12 Best Restaurants in The Olympic Peninsula and Washington Coast, Washington

Look to this easygoing, art-filled restaurant for inventive, locally sourced, and mostly organic dishes, including pizzas from the wood-fired oven with creative toppings like pesto, truffled goat cheese, and pickled onions. The menu's sustainably harvested seafood selections highlight whatever is in season and also get the wood-fire treatment. Even the bacon-wrapped meat loaf features local grass-fed beef, along with buttermilk mashed potatoes and greens.

In an uncluttered, light-filled storefront space in Uptown, this hip neighborhood bistro opened by a husband-wife team with experience at some of New York City's and Seattle's top restaurants turns out some of the most flavorful locavore-driven cuisine on the peninsula. You might start with sunchoke soup with chives and truffle oil, before graduating to rabbit lasagna with sofrito and mustard greens, or seared scallops with romesco, cauliflower, and Meyer lemon.

A tiny gem set in a weathered-shingle cottage within walking distance of the beach, MyCovio's is one of the few dining options on the upper portion of the Long Beach Peninsula, and it's well worth the drive for sublime pastas and other Italian-inspired fare. The cioppino swimming with local seafood is stellar, as is spaghetti with matsutake mushrooms and slow-roasted seasonal vegetables. Next door, the owners run a cute waffle shack that's open for breakfast and lunch.

The name means renewed or revived, and much of the material—wood, metal, and glass—inside this cosmopolitan downtown restaurant has been repurposed, creating rustic yet refined space in which Edison bulbs and blown-glass floats mix with steel cables and timber beans. The kitchen focuses on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients in flavorful dishes like crispy duck confit with pork belly and white bean cassoulet and wild chanterelles, and rye-crusted steelhead with fondant potatoes and smoked beets. Regional wines complement the excellent food.

From Westport, it's a scenic 20-mile drive down the coast to reach the much-buzzed-about eatery that is inside the historic and offbeat Tokeland Hotel and run by young restaurateurs who had operated the original Wandering Goose in Seattle before relocating here in 2018. Folks come from all over to sample the fluffy scratch-made biscuits and Japanese-style oyakodon omelets (eggs with chicken), but dinner is the star attraction—and duck confit slow-simmered for six hours is the most celebrated dish. In addition to a thoughtfully curated wine and cocktail list, the restaurant has interesting nonalcoholic drinks, from natural sodas to drinking vinegars. A team of cute resident cats and dogs often amble about the dining room visiting with patrons.

With memorable views of John Wayne Marina and Sequim Bay, this is a fun place to watch boats placidly sail by while diners nibble on Dungeness crab fritters, steamed clams, bouillabaisse, cioppino, and seafood pastas. The kitchen also serves an excellent cedar-plank rib-eye steak, coffee-rubbed and served with jalapeño-garlic butter.

Painted a cheery yellow outside, this dimly lighted roadside log cabin evokes the feeling of a bygone era with its wood paneling, exposed beams, and bric-a-brac-filled dining room. Locally sourced seafood and steaks dominate the menu. Consider Dungeness crab cakes with pineapple-cranberry compote, gnocchi with wild shrimp and shellfish, or bacon-wrapped filet mignon topped with crab and a burgundy–cremini mushroom reduction.

This greenhouse-enclosed restaurant with a garden patio overlooks one of the region's oldest lavender and herb farms and features a creative, seasonally inspired menu. The specialties change often but might include lamb burgers with turmeric-pickled onions and Dijon aioli, seared pork belly with tamari-ginger sauce, and chili-seared halibut with a rhubarb-tarragon salsa. Try the house-made smoothies and shrub sodas.

Located near the tip of the Point Brown Peninsula, this stylish contemporary bistro with ample seating in a festive courtyard draws discerning diners from up and down the coast. The eclectic cuisine relies heavily on local produce and seafood and includes thin-crust pizzas, blackened ahi with seasonal veggies, and hand-cut rib-eye steaks topped with grilled wild prawns or scallops.

Most of the seats in this third-floor restaurant at the Adrift Hotel offer panoramic views of the dunes and the ocean beyond, making this a popular—though sometimes a bit crowded—place for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in summer and on weekends. It's worth persevering for a reservation, though, as the creative renditions of classic beach fare are consistently excellent, from roasted mushroom-and-chèvre crepes and sticky salted-caramel buns in the morning to roasted half chicken with smoked-honey jus and charred-broccoli pizzas with roasted squash and smoked provolone later in the day.

On the first two floors of the 1889 Elks Lodge building, this elegant restaurant specializes in deftly prepared seafood, such as sashimi-grade seared lavender-pepper ahi tuna, lemon-dill-battered cod fish-and-chips, and local clams and mussels in garlic-shallot butter. You'll also find a selection of simpler fare, including Greek lamb burgers with truffle fries and Washington apple salads. For a more casual vibe and a bird's-eye view of the main dining room, have a seat in the swank mezzanine-level lounge—it's a nice spot to enjoy dessert and a glass of port.

Set inside a whimsically decorated 1905 railroad station with plenty of vintage train memorabilia and historic photos, this romantic yet unpretentious bistro serves up sophisticated Northwestern fare with international influences. Sustainably sourced seafood figures in a number of dishes, from wild-caught calamari tossed with a Thai-style cilantro peanut sauce to razor clams sautéed in garlic and white wine and served with bucatini pasta. You'll also find some hearty grills on the "land food" section of the menu.