How to Spend a Weekend in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Neighborhood

Photo By Ana Hinojosa
Photo By Ana Hinojosa

Few parts of Seattle sum up the city so well as the conveniently central Capitol Hill. Exploring the neighborhood means wandering sprawling gardens, drinking in the storied history of grunge, sampling the supreme shellfish, and visiting the Starbucks Reserve® Roastery for a unique, immersive experience in the coffee roasting process. Hidden throughout this microcosm of the city’s finest features sit tiny secret spots that subvert the idea that everybody already knows all the best places. Lucky for you, we’ve outlined them below.

While most are familiar with Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market, when Capitol Hill’s locals need to pick up seafood, meat, and more, they head to this remodeled auto shop. Inside, Taylor Shellfish, a fifth-generation shellfish farm, sells their live and cooked oysters, crabs, clams, and mussels to-go or to dig into fresh in the store. Next door, Rain Shadow Meats’ case stays full of local meat, their own charcuterie, and gourmet goodies like Seawolf bread and Mixtape pasta.

Photo Courtesy of Starbucks

Starbucks, which got its start right here in Seattle, is turning 50 this year, and there's no better way to celebrate than checking out the Starbucks Reserve® Roastery. An absolute playground for coffee lovers, this working roastery offers an immersive experience in how Starbucks sources, roasts, and crafts their beverages. The building was first built in the 1920s, and is a part of Seattle's historic "Auto Row" — an area of Capitol Hill that once housed nearly all of the city's car dealerships. This Starbucks Reserve® Roastery location is also the first one that the company ever opened, and offers a library with more than 200 titles on coffee, fresh-baked Italian fare, local Fran's Chocolates and coffee pairings, as well as coffee-inspired cocktails. (We recommend the espresso martini flight.)  Here, you can also explore the entire roasting process, learn about different brew methods, and take a deep dive on the coffee's unique origin stories.

Just south of the main part of Capitol Hill, Seattle University’s campus harbors a trove of small, fascinating places, perfect for momentary escapes from the busy streets around it. This garden, one of a few on campus, is named for taqᵂšǝblu Vi Hilbert, a local Indigenous woman who worked to preserve the Lushootseed language, and shows off native plants from the region. Signs around the garden include the names of each plant in Lushootseed and information on the culture’s relationship with them. Find another delightfully serene spot on campus at the St. Ignatius Chapel, with its award-winning design meant to capture "seven bottles of light in a stone box."

Though the top fun fact about this 27-year-old bar is that it was supposedly the last place Kurt Cobain was ever seen alive, the reality is that it remains a great place to just chill out. As one of Seattle’s classic dive bars, nothing feels quite like sitting in the shadow of the taxidermy, drinking a local beer, and feeling inadequately cool compared to everyone around you — but the beauty of this place is that nobody cares.

Photo By Jordan Nicholson

Catch a show — any show, the bookers don’t make mistakes here — at this storied midsize club. It leans indie rock, but a local rapper might alternate nights with a national act, and they all sound good from any corner of the multi-level venue. Afterwards, spill out into the streets and follow the masses to lines for any of the nearby hot dog carts serving Seattle dogs (slathered with cream cheese).

Seattle’s Xi’an Chinese food scene has erupted in the last decade, and this modern-looking shop offering traditional and re-thought versions of food from the region serves the Capitol Hill crowds. The eponymous hand-pulled biang biang noodles are obviously the star, usually tossed with “spicy and tingly beef” or cumin lamb, but they go best alongside the shop’s creative fried chicken bao.

Photo Courtesy Big Little News

While Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Company completely deserves the national praise it gets as one of the best bookstores in the country, this much less celebrated little newsstand shows off the same sort of caringly curated selection and hands-on approach. Big Little News just does so at a much smaller scale, and is entirely focused on magazines. Browse through the stunning array of specialty publications and delve into the minutiae of some subculture by plucking an intriguing issue from the shelf.

Continuing the neighborhood’s tradition as a place that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community, this bar welcomes everyone, with events and space designed for — as the name implies — its queer customers. With modern, upscale decor and tons of space, it pops with fun performances and good vibes even on off nights. Pop in for a drink whenever, or check the schedule for the chance to sing Queeraoke or catch a drag show.

Photo by AJ Ragasa

Bright colors and big flavors fill cups and cones at this plant-based ice cream shop. The creamy scoops beat any other version — with or without dairy — in town, and the cute space makes it all the more endearing. Choose from the signature gray salty caramel ash or seasonal flavors like freckled tahini fudge or mountain berry magic.