We happened upon Seattle Restaurant Week last night at Tutta Bella. I was going there to check out their Spring menu with my family but it turned out to be Seattle Restaurant Week and the Restaurant Week menu at Tutta Bella is pretty phenomenal this year so we decided to try it and go back for the Spring menu on our next visit. Seattle Restaurant Week is happening in our city from March 30th-April 13th this year and you can find all the details here. Seattle Restaurant Week happens every year and often twice a year I think (I will try to check back in November to make sure-it’s usually around my birthday) And Restaurant Week is a great way to support local restaurants and try new things and often for a discounted price.
While we were waiting for our meal, my son and I perused the rest of the Seattle Restaurant Week offerings. (And the Tutta Bella one seems like it’s one of the best values on the restaurant list this year-it’s one of the only ones with so much variety and even beverages). There are a multitude of restaurants around the city and beyond participating and there are some $20-$35 lunch options and the dinners we looked at were most often $50 and up to $65. Some intriguing places that caught our eyes were the family meals at Bok Bok chicken, the intriguing tasting menu at the Cheese Room (where Machiavelli’s used to be), Aerlume (in Pike Place Market), Pink Salt in Magnolia (a $35 dinner offering and their Papas a la Huancaina appetizer are delicious), Salty’s on Alki (another $35 dinner and their famous mousse cake is included in the dessert choices), Nell’s in Greenlake (I want to try their snap pea risotto) and Noodle/bar in South Lake Union (it’s a $20 meal option and I have not yet been to this place).
One of my big Seattle Restaurant Week requirements is that if there is dessert there needs to be a couple different options because I don’t want the same one as my husband if we go on a restaurant date. I love how we’ve found many of our favorite local restaurants by dining out during Seattle Restaurant Week over the years. (Just be sure to check that the restaurant is participating the night you are visiting too-they all seem to have different times and offerings and we’ve made mistakes before too)
There is also some kind of free digital passport with Seattle Restaurant Week this year where you can check in through the passport to be entered for prizes. This app supports Eat Local First but I think you have to do it while you are visiting a restaurant to get credit in the passport for the contest-I don’t think you can do it after your visit. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go to another restaurant during Seattle Restaurant Week so we can try the passport out. Will you be participating in Seattle Restaurant Week and going out to our local restaurants too? (And if so do you have a favorite?)
(For disclosure, we have been big fans of Tutta Bella for years-pre-kids even-and I do often partner with Tutta Bella throughout the year and our meal was hosted but as always the opinions in this blog post are my own.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)