Traveling to Seattle for the first time next week for work. Hosting a dinner at least 1 night. I plan on bringing wine as the client is getting serious about CA wine. Is Seattle corkage friendly? Since I know nothing about the restaurant scene, i don’t want to be too edgy for the dinner. What would some consider to be a solid 95mph fastball down the middle?
Thanks!
Seattle is definitely friendly/used to folks bringing their own wine. Expect corkage fee of $25-$30. As far as restaurant recommendations, depends on what part of town you’ll be in? Downtown, east side, etc… Lots of good options for food though, no matter where you are.
Agree with Jason. Very friendly corkage. I always call ahead and let them know we are bringing wine, So if any attitude is given you can give a name of someone you talked to. We have endless options for great food, and a couple for killer wine lists at prices that are attractive. If you are purchasing bottles, wild ginger and RN74 have great lists.
A decent corkage policy is nearly universal in Seattle, so I see little need to call ahead, although one restaurant did have a $35 fee.
Purple (downtown and Bellevue) has good food, a huge wine list, and no corkage fee. Hard to beat.
Phil Jones
I really like Sitka and Spruce. The food is great and always a bit quirky. Very BYOB friendly. The Harvest Vine is great for Basque food and Le Pichet has exceptional French bistro fare. They have very poor stems though, if you BYOB you should byo stems too.
The corkage at Harvest Vine is high if I recall (at least $35). But they have a great Spanish wine list.
Cheers,
Hal
Love the oeufs plats there for breakfast. Been practicing making them at home the past few days – still not the same.
Yes. Always order off the list here. A fairly good list of traditional Rioja.
Yes, like other have said above, Seattle tends to be very corkage-friendly. I think your bringing Cali wines with you is a good idea also because wine lists tend to be very Washington-heavy. Some of the big steak houses have California-heavy lists, but I wouldn’t recommend going to those necessarily, as there are far better (many mentioned above) restaurants to patronize in the city.
As was said, corkage is generally $25-30 at most restaurants and a lot of them allow it. Wild Ginger downtown has an amazing wine list.
I have hosted several wine dinners at Wild Ginger and highly recommend it.Menu is certainly Asian centric but you can easily find something for everyone’s taste.The wine service is impeccable and corkage is usually negotiable, buy a couple bottles off the list.
Agree with Mike, I love Wild Ginger, you can make most pairings work there. If you’re doing CA wine (assuming its Cab or bigger reds), I’d also look at steak and hit Butcher’s Table or Miller’s Guild.
Miller’s Guild is great if you can deal with the heat😥. Very BYOB friendly. Chef Wilson’s other place the Lakehouse is good too. It’s in Bellevue though.
Spinasse is fantastic and has a nice selection of wines (largely Italian I believe).