From Plateau to Place of Gathering
How Issaquah’s coal town past and Sammamish’s plateau roots shaped the way Amarone thinks about gathering.
Long before Issaquah’s hills filled with homes and the lights of the Highlands glowed against the Cascades, this valley went by another name: Gilman. It was a coal town built on grit, timber, and the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor reliance that keeps people close when the work is hard and the nights are long. Just over the ridge, the Sammamish Plateau was still mostly open land — stands of trees, family plots, small farms, and dirt roads that turned to story once the sun went down.
Over time, the trains left, the mines quieted, and the plateau began to fill in. Roads climbed the hill. Neighborhoods followed. What used to be distance started to feel like community. The people here kept the most important part: they stayed connected. They gathered.
That’s one of the things we love most about where we are. Amarone sits in a place that was shaped by work, migration, and memory — Issaquah, Sammamish, the Highlands. We’re surrounded every night by couples meeting after a long day, friends catching up after a hike, families celebrating something quiet but meaningful. It feels modern, yes. But it also feels old in the best possible way.
When guests tell us, “We didn’t want to drive into Bellevue or Seattle tonight — we wanted somewhere here,” we understand exactly what they mean. They’re not just looking for dinner. They’re looking for a place that feels like theirs. A place where the room is warm, the wine is familiar, and someone already knows which dish they’ll probably order.
The Plateau has changed. Issaquah has changed. Sammamish has changed. But the instinct to sit down together — to mark a small moment with a beautiful meal — hasn’t gone anywhere. If anything, it’s become the heart of this community.
So when we say we’re a neighborhood Italian restaurant, we don’t just mean “nearby.” We mean we believe in the same thing this area was built on: people showing up for each other. Coal town to trail town. Plateau to gathering place. Work to welcome.
At Amarone, every table tells a piece of the story of this place — and we’re honored to be part of yours.