Bars and nightlife in Seattle
Music Makes Seattle Nights Come to LifeCocktails, beer, and great bands keep Seattle up at night. Creative bartenders incorporate the city’s favorite flavors into original drinks and breweries become de facto backyards. On any given night of the week, musicians play their hearts out at Seattle’s many venues, ranging from small stages in the corner of a neighborhood bar to storied rock venues dating back to the city’s grunge heyday.
Sleepy Seattle lacks the all-out wildness of big city nightlife, but it excels in the areas that reflect the city’s culture: a love for craftsmanship, be it of a good tune or a strong beverage. Laid-back locals tend toward turning in early, but the one thing that always brings them out in droves is music: big rock venues consistently sell out shows, small bars bring in local jazz, and any given night offers a slate of different styles. The deep appreciation for craft is especially strong when it comes to beers: Seattle is best understood through the lens of a hoppy Northwest IPA. Breweries, which often stay open throughout the day and into the night, and allow kids and dogs, are the city’s primary third space. Seattle’s bars often receive national attention for creative cocktails that show off a sense of place, favorite flavors, and local ingredients.
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Neumos
Seattle’s restaurants close early, but one snack is almost always on offer in the wee hours, usually from a cart parked outside bars and music venues: the Seattle dog. The otherwise standard hot dog receives a squiggle of cream cheese applied by caulking gun – and it’s good, especially after midnight.
Moe’s Mo’Roc’N Café rocked Seattle’s legendary early ‘90s music scene, hosting Pearl Jam, Bush, Goo Goo Dolls, and more. When it reopened in the 21st century, the new Moe’s took the name Neumos but kept the tradition of great music in the heart of Capitol Hill. The mid-size venue holds 650 people and fills up most nights of the week for local indie-rock bands, national electronic acts, and whatever other interesting musicians roll through. But it feels much smaller than that, and gives the classic Seattle music experience, especially on nights when the group on stage comes from nearby and the room fills with family, friends, and die-hard fans.
Address: 925 E Pike St
Phocific Standard Time
Even if you didn’t grow up with Viet new wave music or artichoke tea, you’ll have fun and learn enough here to feel enthusiastically nostalgic about it by the time you finish ordering.
When the second-generation owners of one of Seattle’s favorite Vietnamese noodle restaurants opened up a Downtown location, they added this fun and funky speakeasy-style bar upstairs. Everything, from décor to music feels smartly planned and just a little silly, in the best kind of way. The menu incorporates the broth from the pho downstairs into some cocktails, and flavors from the Pham sisters’ Vietnamese American childhood into others. A menu of snacks continues the theme, with pate served in sardine cans and pho in custom Cup o’ Noodles knockoffs.
Address: 1923 7th Ave (inside Pho Bac)
Cloudburst on Shilshole
More than 75% of the U.S. hop crop comes from Washington State, making it one of the only places to find a true fresh hop beer, which requires brewing within 24 hours of picking the hops. If you happen to be in town in early fall, look for the hyper-seasonal brews and their coveted grassy funk.
When one of Seattle’s pioneering breweries sold to big beer, the innovative mind behind many of its iconic ales started this small-scale brewery Downtown. But the second location, in a 100-year-old garage in the brewing hub of Ballard, epitomizes the Seattle beer scene, with kids and dogs welcome. The eight taps always include at least a few IPAs, the specialty of the city and the brewery itself, usually with witty names and always interesting, like the “Gonna Tell My Kids,” a hazy IPA that the brewery describes as smelling of candied citrus and Rainier cherry. Outside, local restaurant Plenty of Clouds parks its “Dump Truck,” serving Sichuanese and Yunnanese food.
Address: 5456 Shilshole Ave NW
Jupiter Bar
Jupiter bills itself as an art bar, owing to the giant murals, art installations, and many paintings all over. But the eclectic collection of interests and activities available in this sprawling Belltown space includes classic arcade games, live music, pinball tournaments, and a custom-designed postcard station. The drinks match the dive bar vibes, which in Seattle still means plenty of draft beer options and a bartender that mixes a decent cocktail. A counter at the front belongs to Situ Tacos, where the proprietor, a local musician herself, sells the crispy fried tacos of her Lebanese Mexican heritage.
Address: 2126 2nd Ave Suite A
Rob Roy
At first glance, this Belltown spot looks like a standard craft cocktail bar, set amid a street full of similar. But at every turn – service, drinks, even treatment of employees – it sets the standard for the city and beyond. The smart and helpful staff break any stereotypes about snobbery as they explain (when needed) and match guests to drinks such as gunpowder punch, whose spices evoke the owner’s Indian heritage, and midnight rider, which comes from the theme menu for the live music on Tuesday nights. The menu illustrations depict the style of glass to expect for each cocktail – and, in the case of the house old fashioned, the shape of the hand-carved ice.
Address: 2332 2nd Ave