, a dish that has become increasingly famous in Sichuan restaurants.
Garlic chunks, ginger coins, fresh and dried red chilies, green onions, pickled cowpeas, and red bell peppers are all included in their rendition of sour and spicy potatoes.
For those who prefer to appreciate the bits, the pressure-cooked and then stir-fried pig trotters with black beans and dried red chili peppers are perfect.
The name’s emphasis on xiao long bao is gastronomic clickbait for a dish that has ulterior motives.
10. Vivienne’s Bistro
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Phone: (206) 829-9508
Address: 2441 76th Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040
Chef Danna Hwang, who formerly worked at Peony Kitchen, now leads an elegant 180-seat dining room with wooden lanterns, high-backed booths, and a focus on citrus-based beverages.
Hwang’s menu begins with Cantonese flavors and then moves in unexpected directions, such as clam chowder croquettes, mu shu tacos, or squid ink rice baked with a luscious layer of cheese.
Even traditional dishes like honey walnut prawns and wontons are staged for presentation as well as flavor; Vivienne’s standout is the Forbidden Roast Duck platter, a five-spiced fowl with crackling skin served with a DIY array of herbs, radish, exquisite lemon slices, and monogrammed bao buns.
11. Chengdu Taste
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Phone:(206) 333-0457
Address: On King street side, 504 5th Ave S Ste 106, Seattle, WA 98104
Founded by two Chengdu locals yearning for fiery, break-a-sweat Sichuan, this Southern California staple has grown to include a classy dining room in the Publix building.
All traditional Sichuan cuisine is excellent, but the laziji chicken is really good. It has a rather mild name on the menu: crispy chicken with red chili pepper.
To seal in moisture, bite-sized morsels are first deep-fried and then wokked with Sichuan peppercorns, toasted sesame seeds for flavor, and copious lengths of red chilies.
This meal is available from Chengdu Taste in two variations: a conventional bone-in chicken and an easier-to-eat boneless variant.
12. Friendship BBQ
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Phone: (206) 333-1688
Address: 13520 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133
The star of the show at a New York-based chain’s Seattle location is its grilled skewers prepared in the Northeastern Chinese style.
Choose from a variety of meat and seafood options, including chicken, lamb, wagyu beef, hog, shrimp, and squid, all covered in a sauce that is heavy on cumin.
Don’t overlook the side dishes, such as the garlic eggplant, which is coated with a minced garlic sauce and grilled until the flesh is almost liquid.
The perfect harmony of texture, savoriness, and acidity is achieved in the cold, shredded potato with garlic. The philosopher would be friendship, if restaurants could have personalities.
The phrase “Your palate can enjoy all the flavors” is loosely translated from the Chinese characters placed on the back of staff uniforms.
However, you could also experience ashes and fire in life. That’s the way it is with life and with flame-grilled meals.
13. Spicy PoPo Szechuan Fish
Phone: (425) 698-0160
Address: 14701 NE 20th St # B, Bellevue, WA 98007
The fish pot is the goal here. It’s a pot full with pickled and red pickled green chiles, chunks of halibut, and your choice of meats and veggies, all simmered in a fiery, spicy broth.
Each bite is both painful and pleasurable, requiring at least one bowl of rice, which disappears far too rapidly. The range of options for spice intensity is zero to three.
Even the level one is powerful; but, based on anecdotal evidence, they may reduce the heat if they believe you are intolerant. Also well-liked are the dry pots. There is a hit-or-miss selection of additional stir-fried items on the menu.
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14. Dan Gui
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Phone: (207) 992-8888
Address: 13112 NE 20th St, Bellevue, WA 98005
If you’re dining with a larger group of people who can tolerate spicy and/or ma la meals, choosing what to order is simpler. Classic dishes like ma po tofu, preserved egg-topped eggplant, dry-fried green beans, and toothpick lamb are always a good choice.
Try the fish or chicken with green sichuan peppercorns and the beef or fish with sauerkraut. The fermented glutinous rice ball “soup” can help quell some of the burning in your mouth if you’re craving something sweet.
The restaurant, which gets its name from the fragrant osmanthus flower, is a true gem inside a large strip mall.
15. Tyger Tyger
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Phone: (206) 558-4597
Address: 114 Republican St, Seattle, WA 98109
Yes, brussels sprouts cooked in a wok can carry a menu. This restaurant’s rendition, which is located across from Seattle Center, uses wok char, chiles, garlic, ginger, and Sichuan pepper to bring the brussels sprouts and Chinese sausage slices to life.
Though it can be difficult to stop nibbling and concentrate on other foods, you would be remiss if you did not try the prawn, chive, and egg dumplings that come in a pool of spicy black vinegar oil.
Tangy and spicy, the crispy rockfish with sour mustard greens is perfect with steaming rice. The noodles are tingling and creamy, dan dan.
As Tyger Tyger is “Sichuan-inspired” (much like its Broadway brother restaurant, Lionhead), they don’t hold back when it comes to its ma la flavors.
Seattle’s Chinese food scene is as diverse and vibrant as the city itself. From traditional Cantonese cuisine to modern fusion fare, there’s something for everyone in Seattle’s Chinatown and beyond.
So the next time you’re craving Chinese food, be sure to explore the city’s many amazing restaurants. Whether you’re looking for a hole-in-the-wall dive or a high-end establishment, Seattle’s Chinese food scene has got you covered.
