Karaage Setsuna — Restaurant in Seattle

I found Karaage Setsuna as one of the dinner spots we’d want to try out while visiting Seattle. We were looking for a place to sit down for lunch in between museum visits. It was also in the area so we decided to stop in for lunch instead. We arrived at around Saturday 12:30 and it was pretty full.

To start, we had a small order of chicken karaage, which was perfect. It’s hard to find a good chicken karaage nowadays - they’re either too salty or too dry from re-frying, but not here. You could really tell it was made fresh. For my entree, I went with the loco moco (house original meatball patty with brown gravy sauce, served with rice, seasoned soft boiled egg and macaroni salad). I of course added cheese for an extra $1. The gravy was really good - I ended up dipping some of the chicken karaage in it. The patty was larger than most loco mocos I’ve had but I ate it all. The Mac salad was unique - in a good way. It’s not overly mayo-naissy like 90% of the Mac salads you’d find in Hawaii. But this one was nice and light. Plus the corn in it was a nice touch. This loco moco was better than ones I’ve had in Hawaii. I might even say it’s the best loco moco I’ve ever had! Fiancé had the Deluxe Curry (Curry rice with Chicken Karaage, Hamburger patty, soft boiled egg and vegetables). I thought the curry was good but not as good as my loco moco sauce.

My only irk was that it was a little pricey for lunch. They don’t have lunch specials on weekends so it’s dinner prices all day long. At least the portions were big enough though. Still...

March 2025 We were looking for a good place close to the Seattle Center to get lunch and found this place. The inside is a bit small and dimly lit. They have English pop songs playing in the background. There were 4-6 people booths, 2-4 people tables, and a bar by the front windows with 4 normal height stools.

There was only one staff working the front. They were quick to greet us and had us seated. They gave us a QR code on a small stand, to see the menu and also order. I'm not sure if they take orders in person, but this does cut down people costs. Note they do not take cash. The QR codes are specific to the table.

We did have to ask for water after placing our order. The staff was apologetic that they hadn't given it to us earlier. I noticed they spent quite some time talking to one of the other tables. The staff was friendly, at least.

We were pretty amazed at how big the kaarage was. Kaarage is usually bite sized pieces of meat, but these were more like 2-3 bites sized. There was minimal breading and it wasn't oily either. It was definitely dark meat, moist but not fatty. They also gave us exactly 20 pieces (we ordered the large). The kaarage was very good and we definitely recommend it.

The unagi (nigiri) sushi was good, with a generous amount of eel. The aburi charshu was served cold and was dry.

Overall, we would definitely come back for...

If you're hesitating on this spot like I did because you've had dry, sub-par karaage in the past, you played yourself. This place only uses chicken thighs and this karaage is juicy as hell for it. So tasty and well marinated. I recommend getting regular and if you're sitting down, ask for the spicy seasoning on the side (it's nanami togarashi). Takoyaki is crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and the best I've had. They have tons of sauce options too. This place makes me feel seen. Fantastic, fast, friendly service that will chat if you initiate. Great people making a great product. New favorite spot. -EDIT- 2 Months Later: Still my favorite spot. I can't bring myself to pass on the chicken or takoyaki to try their whole menu fast enough. All the sauces are good but my favorites are Onion Ponzu, Sweet Chili, Spicy Mayo, and RED (spicy miso). HM: Mango Mayo. Setsuna fries are delicious and the small is still enough to share. The White Peach drink is great! You can now get lemon pepper chicken and you can still order the seasoning on the side. I liked it! Not a fan of the Agedashi Tofu; good tofu but I may just not like straight dashi. Protect this staff and give them the love they deserve, they work so hard and do great...