If you’re in Woodinville for vacation or a wine-tasting getaway, you’ll have several wonderful restaurants to choose from for your meals! Take a look at seven of our favorite local restaurants!
I can’t recommend Purple Cafe highly enough! Their restaurants (they have one in downtown Seattle, one in Bellevue and this Woodinville location) are elegant, the food’s delicious, the wine list extremely well curated, servers prompt and knowledgeable. Their Woodinville restaurant in the Hollywood District is open for lunch at 11 am weekdays; breakfast/brunch at 10 am on weekends. (Check out their amazing brunch menu here, and brunch reservations are highly recommended). They serve lunch and dinner, and we also like to pop in for appetizers in between wine tastings nearby. (Their Happy Hour is 3 pm to 6 pm Monday through Thursday). This restaurant can be both a fancy date night place, a business meeting lunch venue, a ladies who lunch spot, a birthday dinner destination, and also a place you’ll find locals dining on weeknights.
One thing that makes Purple Cafe Woodinville stand out is their wine flights (and mimosa flights on weekends). Their carefully curated wine flights let you taste four different wines, all with a little card for each glass so you can read more about what you’re sipping.
The lunch and dinner menus are quite broad (by that I mean anybody you bring will find something they like). I’ve never had a problem getting them to alter a dish to make it vegetarian for me or vegan for my sister. You’ll find a larger selection of lunchtime starters/appetizers elsewhere, but the ones they serve are amazingly delicious (and their dinner menu features more appetizer choices). Purple Cafe’s lunch and dinner menus feature salads, soups (usually a vegetarian one for sure every time), hipster toasts, sandwiches, pastas, a burger and a vegan burger, a cassoulet, meatloaf, steak and fish entrees, and a nice selection of desserts.
While this restaurant is a bit fancy for kids, they do cater to family-friendly meals with their kids menu: Noodles, a PB&J sandwich, chicken strips, grilled cheese and mac and cheese, and a cheese pizza. (Their root beer float is a big hit with my nephews). Check out their dinner menu for their vegetarian-friendly Wine Country Experience prix fixe menu.
The Commons shares owners with Purple Cafe. It’s a vibrant, bustling place that’s very kid friendly inside and dog friendly on the patio. You’ll find baked goods, fancy coffees and teas, cocktails, wine and a bit of beer. Pop outside to enjoy their year-round fire pit, or cozy up inside for breakfast (served until 3 pm every day!) lunch, afternoon snacks and dinner. (I order their fried pickle chips almost every time I come here!)
My boyfriend and I love to walk from our home down the Tolt Pipeline Trail to breakfast at The Commons (and then Uber back home!) You’ll rub elbows with both tourists and locals here, with plenty of people-watching here in the heart of Woodinville Wine Country. (Take a look at their weekend brunch menu here).
Vegans will have one or two things they can order here (avocado toast and the Impossible Burger for example) and vegetarians do just fine. Not sure how gluten-free people fare – let me know in the comments below?
Besides breakfast items, the menu features soups and salads, a few snacks, sandwiches, burgers, fish and chips, tacos, chicken and beef entrees. There are only a couple of desserts, but several milkshakes (and boy are they good!) Your non-drinking friend or designated driver will find a large menu of fun and interesting non-alcoholic beverages. Happy Hour at The Commons runs between 3 pm and 6 pm on weekdays.
Kids are covered well here with four breakfast items, PB&J sandwich, grilled cheese, a cheese burger, a turkey sandwich, chicken strips, mac and cheese, a salad (should a child ever order that purposely, I’ll be shocked) and fish and chips. They’ll go nuts over the thick milkshakes!
Heritage Restaurant | Bar is a farm-to-table restaurant in the heart of the Hollywood District. We like to stop by their bar for Happy Hour cocktails once a week or so (3 pm to 6 pm weekdays). The menus here are highly seasonal – expect them to change it up often. Even their cocktail menu is seasonal – I love that!
On weekends, they open for brunch at 11 am (an hour later than Purple Cafe and three hours later than The Commons; but that often means Heritage is easy to get a table at as all the early birds have already breakfasted). Their lunch menu features soups, salads, sandwiches, and shareables such as their famous Heritage Hushpuppies. As a vegetarian, I do just fine here – I order a salad, their risotto, or one of their sandwiches minus the meat. There’s a Mid-Day Munchies menu with clams, oysters, fries and a charcuterie plate (plus the aforementioned hush puppies).
For dinner at Heritage, you can choose between a pork chop, steak, burger, fish and chicken entrees, and risotto for us vegetarians. (Plus soups and salads, of course). Kids can get a grilled cheese sandwich, butter noodles, chicken tenders, or a seared scallop. Their desserts are so, so good (and adorable as well). I usually can’t tear myself away from the Jar of Pie, but I’ve also enjoyed their pot de creme, cheese plate and ice creams.
Heritage features extremely friendly servers and owners, and an expansive outdoor dog-friendly patio for nice days.
At Village Wines, you can shop for wine, eat lunch or dinner, snack between tasting room forays, and listen to live music on most weekend nights. I eat lunch here at least once a week, and always have something different to order (perhaps today it will be their grilled cheese with tomato soup, or I’ll revisit the vegan burger!) They’re open for lunch at 11 am, Happy Hour from 2 pm to 6 pm (the earliest Happy hour in town that I know of), and they’re open relatively late for dinner (10 pm most weeknights; 11 pm on weekends). Bring a laptop and get some work done during Work From Village Wednesdays where local entrepreneurs gather to chat and then get work done.
Village Wines is known for their tapas and shared platters, and large variety of items you can order. Kids will love their French fries, pretzel, mac and cheese, flatbread pizzas and hot fudge sundaes. There are several appetizers, salads and sandwiches to choose from, and quite a few varieties of flatbreads. Their lunch and dinner menus are quite extensive – take a peek here. There’s a vegan burger, edamame, and lots of vegetarian options. The flatbread pizzas have a gluten-free crust available for an extra $3.
Friday and Saturday nights feature live music – check the music page for the current schedule.
Vivi Pizzeria is a popular spot where you can order pizza, pasta and fabulous salads. They have a great local wine list. Or, you can sit next door at Patterson Cellars and at Gorman Winery, indulging in wine tasting while you wait for your pizza to be cooked. You can also order Vivi Pizzeria’s food delivered to some nearby tasting rooms at the Apple Farm Village and to Good Brewing Co. nearby. Parking is really limited – you might have to park at the nearby sports fields. This is an extremely kid-friendly place – all my nieces and nephews love coming here!
I usually order the Insalata Avocado salad and one of their vegetarian wood-fired pizzas. On occasion I’ll switch it up and order their penne al pesto or gnocchi al pesto.
If you really aren’t in the mood for Italian food and pizza, they also have a buttermilk fried chicken on the menu. They can make your wood fired pizza on a gluten-free crust for $2 extra.
Be sure to stop by their gelato counter in the spring and summertime!
Bistro at Hollywood Schoolhouse has a fire pit going outside nearly year-round, and a cozy interior. If it’s a sunny day and warm enough, they’ll have those garage doors thrown open to let fresh air in. I love sitting on their patio and people watching the tourists and locals wandering past on their way to wine tasting at the nearby Maryhill Winery, Market Vineyards, Pepper Bridge/Amavi and J. Bookwalter tasting rooms.
The Bistro is open for lunch and dinner, and there’s plenty of parking usually in the large parking lot.
Their menu features shared plates and nibbles, several salads, a couple soups, steaks and short ribs, paella, a chicken pot pie, a couple of burgers, a few fish and chicken dishes to choose from, and paella.
As a vegetarian, I usually order their delicious BLTA sandwich without the bacon, their hummus plate, their addictive fries, and one of their salads minus the meat. They’re kid-friendly, and offer a kids menu with a grilled cheese sandwich, chicken strips and fries, a pepperoni and cheese flatbread, and a cheese burger.
Hollywood Tavern has a cozy fire pit outside, a patio on the side, a nice cocktail bar (if you’re tired of wine for a minute) and an inviting interior. You absolutely must try their fried pickles, and their milkshakes made with their neighbor Woodinville Whiskey Co.’s whiskey.
They’re open for lunch and dinner, won’t judge you if you just pop in for fried pickles and a cocktail in the middle of the day. Their Happy Hour is 3 pm to 6 pm Monday through Friday.
Note that they offer a Summer Music Series.
The Hollywood Tavern’s menu features lots of tempting appetizers (including sliders, fish tacos, the aforementioned fried pickles, Cajun wings and ancho chile tots); quite a few salads to choose from; a couple of soups; several meat/fish sandwiches and a veggie burger; pork ribs, steak frites, fish and chips and a brick chicken; and their legendary Beecher’s Mac and Cheese.
I haven’t peeked at their kids menu recently but can’t say this would be my first pick to bring kids for dinner. (No offense! My nephews are really picky/unadventurous eaters).
Hope you enjoyed our tour of our favorite seven Woodinville restaurants! Let me know what your favorite things to order are, in the comments area down below!
-Carrie
