Washington Steakhouses | SteakMap
The Best Steakhouses in Washington
Washington has 40 steakhouses across 25 towns — Seattle holds 8, Bellevue 5, Tacoma 3, and the rest are scattered from Bainbridge Island to Yakima. For a state this size, only two are national chains, which is the lowest brand presence of any large state in this directory.
Washington also has a vocabulary of its own. Around Puget Sound, a steakhouse is often called a broiler.
The Washington Ten
- Metropolitan Grill (Seattle) — the downtown benchmark since the 1980s, dry-aged Prime on a 1,800-degree broiler, in an old bank building on Second Avenue.
- El Gaucho (Seattle) — tableside carving, flambe carts and a chateaubriand for two, from the Pacific Northwest group that also runs Bellevue, Tacoma and Vancouver — plus rooms in Portland and Boise.
- John Howie Steak (Bellevue) — the most serious beef programme in the state: multiple aging methods on one menu, Japanese A5 alongside American Wagyu.
- Daniel’s Broiler (Seattle) — the original opened at Leschi Marina in 1980, run by the Schwartz Brothers. The family trade goes back further: Daniel’s grandfather Dan Zido founded Dan’s Better Meats in Pike Place Market in 1910. Also in Bellevue.
- Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi (Bellevue) — on the 31st floor with a view across to Seattle, and the most expensive room on this list.
- The Shambles (Seattle) — a butcher shop and bar in Maple Leaf, named for the medieval English word for a meat market. The least formal entry and one of the best.
- Churchill’s Steakhouse (Spokane) — eastern Washington’s best, dry-aged and properly old-school.
- Rare Society (Mill Creek) — wood-fired, loud, and the newest serious arrival in the state.
- Stanley & Seafort’s (Tacoma) — up on the hill looking over Commencement Bay, and a sister in spirit to the Anchorage room on the Alaska page.
- Vista Prime (Snoqualmie) — at the Salish Lodge above the falls, and the best view of any dining room in Washington.
In Seattle, a steakhouse is a broiler
Look down the Washington roster and a word keeps appearing that you will not find in any other state on this site. Daniel’s Broiler in Seattle and Bellevue. Wedgwood Broiler up on 35th Avenue NE. Yacht Club Broiler over in Silverdale.
This is a genuine Puget Sound regionalism. Mid-century Seattle restaurants named themselves after the equipment — the gas-fired overhead broiler that seared a steak fast and hard — rather than after the room or the owner. The Wedgwood Broiler has been going since 1965; it was briefly the Sir Wedgwood Broiler after a 1969 remodel, and the Sir fell off again in 1973. Its redesign was helped by the owner of Blazes Broiler in Ballard, because there were enough of them to constitute a trade.
Elsewhere in America the word for this is chophouse, or grill, or simply steakhouse. Around Seattle it is a broiler, and when you see it on a sign it usually means the place has been there a long time.
The rest of the state
Seattle also has Red Cow in Madrona and Meet Korean BBQ on Capitol Hill. Around the Sound: Hook & Cleaver in Mukilteo, Flat Iron Grill in Issaquah, Scott’s in Edmonds, The Islander on Bainbridge and The Clearwater at Suquamish.
East of the mountains: Spencer’s in Spokane, Masselow’s at Airway Heights, Yakima Steak Company, and Mama Vallone’s in the old coal town of Cle Elum. Up near the Canadian border, Lynden carries Steakhouse 9 and a Wissota Chophouse — the same Wisconsin group that has six rooms back home.
The national chains
Two, in the entire state: Ruth’s Chris in Seattle and STK in Bellevue. For a state of eight million people that is remarkable, and it is why the El Gaucho and Daniel’s groups loom as large here as they do.
