Restaurant Reviews

3 Squares

Touchstone Bakery at 501-A N 36th St. is a great, quick stop for breakfast, especially if it's your feet carrying you thither to work. At the walk-up window, you can choose from an array of breakfast pastries--we like the breakfast savory, a whole wheat pie stuffed with onions and mushrooms. Drip coffee is also available.

Open weekdays and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Wednesday.

Lunch in Wallingford

Ai, 1608 N 45th St, is a cozy little Japanese restaurant and sushi bar in the heart of Wallingford. It's open for lunch and dinner everyday. Ai offers a wide selection of sushi and sashimi including 20 different seagoing species from Hamachi (yellow tail) to Tobiko (flying fish roe).
If your food must be cooked, try the Tempura, Teriyaki or Yaksoba and other noodle dishes. We got our tempura to go and brought it back to the office. Prices are reasonable: the $6.90 take-out special is more than enough for lunch. A Sushi combo is $7.95, Chicken with pan fried soba noodles is $5.55.

Open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Dinner Downtown Cheap

In a sea of change, it's a happy fact that one old stalwart remains in business. Our relationship with this eatery extends back to the early days of the Reagan era, when family forays from ye olde trailer in the Kent woods to the bright lights of the big city ended with a meal at The Old Spaghetti Factory. The old brick warehouse at 2801 Elliott Avenue, across Alaskan Way from Pier 70, houses one of the few restaurants downtown that puts out the welcome mat for families: reasonable prices in a kid-friendly environment and lots of food. The package special includes salad, your choice of pasta (for those inclined to sample the menu, you also have the option of trying two or three pasta dishes), pop, coffee and ICE CREAM! Spumoni is the house flavor. Try the Spaghetti and Meat Sauce or the Cheese and Spinach Ravioli. Expect to pay around $7.95 for an adult dinner; items on the Kids Menu are $3.25.

Open Monday through Friday from 11:30 am. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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