Spinasse

"This Piedmontese pasta specialist is not just the best Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. It’s the best restaurant in the city, full stop. Bold? Sure, but so is the mountain of silky sage butter tajarin or braised rabbit agnolotti you eat by candlelight after an early December sunset, or fried zucchini blossoms snacked between gulps of tangerine-tinted paper plane cocktails come summertime. Yes, your wallet will be three figures emptier at the end of it all, but in exchange, you’ll have a life-affirming meal in a dining room filled with lace curtains, fine art, and noodle sheets draped over the open kitchen. This is the best Italian restaurant in Seattle, and such superlatives come with a tricky reservation process. They do have a patio now, which has made things better than they used to be, but good luck getting a table that isn’t at 9:30pm unless you book several weeks in advance. You can secure a table up to 60 days ahead of time, and thankfully, there’s usually nobody hovering at midnight ready to pounce on that 60th day. (Except for you, of course.)" - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley

"More than 10 years in and this romantic trattoria on Capitol Hill continues to entrance diners with food from Italy’s Piedmont region. The nest of delicate tajarin pasta with butter and sage sauce is a Seattle comfort food mainstay, but every pasta dish from chef Stuart Lane is memorable. Those who want to extend their meals should head over to sibling apertivo bar Artusi for a nightcap." - Sophie Grossman

"Spinasse on Capitol Hill serves the best Italian food in Seattle. There’s something special about sitting in their gorgeous dining room decorated with a marble bar, rustic tables, and ambient noodle sheets hanging from the open kitchen that gets you excited to eat pasta. Come here for forkfuls of fresh cavatelli with braised beef and slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, fried zucchini blossoms piped with ricotta and lemon, and the tajarin with butter and sage that both a toddler and a grown adult would find revelatory. This is the best Italian restaurant in Seattle, and such superlatives come with a tricky reservation process. They do have a patio now, which has made things better than they used to be, but good luck getting a table that isn’t at 9:30pm unless you book several weeks in advance. You can secure a table up to 60 days ahead of time, and thankfully, there’s usually nobody hovering at midnight ready to pounce on that 60th day. (Except for you, of course.)" - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley

"It’s hard to imagine a Seattle without Spinasse, chef Stuart Lane’s pasta paradise. First-timers will want to try the famed tajarin with butter and sage sauce, but the seasonal menu contains all sorts of delights, like the Barolo-braised beef cheek with celery root puree and pomegranate seeds, or the pan-roasted duck breast with turnip gratin." - Mark DeJoy, Harry Cheadle

"More than 10 years in, this romantic trattoria on Capitol Hill continues to entrance diners with food from Italy’s Piedmont region. The nest of delicate tajarin pasta with butter and sage sauce is a Seattle mainstay, but every dish from chef Stuart Lane is memorable. After a satisfying dinner at Spinasse, head to next-door sibling bar Artusi for a digestif and dessert, or stop by the bar another night for snacks like beef tongue with salsa tonnata (tuna sauce) and burrata with pomegranate seeds and toasted pistachios." - Eater Staff