Lowell's

1519 Pike Place, Seattle, WA - (206) 622-2036

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Posted By Alan Sasai on January 21, 2010 10:50 PM

Lowell's, located at Pike Place Market, is a Seattle institution serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It began as Manning's Cafeteria in the early 1900s and is still serving hearty, reasonably priced meals to both locals and tourists today. The dining area occupies three floors and offers some great views of Puget Sound and the Seattle wharf area.

We arrived just after 9:00 am on a Sunday morning for breakfast and found a line out the door of at least two dozen people. This is fairly normal, so don't be deterred. The line moves quickly to the cashier who takes everyone's orders; we were seated in less than 15 minutes. We lucked out and got first floor window seats on a clear, cool October morning.

Our food arrived shortly after helping ourselves to hot coffee. We ordered three plates: corned beef hash with scrambled eggs and hash browns; eggs and sausages with blueberry pancakes; and bacon, eggs, and hash browns with wheat toast. Our plates came straight from the kitchen and the food was piping hot, perfectly cooked and delicious. The corned beef hash was especially good, crispy on the edges and not too salty. Lowell's hash browns are nicely done as well, beautifully browned on the outside, while tender on the inside.

Lowell's is a classic, old-time restaurant where you receive consistently well-prepared food. It's located in a great setting at Pike Place Market which is a perfect place for browsing and shopping either before or after your meal.

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Posted By Patricia Beninato on September 21, 2007 3:22 PM

A trip to Seattle isn't complete without a visit to Pike Place Market, the best-known farmer's market in America. If you weave your way through the market and don't fill up on the free samples (including the aptly named Oh My God peaches), you can feast on the fresh seafood at Lowell's, a Market institution since the late 1950s.

The first and third levels are for more casual diners, either take-out or stand-up eating. The second level, if you're willing to wait--and you will--is the best Lowell's experience. Huge windows frame a spectacular view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninisula, so even if the food were lousy it would be worth a visit. Fortunately, the food at Lowell's is extremely good.

They are famous for their enormous breakfasts, but don't overlook lunch or dinner. New England-style clam chowder is served in enormous steaming mugs; sandwiches and burgers are in abundance. An order of fried calamari doesn't consist of heavy-battered rubbery circles, but rather tender strips in a light pepper-specked coating. Dungeness crab is featured prominently in several dishes. I tried the "Market Louie" salad, which normally features crab and shrimp but which I got with just crab, kind of expecting Philips's-style uniform chunks. Nope. The salad was topped with juicy, obviously fresh meat, including unmistakable claw meat. I did everything but lick my plate.

When Lowell's is busy service can suffer a little, but for an authentic Seattle eating experience it can't be beat.

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