Sweetest Service in Seattle

Yeah, we know, you’re depressed. This election + November weather = extreme buzzkill.

A good meal out can bring comfort—and not just in a macaroni-and-cheese-with-Dungeness-crab-and-a-milkshake (yikes) kind of way. Service that goes out of its way to be kind and nurturing can salve the soul with almost primitive intensity, and you know it when you feel it.

Here are five places I’ve felt it lately:

• Meet the Moon: The neighborly vibe reigning in this chattering Leschi haunt is as much about the sweetness of the welcome as the fact that so many of Leschi’s neighbors are actually here, at any given moment. Doesn’t hurt that the food, pot pie to chicken Bolognese to crispy pork carnitas, defines comfort as well.
• La Teranga: Okay, right…only four tables in this teensy Columbia City Senegalese treasure. Maybe that’s why owner Mamadou Diakhate can greet, cook, take your order, prepare your food, bring it to your table—then take the time to sit down and become your best friend. This guy’s smile alone could power whole sections of Seattle’s electrical grid.
• Manolin: How the fine folks at Stone Way’s cozy seafood house sustain the loveliness of their good will in the face of these everpresent crowds takes my breath away, every time. It’s a fashionable happy hour haunt that makes you feel hugged by your grandma. Seriously.
• Brimmer and Heeltap: In addition to its extraordinary way around inventive plates of Korean fusion, and its twinkling interior, and one heckuva sweet courtyard that you won’t need right now (BECAUSE NOVEMBER)…this Ballard corner invented warm hospitality. 
• Cherry Street Coffee House: it’s uncanny how the entire fleet of baristas at every one of this local chain’s 10 locations beam out your minimum daily requirement of moderate to extreme sunshine. Pretty sure it’s the pita wraps.