5 Best Japanese Restaurants in Seattle (2026)

Umi Sake House is a Belltown izakaya-style Japanese restaurant built around a large tapas menu and a sake list of more than 60 imported Japanese bottles. It runs a nightly happy hour twice daily and stays open until midnight on weekends, positioning itself as a late-night option as much as a dinner spot. The vibrant, fast-paced dining room draws a mix of sushi diners and drinkers.

Japonessa Sushi Cocina is a Belltown sushi restaurant that fuses traditional Japanese cooking with Latin American flavors, folding jalapeno, cilantro and mango into its rolls alongside classic nigiri and sashimi. It runs a full catering operation for corporate events and private parties in both Seattle and Bellevue, and offers happy hour twice daily, seven days a week. The dining room, bar and patio give it flexibility for both quick lunches and bigger group dinners.

Momiji is a hand-crafted Japanese restaurant and cocktail bar on Capitol Hill, known for Kyoto-style dishes and an extensive list of Japanese whiskeys alongside its sushi menu. It has a bigger dining room than its narrow storefront suggests, plus an outdoor garden seating area, and it runs late into the evening on weekends. A second location has opened in Redmond.

Sushi Kashiba is chef Shiro Kashiba's restaurant next to Pike Place Market, where the man credited with bringing sushi to Seattle in 1970 still appears behind the counter for select dinner services. The restaurant seats sushi-counter diners at 5pm, 7pm and 9pm, with a mix of reservable and first-come-first-served seats, and its omakase menu walks through courses of salmon, tuna, mackerel, shellfish and eel. It removed its automatic surcharge as of April 1 and returned to traditional tipping, with a limited exception for parties of five or more.

Onibaba by Tsukushinbo is a small, casual restaurant near Pioneer Square focused on onigiri rice balls alongside a rotating menu of Japanese small plates, curry udon and donburi rice bowls. The space is compact with limited seating, and it runs lunch and dinner service split across the day with breaks in between. It carries a selection of Japanese beers alongside its food menu.