By Matt Dowell

Mint & Martini, a new restaurant replacing Barrio on 12th Ave, aims to open by the middle of May. They’re bringing modern Indian and Indochinese cuisine to the big space.

Beyond the food, they want to make a fun place for people to hang out that fits the Capitol Hill scene.

“We’ll have a bar. It won’t be just your typical Indian restaurant,” the ownership tells CHS. ”We want people to come and sit at the bar, have drinks, chat, and do happy hours.”

The bar will feature a variety of cocktails and mocktails, including seasonal drinks “resonating with the Indian summer.”

Its hoped for arrival this spring will also represent one of the less heralded paths to joining the Capitol Hill food and drink scene. Mint & Martini’s ownership is not only coming to a new neighborhood. It is leaping to a new region of the country and a new city with hopes based on price per square foot and demographic opportunity.

As CHS reported in January, this isn’t the group’s first Mint & Martini. They opened a location last year outside of St. Louis, where they also own Red Chili Indian Cuisine & Bar. The St. Louis spot offers Indian-Italian fusion, like the Tikka Vikka pizza, “which substitutes the classic pizza red sauce for a spiced tomato- and cream-based sauce that adds a sweet and earthy touch”, according to one reviewer.

But Capitol Hill’s Mint & Martini won’t borrow much from St. Louis beyond the name.

“We’re keeping the name because it resonates with the ambiance [we want].”

The menu here will be more polished with a few items brought over that fit with the area. You’ll have to wait until next month’s opening for specifics!

Barrio, an upscale Mexican restaurant, closed after 16 years last August. Its arrival in 2008 was part of the early rumbles that grew into a boom in Pike/Pine food and drink driven by a surge in mixed-use redevelopment of the neighborhood.

(Image: Mint and Martini)

The massive 4,500-square-foot restaurant on the street level of the Trace North apartment building was listed for sale last summer for nearly $400,000 in a deal that would include monthly lease terms of $11,764 monthly rent plus $4,709 a month in building expenses.

A more modest listing of $95,000 followed. Mint & Martini won the bidding for the “turnkey restaurant and bar.”

Now they are getting ready to do business on Capitol Hill.

Mint & Martini will be part of a diverse set of new openings this year. CHS reported here on the ebb and flow of restaurants and bars in the neighborhood as we tallied 27 happy hellos and 18 sad goodbyes in 2024 Capitol Hill food and drink. Some of the most prominent shutterings have been gearing up for 2025 reopenings including Fire Tacos & Cantina set to expand from West Seattle in the former Coastal Kitchen space on 15th Ave E. The sprawling multi-level E Pine complex where Mezcaleria Oaxaca shuttered last year is also being readied for new life with HoneyHole and Agua Verde sibling Cantina Del Sol.

Demographics are a big part of the sales pitch

As for similar openings here, there have been more than a few restaurateurs over the years who have come to the Hill for fresh starts. Expansions across the continent? Few if any of those for a non-big chain player like Mint & Martini. More local expansion from far flung locations like Bellevue and Redmond are more common. One of the longest running examples has been Regent’s expansion to Capitol Hill after the popular Chinese restaurant and bakery added a location at 14th and Pine in 2012. The Capitol Hill Regent has been dark for months, many a CHS reader has noted. It appears Regent ownership remains part of the neighborhood and is preparing a new concept for the corner.

As Mint & Martini prepares to join fellow Trace North businesses Katsu Burger and newcomer La Cha-Bliss Wines, they hope folks are excited for what’s coming. They imagine a place where all are welcome “to gather and have a good time” in a place that blends right into Capitol Hill.

“[We’ve] been in Seattle for a long time, seen how it’s grown culture-wise, survived COVID time, coming out strong with more population.”

“[We] just like this area and wanted to be here.”

Mint & Martini will open soon at 1420 12th Ave. Check out the St. Louis location’s social media for a hint of what’s to come.

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