Take in the charm of Pike Place Market, plus an accessible menu of Italian food that leans into local, seasonal ingredients. The Pink Door’s dining room exudes atmosphere and its windows look onto Elliott Bay, but if the weather cooperates, the shaded patio is one of the most charming outdoor spaces in town. Heads up: The restaurant only accepts dinner reservations for parties of six or fewer.

If graduation calls for a steak, Seattle’s beef game doesn’t get any better than this sleek steakhouse downtown, a sibling to Beecher’s in Pike Place Market. The Butcher’s Table has a more casual dining room on the ground floor, and a moodier, tablecloth vibe on the lower level. Steaks are impeccable (the company has its own line of beef) but the menu has tons of non-beef options, a raw bar menu, and creative salads and sides.

Immaculate Northwest seafood and endless water views await at this staple destination on Shilshole Bay. Ray’s has ample parking, great wine, plus some festive nonalcoholic drinks. Families who like to keep things low-key will dig the more casual (no reservation) café upstairs.

The bi-level dining room and adjacent covered patio mean plenty of seating options at Eric Donnelly’s seafood restaurant. And the brunch and dinner menus stand above the best in the city, capable of impressing food nerds and satiating diners who just want a steak or some pancakes already.

One of the town’s go-to Italian restaurants offers proximity to the University District and a friendly menu of pasta and secondi. The dining room has white tablecloths, but also the relaxed vibe of a neighborhood restaurant.

Ethan Stowell’s restaurants are reliable crowd-pleasers, but his spot inside the Four Seasons feels best suited to a celebration. The menu’s high-end but not stuffy, from the raw bar to seasonal salads and entrées like seared scallops or rigatoni in duck ragu. Goldfinch also has a kids menu, and a brunch or lunch in that elegant dining room feels similarly festive.

This modern Chinese restaurant specializes in large groups, with chef Danna Hwang’s menu appealing to international students showing off for visiting Chinese parents as much as it does to Midwesterners looking for a place to please grandma. Some groups gravitate more toward the egg rolls than the sesame jellyfish, but the rib eye fried rice and signature roast duck have no haters. Both locations are enormous, making reservations easy to come by, and the downtown one is conveniently located inside the Sheraton Grand Hotel.

Seattle lives on Vietnamese cuisine and seeks comfort in bowls of pho. Unfortunately, most banh mi shops are ill-equipped to host a celebratory meal. With its Seattle-fancy ambience—bare tables, but sleek and elegant—Monsoon is another story. Familiar flavors come packaged into more refined versions, allowing grilled beef wrapped in lá lốt leaves, drunken (local) chicken, and green papaya salad to share tables with Washington’s finest chardonnays and cabernets.

Few places allow small groups to book private rooms, and that Maneki does is only about the third best reason to nab a reservation for one of the cozy tatami rooms at this 122-year-old Japanese restaurant. The first being the genuinely warm, welcoming service, followed by the huge menu of homestyle dishes, plus the specials posted on the walls. Teriyaki beef, broiled chicken wings, tempura, and thick udon noodles keep crowds happy, while anyone looking for a taste of local seafood will find it in stir-fried geoduck, the region’s giant clam.

The impeccable vibes at Harry’s, the consummate hip neighborhood restaurant, will absolutely convince any dubious visitors that Seattle is the coolest place on earth, and its just-crispy french fries entice across generations. Which makes it the perfect place to introduce family to some of the Northwest’s seasonal ingredients in extremely accessible forms: Oregon bay shrimp dip, halibut fish sticks, and pork with morel mushrooms. Note that with reservations for groups of seven or more, Harry’s requires a pre-arranged three-course family-style menu.

Chef Nathan Lockwood gained fame for his three-hour, $175 Northwest-influenced Italian meals at Altura. But he also recognized that sometimes folks need something a bit more casual. Enter Carrello, which offers tastes of the region in dishes like asparagus-nettle ravioli and roasted halibut, along with family favorites like handmade pasta with meaty ragu and short ribs over crispy polenta.