Best Outdoor Dining in the Seattle Area

Agua Verde Cafe & Paddle Club

With Labor Day comes the end of summer, but there's still a little time to make the most of the warmer temps. The following spots offer some of the best alfresco dining. Did we miss your favorite? Give it a shout-out in the comments.

Agua Verde Cafe & Paddle Club 
Food: 23
Decor: 17
Service: 15
Cost: $17
Located above a kayak rental store, this UD Baja-style Mexican offers “delicious fish tacos” and “killer margaritas” in a “low-budget”, brightly painted spot with an “awesome view” of Portage Bay; though the “line down the sidewalk” can be “intimidating”, the service is “fast and friendly”, so the wait isn’t too long – and the price “can’t be beat.”

1303 Northeast Boat St.; 206-545-8570


Bastille Cafe & Bar 
Food: 19
Decor: 24
Service: 18
Cost: $35
“Friendly”, “trendy” and “packed with beautiful people”, this midpriced Ballard French bistro is where steak frites “done right” meet salads and veggies from a “rooftop garden” that even has its own beehives; the “fabulous”, “well-designed” setting features Parisian antiques and a 45-ft. zinc bar, and though it gets “noisy” and there are some “kinks to work out” with the “kitchen and staff”, “Francophiles” agree it’s a “winner.”

5307 Ballard Avenue NW; 206-453-5014

El Camino 
Food: 22
Decor: 21
Service: 21
Cost: $26
Tucked into a side street in Fremont, this modern, midpriced Mexican is a “treasured find” say surveyors who find the sliced steak with cheese enchiladas and other “unique” dishes so “superb”, they “want to steal the recipes”; imbibers dub the made-from-scratch margaritas “awesome”, and the service and patio in the colorful quarters also get a thumbs-up.

607 North 35th St.; 206-632-7303

Flying Fish 
Food: 24
Decor: 21
Service: 22
Cost: $45
Chef-owner Christine Keff’s “out-of-the-box” thinking produces “some of the best fish dishes” in town say fans of this Eclectic seafooder in South Lake Union; the bright, “lively” quarters make a “fine” setting for business lunches, happy hour or a dinner that’s “everything you look for in a night out”; P.S. takeout is next door at On the Fly.

300 Westlake Avenue N.; 206-728-8595

Il Terrazzo Carmine 
Food: 27
Decor: 25
Service: 26
Cost: $51
Carmine Smeraldo makes everyone “feel like a regular” at his “suave” Pioneer Square Italian where the “stellar” fare is “sinfully delicious” and the “exceptional” staff is “warm and friendly”; the Florentine country setting “breathes power and elegance” and it’s always full of “movers and shakers”, so just remember to “bring the moolah” and “you will be happy.”

411 1st Avenue S.; 206-467-7797