Gander and Ryegrass
WASHINGTON | THE WEST
The Best Restaurants in Spokane: From Riverfront Breweries to Fine Dining Downtown
By Mei Chen | Oct. 23, 2025
AUTHOR BIO: Mei Chen has worked for nearly a dozen start-ups in as many years, taking her to several West Coast cities. While she’s sure her current day job is permanent, she also has her eye on Carmel.
I first came to Spokane thinking I’d find a sleepy Northwest town with good hiking and a few decent breweries. I was wrong about the sleepy part.
Somewhere between the brick warehouses converted to restaurants downtown and the scent of hops drifting from the riverfront, Spokane turned into a city that eats very well. You can still get your pint and burger, sure, but now there’s handmade pasta, natural wine bars, and chefs who know how to coax flavor out of local lentils and trout. This is a city that’s figured out who it is—and what it wants for dinner.
So after years of research (most people call this eating), here then are my favorite restaurants in Spokane right now.
Churchill’s Steakhouse
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Churchill’s is downtown Spokane’s classic white-tablecloth spot: an upstairs dining room and a downstairs lounge built around USDA Prime beef and the kind of service that knows your second martini before you ask. Chef Adam Oakes sends out serious cuts—bone-in tenderloin and a 28-ounce porterhouse—backed by Alaskan king crab, a seafood tower, and sides like Cougar Gold mac and cheese and creamed spinach, plus warm dinner rolls from the in-house bakery. Save room for the signature Chocolate Sack, a showpiece dessert that lands with the same drama as the steaks.
Best for: Big-night steaks and a celebratory bottle
De Leon’s Taco & Bar
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
De Leon’s is loud, fast, and exactly the kind of Mexican restaurant every city needs. The tortillas are made in-house, the carne asada hits with smoke and lime, and the margaritas arrive icy enough to make conversation pause for a second. It’s run by the De Leon family, who’ve been feeding Spokane long enough to know you don’t mess with tradition—you just perfect it.
Best for: Tacos, tequila, and not checking the time
The Flying Goat
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Flying Goat is the neighborhood spot you want near your house: reclaimed wood, 15 taps of local beer and thin-crust pies. Chef Darrin Gleason and team stretch dough each morning, smoke their own pork, and build artisan pizzas like the “Dalton” (honey-apple BBQ, pulled pork, coleslaw) or the “Fairview” (cream base, bacon, pears, gorgonzola). The vibe is relaxed but the kitchen is serious about flavor—perfect if your plan is craft beer + pizza + staying long enough to order dessert.
Best for: Pizza and beer that don’t feel like guilty pleasures
Gander & Ryegrass
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Gander & Ryegrass is where chef-owner Peter Froese channels Northern Italian technique into locally sourced ingredients: oysters with citrus granita, house-made pasta, and a ribeye slathered in ramp butter. The “Marathon” tasting menu of six-plus courses is an exercise in precision and patience—expect layered flavors, unexpected textures, and a meal that lasts long enough to become memorable. The room is intimate and unhurried, the kind of place where a meal stretches because it should.
Best for: Putting your night in the hands of a talented chef
Hogwash Whiskey Den
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Hogwash sits below street level in the Washington Cracker Building, a low-lit whiskey bar built for spending the night. Chef Chad White serves rich bowls of shoyu ramen, smoked pork sandwiches, and burgers. The drinks list runs deep on bourbon, but the real pleasure is the pacing—slow enough that dinner stretches into another pour before you notice.
Best for: Ramen, whiskey, and staying longer than you planned
Italia Trattoria
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Italia Trattoria became a Spokane staple after Anna Vogel and Bethe Bowman opened it in 2010. Now it's run by former sous chef Philip Stanton and his wife Helen Stanton, who’ve kept the same attention to detail. At dinner, head to the specials board or the prix fixe menu--three courses for a reasonable $60. But this remains one of the finest brunches in the city, headlined by the house-made pastries.
Best for: An always-good specials board and a can’t-miss brunch
Loren
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
On the North Bank of Riverfront Park, Loren sets up like a proper romantic night out, all sophistication and modern style, with deep purple booths and marble bar and tables. Chef Stephen Rinaldi keeps it French-inspired and unfussy: Parmesan frites with garlic and tarragon, ravioli stuffed with wild mushrooms and ricotta, and a burger slathered with espresso bacon jam. It’s the rare Spokane dining room that feels both warm and upscale, where the cocktails are spot-on and the service never misses.
Best for: A grown-up date night where the food never misses
Mizuna
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Mizuna has been anchoring downtown since 1996, a brick-walled room of soft light and clinking stemware where chef-owner Mike Jones keeps the focus on clean, seasonal cooking. There’s a full vegetarian menu alongside the omnivore one, so a table can split house-smoked trout bruschetta with dill and crème fraîche, steamed clams with pork belly, and Thai drunken-noodle tofu with shiitakes and chili-ginger without anyone feeling like a compromise. It’s the kind of place Spokane grew up with—ingredient-first plates, a serious wine list, and a carrot cake regulars won’t share.
Best for: Vegetarian options where the carnivores eat well too
Rusty Moose
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Rusty Moose sits just off Highway 2 in a lodge-style room with four fireplaces and wood-paneled walls, making it feel like dinner at a well-built hunting cabin. The menu leans into hearty American fare: bison burgers, a shepherd’s pie that could feed a family, a “Black Magic” 16-oz ribeye, and a huckleberry pulled-pork sandwich that pairs with a Moose-sized 34-oz draft. It’s relaxed enough for a laid-back dinner, loud enough for friends catching up, and solid for when you’re just outside town and want something better than typical chain steakhouse fare.
Best for: Steaks and burgers in a place that feels like a hunting trip
Vieux Carré NOLA Kitchen
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Vieux Carré feels like a portal—one minute you’re on Broadway Avenue, the next you’re in a dim, brass-lit bar that smells like fried catfish and bourbon. The kitche sends out plates that belong in the French Quarter: fried catfish under a glossy crawfish étouffée, gumbo that’s been simmering long enough to tell you its life story. The place hums with that easy New Orleans rhythm that makes you forget, for a moment, that outside it’s probably snowing.
Best for: Escaping Spokane without leaving town
The Viking
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Viking feels like the kind of bar Spokane’s been perfecting for decades—loud, wood-clad, and permanently smelling of fries and beer. The menu sticks to the hits: a ribeye-brisket burger, blue cheese fries, and a pound of wings that can feed two if anyone here were inclined to share. It’s unpretentious, reliably crowded, and exactly the kind of place you’ll end up staying for another round.
Best for: Burgers, beer, and conversation louder than the TVs
Wiley’s Downtown Bistro
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Wiley’s Downtown Bistro feels like the kind of place a chef opens when he’s cooking exactly what he wants. Michael Wiley runs the kitchen and the dining room with the same calm precision, sending out plates like prawn linguine with lemon and white wine or braised pork belly over mushroom risotto that prove Spokane can pull off comfort and finesse at once. The room is small, brick-walled, and always humming, the kind of space where the food and conversation rise at the same pace.
Best for: A downtown dinner that reminds you Spokane’s got taste
Zozo’s Sandwich House
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Zozo’s Sandwich House is the kind of place that makes lunch feel like an event instead of an errand. Owner Jennifer Hesseltine turns out sandwiches that read simple but eat like small miracles: roast pork with salsa verde, fried chicken with Calabrian mayo, roasted mushrooms stacked high with melty provolone. The vibe is fast, friendly, and quietly obsessive, the way all great sandwich shops are when someone in the back actually cares how the bread sounds when it tears.
Best for: Lunch that ruins other sandwiches for you
