Archipelago

Best place to dine and relax

First time dining at Archipelago. It was quite the exceptional experience and unexpectedly educational. While I enjoy and have experienced many tasting menu experiences over the years, I can't think of many that eclipse this one. One part upscale filipino dining, one part immersion in warm filipino culture, and another part an omage to filipino history related to the PNW. Very creative dishes with flavors rooted in traditional filipino fare. Impeccable service and an unusual level of engagement with the team really sets this experience apart. Located in a cozy space, the atmosphere while very open, felt intimate at the same time. I was initially turned off by plexiglass seperating the kitchen from the patrons sitting at the counter, however after understanding the role the historical pictures hanging from the plexiglass played in telling the story throughout the evening, it became less obstructive. That being said, the plexiglass is the only thing I would change. The restaurant only seats 12. 8 at the counter and then a single 4-top table. I highly recommend. Very pricey, but worth it for a special dinner.

I wouldn't so much describe Archipelago as a restaurant, because it's much more like culinary storytelling. The nights' menus are a unique appreciation of Filipino heritage and foods, through the lens of the Pacific Northwest. The unassuming storefront gives way to an intimate interior where you can't help but engage with those joining you for the seating. The staff were delightful and attentive, and the bites surprising (and filling! The team's thoughtfulness shines through even in the way they ensure that you leave satisfied). If it sounds like I'm fawning over Archipelago, it's because I am and it's well-deserved. This was our first dining adventure in two years and it was well worth the wait. A thank you to Aaron, Amber, and their team for making it a wonderfully memorable evening.

The passion of the team at Archipelago is obvious and I really appreciated the attention to detail. They make it a point to feel like you're at home with them, go out of their way to provide a good experience, and care very deeply about sharing their cultural identity through a shared food experience. The presentation of each course is inarguably the most thoughtful of any restaurant I've been to in the PNW. My palette didn't seem to be a match for the flavor profiles of some courses though, unfortunately. I totally get caring about people but the fact that a business still has plexiglass barriers and takes your temperature at this stage of the pandemic doesn't seem to be based on reasonable science, screams wokeism, and doesn't really resonate with me at all.

Really beautiful dining experience. The food was amazing and the people are even more amazing! Definitely recommend this place!

Creative, original, and fun. Small and intimate experience. The wine pairing is almost 100% natural wine/skin contact white so if that’s not your jam just order a glass of whatever you prefer!

Wonderful experience full of amazing food, intriguing stories, and a great staff! Well worth a visit for any occasion

Incredible dining experience! The food was inventive without being unapproachable. We really felt like we were welcomed into the family and understood the purpose behind each dish. Menu is seasonal and super local. Worth the investment. Reservations required.

This is not a regular restaurant. They do Philipino tasting menus and only take online reservations. They open on certain days of the week and serve only two dinner seatings on those nights. The food is interesting and tasty. However, the portion is on the petite side, so if you're hungry going in, you probably won't feel full coming out. The chef and staffs are friendly and very attentive. As the tasting menu goes, it's more about the experience, the stories, the influences, and the inspirations on the food.

Archipelago might be the best restaurant in Seattle, full stop. Definitely a high-end meal, the tasting course functions as an experience in addition to the meal. Throughout the modern takes on Filipino dishes, you learn about the history of Filipino immigration in Seattle, and the lives of said immigrants. I liked most of the dishes, the only one I wasn't a fan of was the bread course, though I don't like mushrooms to begin with, so it was already facing an uphill battle. The juice pairing was also unique and excellent, and overall I was very impressed with Archipelago.

What a unique experience! Definitely one of our Seattle Trip’s highlights! We’ve never experienced Filipino food like this - fancy, decorative, delightful, complex, creative. Highly inspired menu with homemade juices and select wine pairings. Well worth the cost and the reservation waitlist. We would do it again this weekend if they had reservation openings.

Archipelago's team is undeniably talented—particularly the head chef, Aaron—and the splash they've been able to make with such an exclusive restaurant (only ~24 seatings available per day) is impressive. I dined at Archipelago during winter and found much to appreciate, particularly the atmosphere and service. I told the the team I couldn't handle spicy food, and they made me a "mild" version of one of their magnificent juices. They're very kind, and very devoted to customer experience. I have no doubt that the restaurant will continue to evolve and improve. With all that said, I found the restaurant to be slightly rough around the edges in a few dimensions, particularly for the prices they charge. I understand that they want to pay their team a living wage and work mainly with small, local farms, all of which is wonderful, but I'm guessing that the high prices are partly (mostly?) the result of the exclusivity of the meals rather than the ethics of their supply chain. You pay for the intimacy, which is a key element of the restaurant's ethos—it's fine dining reimagined as a community (read: familial) activity, with everyone crowded around a kitchen island. (One dish even came with "seconds"--a terrific idea.) While I enjoyed this, I felt that more of the cost could have wound up on my tastebuds, so to speak. None of the dishes were outright duds but some were aggressively unmemorable. (Others, I must hasten to add, were incredibly delicious.) This culinary inconsistency was mirrored by the restaurant's politics. In addition to being a restaurant, Archipelago wants to be a concept—throughout the evening you hear speeches and see pictures related to the Filipino experience in the US (with emphasis on the Pacific Northwest). These stories were often fascinating, but were just as often only tangentially related to the food. Some, in fact, seemed to be intentionally opaque—almost academic. An example: a particularly weak connection was made between the history of condensed milk in the Philippines and Alex Tizon's excellent article "My Family's Slave"—Tizon's family immigrated to the US in the same year that the Carnation company started exporting dairy products to Asia. Aside from this chronological coincidence, there is no further relationship between these ideas, which are plenty rich on their own. I was left wondering why they were reachingly juxtaposed. Curiously over-intellectualized moments such as these distracted from the staff's generosity of spirit and the down-to-earth nature of the dishes. The phrase that comes to mind in summary is, tellingly, an academic cliché: Archipelago is not afraid to "problematize" its menu. It is strange to find oneself attempting to suss out the delicate politics of the immigrant experience while eating a comfort food...but perhaps this somewhat alienating "work" is part of the point, especially for white patrons. I have nothing but respect for this, but I hope that with time the execution becomes more elegant, and seams in the craft don't show quite as readily. On the whole, I was grateful for the opportunity to see what this very promising group is up to.

The most incredible dining experience that I've ever had, far superior to many Michelin star restaurants I've dined at. The food was incredible and the the narrative around each dish was illuminating. I learned so much about Filipino culture & Washington over the course of the meal. The team was so friendly, I felt like I was dining in someone's home. The tailor made dish was such a nice touch...there is nothing worse than leaving a many course meal having eaten so much you feel ill. Lucky to live 10 minutes up the street, we'll definitely be back.

Fantastic experience all around.

Hands down one of my favorite dining experiences in Seattle. Their team obviously puts a lot of heart, love, and history to their food and you really feel that during your visit. We learned so much about Maria Orosa and the invention of banana ketchup (I still don’t why Seattle bars haven’t caught on Jufran yet). Such a memorable evening, can’t wait to go back again in the future and taste what their team has cooked up!