The Room
Joe Sundberg and Aaron Williams opened Manolin on Stone Way in 2014 — a Pacific seafood dining room with a wood-fire grill at the centre and a raw bar at the front. The format is intentionally relaxed — a long bar facing the open kitchen, banquettes along the eastern wall, and the kind of warm-and-chef-driven design that small Seattle kitchens default to.
The Seattle Times review held Manolin among the year's best new restaurants in 2015. Eater Seattle has held the room on its top-twenty list every year of operation.
The Food
The raw-bar programme runs Pacific oysters, hamachi crudo, scallop ceviche. The wood-fire grill handles the seasonal Pacific seafood — coho salmon, halibut, black cod, octopus. The brunch service is one of Fremont's most-considered weekend offerings.
Cocktail programme runs Pacific-and-tropical: a working tiki-revival old-fashioned, a coconut Negroni, a yuzu Margarita. Wine programme is small but considered, weighted toward Riesling and Champagne. Service is informed and warm.
Best Occasion Fit
First Date: The bar at Manolin is one of Fremont's most-reliable first-date seats. The raw-bar opening is the natural conversation, the cocktail programme is the second move, and the wood-fire kitchen view does the conversational work.
Birthday: Birthdays at Manolin are warm, seafood-led, tropical-cocktail-friendly affairs the room handles with eleven years of practice.
Solo Dining: The bar at Manolin is one of the better Seattle solo-dining seats. The raw-bar programme, a wood-fire main, a tropical cocktail. The diner of one can settle the meal at the right pace.