Paseo is a chain ofCaribbeansandwich shops based inSeattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1994 and went bankrupt in 2014 before being revived under new ownership the following year. The restaurant has four locations inKing County.
The first Paseo was opened inFremont in 1994 by Lorenzo Lorenzo, a Cuban-born chef.[1][2] The early menu included $6–$7.50 dinner plates as well as sandwiches with chicken, pork, and prawn that cost up to $5.50.[2] A second location, in a pink building facingShilshole Bay in westernBallard, opened in August 2008.[3][4] Both restaurants were cash-only and primarily servedtakeout with limited seating for customers;[3] Paseo also drew long lines that extended out of the building on most weekends.[5][6] The restaurant also closed annually for a "winter break" in late December.[7][8] Paseo ranked fifth on review websiteYelp's highest-rated restaurants list in 2014 and began opening on Sundays.[9][10]
In September 2014, four former workers filed a civil suit against Lorenzo and the restaurant that accused them ofwage theft and "racially motivated mistreatment", which Paseo denied.[11] Both locations abruptly closed on November 11, 2014, citing "unfortunate circumstances" that were unrelated to the lawsuit according to an employee.[12] Upon its closure, Paseo was trending locally onTwitter, fans of the restaurant left flowers and held acandlelight vigil,[7][13] and several publications posted eulogies for the restaurant.[14][15] The following day, Paseo filed for bankruptcy with more than $30,000 in listed debts; several employees also contacted local alt-weekly newspaperThe Stranger to deny the lawsuit's claims.[16][17] AKickstarter campaign was started by fans of the restaurant and raised $40,000 within its first week, but funds were withdrawn by backers following comments by former Paseo employees that disapproved of the attempt.[18][19]
In December 2014, local entrepreneur Ryan Santwire won a federal court auction for the Paseo name and assets and announced plans to revive the restaurant. The $91,000 bid did not include the original recipes following an objection from Lorenzo;[7] instead, Santwire and several former Paseo employees recreated the recipes throughreverse engineering.[20][21] The Fremont location reopened on January 8, 2015, and had 50 customers within the first 30 minutes.[22][23] The restaurant retained much of its former staff and suppliers, but began acceptingcredit cards.[15][24] Lorenzo's sons opened their own Ballard sandwich shop, namedUn Bien,[25] in June 2015 using the original restaurant's recipes and former staff.[6][26] Un Bien later opened a second location in the former Shilshole Bay location for Paseo a year later.[27]
Exterior of the SoDo restaurant, 2023
A second Paseo location opened inSoDo on July 28, 2016, at a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) space leased fromChris R. Hansen, who had acquired the site for apotential basketball arena.[28] Planning for the location began in September 2015 but its opening was delayed due to several issues, including the building losing power due to vandalism.[29] The larger restaurant includes more seating space, alcoholic beverages, androasted corn.[28][30] In 2019, Paseo offered its sandwiches and roasted corn at nearbyT-Mobile Park duringSeattle Mariners games.[31] The SoDo location was temporarily converted into adrive-in theater with movie screenings during theCOVID-19 pandemic while continuing to offer catering.[32]
A location onCapitol Hill adjacent toNeumos opened in February 2017,[1][33] but closed nine months later and was replaced by aBok a Bok fried chicken shop.[34] Paseo later opened a branch at theMicrosoft Redmond campus and a full-sized store inIssaquah in August 2022.[35] Several customers camped overnight while waiting for the Issaquah location to open. Paseo has announced plans to expand toFederal Way orTacoma by 2023 and other suburban cities in the future.[36]
In 2010,TLC seriesBest Food Ever ranked Paseo's Cuban Roast as the second-best sandwich in the United States.[37] However, the same year, bloggerGeraldine DeRuiter listed Paseo as the top entry of her "Over-Hyped List: Seattle Restaurant Edition".[38]
In 2015,Seattle Magazine called the reopened Paseo's flagship sandwich "unquestionably overrated", and that the original's "[wasn't] ever as good as people used to say that it was."[15]
^Vermillion, Allecia (February 27, 2017)."Paseo Opens on Capitol Hill".Seattle Met.Archived from the original on November 24, 2022. RetrievedNovember 24, 2022.
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