2025 promises to be a year for foodies

Bellevue's dining scene exploded in 2024, welcoming a wave of exciting new restaurants. From authentic global flavors to innovative concepts, there's something for every palate. Here's a glimpse into some of the city's most buzzworthy newcomers:

New Upscale Dining in Bellevue

La Mar Cocina Peruana Bellevue

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, Main Street 

Peruvian cuisine takes the global stage with Gaston Acurio's new La Mar Cocina Purana Bellevue. Experience Pisco based cocktails with an exploration of Cebiches and Tiradatos alongside skewers and sharable large plates as you travel through the melting pot of Peru's cultural heritage.

Itadaki Yakiniku

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, along the grand connection

For the finest in Japanese BBQ, Itadaki Yakiniku takes opulence to a whole new level with a French dining twist. Taste your way through premium Wagyu selections in an exclusive 8-course fixed menu with an interior that will be sure to impress even the pickiest of guests. The new lunch offering is also a hit, with a Wagyu burger and peanut butter Wagyu burger on the menu. 

All Thai Restaurant

Neighborhood: Bel-Red 

All Thai Restaurant brings the glitz and the glamour of vintage luxury through the Renaissance era of Thailand to Bellevue. With enchanting decor, diners are immersed in delicate chandeliers while each dish is an authentic recipe that tells the story of Thai royalty from a bygone era. 

Jocovine Bistro

Neighborhood: Main Street

Restauranteur Adrian Lopez turns up the modern elegance at Jocovine Bistro, where classy silverware, fresh flowers, and gold tables and beautiful trees fill the cozy space. From Cioppino and cherry duck for dinner to croque madame and polenta and eggs on the brunch menu, a craft beverage menu, full bar, and wine wall compliments every meal. 


New authentic Asian restaurants in Bellevue

Tendon Kohaku

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue

The nation's first Tendon Kohaku comes to Bellevue from the streets of Japan, offering the highly coveted tempura don sets, or tempura rice bowls. Topped with premium ingredients, the comfort food establishment also serves a selection of katsu, curry, mentaiko udon, and intricate desserts. From matcha parfaits to bouncy puddings shaped like a cat, this spot continues to draw a line out the door. Lucky for you, they've started to take reservations online. 

Sun Sui Wah

Neighborhood: Crossroads

Hailing from Canada, Sun Sui Wah enters the US market by way of Bellevue to bring their authentic dim sum experience, complete with the luxury banquet service. The dim sum menu is wide and varied, including staples like BBQ pork buns, crystal shrimp dumplings, and chicken feet. The banquet service provides exclusive menu items like Peking duck, fresh Abalone, roasted squab, and the whole gamut. 

DaeHo Kalbijjim

Neighborhood: Eastgate 

From the cultural heritage of Korea and the streets of San Francisco, DaeHo Kalbijjim Bellevue made its debut this year, drawing in massive lines with no sign of slowing down. The star of the menu is a hot sizzling Kalibijjim of meat stew, rice cake, and table side cheese melt experience. Perfect for big groups and foodies, DaeHo offers an authentic Korean dining experience complete with Soju and beer. 

Banaras Indian Restaurant

Neighborhood: Crossroads

For one of the most innovative new restaurant concepts, head to the most diverse neighborhood for Banaras Indian Restaurant. With a fully vegetarian menu, the cuisine hails from an ancient holy city in India. With authentic, made-from-scratch items, each dish is plated to perfection. Don't let the strip mall exterior fool you - this is a dining experience named as the #3 Best New Restaurant by USA Today 10Best.  

Bunsik

Neighborhood: Crossroads

In Korean food culture, Bunsik translates to the casual homestyle foods made from affordable ingredients. The comfort food focus here is on the prized kimbap - what some may mistake as a sushi roll, these are Korean rice rolls often made with marinated meats or fresh raw fish and pickled veggies. Pair with a hot bowl of Tteokbokki, or spicy rice cake soup, topped with cheese, tempura, and dumplings. 

Chi Chi Bellevue

Neighborhood: Factoria

Pochas are places for eating, drinking, and entertainment - a part of traditional Korean culture that has migrated to the United States. In Bellevue, Chi Chi Bellevue delivers delicious Korean pocha stables, like Korean fried chicken, cheese corn, stews, pork belly, and noodles alongside a menu of popular Korean beverages. From soju cocktails and a focus on Jinro's many different flavors to highballs and cocktail shots, this spot also gamifies the drinking experience with tablets on each table so that you can try to win a bottle from another table. 

Shanghai Dumpling King

Neighborhood: Bel-Red

Shanghainese homestyle food is all about soupy dumplings, soupy noodles, and no frills staples like fried pork chops on top a bed of fried noodles. Popularized in Canada, Shanghai Dumpling King arrives in Bellevue to serve traditional wontons, scallion noodles, and potstickers. When the reviews say that Shanghainese transplants love the nostalgia of food from back home, you know it's gonna be good. 

BORI Korean Kitchen

Neighborhood: Factoria

Korean Bossam and hot pot is a genre of sharable comfort foods that can take a long time to prepare to draw out the flavors of the meats into the broths, and are often a celebratory food with family and friends. BORI Korean Kitchen opened last year to bring rich bone broth stews, tofu soup, bimbimbap, chicken wings, and kalbi. Order the bossam to eat with your hands - it's a big plate of pork belly and pickled accoutrements like kimchi with big leafy greens. A staple in Korean households, you wrap your goods like a taco or burrito, dipped in sauce, and eaten with joy.

Chawala's Cafe

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue

Near Main Street in Downtown Bellevue, Chawala's Cafe is bringing the heat with what Bellevue's diverse local communities are calling some of the "best curries in the Seattle area." Don't let the fully vegetarian restaurant's unassuming exterior fool you - their soft paneer, Malai kofta, amritsari kulcha and chana are highlights, and the naan is perfectly crisp. Try the garlic cilantro naan and have some patience, because everything is made to order. 

Wild Wasabi Signature

Neighborhood: Downtown

With a fusion of flavors inspired by Japanese cuisine, Wild Wasabi Signature delivers a sense of elevated dining that is all about the food. With menu items like Wagyu and a show stopping Teppanyaki (sometimes known as hibachi), the live grilling dinner experience is certainly one for the books. Compliment with a wide variety of salivating appetizers and sushi rolls, such as pork belly kakuni, spicy tuna tataki, salmon wrapped scallops, yellowtail collar, and oyster panko. 

New pizza, sandwich, and burger spots in Bellevue

Tutta Bella

Neighborhood: Crossroads

A regional favorite, Tutta Bella remodeled their Bellevue location to open an Italian dining hotspot with massive pizza ovens front and center. When you enter, you'll find a specialty food boutique featuring curated wines and Italian cooking ingredients, as well as a coffee and pastry bar for early risers. The restaurant serves fresh made wood fired Neopolitan pizza, salads, and pastas. It's got a family vibe, very Italian, and very community oriented. 

Kode Pizza

Neighborhood: Downtown, Lincoln Square South

The Korean influence in Bellevue is distinct, with newcomer Kode Pizza serving a fusion of Korean flavors and Detroit-style pizza. Fast and casual, this prime lunch option offers slices for just $5, and the toppings are sure to delight. Try the spicy pork, bulgogi kimchi, corn cheese, or the supreme. Don't forget to ask for the gochujiang marinara. 

Moto Pizza

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, Bellevue Square

Detroit-style pizza is having a moment, and Moto Pizza has made it to Bellevue offering some of the most interesting flavors on a slice of pie. Served in rectangular slices inside a very Instagrammable box, the individual servings or full pies offer flavors like beef adobo, clam chowder, Dungeness crab, shrimp, and Filipino pork belly. The calamansi lime sauce that appears in some of the pies are a must try. 

Cafe Hagen

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, ground floor of the Symetra building

Specialty coffee is big in this region, and Cafe Hagen has delivered an elevated experience in Bellevue with a full suite of craft cocktails, artisanal sweet treats, and breakfast and lunch menu items with a Scandanavian spin. The inspired decor is modern and minimal, but every intricate detail is full of story. Try the Mokka flight, the brunch board, they and the prosciutto morsels. 

Shake Shack

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue

Along Bellevue Way, Shake Shack hails from its origins in New York, delivering arguably some of the best fast burgers, fries, and milkshakes known to man. After a day of perusing The Bellevue Collection, the counter service burger joint has a line of self ordering kiosks to make the dining experience fully seamless. There are also vegetarian options. 

Eat Dirt Bar

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, Lincoln Square South

If sandwiches are your jam, Eat Dirt Bar needs to be at the top of your list. From Conscious Hospitality Group, clean eating has become a cultural fusion of flavors that is anything but bland. The Rendang is made with beef rendang, sambal terasi aioli, acar pickles, and more. The Belly is made with pork belly, Maggi sauce mayo, and pickled veggies. The Prosciutto has pistachio, truffle mustard, and more. 

New places for craft beverages

The Redd Dog

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue

For a pour-it-yourself drinking experience, The Red Dogg's expansive new digs is the perfect place to taste through a hand selected rotation of local craft brews, ciders included. 

 

Tapster

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue

Swings for seats and local craft brews make Tapster Bellevue a beer-lover's haven. The pour-it-yourself beer bar offers a lively atmosphere and a large selection of tabletop games, complimented by regular trivia nights, to make it a local hangout spot. 

Club Seltzer

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, Lincoln Square South

The Pacific Northwest's first non-alcoholic seltzer bar has arrived, with a gorgeous bar and a wide selection of handcrafted fizzy beverages. Club Seltzer offers an array of hard seltzers, innovative zero-proof cocktails, and non-alcoholic mocktails in a fun, vibrant atmosphere. They're adaptogen fueled and crafted from pure, natural ingredients with fresh and real dried fruits. With a focus on fun and premium ingredients, this bar promises a refreshing take on "grabbing drinks" in Bellevue, perfect for seltzer lovers and cocktail-alternative enthusiasts alike. 

Ce La Vi

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, inside the Intercontinental Bellevue at The Avenue

Craft cocktails come alive at Ce La Vi, the new lobby bar and lounge inside the Intercontinental Bellevue at The Avenue. With elegant interiors and top notch service, the Parisian inspired bar offers sophisticated handcrafted beverages created by their award-winning in-house mixologist. Each drink tells a story and the appetizers and food selections spotlight signature ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

Hey Tea

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, in The Shops at the Bravern

Boba tea aficionados know that Hey Tea is a prized newcomer to Bellevue. Highlights include the cheese foam topping popularized in China, alongside fruity flavors like Cloud Crisp Grape made from real fruits. It's all about the ingredients and consistency here, and the quality of the boba pearls are top tier. The lines might get long, but real boba tea fans know that it'll be worth the wait. 

Story in a Bottle Wines

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue, near Main Street

The wine community in Bellevue got bigger last year, with locally-owned Story in a Bottle Wines delivering highly curated selections of wines from accomplished small producers in France and Italy. Enjoy daily samples of their favorite bottles in their wine shop every day, or check them out on Saturdays for Wine Tastings at 1:00 p.m. 

Mercurys Coffee

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue

The local mini-chain Mercurys Coffee is a beloved establishment in Seattle's Eastside. Bellevue is home to their headquarters and bakery in the Bel-Red Arts District, and they've finally opened a shop in downtown Bellevue, near the transit hub. Serving delicious specialty coffees, caffeinated mixed beverages and teas, Mercury Coffee's selection of grab-and-go pastries and sandwiches are not to be missed. 

don't yell at me

Neighborhood: Downtown Bellevue

From the streets of Taipei to downtown Bellevue, Don't Yell At Me celebrates the tradition of daily tea time with a focus on quality and slow crafting. Taste the old Taiwanese master formula with over 40 years of heritage along Bellevue's grand connection walkway, where their elegant tea shack serves four seasons of green tea. Enjoy flavors like winter melon and chrysanthemum, grapefruit and lychee, kumquat and osmanthus.