'Be humble, be thankful': Seattle's oldest restaurants reveal their recipe for success

Nestled alongside the bustling parking lot of the Ballard Locks rests an unassuming tavern wrapped in a mural of pastel sea creatures. An orca gracefully spans just below a shingled roof as a mermaid's lengthy blonde tresses float alongside a bold red circle reading "World Famous Fish & Chips."

Above a cherry red English telephone booth on the sidewalk hangs a somewhat simple description for the significantly historic Lockspot Cafe: "Dine-in or take out great food, chowder, cocktails, etc."

Considering the trendy uprise of restaurants around the Ballard neighborhood, the Lockspot Cafe doesn't exactly fit in with the new kids on the block. In fact, it doesn't even have its own website.

It's a throwback to old Ballard, filled with sailors and fishermen exchanging small talk over a folded omelette and the soft steam of fresh coffee as a jukebox pumps Bob Seger through empty space.

And the cafe seems to want to keep it that way, seeing as it's one of the longest living eateries in the city of Seattle at over 100 years old. Hell, it's even hosted an episode of Deadliest Catch.

Yet, the Lockspot Cafe isn't the only trace of historic Seattle eats.

Since 1967, 13 Coins has graced the Seattle area with first dates in high backed booths and swiveling captain's chairs 24/7, 365 days a year. Pike Place Market's intimate Italian trattoria, Il Bistro, has fostered marriage proposals and anniversaries over linguini speckled with white prawns and clams since 1975. Capitol Hill's Ristorante Machiavelli celebrated over three decades of spaghetti smothered in homemade meat sauce in August.

This life span is of remarkably high regard in the restaurant world of Seattle, as openings and closing seem to speckle headlines on a weekly basis while cost of living drastically inclines and buildings frequently shift into the hands of the city's highest bidder.

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Yet, the Lockspot Cafe hasn't failed to dole out platters of cripsy fish and chips through numerous world wars, market crashes, and natural disasters. Il Bistro, 13 Coins, and Ristorante Machiavelli have not fallen to rising prices, minimum wages, downtown traffic, or parking fees.

And the simple question many restaurant owners and curious Seattleites demand an answer to is: how?

While many might anticipate a lengthy and complex response, these restaurant owners seem to think the recipe is relatively straight forward.

"When you walk into the Lockspot Cafe, it's like coming home. This is a generational place," said owner Pam Hanson, who started working at the cafe as a bartender in 1996. "There's a lot of people who have had their first dates here, who have proposed here. We even have a group of four couples who hung out here during the Korean War, and they'll be back in for lunch around Christmas."

The Lockspot Cafe is home for Hanson. So much so, that she has developed relationships so strong with her customers, she's hosted many of them in her own backyard for their weddings.

Hanson herself, of course, accepted a marriage proposal inside the cafe.

"My husband proposed to me here," she said. "His family has been getting kicked out of this place for three generations."

This deep-rooted sense of customer comfort and a familial atmosphere is equally as crucial to the owner of Ristorante Machiavelli, Suzette Jarding. She's seen the restaurant through nearly 21 years, after originally starting as a hostess just one night a week.

"We're not trying to sell that comfortable atmosphere or force it, it's just something that's developed over time and truly genuine," she said. "People who came for their first date are now bringing their children. I have three brothers who work in the kitchen, and they will always say hello to people when they're walking by, or thank you when they're walking out. It's such a simple thing to do when you're just trying to be kind to the people who walk through your door, like you would at your own home."

But for these restaurant owners, the recipe doesn't end with a family of customers gathering round the table to break bread. Rather, the sense of family and loyalty runs deep through the restaurant staff as well.

"My manager and I joke that our relationship is the longest relationship that we've had with other people, because we've been working together for 21 years and I've only been married to my husband for 13," Jarding said with a laugh. "A lot of us have been working together for at least 15 years. That's a lot of history that you share with each other, so no wonder we're all like family now."

As chefs consistently dish out traditional plates over a number of years at one particular restaurant, the consistency of quality when customers enter is, naturally, almost guaranteed. To Nick Wiltz, owner of Il Bistro for the last 15 years, this sense of loyalty is a significant advantage over new restaurants on the block.

"I have a chef that's been with me for 15 years," he said. "Having someone know your food and your restaurant for that long...it's a tremendous advantage."

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While relationships seem to take a stronghold on the longevity of many Seattle eateries, the Lockspot Cafe has a somewhat stronger rule: don't try to be trendy.

"I'm in Ballard, 'home of the trendy restaurants,'" Hanson said. "You walk into a place that's supposedly hip and trendy, but you also feel like you're there for the restaurant rather than the other way around, and that's not how I like to do things."

For Hanson, that's not how she likes to do things at all.

"Sure, you have to somewhat change with the times, but you also need to maintain your integrity," she said. "We're never going to have white linens on our tables. People are greeted with a smile no matter who they are or what they look like. We have little kids in here sitting next to senior citizens, who are also sitting next to someone tattooed and pierced. Everyone gets along, there is no judgement. You come in, set your troubles aside, and have a good time."

For Al Moscatel, owner of 13 Coins for the last 14 years, he balances a sense of authenticity with mild restaurant evolutions to mesh old and new generations in the same space.

"Of course we've developed gluten free and vegetarian options, but at our newest location in Pioneer Square, we've tried to blend both new and past experience in our space, too," he said. "The first floor is very reminiscent of our original location, but downstairs we've added some televisions to enjoy things like private events and sporting events. Both past experience and new features balance each other, and that's the beauty of 13 Coins."

For Moscatel and many others, maintaining a strong sense of originality in the restaurant world is no easy feat, but a necessity for longevity.

"I think staying true to your core in anything is tough to do, but if you know it's the right thing to do, if you have the work ethic, and if your employees, vendors, and customers can all work together, you can be successful," he said. "I think that's why we've been so lucky and fortunate."

At Il Bistro, this blend of old and new is a very careful endeavor. Change too much, and you'll lose your oldest customers. Don't change at all, and you won't find many new faces walking through the door.

"We had to be very careful because we have a lot of people who have been dining at the restaurant for a long time, and they really prefer we don't change anything," Wiltz said. "But you kind of have to, you know? If we were doing everything exactly the same way as we did in 1975, it would be a pretty old-fashioned restaurant. We have a number of signature items that we do not change, but we also made some very slight changes to the menu so that our items don't have to be modified for a vegetarian or gluten-free diet."

While dietary restrictions ironically unlock a world of culinary creativity, at Ristorante Machiavelli, they've maintained a menu that hasn't changed in over three decades.

"I just had someone email me and say 'Twenty-nine years ago I had your butternut squash lasagna, do you still sell it?' and I could tell him 'Yes, of course we do,'" Jarding said. "I hear stories like that quite often. People come in and they're kind of taken back to that time when they first had it, or that memory of the first time they came."

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Despite the success of these evergreen restaurants, they still face their fair share of adversity as the economics of the Emerald City continue to shift and sway.

"It's hard to find people that can both work and live in Seattle because it's become so expensive to live here," Jarding said. "A majority of my staff doesn't live in the downtown area anymore, I live all the way up in Edmonds, and that can definitely be an issue."

Besides the basic cost of living, Il Bistro encounters financial hardships between customer care and minimum wages.

"I was a waiter for a long time, making $2.10 an hour plus tips. It was a decent job, but it wasn't really something someone could take seriously as a profession. But minimum wage is going to go up for smaller restaurants, so now I think it's a legitimate profession where you could serve until you're 60 and make a really good income," Wiltz said. "Sometimes I wish I was back doing that because you make such a great income now, but it makes things really tough for an employer obviously, in an industry that employs so many mimimum-wage employees."

At the Lockspot Cafe, Hanson encounters similar struggles between her family of employees and the cafe's finances.

"I love my staff, and I would love to give them a million dollars a piece, but the city has been a little tough on small businesses," she said. "But, you know, this is a game of counting pennies to make your dollars, you have to be on top of things all of the time with the new regulations in a city that said it was supposed to be revenue-neutral."

Despite the trials and tribulations of the restaurant industry in Seattle, despite developing relationships with customers and staff, despite ebbs and flows between young and old, Hanson advises a stark dedication to your own business if you want long-lasting success.

"You're going to have to be married to your place," she said. "It's a lot of fun, I wouldn't do anything else, but for me, it's 24 hours a day. My phone is by my bed in case there's an emergency. I joke with my poor husband, because this is my first marriage, and he is my second. We're going on vacation for three whole days soon, it's been a year since we've been away that long."

Nick Wiltz has been in the restaurant business for 15 years, and he wouldn't even recommend opening a restaurant. Or rather, not for anyone who anticipates a glamorous lifestyle.

"If you had called me at 3 p.m. for this interview, I'd be in the middle of using a drain snake to clean out a drain in the restaurant," he said. "I could hire someone to do it, but it would cost me about $300. These are the things that have to be done, you have to become a handyman and learn how to do odd jobs like this to save money where you can. You have to be willing to work nights, weekends, and holidays. You have to be willing to get dirty."

Regardless of city politics, regardless of rules and regulations, regardless of relationships and menu adjustments, Moscatel sums up the recipe to a long-lived restaurant in the city of Seattle quite simply:

"One of my biggest models is this: keep your head down, be humble, and be thankful," he said. "I think that goes a long way in today's environment. Do the right thing, be humble, and be thankful."

At least for him, and for 13 Coins, that's worked out pretty well.