Artusi

Hey guys, what’s everyone talking about? Oh, is it the Artusi happy hour? Yeah, ME TOO! Goes until 7pm and then starts up again late night on the weekend? Lovely. The drinks on the happy hour menu are, admittedly, a little odd. Vermouth on the rocks? I’d love to be the gal that can pull that off, just like I would love to be able to wear a turtleneck and look sophisticated-​cozy as opposed to strangled-​dumpy, but alas — we can’t all be so chic.
Don’t worry about it though, there is a $ 6 red or white wine and, if you’re fancy but not brave enough for amaro and soda, they have a gin and tonic. The FOOD is the most ridiculously lovely happy hour food you ever saw. Because who has soup on a happy hour menu? Artusi, that’s who. AND it’s the best damn soup you ever put down your turtleneck wearing throat. I’m not kidding. $ 21 before tax and tip gets you: A big glass of wine (or vermouth on the rocks if you’re a wierdo), a bowl of the BEST damn soup, and a plate of really delicate and super tasty HAND MADE pasta (that means it didn’t come out of a box you guys — on a happy hour menu). And it’s not one bite of soup and two noodles of pasta.
Sexxxxxxyyyyyyy bar, great people watching, really on point cocktails and knowledgable bar staff (they can make you any classic drink you want, on the menu or not), NOT snooty to guests– even if you can’t pull of a turtleneck. Vegetarian friendly choices.
I’m sorry Artusi, am I coming on too strong? Yeah, I just really like you. But like, I LIKE you like you. K. Well you just let me know when I should drop by again, I’m always feeling pretty «soup-​ish».

Happy to have found such a cute, intimate bar right below my apartment!
One of their drinks called Carrera’s cocktail was out of this world.
So refreshing and citrusy without being sweet. It was amazing. I could’ve downed 5 or more of those. EASILY.
We ordered the braised tripe and scallop risotto — they were both so tender and delicately flavored.
It seems to be decently crowded, even on weeknights. Makes for a good hangout/​date spot :)

I came here for happy hour the other week. It was my first visit, and I was very impressed. It’s beautiful, for one thing, and felt cozy and warm on a chilly winter’s evening. There was plenty of seating (especially at the bar) at the beginning of HH, but it filled up quickly. The bartender exuded a suave, calm confidence that I really dug. I was crushing on her by the end of the night, in no small part because she poured a stiff drink.
My friend and I split the hazelnuts, which were tasty. The HH cocktails were very Italian, no dark liquors like bourbon or scotch. I had a Cyrna Collins, which was good. I would definitely return.

Portions are perfect for sharing and tasting and the food is spectacular. The wines are great and the bartender, Kim, was very knowledgeable and attentive. Her recommendations were on point and delicious. Highly recommend the bruschetta and the lasagna. Happy hour was a good deal too!

Came here for just drinks. Very good and the ambiance was great. The noise level wasn’t too bad as I came around dinner time, so can’t comment on later in the evening how it is. Would highly recommend if you want to get some drinks before heading out to other bars nearby.

Really cool little spot with great food and drinks. We really enjoy the smaller tapas style dishes with some excellent cocktails — this was our 2^nd visit and both great. Recommended.

This was the final destination for my barhopping adventure of the night for me and my friend. I remember looking at their menu and most of their cocktails consisted of Bitters, so if you’re into that you should check this place out. Their cocktails are pretty different from your typical fruity ones. They seem pretty well thought out and crafted, take a quick look at their cocktail menu online to see what I mean!
Because this was one of the last locations we went to, I don’t remember which drink I got, but it was from their cocktail menu. I remember it was a pretty good drink, and the bartender was friendly and super awesome! I recommend giving this place a try if you’re looking for a more chill, laid-​back, bougier bar, especially since it’s a bit away from the main Cap Hill area.

Ambience. A
Service. A
Food. A
Price. A
Nice open airy clean chic dining area. Bars in the middle and there’s an open kitchen on one end.
Staff was okay. They don’t dote over you, but check on you periodically. They know their menus and Italian. Please. Don’t look to perturbed because you have to describe your drinks or dishes. I haven’t mastered your menu palette yet.
Ordered happy hour Italian cocktails. Like that they’re not overly sweet.
I had the salmon pâté with fried parsley capers. Very airy and great flavors of salmon to spread over crispy crostini.
My friend had the fish salad. Nice delicate flakes of white fish over nicely dressed greens.
It was happy hour. So for 2 cocktails and 2 appetizers — $ 36 with tip.

Great little spot on the hill! After walking around the neighborhood I stumbled upon this place and couldn’t help but notice it had quite a bit of outdoor seating!
Happy Hour runs from 5−7PM so I had made it just in time! After grabbing up a spot outside I quickly ordered a glass of their House Red for a mere $ 6. It was definitely tasty.
They also had several other delicious looking cocktails for $ 6 as well. In terms of food their HH menu can’t be beat. I tried out the cheese plate… you may order 1 – 3 on your plate for various prices. Of course I had to try all 3. Each were fantastic and paired well with the fresh bread. I also ordered the Duck Meatballs which was wrapped in cabbage and had fonduta surrounding it. As it was tasty it was also very rich. I recommend sharing.
All in all it was a nice filling meal and their dinner menu looked great as well. Staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. Definitely a pleasant evening out.

Rabbit tagliatelle and chicken stuffed gnocchi… Having delicious flashbacks of my time there. Sister restaurant to spinasse, apparently a more casual atmosphere, but just as tasty dishes. Great service, tasty wines. King salmon dish was good too. Really enjoyed their cold calamari salad with it’s pickled veggies.

I came here for happy hour which starts at 7. The space seems small and it was pretty dead when we were there. Not too much selection on the happy menu for both drinks and food.
I tried the duck meatball wrapped in cabbage. The portion was small, 4 little meatballs wrapped in a small piece of cabbage. I have to admit, it was on the pricey side for happy hour BUT it was so delicious!!! It had so much flavor and wished I ordered it with the pasta. I want to say the majority of the things on the menu are veggies.
I wasn’t interested in any of the drinks they offered but our bartender was really nice. He asked me what I like and fixed me up with something. I wanted to be simple and asked him for something close to a cranberry vodka. since he used cranberry liqueur it wasn’t that enjoyable. The drink had a thicker syrupy taste.

Artusi~ as a fan of all things Jason Stratton, I adore this place. The dark, woody, dim atmosphere. Wicked wine list, that cold egg dish they used to have!
My gay best friend and I came here few years ago for date night. It was their first week of opening. And I can honestly say I still remember every single detail of that dinner. Every single bite, sip, things we talked about, many bites of magnificent food. It was also one of the very few meals I’ve had without photographing my food. And I remember it all!
Chicory salad with duck fat,
soft boiled egg (cold on the outside and ooey gooey inside)
Italian wedding soup
Fernet!
Aperol Spritz (which is also my choice of drink at their coolest new baby)
Bambi Warhol! This ones for you Bambi!
And the other goodies they share with spinasse!
Lamb shank? Yes please.
Brown butter tortellini with sage and roasted squash? Always my favorite. I even tried recreating this at home! My gracious sever found out the recipe for me! How cool is that?
Overall, this is my go to place when I want to have a grown up /​relax evening. I come here for wine, drinks and nibbles without waiting in line, fighting crowds outside. It is my goto when I want to sit and sip for hours. And the atmosphere is such that I can do it without ever feeling rushed! This was the next best thing whenever I couldn’t get my pasta next door for the longest time. And now I come here because I simply love it. Every single bite!

My first ever visit to Seattle and my good friend decided to start off our food filled weekend at Artusi. Restaurant pretty much set the precedent for the city.
Ordered the Hayworth to sip, hazelnuts to share, tortelloni and endive salad to nib. I’m pretty predictable when it comes to cocktails but decided to veer off course when I spotted pamplemousse in the ingredients (hehe I just like saying the word). Very refined, delicate, and balanced cocktail, the tart of the fruit rounding out the sweet. Hazelnuts were killer, roasted with dashed of sugar and chile, so simple, Ferrer Rocher incarnate. The tortelloni slightly sweet from the butternut squash filling, indulgent with parmesan shavings, endive salad crisp, clean, biting, cut through the rich brown butter sauce dressing the pasta.
Most adorable date spot, took liberties with their design with the rolled paper lanterns. Dim lighting, rustic décor, trendy vibe, a must if visiting Seattle.

This place had very good pasta. I can’t remember what I had ordered since their menu is seasonal, but I do remember a pasta dish with lots of chanterelle mushrooms. We ordered at least 2 – 3 of their pastas. A quick tip — do not order half portions because they are TINY.
Also, their service was extremely slow. It took about an hour or so for our food to come out. I know they share a kitchen with Cascina Spinasse, but we were there for a late dinner (around 8pm), the restaurant wasn’t full, and it still took us over 2 hours to dine there. My experience at Cascina wasn’t that slow for an earlier dinner — I’m not sure why this one took so long. All in all very good pastas and I would definitely come back. This place is much easier to sit down to eat at than the highly sought after Cascina Spinasse (almost reservations only), and the pastas are just as good.

The décor of this place is pretty cool. A lot of bar type seating and then smaller 2 – 4 person tables. Server was awesome. Super friendly/​approachable.
Food: I’ve heard that the drinks are good here and indeed it was! I had the Hayworth — very well made. As for food, we had 1) beets — w/​yogurt, mint granola. I like beets and it was good here, but all the extras really didn’t add much to my taste buds. 2) Tagliatelle w/​rabbit meat. Ok, I did not suggest to get this. I think this was my first time trying it. There’s nothing wrong with it, except just that I keep imagining a rabbit. Other meats I’m better with because I’m more used to eating it and an animal does not come to mind. I ate one small piece and my boyfriend ate the rest. The pasta was good though. I had some of that. I just couldn’t get over it mentally. 3) Roasted Squash tortellini in sage/​brown butter sauce. This was very yummy. However, a half portion only comes with 5 tortellinis. Should get the full portion next time. The squash filling inside was super good and sage/​brown butter yums! 4) Pork Belly. This was very soft, not as fatty as some other pork bellies I’ve had, which is a good thing for me. 5) Chocolate Cake. Dulce de leche center, which I barely tasted. Ganache on the outside and topped w/​chocolate buttercream. The dessert was just ok.
Prices: Drinks are around $ 11 – 12, which I guess is on the high side, but comparable to other spots that serve specialty cocktails. The pastas are the same price as Cascina Spinasse next door ($ 15ish for a half portion, 25ish for a full portion). Other sharing plates were in the 20s. Appetizers/​salads were more like $ 13-​$ 15. Total bill was around $ 100 before tip.
5 stars because drinks were yummy. Food overall was as well. I really like the pastas. Overall, good time!

The happy hour menu is to die for. At first glance it seems awfully simple– 6 cocktails, one of them a gin and tonic, all the rest with apertifs or other strong-​flavored liquors and a white and red wine for drink, 7 nibbles, one seasoned nuts and the other a cheese sampler. I was underwhelmed.
I chose the cynar collins, roasted squash tortelloni with fried sage, browned butter, and parmigiano and the bruchetta from the HH menu. Friends had brussels sprouts with shallots and peppers and the pasta of the day, which I am having a hard time recalling the ingredients of.
Brussels are hard to mess up, and these roasted ones were a good serving size and tasty. My bruschetta was a little off-​putting. I’m not sure if it was a smell of something cooking from their open concept kitchen or the fennel, but there was a distinct smell of feet. I dove right in anyway– the visuals of the dish were good enough for me. This dish is awesome. The creativity and amazing flavor profile of the sausage spread, fresh, melted mozarella, and shaved fennel with spice was so good. It was meaty and the bread was crusty and cheesy… the only downside to this dish is how small it is. Brussels were more for your money, so to speak.
I was a little disappointed in my pasta. Don’t get me wrong, it was so tasty. I thought the actual pasta was a little firm for my taste, but the fried sage would improve any dish, and the salty cheese was perfect. I was really sad I hadn’t gone pasta of the day, though. The serving size was great, and priced at $ 9, so a much better value. I think this probably widely varies with the pasta they serve, though, so it is kind of a crap-​shoot.
The cocktails were wonderful, as well. Bitter, flavorful, and tasty. Like other craft cocktail places the bartender was wonderful to watch and the drinks aren’t strong, but they are delightful and fun to try.

love, love, lava this place!
i looooove stopping by here for drinks before some fantastical pasta next door at spinasse. the bartenders are friendly, non-​invasive, and make some taaaaaaaaaaaasty
good, that one of our faves is from here and we make it all the time at home (when we can’t make it up to the hill). :) and now they are offering some great light bites as well. the ambiance is clean, simple, and wonderfully intimate. you can also order some spinasse for take out here, should you need a midnight snack afterwards.

Fantastic cocktails! The bartender is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. If you don’t want something on the menu, then you can just tell them what you like and they’ll whip up something amazing.
The ambiance is intimate and classy. It’s right next to Spinasse. I prefer the food at Spinasse over Artusi, but the drinks at Artusi are fabulous and worth the $ 11 – 12.
We were here for the New Year’s Eve dinner, and I pretty much loved all of the courses except for the dessert. The duck leg was delicious and the meat was fall off the bone tasty. I also loved the lentil ravioli that was soaked in this delicious pork broth or something. Superb!
The only downside was that we had to wait an hour for our 7:30 reservation, but it was all good since our friends were about that late as well.

That night we were walking the streets of the Hill looking to get dinner somewhere that catches our eye.
Mac spotted Artusi’s outside patio and I was reluctant in the beginning as we were headed towards a sushi place closer to 15^th. We decided to got a table on the patio and I am so glad I gave in!
Our waitress was fantastic. When she left after telling us the specials we got into a conversation about how she’s probably a writer or a college level professor in her day life.
Their cocktails were delicious, on a smaller side, low in alcohol and pricey at $ 11,12 per glass. Sashay Away was my favorite: sweet, but refreshing. I would stick with wine for dinner, and have cocktails just by themselves next time I am here.
We got the Roasted Hazelnuts for starters– they were a great snack– more on a sweeter side. Again I would maybe get them again when I am there just for drinks.
Their bread was amazing. Rustic and crunchy, European style ans served with good quality citrus olive oil. I am glad our main dishes came as we would probably get another loaf.
Onto the pastas: Mac got the special: I believe they were gnocchi with salmon filling in them served with a creamy sauce. So delicious, but my dish was just slightly tastier: Cavatelli with chanterelle ragu & parmigiano. It was so tasty with marinated mushrooms flavors and saltiness of cheese with really good amount of chanterelles… I love that you can order a small portion of their pastas too. That was definitely enough for me on that evening as I wasn’t too hungry. I would probably get a small pasta dish instead of an appetizer if I am getting an entrée next time I am here.
Surprise: when I went to look for bathrooms I noticed buzzing and classy restaurant attached to Artusi on the other side. When I asked our waitress about it she said that they have the same owner, but separate kitchens etc. When she dropped off their menus with the name printed on it I was so excited to find out that this was the famous Spinasse! I’ve heard all about it, now I saw it and I can’t wait to try it too.
Also I would change my dining plans for Artusi again, anytime.

This spot has been on our list for a while and we finally tried it out this past Thursday. The boy and I took a friend and her husband here when they were in town and we had a delicious and memorable experience. Admittedly, this may not be the best place for big groups, but if you make reservations you could request to sit at the back table that’s pretty isolated and could fit 6 people comfortably — probably a few more if you want to get cozy.
We did the $ 45 tasting menu which came with a ton of variety. I love, love, love tasting menus and Artusi’s was especially satisfying. It’s a secret menu, so you have no idea what you’re getting when you sign up — this aspect was particularly appealing to me.
We set off on our adventure without a road map, but I felt like we were in good hands. The staff is warm and welcoming, the waitress is a friend of mine and the chef came out and talked to us for a few minutes to discuss a few food allergies and dietary restrictions. I always love meeting the chef at a restaurant because it gives the food a face in a not creepy way. The first stop on our journey included roasted hazelnuts with controne chile (sadly I couldn’t partake), Columbia City Bakery filone with Casina olive oil, the Salami della sera, Cloud Cap with apricot mostarda, Ewe calf to be kidding me blue and Whipped La Tur with Amaro stewed currants. One of the most delicious cheeses I’ve ever had was the whipped La Tur… So. Perfectly. Creamy.
Next stop, Chilled Melon soul passato with balsamico. I’d never thought melon could taste so good in a savory dish. I personally don’t love melon, but this was a great palate cleanser.
And then it was on to a chilled calamari salad with lovage, fennel, and orange vinaigrette and Chicories with corn, tomatoes, marinated tuna and anchovy vinaigrette. Two things that I wouldn’t have ordered if I saw them on the menu, but they were both supremely yummy! I always worry that calamari will be chewy (gross!), but this dish was delightfully refreshing. The chicories were also surprisingly flavorful.
The experience wouldn’t be complete without a pasta course, which included tagliatelle with ragu, cherry tomatoes, and basil and a braised beef ravioli with sage and brown butter. The ravioli may have been the best ravioli I have ever eaten. There aren’t words to describe the happiness I experienced when these delectable morsels of yumminess were in my mouth. My mouth is watering just thinking about them as I type this.
We thought the meal was over and felt completely satisfied when out came a pan seared skirt steak with avocado and gorgonzola purée, with balsamico and roasted chicken with tomatoes and cherry bomb peppers stuffed with Andouille sausage. The purée was the star and it paired well with the steak. The chicken was beautifully cooked and everyone loved the tomatoes and the cherry bombs.
Dessert was a beautiful last stop on our journey, it was light and flavorful and sheer perfection. A goat cheese mousse with nectarines and rhubarb granita along with rasberries and fig. The texture of the mousse and the flavors of the rhubarb and the nectarines… the nectarines! Dessert made me almost as happy as the beef ravioli and was a fabulous end to a beautiful evening.
A word about beverages — their cocktails are well made, but expect them to be on the strong side. They have quite a few delicious wine offerings, but not many beer options. Good news, they’re able to suggest pairings that go well with your food.
All in all, I’m a huge fan and would definitely go back and try the tasting menu again. Their sister restaurant Spinasse — who they share a kitchen with, is also on our list for upcoming special occasions, especially after this wonderful meal.