Spinasse

Verdict

Book Spinasse if you want one of Seattle's most consistent Italian kitchens with a wine program serious enough to carry the evening. Ranked #64 on Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list for 2025 (up from #100 in 2023), this Capitol Hill restaurant has built a track record over several years that few Italian spots in the Pacific Northwest can match. It's not a splurge destination in the mold of Canlis, but it delivers more depth and focus than most of its price tier. Reservations are easy to secure, making it a reliable choice when you want a well-executed dinner without the booking stress.

The Restaurant

Spinasse sits at 1531 14th Ave in Capitol Hill, Seattle's most food-forward neighborhood. The kitchen runs under chef Stuart Lane and has maintained a steady upward trajectory on the OAD rankings for three consecutive years, a signal that the cooking is consistent rather than riding a single moment of hype. The focus is Northern Italian, particularly the egg-based pastas of Piedmont — a style that rewards a kitchen willing to put in repetitive, disciplined work rather than chase novelty.

For food and wine explorers, the wine list is the second reason to come here. Northern Italian cuisine and Italian regional wine form one of the most coherent pairings in the kitchen-to-cellar relationship: Barolo and Barbaresco with braised meat, Arneis or Gavi with lighter first courses, Dolcetto as a bridge between courses. Whether Spinasse's list runs deep into Piedmontese producers or extends into other Italian regions isn't detailed in available data, but the restaurant's editorial positioning and award recognition from OAD's casual-gourmet tier strongly suggest the program is taken seriously. This is the kind of place where asking for a wine recommendation is likely to produce an actual answer rather than a generic pour. Compare that to a venue like Uncle Dom's Italian Kitchen, where the format is more casual and the wine conversation shorter. For guests who treat the bottle as part of the experience, Spinasse has more to offer.

For a fuller picture of the Italian dining options in Seattle, Café Juanita in Kirkland and Staple & Fancy Mercantile in Ballard both operate in a comparable register and are worth considering depending on your neighborhood or group preference. Internationally, the Italian format Spinasse pursues sits in the same culinary tradition as 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong and cenci in Kyoto, though those operate at a very different price and formality level.

Booking & Timing

Spinasse opens for dinner only, Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 10 pm and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 pm. There's no lunch service. Booking difficulty is rated easy, so a week's notice should be sufficient for most dates, though Friday and Saturday prime time (7:30 to 9 pm) will fill faster. If you're planning around a specific occasion, aim to book 10 to 14 days out to have full flexibility on time slot. The Capitol Hill location makes it walkable from a number of Central Seattle hotels — check our full Seattle hotels guide for options nearby. For broader Seattle planning, see our full Seattle restaurants guide, Seattle bars guide, Seattle wineries guide, and Seattle experiences guide.

Ratings & Recognition

• Google: 4.6 out of 5 (1,468 reviews)
• Opinionated About Dining Casual North America: #64 (2025), #79 (2024), #100 (2023)
• Opinionated About Dining Gourmet Casual North America: #43 (2023)
• Pearl Recommended Restaurant (2025)

The OAD trajectory is the most telling data point: three consecutive years of improvement on a list that rewards consistency over flash. For context on what that tier of recognition means across comparable American restaurants, Lazy Bear in San Francisco and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg sit at the higher end of the same circuit, while Le Bernardin in New York, Alinea in Chicago, and The French Laundry in Napa operate at a different level of formality and price entirely. Spinasse is not in that company, but it doesn't need to be. It's doing something more specific: serious Italian cooking in a casual-ish room, with the wine to support it.