All of 2026's restaurant openings on downtown Bellevue's 106th Avenue NE happened inside buildings that already stood there. No new tower opened on this stretch. The changes came from ground floors being leased again and storefronts changing hands. A few addresses did most of the work: 278 at Soma Towers, 460 at Bellevue Towers and 550 at Bellevue Connection.
Each building has followed its own pattern this year. Bellevue Connection swaps one tenant for another. Soma Towers keeps adding tenants. The restaurant space at the base of Bellevue Towers has changed concepts several times since 2010 and has a new one due in November. If you walk this block often, the building tells you more about what comes next than any single restaurant does.
Bellevue Connection: The Building That Swaps
The building at 550 106th Ave NE opened in 1999 as a movie theater. It was converted to mixed use in 2008 and used to be called Bellevue Galleria. Its street-level storefronts have turned over faster this year than anywhere else on the block.
| Suite | What changed in 2026 | When |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | Mama Xita BBQ opened, the Chinese-Korean grill chain's first U.S. location | Open by early June |
| 102 | BA Artisan Bakehouse opened | In soft opening as of Jan. 16 |
| 150 | Don't Yell at Me closed; CILO Lab opened in the same storefront | Grand opening Sept. 12–13 |
| Street level | Itadaki Yakiniku closed after opening in September 2024 | August |
| Next to the former Itadaki space | Fox & Kit, a coffee shop with an indoor playground, still planned | Status as of Aug. 14 |
The Seattle Times covered Mama Xita in June. Its menu runs 37 pages of marbled cuts and seafood that diners grill at the table. The order the paper saw at most tables was an $88 combo of five steak cuts with kimchi, banchan and seaweed soup, which can feed up to three. Next door, Visit Bellevue lists purple rice buns, a Pistachio Maritozzo and a rose croissant tart at BA Artisan Bakehouse. The bakery puts out daily samples above its display case.
CILO Lab is the most recent swap. It took over Suite 150 after Don't Yell at Me, a boba chain that opened there in 2024, closed. Downtown Bellevue Network reports that CILO Lab makes its gelato on site and rotates flavors by season. Current scoops include sea salt lemon, London Fog, Da Hong Pao and jasmine cloud. Any drink on the menu can become a float with a scoop of gelato. The shop is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and customers who park in the Bellevue Connection garage get three hours of validated parking.
In every case here, the building stayed and the tenant changed. One sweet-drink shop replaced another in the same suite, and a bakery and a grill restaurant now sit side by side in Suites 101 and 102.
Soma Towers: The Building That Adds
Soma Towers, down the street at 278 106th Ave NE, has grown in a different way. Rooster & Rice opened there on July 28. It is the Bay Area Thai chain's first location in Washington. According to the Bellevue Beacon, it became the fourth food tenant in the ground-floor Urban Mix space, alongside La Ma Tou Hot Pot, Xiao Chi Jie and TOASTED.
The menu is built on khao mun gai, poached chicken over fragrant rice with broth and sauce on the side. Prices run $8 to $17. The signature "Original" costs $16, and a Bellevue-only plate called "The Bellevue" swaps in ginger scallion sauce for the same price. The Beacon reports that co-founder Tommy Charoen built the menu around his mother's khao mun gai recipe.
That makes four food tenants in one building, which puts lunch at hot pot, khao mun gai, Xiao Chi Jie or TOASTED under one roof. At Bellevue Connection, a new tenant usually means an old one left. At Soma Towers, the 2026 arrival added a fourth choice.
460 106th Ave NE: One Corner, Many Kitchens
The restaurant space at the foot of Bellevue Towers has the longest history on the block. Downtown Bellevue Network has kept track of it:
- May 2010: Heavy Restaurant Group, the company behind Purple Café and Barrio, opens Lot No. 3, a two-story pub. Its Manhattan wins Best Cocktail in the Bellevue Downtown Association's 2011 Haute Picks.
- August 2020: Lot No. 3 closes for good, along with Purple Bellevue and Cast Iron Studios.
- December 2024: SuperKim Crab House opens as the Seattle seafood restaurant's first Eastside location, serving Thai-inspired seafood boils and clam chowder.
- May 2025: The crab house closes. A representative says the all-electric kitchen made the seafood menu hard to prepare consistently.
- May 28, 2025: The same owner reopens the space as SuperKim Khao Man Gai, serving Thai chicken and rice.
- July 27, 2025: SuperKim Khao Man Gai closes and moves to Seattle's Pioneer Square.
- November 2026: K-Cafe Dabang & Lounge is announced to open.
Lot No. 3 lasted about a decade. The next two concepts lasted about five months and about two months. The constraint that came up in the record is the all-electric kitchen and what it could produce reliably for a seafood-boil menu.
Rooster & Rice opened its khao mun gai counter at Soma Towers on July 28, 2026, one year and one day after SuperKim Khao Man Gai closed at 460. The same dish is back on 106th Avenue NE, at a different address.
What November Brings to the Corner
K-Cafe Dabang's plan for 460 looks different from anything that space has held. Downtown Bellevue Network reports the café will serve coffee and matcha during the day and turn into a more relaxed lounge later on. It will be the only K-Cafe Dabang location that serves alcohol, with cocktails alongside the coffee drinks. Part of the space can be rented by the hour for gatherings.
The menu centers on cream coffees such as the Einspänner, an espresso drink topped with a thick layer of sweet cream. There will also be yogurt lattes, bingsu with injeolmi and croffles made from croissant dough cooked in a waffle iron. K-Cafe Dabang is a sister restaurant to Wild Wasabi Signature and Wild Wasabi Sushi. Its only other location is at 3333 184th St. SW in Lynnwood, and the company describes the Bellevue concept as different from that café.
Espresso, shaved ice and waffle-iron pastry place different demands on a kitchen than seafood boils do. The plan also spreads the day across several uses: coffee in the morning, dessert in the afternoon, cocktails in the evening and private bookings in between. As of the Oct. 2 report, November is a planned opening, not a confirmed one.
Around the Corner on NE 8th Street
The Eight, an office tower near the top of this stretch, is adding food tenants too. Sabine Café & Bar, an expansion of the Ballard café, opened its Bellevue location in summer 2026. Its opening date moved from early 2026 to late June or early July, then to mid-July. Visit Bellevue describes a 3,000-square-foot room built into the tower's common areas. The all-day menu has hummus bowls, shakshuka and house-made pita, and a "Golden Hour" menu adds cocktails, natural wines and espresso martinis.
Chipotle has signed a lease for about 1,900 square feet in The Eight's plaza pavilion at NE 8th St. and 108th Ave NE, with an opening projected for late 2026. Downtown Bellevue Network reports that the existing Chipotle at 10503 NE 4th St. will stay open.
This Weekend's Detour
If you plan to cross the lake this weekend, Sound Transit has a closure scheduled. From Saturday, Oct. 17 through the end of service Sunday, Oct. 18, shuttle buses will replace 2 Line trains between South Bellevue and International District/Chinatown, running about every 10 to 15 minutes. Trains will keep running every 10 minutes between Downtown Redmond and South Bellevue. Regular 2 Line service, which has crossed Lake Washington since March 28, 2026, runs every 10 to 12 minutes on weekends until 10 p.m. under the schedule in effect since Sept. 30. If you stay on the Bellevue side, the CILO Lab garage validation still covers three hours.
Our team keeps track of downtown Bellevue's ground floors as closely as we keep track of Bainbridge's shoreline. If you want to talk about the buildings around 106th Avenue NE, or about Bellevue more broadly, contact your Island Life Concierge at the Amy McFarland Team.
