The Best Fish & Chips In Seattle

Pacific Inn shows that crunchy panko breading can kick puffy beer batter to the curb any day. This pub in Fremont is the absolute best place in town for fried fish, complete with crispy french fries and a lemon wedge. Sitting on Pacific Inn’s wooden deck in the summer dunking a bunch of seafood in their delicious tartar sauce is just as important of a Seattle experience as slurping oysters on the waterfront.

One of the best orders of fish and chips in Seattle is actually a 35-minute ferry ride away on Bainbridge Island. The greatest thing about Proper Fish, though, is how enormous these entire filets of fried fish are—they’re around a foot long, with a puffy beer-battered crackle better than any state fair could achieve. That, plus tasty minted peas, thick-cut fries, and delicious tartar sauce, and there are plenty of reasons why we’d hop on a huge watercraft to grab these fish and chips.

Sometimes, the “chips” part in “fish and chips” can be a boring afterthought that makes you want to yawn. Not at Bait Shop. The fries from this Capitol Hill spot are stupendous. They have a brittle shell on the outside and fluffy mashed potato insides, and pair almost suspiciously well with this dive bar’s beer-battered fish and a frosty painkiller slushie.

Down near Columbia City, there’s a fish and chip shop on the corner of Rainier and Charlestown that you might have driven right past without noticing. Not only do they serve some of the best fried seafood in the city, but there’s a ton of variety here, from perfectly-seasoned cod to crunchy, breaded salmon. Their incredible crab puppies—which sound like the cutest baby animals in existence—are also a delicious cross between crab cakes and hushpuppies. Order these with extra sides of Emerald City’s spicy tartar sauce, or be eternally sad when you run out with still a handful of fries left.

Little Chinook’s captures another deeply Pacific Northwest experience: eating seafood while sitting on a marina. They specialize in true cod, ling cod, prawns, salmon, halibut, clam strips, or oysters—all with really good battered fries that taste like what would happen if curly fries got a blowout at the salon. You can’t go wrong with anything here, but the crispy tempura on the wild salmon is a winner.

The Green Lake Spud (not to be confused with Alki Spud, which is owned by Ivar's) has been a fish and chips institution in Seattle since 1940. You can expect breaded cod so juicy and tangy it's like eating a mozzarella stick, hand-cut potatoes fried fresh without so much as a lick of grease, relish-y tartar sauce, and some of the greatest onion rings in town. Pair it all with a big pickle or glass of natural wine—or, more realistically, both. For a quick lakeside seafood lunch, you can't get much better than a trip to Spud's rebirth.

If you want British-style fish and chips without having to take a ferry to Bainbridge's Proper Fish, check out MacLeod’s in Ballard. Their cod has a beer-battered, pretzel-like crust with an ideal balance of puffiness and crunch, along with fries that are cut so thick that there’s a good chance each order contains the equivalent of multiple potatoes. We’re not complaining.

This Central District spot serves four kinds of fish and chips: catfish, salmon, halibut, and tilapia. But the catfish stands out because it’s soaked in buttermilk, dredged it in a homemade blend of spices (that you can even buy on their website), and doesn’t have a super puffy outer fried shell—which means you really get a lot of fish in every bite. What makes an order of these even better, though, is that they throw in a couple of their crispy hushpuppies, too. It’s like when you find that rogue onion ring among your fries, except this time it’s on purpose.

Based on their pork katsu alone, it’s easy to conclude that Marination Ma Kai knows their way around deep-fried stuff. The panko coating has a great crunch, and their hand-cut fries are perfectly dark while still being soft in the middle. Their basket comes with a choice of miso ginger tartar or kimchi tartar, but you’re really going to want to double down on their creamy sesame “nunya” sauce instead.

This seafood market at Pike Place doubles as a fish and chips counter, where they fry up their own seafood to-order. Here you’ll find halibut, salmon, prawns, oysters, and scallops, all available to be dredged and thrown in some hot oil. We prefer going with their default choice, true cod, which tastes best with their bright, dill-infused tartar.

This Alki fish and chips shop closes annually during winter, but usually flicks their neon open sign back on in February, right as our toes start to collectively unthaw. The lightly battered cod is flaky and buttery like a Pillsbury biscuit while meaty fried oysters get sprinkled with Greek spices and a lemon wedge that add a nice zest. If the fried stuff isn't your jam, get the fishkabob—which is not only fun to say, but delicious with chunks of juicy halibut, prawns, peppers, and onions all stamped with char marks from the grill.

This outdoor counter on Lake Union is one of our favorite spots for seafood, and an order of their fish and chips is no exception. The breading on their cod is light and delicate but has a great texture from plenty of cornmeal, and their fries are thin and well-salted. And while we really miss how they used to serve them tossed in fresh dill alongside a pickle mayo, their classic tartar is terrific.

We’ll be honest, our favorite thing at Ray’s is probably their free bread basket spread with butter packets. But an order of their crunchy fish and chips is a close second. They’re very crispy, breaded with panko, and we have a very hard time resisting their battered fries dunked in tangy tartar.

This laid-back strip mall joint in Burien isn’t near any body of water, but it feels like a beachside diner—there are crab nets, an aquarium by the register, and wafts of freshly fried seafood coming out of the kitchen. Of that deep-fried stuff, get the Captain’s Platter, a combo of flaky salmon, cod, and halibut with choice of beer batter or panko-breading. They leave a satisfying crunch, and we like that you can mix and match different tartar sauce flavors.