The Best Filipino Restaurants In Seattle

Archipelago has given us a multi-course tasting menu experience that is 100% Filipino and simultaneously 100% Pacific Northwestern. All of the meat, seafood, and produce are exclusively sourced from this region, which means you'll eat a caramelized squash condiment with your lechon instead of banana ketchup, or sinigang with local rhubarb broth instead of tamarind. Beyond that, their incredible food paired with robust history lessons have brought actual tears of joy to customers' eyes.

Eating at Musang is like being guests at a pal’s dreamy dinner party, and we’re not just saying that because this Beacon Hill restaurant is located inside a renovated craftsman. With the occasional dining room-wide toasts and “Happy Birthday” singalongs, it's an exciting place to have a meal. But we’d also sit in a dark coat closet just to eat their exceptional takes on Filipino classics, including peppery pork lumpia with a crackly shell dunked in chivey sawsawan and flame-seared, peanut butter bagoong-basted short rib kare kare.

Located in a quiet corner of the Pike Place Market, everything at this counter is prepared by a woman who is quite kind despite some brash signage (such as, “IF U DON’T KNOW HOW TO EAT OUR SALMON SINIGANG DON’T ORDER IT”) and the food is so good that we’d gladly brave the crowds around the bend. Oriental Mart serves excellent tart pork adobo over rice seeped in braising liquid, lumpia wands whose crunch reminds us of a Butterfinger bar, and shiny red longanisa sausage that deserves its own long-form documentary. No wonder this place has been going strong since 1987.

The gluten-free poultry here is not just sensational despite getting dredged in tapioca, rice, and potato avalanche. It’s sensational because of that. Thighs are draped with chicken skin superhero capes that crunch like potato chips, skewers of cubed white meat are juicy enough to make us swear off tenders forever, and don’t get us started on the sides. Well, fine—we can’t help but also daydream about coconutty collard greens topped with pickled shallots and roasted peanuts, creamy monggo beans, and “Stephen’s butter mochi” that’s so chewy and decadent with maple-packed warmth that we’ve officially demoted Colbert from being our number-one favorite Stephen.

When Ludi’s closed, Seattle collectively gasped. The thought that this well-loved diner would no longer supply us with bright purple ube pancakes was devastating. But Ludi’s has returned, and so have the pancakes. Despite the new Downtown location, it still has the same family-run diner vibes—coffee never goes cold, a sizzling blacktop is the morning soundtrack, and breakfast is served all day. Ordering the combo silog (a.k.a bites of Ludi’s greatest hits) is a necessary rite of passage. The plate is filled with peppery longanisa, Subway foot-long sized lumpia, a juicy pounded pork chop, and fragrant garlic rice you could eat fistfuls of on its own. Just get here when they open at 7am, because by 7:30, a line is already forming underneath the iconic yellow and blue sign.

This Beacon Hill counter spot serves awesome Filipino plates that you should prioritize for a filling sit-down lunch or a “leave work early” kind of meal. The restaurant is filled with the smell of garlic and colorful homages to Filipino culture, like a proudly displayed flag, sungkâ, and intricately woven baskets and hats. But it’s the food you’re really here for. Their peppery pork sisig has a sizzle that could replace a white noise machine, and a garlic aioli that comforts like a weighted blanket. Or, if menu-related FOMO takes hold, the Island Combo has a little taste of Chebogz’s greatest hits, including stellar lumpia.

This bakery is more than just that mini purple cheesecake. There’s also the ube cookie, which is the one to rule them all. (Sorry, “The Cookie” from Met Market, you’re now #2.). And their cafe in the Chinatown-International District is a modern-day Cheers for the Filipino community. Start your food tour by ordering from the daytime meryenda menu offering pan de sal tocino sandos, mochi waffles, and iced ube lattes. And later, close the tour off with the evening pulutan menu’s beef mechado pot pie and the Supersonic cocktail, complete with calamansi demerara.

Kilig, from the Musang team, is a more casual outpost in the CID that focuses on pancit and bulalo. And while Musang is a special occasion no-brainer, Kilig is ideal for an impromptu lunch or weeknight dinner that involves noodles, soup, and several other dishes that keep us coming back. Like coconutty pork adobo, sinigang chicken wings jazzed up with a dusting of puckering tamarind powder, and sticky squares of corn bibingka that make a great dessert or middle course. (It doesn't matter when you eat them, just do at some point.)

When lechon kawali tops a sourdough Detroit-style crust served out of a house that looks like the one from Up, it’s not surprising this place used to have a two-month waitlist (it's since calmed down a bit with multiple other locations helping to meet demand). Sure, Moto isn't technically a Filipino restaurant, but the best pizza here is inspired by the owner's Filipino roots. This pie is known as Mr. Pig—with crumbled sausage and drizzles of calamansi chimichurri and homemade banana ketchup, it’s worth the hassle of securing an order.

Barkada means “friends,” but it’s nothing like Central Perk in here. This hangout in Edmonds replaces coffee and muffins with Red Horse beer and musubi. Watch the Seahawks game while you chase pork sisig down with San Miguel Negra. If you’re not feeling beer, go with their ube horchata spiked with rum. There’s no leather couch like in the sitcom, but the fire pit outside will keep you and your friends cozy.

Here you'll find many Filipino flavors in the form of Philadelphia-style cheesesteaks with soy-marinated bistek, or subs containing decsontructed lumpia ingredients (crispy wrapper and all). But don’t miss Lasa’s finest contribution to society: their breakfast sandwich, loaded with soft scrambled egg, a longanisa patty, and creamy sauce accented by roasted jalapeño, all on sweet brioche. As for Lasa’s shiny tapioca pearls, the flavors keep coming with halo halo, Purple Paradise (ube), and the Boracay Breeze, named after the famed beach in the Philippines.

This Renton restaurant's lumpia is a contender for best in the area. Mekenie’s are thin-but-meaty, and extra crispy. They also serve dishes that you’d normally see at a Filipino aunt’s godchild’s cousin’s christening—like embutido, crab fried rice, and pancit palabok. Inside, there’s a strong karaoke energy when you walk in, almost like it’s your turn to sing when picking up an order. And know that you’re covered for whatever mood you're in. Breakfast? The ‘silog menu is stacked. Lunch or dinner? There aren’t any Filipino dishes missing, whether you’re ordering bistek a la carte or some family-style ginataang sitaw.

A morning at Fil Cuisine is all the proof you need that the smell of garlic rice can wake you up just as well as an espresso shot. This laid-back Kent restaurant serves plenty of Filipino classics, including sizzling sisig with crispy pork skin, towering plates of shrimp-loaded pancit, and more. But it’s the all-day breakfast that we really love—think snappy long-si-log and comforting bowls of arroz caldo. Stay a while in the relaxed dining room full of big groups pushing tables together like regulars. And make sure an order of tightly wrapped lumpia with pork or poultry hits your table.

Aside from Ludi's, West Hill Deli in Auburn holds the title as the best Filipino diner. It’s far removed from Seattle proper, but fits in well as part of the South King County Filipino community. From griddled dishes like ube pancakes and smash burgers to garlic rice plates, it would be difficult to repeat a meal here. Don’t be afraid to bring a large group—there's plenty of space, with many flatscreens if you’re looking to grab lunch while catching the game.