Pre-Game Guide

Best Restaurants and Bars Near Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park

Where to eat if you’re headed to the stadiums.

By Allecia Vermillion March 28, 2024

Cold oysters, warm chowder, and lots of drinks at Taylor Shellfish.

Image: Feed It Creative

The food inside Lumen Field and neighboring T-Mobile Park gets better every year; the latter even allows takeout. Seattle's stadium district has the requisite beer-bucket sports bars, but also plenty of great bars and restaurants that beckon to anybody looking to meet up with a group, or just avoid paying $20 for a Bud Light and some loaded fries.

Most game-oriented destinations lie north of the stadiums in Pioneer Square. To the south, in SoDo, sandwiches and pizza balance out the preponderance of fast-food chains. Some people prefer arriving through Chinatown–International District, to the east. Navigating the train track tangle that separates the dumplings from the defensive tackles can be a pain, but a wealth of great food awaits, depending on how far you want to walk.

Darkalino's

The former London Plane now holds Marcus Lalario's cafe-retail space, the Home Team, which projects athletic vibes onto its Occidental Square surroundings. The cafe side of that equation is Darkalino's, serving bowls of housemade pasta, hearty focaccia sandwiches, and a drink menu that takes you from espressos to spritzes to cans of Modelo.

Flatstick Pub

Technically this is a 21-and-over putt-putt bar, but 30-plus taps of Washington beer, cider, and seltzer also lend themselves well to meeting up before walking to the stadiums. The kitchen serves a limited slate of tacos, nachos, and chips and guac. But the game situation is on point; sneak in a round of duffleboard before kickoff.

Saigon Drip's Bok Bok B*tch, a.k.a a grilled chicken banh mi, a.k.a a very quotable Awkwafina moment from *Crazy Rich Asians* .

Image: Courtesy Saigon Drip Cafe

Saigon Drip Cafe

Fast casual and friendly, this (takeout-friendly) Vietnamese spot exceeds expectations all day long. “Croissant mi” breakfast sandwiches come stuffed with a fried egg, maybe some spam, and banh mi fixings; the rest of the day’s menu—pho, banh mi, vermicelli bowls, a happy hour menu—is consistently solid. But it’s especially hard to resist the banh mi drip, a loaded-up brisket sandwich that comes with a sidecar of broth for dipping.

Matsu

A sushi restaurant with a meditative temple-like interior might seem a tonal mismatch with the roar inside Lumen. But there’s no shame in pre-gaming with sashimi or a 12th Man roll, filled with avocado and shrimp tempura. Matsu’s huge menu dedicates an entire section to fried things, including karaage and Korean-style wings. This stadium-adjacent spot shares ownership with Momiji and Umi Sake House, as evidenced by the emphasis on drinks and a generous happy hour menu.

An oyster bar feels like a very PNW pre-game destination.

Image: Feed It Creative

Taylor Shellfish

The state’s largest oyster farmer runs a handful of oyster bars, including this throwback-style room on Occidental Avenue. Freshly shucked oysters are pristine (especially with the selection of Northwest beer) but heartier dishes like fish and chips, geoduck chowder, and smoked oyster dip offer fortification for fall games. Take heed: walk-ins only, and the happy hour menu does not run on game days.

Rojo's Mexican Food

The entire menu of enormous burritos and petite street-style tacos is entirely vegan—but that’s almost beside the point. Rojo’s makes good use of faux meat in its asada, carnitas (probably the best protein in the house), chick’n, and al pastor. The address on James (the former Il Corvo) is handy for a pre-game meal, though the foil-wrapped burritos can be toted into a Mariners game; it’s also big enough to feed two people.

Damn the Weather serves sophisticated plates, but also a sturdy burger.

Image: Nate Watters

Damn the Weather

A den of atmospheric old brick offers the happiest medium between pitchers of beer and upscale fare you feel weird eating in a jersey. Damn the Weather is decidedly a cocktail bar with destination-worthy food, but the menu includes plenty of local beer and cider (plus non-alcoholic creations). On the food side, a burger and frites with aioli balance out plates of pan-seared halibut or fettuccine draped in seasonal produce.

Good Bar

A striking old building (originally a bank) houses a cocktail haunt that isn’t so much a sports bar as a great bar that happens to be close to sports. Head here if your idea of tailgating involves careful cocktails, a solid whiskey list, and Mediterranean-toned food like pita wraps and grilled halloumi.

Somi

The former Altstadt and South of Mill has morphed, slightly, into a lunch (and brunch) and dinner spot with a mega accessible menu and a focus on accommodating big groups and folks headed to the stadiums.

SoDo

SliceBox Pizza

This walkup slice counter with a Sonics-worthy green-and-gold paint job is a favorite among Seattle’s pizza cognoscenti. When its business hours align with game schedules, it's also a fantastic antidote to all those stadium beers. A double-decker glass case holds maybe 10 pies by the slice, a mix of crunchy Sicilian-inspired squares and classic New York rounds. You can also order whole pies and salads for takeaway.

The new Hatback bar complex embraces Seattle’s baseball history…and bar food.

Image: Courtesy Hatback Bar & Grille

Hatback Bar and Grille and Steelheads Alley

The Mariners back this restaurant, taproom, and beer garden complex that faces T-Mobile. The former Pyramid Brewing building now drips with baseball history, honoring Ken Griffey, Jr. and the 1940s-era Seattle Steelheads Negro League team. The interior is both handsome and filled with TVs, pub food leans into local ingredients, and Métier Brewing Company founder Rodney Hines is the resident brewer at Steelheads Alley.

Paseo

The current ownership of this beloved sandwich shop added a spacious outpost south of the stadiums has a counter service interior built to handle crowds, plus an outdoor space full of picnic tables. Hearty Caribbean sandwiches are deeply compatible with brisk fall game days and tropical cocktails help take the edge off chilly temperatures.

Chinatown

Chung Chun Rice Hot Dog

This tiny spot beneath the Chinatown paifang offers zero seating, but Korean-style corn dogs are about as portable as it gets for a walk to Lumen. These rice-battered beasts come studded with cubes of fried potato, coated in squiggles of crunchy ramen noodles, or wrapped in cheddar. One popular version is essentially a mozzarella stick disguised as a corn dog; another pairs beef dog and cheese inside a squid ink batter. Grab extra napkins.

E-Jae Pak Mor's familiar dishes like khao soi, beef noodle soup, and khao mun gai deserve just as much attention as its signature dumplings.

Image: Amber Fouts

E-Jae Pak Mor

Labor-intensive pak mor dumplings star on the menu at this casual (but stellar) Thai counter across from Uwajimaya. They’re great, but the khao soi and spicy beef noodle soup can also fortify you against the chill of an outdoor stadium seat.

Uwajimaya Food Hall

Are you a parent looking to stuff your kids with quick, affordable food before braving the major league sportsball chaos? The venerable grocery store’s food court offers tacos, taiyaki, banh mi, and Hawaiian plate lunch, plus a seating area that’s forgiving of noise and crumbs. You can also grab prepared food from Uwajimaya’s own counters.

Dough Zone is good at processing crowds, and warming you from the inside with soup dumplings.

Image: Courtesy Dough Zone

Dough Zone Dumpling House

Seattle’s homegrown dumpling and noodle chain has a location in the Publix building, just across the train tracks. Dough Zone is known for soup dumplings, dan dan noodles, and crispy-bottomed Q bao—as well as crowds during prime time. Using Yelp’s waitlist app can help manage game-day waits.

SoDo, Pioneer Square, Lumen Field, Sports, Bars, Best Restaurants

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