One of my favorite places in Capitol Hill, maybe in all of Seattle. I love how fun and interesting the menu is, and every single bite I eat here is always exploding with flavor — even in simple dishes, like the miso soup and cabbage salad. They also have one of the best Japanese curries around, their famous area 206 curry. But what really makes this place stand out is their happy hour, it’s got to be one of the best deals in town. From $13 for a toki highball plus karaage, to $22 for the tora gozen, a sampler platter of sashimi and other goodies, to $8 cocktails! It’s just so rare to find the trifecta and Tamari Bar has it: excellent food, excellent service, and excellent prices. Oh, and the vibes are great, too. Most recently, we watched My Neighbor Totoro while chowing down, and it was perfection.
All that to say, this place is awesome. If you like Japanese food, especially izakaya-style, you’ve got to check this place out.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ryan McCarty
Desserts were quite good here! Happy hour prices were great.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Jade Duke
This is a great place to get together with friends and get a bite. HH 4:30-6pm and 9pm - close. You can choose from sushi/nigiri/sashimi, noodle and rice dishes. There are also some seasonal features and a great variety of drinks. I got the iichiko classic chu hi with yuzu and it was so freshing and well balanced - I got two lol. I also ordered the buta bao and the spicy salmon roll this time around but am looking forward to coming back for another round or few to try more things!😉 they both were really good! The seating is pretty close together so you’ll definitely be hearing multiple conversations while trying to have your own but it was very clean and the customer service was fantastic. They are so kind and tentative without being overbearing. With how busy it is I’d recommend making a reservation and setting aside at least 20 mins for parking because it’s also really hard to find in that area! Especially at dinner time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Durman Barrantes
Great place! Food was very fast!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jon A.
People here are so great and this place is my favorite date spot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kayla
Be prepared to eat everything and drink 3 highballs bc everything is perfect
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cody H
Food is varied and delicious. I loved everything we got. The menu is not extensive but it has a lot of different stuff and I felt like we had a broad variety of types of food which I loved—sushi, fried chicken, steak bites, noodles, and veggies. Preparations were interesting and high quality, but not fancy just really tasty. Definitely a fun and relaxed dining experience. The chair was not very comfortable. Upgrading the furniture just a bit seems like an easy opportunity to improve the experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Thomas Jaehnigen
We picked here for our last dinner in Seattle (vacation was soon over).
What a fun place with lots of good food.
I strongly recommend making reservations, otherwise you wait for outdoor seating. It is not protected from the elements (and yes it started raining later in the evening).
The space is very metal and cement. It's a bit noisy. But, even with the place being packed, we could hear each other when talking and did not have to raise our voices. The seats are metal and the do NOT encourage you to linger. They pinch in at the sides (the seat backs) which is not ideal. But it is an Izakaya place after all, you are not meant to linger there for hours.
Wy wife had some kind of sake slushy which she loved. I had a modified gin & tonic before switching to a pint of beer. The beer worked better with the food.
The food:
1) Fried chicken skins with yuzu - great!
2) Fried horse mackerel (I love all mackerel!) with katsu sauce - a bigger portion than I expected, and so good!
3) Pork belly bao - very good!
4) softshell crab bao ( really very good (better than the pork bao))
5) Okonomiyaki topped with gochuchang chili and mozarella (crazy good!) and also a larger portion than expected
6) Vanilla soft serve ice cream with a toki whisky caramel - fills in all the cracks.
Fun night, great food. Good pacing on the dishes. Very good service.
Recommended. Try it!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Y. Seisuke
Nice izakaya vibes modern Japanese restaurant.
This is a nice place to come with friends, order a bunch of different things, and enjoy it all family-style.
The karaage is super nice, and so were all of the fish dishes 😋
They also offer some nice nihonshu (Japanese sake) 🍶
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Tyler Johnson
Food was absolutely delicious. Exceeded expectations with reasonable prices. Atmosphere was great and food tasted authentic.
The food was amazing and the service was fantastic! When there was a disruption in our meal from someone on the street next to the patio they dealt with it professionally and courteously. I will absolutely be back in the future!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Chloe Hansen
Service was amazing, despite some disruption from the street that they could not control and handled professionally. The restaurant was cute and atmospheric and everything we ordered was fantastic. I’d come back any time!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brian Cameros
I wanted to like this place more than I did. It has a cool atmosphere and great location, but the food just doesn't justify the prices, honestly. The variety of the menu is good, but the execution is spotty. I dropped it from my favorites list.
The ice cream next door at Baiten, though...is really good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Вадим Анатольевич Грищенко (Klever)
Super!
Lydia Winn
Sashimi didn’t taste fresh but the Baos and fried chicken were excellent. The matcha crème brulee was just several layers of whipped cream in a plastic cup, but the ice cream cookie sandwich was great.
One of my favorite places in Capitol Hill, maybe in all of Seattle. I love how fun and interesting the menu is, and every single bite I eat here is always exploding with flavor — even in simple dishes, like the miso soup and cabbage salad. They also have one of the best Japanese curries around, their famous area 206 curry. But what really makes this place stand out is their happy hour, it’s got to be one of the best deals in town. From $13 for a toki highball plus karaage, to $22 for the tora gozen, a sampler platter of sashimi and other goodies, to $8 cocktails! It’s just so rare to find the trifecta and Tamari Bar has it: excellent food, excellent service, and excellent prices. Oh, and the vibes are great, too. Most recently, we watched My Neighbor Totoro while chowing down, and it was perfection.
All that to say, this place is awesome. If you like Japanese food, especially izakaya-style, you’ve got to check this place out.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Desserts were quite good here! Happy hour prices were great.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
This is a great place to get together with friends and get a bite. HH 4:30-6pm and 9pm - close. You can choose from sushi/nigiri/sashimi, noodle and rice dishes. There are also some seasonal features and a great variety of drinks. I got the iichiko classic chu hi with yuzu and it was so freshing and well balanced - I got two lol. I also ordered the buta bao and the spicy salmon roll this time around but am looking forward to coming back for another round or few to try more things!😉 they both were really good! The seating is pretty close together so you’ll definitely be hearing multiple conversations while trying to have your own but it was very clean and the customer service was fantastic. They are so kind and tentative without being overbearing. With how busy it is I’d recommend making a reservation and setting aside at least 20 mins for parking because it’s also really hard to find in that area! Especially at dinner time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great place! Food was very fast!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
People here are so great and this place is my favorite date spot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Be prepared to eat everything and drink 3 highballs bc everything is perfect
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food is varied and delicious. I loved everything we got. The menu is not extensive but it has a lot of different stuff and I felt like we had a broad variety of types of food which I loved—sushi, fried chicken, steak bites, noodles, and veggies. Preparations were interesting and high quality, but not fancy just really tasty. Definitely a fun and relaxed dining experience. The chair was not very comfortable. Upgrading the furniture just a bit seems like an easy opportunity to improve the experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
We picked here for our last dinner in Seattle (vacation was soon over).
What a fun place with lots of good food.
I strongly recommend making reservations, otherwise you wait for outdoor seating. It is not protected from the elements (and yes it started raining later in the evening).
The space is very metal and cement. It's a bit noisy. But, even with the place being packed, we could hear each other when talking and did not have to raise our voices. The seats are metal and the do NOT encourage you to linger. They pinch in at the sides (the seat backs) which is not ideal. But it is an Izakaya place after all, you are not meant to linger there for hours.
Wy wife had some kind of sake slushy which she loved. I had a modified gin & tonic before switching to a pint of beer. The beer worked better with the food.
The food:
1) Fried chicken skins with yuzu - great!
2) Fried horse mackerel (I love all mackerel!) with katsu sauce - a bigger portion than I expected, and so good!
3) Pork belly bao - very good!
4) softshell crab bao ( really very good (better than the pork bao))
5) Okonomiyaki topped with gochuchang chili and mozarella (crazy good!) and also a larger portion than expected
6) Vanilla soft serve ice cream with a toki whisky caramel - fills in all the cracks.
Fun night, great food. Good pacing on the dishes. Very good service.
Recommended. Try it!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Nice izakaya vibes modern Japanese restaurant.
This is a nice place to come with friends, order a bunch of different things, and enjoy it all family-style.
The karaage is super nice, and so were all of the fish dishes 😋
They also offer some nice nihonshu (Japanese sake) 🍶
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Food was absolutely delicious. Exceeded expectations with reasonable prices. Atmosphere was great and food tasted authentic.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
The food was amazing and the service was fantastic! When there was a disruption in our meal from someone on the street next to the patio they dealt with it professionally and courteously. I will absolutely be back in the future!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Service was amazing, despite some disruption from the street that they could not control and handled professionally. The restaurant was cute and atmospheric and everything we ordered was fantastic. I’d come back any time!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I wanted to like this place more than I did. It has a cool atmosphere and great location, but the food just doesn't justify the prices, honestly. The variety of the menu is good, but the execution is spotty. I dropped it from my favorites list.
The ice cream next door at Baiten, though...is really good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Super!
Sashimi didn’t taste fresh but the Baos and fried chicken were excellent. The matcha crème brulee was just several layers of whipped cream in a plastic cup, but the ice cream cookie sandwich was great.
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