absolutely the BEST place to dine & also contribute to the betterment of homeless people food is definitely above average quality & prices are reasonable facility is great for a downtown lunch spot (i haven't gone there for dinner yet), altho' the streets outside the window are not especially attractive (inside decor is clean, uncluttered & it's fun to see food being made by the chefs behind the glass) waitstaff are terrific!!! it was a pleasure being served by them/efficient & friendly totally ROCKS & they have FIELD ROAST selections for lunch please do support this restaurant - you'll not regret it. read more

Wonderful service they are providing to the community. Great food, great service and great people. Beautiful building inside and you can watch the kitchen through windows on the street. There is a lot of seating, upstairs and downstairs, but it fills up fast, even at lunch. Have a reservation anytime. Listen to all the other great reviews and get over there as soon as you can. Try to go on a guest chef night too. Very fun and delish! read more

This place is a school... so super hit or miss. Some servers are great, others forget your order entirely and bring half the table the wrong thing. Just pay attention and enter with a grain of salt handy. Prices are lower to compensate. read more

Delicious food, great service and a great cause! Love their vegetarian salads. Ordered a beet salad and was surprised to see the quantity. Their beet salad is definitely Instagram worthy and my new favorite from their menu! read more

Great prices and food with an upscale environment. I had one of the better lunch experiences there that I can remember. The staff was professional and pleasant. read more

A fantastic concept - great atmosphere, attentive service, sweet prices. Highly recommended for business lunches, dates or a bite alone after a long day walking around the city. I ordered the zucchini soup to start - creamy and good. For the main I had vegetable polenta - sunny side up which is a great option if you're torn between a lunch item and something breakfast-y. I'd definitely go back again. read more

I selected this restaurant to have lunch with my cousin whom I had not seen in 10 years. She was in Seattle for work and I wanted to bring her to a great place, not too overwhelmingly crowded with flexible service as we would be spending time talking and visiting for a while! This was perfect. Wonderful restaurant, fantastic service and great food. I can't say enough about the mission and visiting for that alone is a no brainier. The food was very good, nice sized portions and prepared well. I will be back for sure. Thank you Farestart! read more

Lunch is amazing! Super delishes for the price and great service! I would totally come here again!

This was a lot of fun for all of us as we don't get downtown very much. Everything was very professional and the prices were reasonable. Loved the fish and chips. For us, the service was perfect. We made reservations for a lunch on Tuesday and the place was packed! Our waitperson was attentive to exactly the right degree, neither intrusive nor lax. Everybody enjoyed their sandwiches and salads. Would definitely eat here again. read more

An excellent way to dine and an innovative, life changing cause. The featured chef dinners on Thursday are fun and delicious! Everyone is there to support the students and school, which lends to the warm atmosphere. Lunches there are super tasty too! Just plain good. read more

The concept alone is enough to come here. The food is good, not great. The portions were a little small but the prices very reasonable so hard to really complain. Everything we ordered was good but nothing was really great. Seafood chowder, goat cheese crostini, salmon sandwich, fish & chips, and the flat-iron steak - all 3 star food but if you factor in the price and the mission of the restaurant, it bumps it up a notch. read more

I've only been there for charity events, but I love the idea. The food is delicious, the servers were professional and the space was really nice. It felt cozy but had an open floor plan, the huge windows were also a plus. I really enjoy FareStart, now I have to make it in for a lunch! read more

I've been here for lunch and have really enjoyed their food. There is a great range for all palettes - the beet salad and salmon sandwich got lunch are at the top for me. You can do lunch here for about $10, walk in without a reservation, and usually get out in time to get back for work. Nice staff, clean restaurant, I'd definitely go back and may need to stick around for dinner sometime. Just learned about the mission too and you would never know walking in. Great job. read more

I am very pleased with my experience here. Great service, great presentation and great tasting food. The atmosphere was also very clean and relaxing. They were really busy at lunch time. The food was perfectly portioned and all very good. Had the fried tofu appetizer, the salmon sandwich with the tomato basil soup. All was very good and reasonably priced. I will definitely come back with some friends. Not only is the food great, it supports a great program. Reservations are recommended. read more

Everything about this place is wonderful-- the food, the way the business gives back to people in need, the atmosphere, etc. I had the vegetable polenta and it was delicious! I ate with a very large party and everyone was happy with their food. read more

Great food, extremely great value and supporting the development of others. I have had dinner and lunch over 60 times (Swarm Mayor) in this restaurant and not a single time I have been disappointed. Great for business meetings, always make sure to make reservations in advance. read more

food: it was guest chef night from serafina. it was a 3 course meal. a carrot soup for starters, slow cooked rib, then a cookie dessert with chocolate sauce. the carrot soup was amazing. velvety smooth with some sort of crouton or cracker ish type on top. you can really taste the carrot. the rib was alright. a little bit dry in my opinion. but the vegetables were great. the dessert was pretty lame. the caramel sauce is awesome, but the cookies were nothing special. ***4/5 service: the great thing about this place is that its full of volunteers. our server was an attorney. surprising. you can tell they dont really have much experience in food service, but they were trying their best. very good people. ***5/5 ambiance: the place is pretty big. the night we were there, it was graduation night for some of the workers. they had their ceremony and it was an emotional moment for some tables. everything is very simple though. nothing fancy, but not shabby either. ***4/5 price: for the quality of the food and the mission of the restaurant, its totally worth the money. its providing for a good cause and its good to see the volunteers helping. ***5/5 read more

The reason I was disappointed on food was that I had to order from a prix fixe lunch menu, because we were a large group. I would prefer going to somewhere else then. read more

FareStart - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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I go here for lunch all the time. It has one of the most reasonably priced menus for the downtown area, and the highest quality food (excellent consistancy as far as quality as well). Some of my favorites are the salmon ceaser - a bargain as far as price, and they always use WILD salmon, instead of the gross farmed stuff that is so bad for you. The onion rings are amazing. The Polenta with grilled vegtables is delicious. The homade soups they serve daily are always amazing. Excellent place. read more

This restaurant is awesome! Great mission and purpose. The food is delicious! I highly recommend their crab melt, which comes on an open faced Texas sized toast, with melted cheese and super generous amounts of crab. Equally delicious is their salmon that came with vegetables (forgot the name). Instead of "tipping," this place has a spot for donations on your bill. Always a great feeling knowing that you're supporting a good cause. Make a reservation for lunchtime. It gets packed. read more

Amazing food with an amazing cause. No wonder it's always packed. Definitely be coming again. If you don't want to take chances go with pork or blackened salmon sandwich. And yes, don't forget the tomato basil soup. read more

I love going to FareStart. The staff is always friendly, eager to please, and attentive, and the food has always been tasty and well-cooked. The prices are also great for a nice, sit-down experience in the core of downtown Seattle. When I first visited, I didn't know what to expect from a nonprofit restaurant, but I realized that it's totally a place that I can bring people to! I've brought friends and family and have had great experiences every time. (I'm literally addicted to their french fries.) The unexpected psychological benefit of supporting FareStart's mission with your belly is that we girls can cheat on our diets a bit without the usual guilt because it's for a good cause! read more

This is a very cool place with a great business concept. This is a non-profit restaurant serving delicious food and helping people get back on their feet. I would go there regardless of its mission but knowing its mission makes me want to enjoy it even more. Food is good or service is great prices are reasonable. Give it a shot read more

This is a lunch for a good cause. Hard to review the cuisine when the goal is so worthy. The restaurant is beautifully designed and the wait staff is courteous and professional. I ordered the Rosemary turkey on marble rye and my vegetarian daughter ordered the veggie reuben. She was unhappy with her sandwich, not enough sauerkraut and the field roasted tomato was dry, yet there was a good deal of grease dripping out of the center of the sandwich. Of course, that concerned her a great deal. I had the Rosemary Turkey sandwich and I felt there wasn't enough turkey in the sandwich to balance the strong rye and tomato-based spread. For a more through review of Farestart and their noble mission, check out our website at http://helloseattle.us read more

FareStart is such an incredible organisation. I stumbled upon them via Guest Chef Night (a Chef from UW was the guest chef) and haven't looked back ever since. From the extremely dedicated staff members to the beautiful downtown restaurant, FareStart really is the ideal non-profit to sink your teeth into. It's always incredible to volunteer and witness the graduations. This group really does change lives and it's amazing to be a tiny part of it. Thank you guys for all of your hard work and selflessness. Erika, Shareen, Chef Drew, Brittany, Joyce, and everyone else... you guys are amazing! xo read more

Just had lunch with three associates at FareStart. We had fish & chips, grilled salmon and a chicken tarragon sandwich that were all delicious. The service was noticeably attentive and very friendly and the delivery was fast for a lunch time meal. read more

I love the whole concept of helping people bettering their lives and getting to eat really good food at the same time. I had their famous tomato soup and it was absolutely delicious (no wonder it is famous). Their beet salad was also yummers. To top it off, I had the creme brulee -- heavenly! The atmosphere is light and simple (tasteful), and the wait staff is super friendly. Definitely a restaurant I will go back to over and over. :) read more

Just happened to walk by this place while visiting Seattle and decided to give it a try for lunch. If you don't know, this restaurant helps homeless and near-homeless people to learn applicable job skills by working in the restaurant. I don't know if our server was part of the program or not, but she was pretty unfriendly and quiet. (and I don't expect very much at all) I ordered the Founder's Field Roast sandwich, which was really, really good. It came with beer-battered french fries, which were also awesome. My wife ordered the autumn field vegetable salad (something like that), and it was a disappointment. The root vegetables were undercooked and cold, some to the point of being inedible. Also, the root vegetables were surrounded by tons of frisee, the ugly step-child of the salad world. So, one awesome dish, one bad dish and so-so service, but I'm giving this place 4 stars for their mission and the quality of my meal. read more

I may be biased for reasons only known to me and a select few, but this place is GREAT. Great food, great service, great atmosphere, great price. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. read more

I have been wanting to go here for so long, but I don't work close enough to go for lunch on a workday and it looks like their Thursday night dinners don't offer vegan options. I finally made it in for lunch. I had the founder's vegan sandwich and it was delicious. It was pretty simple -- a fieldroast pattie with tomoato and mustard, but I thought the mustard and bread were both very good, and all the flavors and textures went well together. And both of their soups were vegan, so I was able to have soup, too. The carrot-ginger was yummy. My friend had a turkey sandwich with fries that she really enjoyed. The atmosphere was nice, the service was good, and the food was yummy. I would love to go back, but I'm guessing it will be a long time before I can make it again. read more

Went to lunch early with the kids. Aside from being a great program and an important lesson for my kids, it was a fantastic meal, all around. The greens with the steak frites were perfect. My vegetarian "field roast" sandwich was great. Everything was fresh and nicely prepared. read more

The only thing I find good about this place is their mission and service to the community. The several times I've been here for lunch has been mediocre food and pretty lousy service. I keep going because it's close to work and not terrible. If there were better sit down options around, I'd start going there. read more

i have yet to eat here for lunch or dinner but i have been the guest chef there 3 times and i allways love it. its a great thing they do training people to start out in kitchens. i have worked with a few graduates over the years too and its awesome to see the true results of the program. they allways have a great rotation of chefs and they sell out pretty quick. please go often for dinner or lunch and support them. read more

Great food, good service and a wonderful concept. I will be going back myself and would recommend this lunch spot.

First, the food is amazing and very well priced. Second, the cause and training this place provides is is outstanding. Every time I come here the rotating menu has something new and fresh, it's always cooked with innovative and fun ways. read more

I love this place so much I had my wedding there! Everything about it is beyond wonderful. The veggie rueben sandwich is one of the best meals I have ever ate and there service in unmatched both on levels of friendliness but also on attention to each patrons likes/dislikes. Anyone I know who comes to Seattle I say must eat lunch here at some point. read more

My wife and i were pressed for time-had to pick up grandchild.The staff were very understanding and found us a table within minutes. The food was fantastic i didnt know what to expect.The service was outstanding. First time there and i know well be back. read more

I have just started a new thing, lunch out together with my husband once a week. We started with Farestart. I love the fact that we can eat out and feel a bit self rightous about it. It didn't even require sacrifice, only pleasure! The atmosphere was open and reasonably sophisticated. I had the vegeterian fare and husband the blackend salmon sandwich. My sandwich was excellent and the appitizer was fantastic. My husband was disappointed with the sandwich but loved the salmon itself. I nibbled on his fries and we both thought those were great. I suppose I shouldn't be too self rightious - extra time on the elipitical trainer tonight. Ciao, H read more

Great place for a bite to eat whilst walking around downtown. Fast service with plenty of seating.

Great concept - solid food. Worth putting in the lunch rotation if you work nearby. Great Tomato Basil Soup & Salmon Sandwich.