Top 5 Restaurants in Spokane, WA

by Haydn Halsted

Looking for a new place to eat out or maybe just driving through Spokane and need a place to stop. We are talking about my top five favorite places to eat that maybe you don't know about. Or if you type in a Google search on where to eat in Spokane, these ones might not pop up, but they're still certain seriously amazing places to eat. So stick around, check it out. We have everything from fancy food to just quick stops.

Let's see if we can introduce you to something new and exciting. Today we're talking about amazing restaurants that I eat at all the time and I think are super awesome but don't get enough credit.

1. Gilded Unicorn

The first restaurant we have is the Gilded Unicorn. The Gilded Unicorn is located at the corner of Monroe and first, just across the street from the Fox Theater or down the street from the downpours. It's right in Central downtown. If you're going to go see the symphony or concert at the Knitting Factory, it's a great spot because you're right there next to a lot of the concert venues. I'd say this one is more for your date night or upscale, but you're looking to try something new rather than the traditional, like Clinker, Daggers, Churchill's, Wild Sage, something like that.

The ones that people tend to go to for those fancy date nights. This one will kind of spice it up a little bit. It has a really unique menu and it's in a really cool space. So the Gilded Unicorn is easy and hard to find at the same time because basically there's no storefront. It's in the basement of the building, actually, but there's a big painted sign on the side of the building that says Gilded Unicorn. Points down, you head in the door, head downstairs. And what's really cool is kind of with the name, you're down in what feels like the basement of a castle or something. You're in a fold tavern. You got rock walls, big chandeliers. It feels super like you're eating in the Night's Round Table or something like that.

It's just like it's a very cool space and just being down below, but the ceilings are super high, so it's like a very deep basement, so super unique atmosphere, and I think that's part of the experience as well. This is one of Adam Hagsted's restaurants. He's a super well known chef in the area who's opened quite a few super successful restaurants. And so this is one of his more upscale ones. But let's just read through the menu a little bit here because they have some super interesting items that you can order.

So it goes anywhere from salmon cakes to truffle and reggiano popcorn to start we got fancy Chicago boards. Devil on Horseback is bacon wrapped dates with crushed almonds and an orange glaze. It's also the way the menu is laid out is like a story. Almost like you're going into a fairy tale of fantasy or something. So your appetizers are your introduction. Your prologue is like your salad or like a small bowl of soup or something that you're going to start with. The story is your entree and the end is your dessert. Some of these entrees, they're super meaty, they are super hardy like you're at you were a hard working night, something like that. King, I guess is another way you're a king and you're eating very hardy and stuff like that. So you're not going to walk away. It's not one of those places where you go out for an upscale nice dinner and you walk away hungry because the portions are so small. You're going to leave here full and satisfied.

I'm really concerned about my price per square foot on the food that I order. So if the price is high, I do expect a decent amount of food for me to feel happy about what I got. So in terms of entrees, they've got pan roasted pork chop, tater tot casserole that has brisket and roasted wild mushrooms in it with a sherry cream sauce. Those are both amazing. The unicorn mac and cheese, I had that. It was amazing.

They have rice cakes topped with crispy fried duck. So very unique menu, not something that you're going to come across anywhere else. But I think it's super fun that you get to go down into a restaurant that feels very themed of being back in the nights and shining armor era. I think it's very fun to just feel like you're going down to an old tavern where you might run into an English king or queen somewhere you're having a hearty meal. But it's very upscale, very nice, and just much more unique experience than some of your classic fancy dinner nights out here in Spokane. Would highly recommend on your next date night out for something as a change of pace.

Address: Montvale Hotel, 110 S Monroe St, Spokane, WA
Phone: (509) 309-3698
Website: CLICK HERE

2. Wisconsinburger

Very next one is for those people just looking for a great burger. I feel like people are always looking for the best burger in Spokane. And we have a lot of really good burgers, especially on the faster side. We have Dick's hamburgers on spray and then Delicious is another one. Zip has great hamburgers. So fast food local, fast food wise, Spokane does have amazing burgers. But if you're looking for more of a sit down one, the best one that I think I found is Wisconsin Burger.

So Wisconsin burger is actually over in the Perry district. And so it's actually really convenient if you're swinging through town and you just want to jump off the freeway and grab something very easy access to it. But seriously, these burgers are insane in the name Wisconsin. They involve cheese curds and a lot of things. And so they have a burger that is stacked with cheese curds on it. They can get cheese curds as an appetizer as well, plus get the burger with cheese curds on it. Wisconsin Burger also has 80 canned beers, basically, plus ten taps. So they have just a huge grocery store style refrigerator that you can pick the canned beer from, or they have a handful on tap. So there's tons of overwhelming amount of selection for beer. But tons of super fun burgers ones that I highly recommend, the one with the cheese curds on it.

And then the German town is seriously so good because it's a butterflied half house bratwurst and then sharp cheddar cheese, house made beer, mustard, sauerkraut, and on a pretzel bun. So it is totally your Bavarian dream. But they have other burgers that are vegetarian. They have like four vegetarian options. They make housemade sausages. So you can get an awesome Bratwurst style hot dog type thing if you're not feeling a hamburger. And it's just a cool atmosphere. So it's a great little neighborhood, doesn't see a lot of people, so sometimes there is a little bit of a weight, but it's totally worth it, and you will gorge yourself if you go there. So I think Wisconsin Burger is the best burger that I have found here in Spokane.

Address: 916 S Hatch St, Spokane, WA
Phone: (509) 241-3083
Website: CLICK HERE

3. Elliott's Urban Kitchen

All right, the third restaurant is for those people looking for a new brunch. Or, I mean, you can go for lunch in there as well. But we're going to speak specifically about brunch at Elliott's in Urban Kitchen. So Elliott is up on North Monroe and kind of the North Monroe district. Super eclectic, fun atmosphere, just a wide open restaurant with some booth seating, but also some longer farmhouse style tables that you might end up sharing a table with somebody. But that's kind of the vibe of the restaurant is community getting to know other people. And so it's very cool. On Sunday brunch, they usually have a musician there just sitting in the restaurant playing guitar and singing, and I just think their menu is super awesome.

So the insider secret on Elliott and Urban Kitchen is that they not only have biscuits and gravy, but they just called B and G's, which is super good. The biscuits are amazing, but they also have a pork green chili biscuits and gravy. It's kind of like you got your traditional one, and then you kind of got this southwestern fun variation. But local secret only. The best way to order this is to go 50/50. So it's not an option on the menu, but just say, I want the B and G's 50/50, get the A on top. Seriously, it sounds so weird, but it's so good.

They have so much other super good stuff. Omelets, espinola, amazing steak and eggs, shrimp, omelette, veggie omelets, veggie Benedicts, all that kind of stuff. So I think it's super awesome, super fresh ingredients. The owner is a super sweet lady that is just really supportive of the community, has come out to see my bands perform before. And so she's just yeah, she's awesome. So hit up Elliot's in Urban Kitchen just north of downtown for your next brunch stop.

Address: 916 S Hatch St, Spokane, WA
Phone: (509) 241-3083
Facebook: CLICK HERE

4. Soulful Soups

The next one is somebody looking for a quick lunch break. They might be in downtown, they might be swinging through downtown, and they just need something quick, easy, and satisfying. And that would be Soulful Soups. Soulful Soups is on Howard north Howard downtown, not far from really anything down there, not far from the davenport, not far from the River Park Square, the mall downtown, just a tiny little hole in the wall that has some seriously bomb soup. And not to knock the soup at all, but just the beer bread is where it's at. That's the good stuff. So you just walk in there's like usually eight to ten soup options, just pick one and then they'll serve it with a salad.

Or you can get the bread, you can get both, whatever you want, but it's always super satisfying. The beer cheese soup. Again, maybe there's a theme here. I enjoy food. I enjoy satisfying, fulfilling food. And the beer cheese soup is definitely one of those things. So it's the bread in that it's seriously amazing. But you can get it to go if you're in a rush, but you can sit in and just kind of enjoy the little busyness of that block downtown. I think it's an awesome atmosphere, great vibes, and just another super, I think, hole in the wall that has been in Spokane for a really long time.

But just, again, if you're googling this type of stuff, where should I grab lunch in Spokane? it doesn't pop up as much, so definitely check it out and go get some soup.

Address: 916 S Hatch St, Spokane, WA
Phone: (509) 241-3083
Website: CLICK HERE

5. Conchinito Taqueria

Our last category is for just kind of the general one. I mean, it's our taco burrito category because, because that's a very important category here in Spokane. But this could be for lunch, for dinner.

There's a lot of taco burrito options in Spokane, but we're going to assume that you're either swinging through downtown, you're driving through Spokane, or somewhere else. You just want to stop in really quick. And so we're going to focus on our downtown core and what I would say for something that is super fresh or local is Cochinito. Again, Cochinito is super centrally located just a couple of blocks from the Downpour Hotel, right next to the bus plaza. And they are relatively new to Spokane.

It's been around a few years, but the tacos and the ingredients are so fresh and so good. And most recently I had them catered at an event and so they brought the whole buffet style spread and it was like, especially when you have those large portions, it's not their best, but man, it was like seriously, it was so good. People were amazed they even brought to our catered. It was just a catered lunch. They brought octopus, like ceviche and everything.

So they have a super fresh, unique menu. It's not like your heavy burrito Mexican food. It's going to be a light fresh taco that you're going to have a few different variations that you can pick from. Grab a great mixed drink while you're there. They have awesome margarita, stuff like that.

And even looking here to my point, their slogan is local and responsibly sourced ingredients prepared with fine dining techniques, all served in a casual atmosphere along with craft cocktails, thoughtfully selected surveys, as I don't know how to say that in spirits. Like I said, it's a casual fun environment, but amazing chefs in the kitchen making super unique entrees tacos, all that kind of stuff. Just a slight look at the taco list. They have octopus and papas, bravas taco. So when you walk in there, you're going to get a taco that just kicks some serious butt. So I think they're awesome.

Address: 916 S Hatch St, Spokane, WA
Phone: (509) 241-3083
Website: CLICK HERE

Notable Mention

One thing bonus category that I wanted to mention is dessert. And this is somewhere that I think Spokane is struggling right now, dessert wise. And so they're nothing fancy, nothing like that. But if you're just swinging through, I would either go to Zips and get one of the best milkshakes ever. My personal favorite is the huckleberry milkshake where at the bottom is like literally lined with like two inches of huckleberries. There's hundreds of huckleberries in each shake. It's crazy. I think they lose money on every single one because huckleberries are so expensive. And if you have some time, head up to the the top of Rocket or Top of the South Hill and get how I pronounce it, Nanaimo Bar, because these little chocolate bars of goodness are I don't even know how to describe it, but they're so good. You can find them in some other places around town and other grocery stores. But I know that you can go up to the Rocket market off of 47th, and get that there and stuff in because they're really cool little local grocery store and stuff as well.