Al’s Tavern

Favorite bar in seattle. Simple, no frills, stiff drinks, friendly bartenders, and improv bluegrass on Monday nights. Cash only, but totally worth it.

Cool dive bar, decent beer selection. Not pretentious and nice bartender always elevates a place in my book! Oh, and a really strong free Wi-​Fi signal! That’s awesome!

Update: I’m going with Brad F’s strategy to give it an anti-​rating. This bar is too good as it is; too good to be ruined by hordes of kids sullying it with their inanity. This place is as good as it gets.
It’s a neighborhood bar; lots of regulars; I-​Dream-​Of-​Genie décor; never crowded. The bartenders are cool and you can talk to them. Come in for Sunday football and they’ll probably change the channel to what you want to watch. They have a good selection of taps (incl. my running faves from Fremont Brewing Co.).
Skinny jeans, goth punk, neighborhood drunks in shorts and cross-​trainers, industry types all occupy the same space just fine here. Don’t be a douche, dig the low-​volume vibe, chill out with your amigos and you’ll probably love this place too. Oh, and bring cash. And unless you want some pickled eggs, eat before you come.

I’ve been drinking here for years. I love this place, it is my favorite bar. The bartenders are so great. Plain and simple this bar is great!

Al’s is probably my favorite bar in the ‘hood. The bartenders are friendly, cozy atmosphere, cheap dranks, close proximity to Dick’s. This place would bee heaven on earth if only they had delicious tots. I realize all of their food is prepared via toaster oven, so I’m not expecting perfection, but Al’s would be a major contender if they stepped up their tot game. For the thyme being, when I want booze & snacks, I will have to take my business to Leny’s or the Pacific Inn, where the tots reign supreme. Also, the olives here taste like they have been soaking in Windex, maybs when they clean the bar the olives are subjected to cleaning products? 1. get better tots 2. protect the olives 3. profit $$$$$$$$

Awesome bar. Loved the atmosphere and the bartender ruled. Very attentive and friendly. I like dark dive bars and this is definitely one of those. Cheap, strong drinks is just what I like and that’s just what they serve. Came here on a Saturday night and managed to find a seat just fine. We will be coming back for sure.

This place is crap. I went down there with a bunch of my frat-​boy friends and totally had a lame time. I ordered 10 PB&J shots for my brothers and the bartender rolled his eyes! If you are looking for a run-​down dump where IZOD is not appreciated, this is the place for you. If you like the awesomeness that frat-​boy bars bring, this is not the place at all. Boo! And, they only accept cash?! How primitive is that?

10pm on a Wednesday my boyfriend and our dogs head to Al’s. (I had called ahead to confirm they were indeed dog-​friendly.) Even though Al’s is right on NE 45^th, it’s easy to miss. The only sign is a sidewalk easel board.
The regulars undoubtedly like it that way. Apparently they give Al’s 1-​star reviews on Unilocal so as not to attract new clientele. It’s easy to see why the regulars are so fond of Al’s Tavern. Established in 1940, the tavern is cozy and kooky. The beers are cheap, and the hipster watching is superb!
Read my full (dog friendly Seattle) review here:

The bartenders here remember your name. It is creepy. The clientele is really invasive and talkative.

Let me be clear on this. I love this place. Might be my favorite bar in the neighborhood. The one star rating is for the good of the bar and it’s regulars.
How do you think the pain in the ass UW kids find out about places like this? Unilocal.Al’s is about 10 more 5-​star ratings from being a bar right off Fremont ave. Do you want that?
Preserve the Al’s Tavern that’s been doing its thing since 1940. Keep a great neighborhood bar great for once.

This place is a shithole and it smells weird. It’s also spacious and the bartender seems like a nice guy.
Look, this place really deserves 3 stars but from a pinball players perspective I can only give it 2 because of the way they jammed the fucking pinball machine behind some booth (see photos) and there was a broom leaning up against it (again, see photos). I don’t want to play pinball with some broom leaning against the machine.
There was a weird smell.
The only machine they have is Dr. Who and they don’t have a machine to get quarters. It seemed like a decent place (besides the smell) but not really a great place to play pinball although the machine was in good/​decent shape.

This bar is making me consider moving to Seattle.
A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I went out to Seattle for a funeral. We are both from and live in Philadelphia so one night, we decided to take the bus in the direction of downtown. About 15 minutes from our hotel, we stumbled upon this place.
From the outside we knew we were going to like it.
Al’s Tavern has the same Philly dive bar feel, except everyone is exponentially nicer.
The bartender was a sweetheart, all of the people that we met were sooo nice. What a breath of fresh air from the dickheads on the east coast.
Go here, SERIOUSLY! cheap drinks and good people.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Al’s is Seattle’s Best Dive Bar. That’s right — the best! Beer in mason jars, pool tables, friendly (not surly — like a lot of dives) bartenders. A great place to watch sporting events, when sportsfans are lining the bar. If you’re looking for a cozy neighborhood experience, Al’s is where it’s at!

Drinks are strong, clientele is delightfully grizzled and curmudgeonly, bartenders are sweethearts. I love the old mural.
Sometimes it gets a little UW-​y on a Saturday night (can’t those kids stay put?), but go there on most nights and you’ll find a decent seat and meet one or two nice old dogs that frequent the place.

Al’s is one of those places where it helps to know that it’s a dive, it’s all about the regulars, and they only take cash. If you can get over that then it can be a good for a few laughs.
I recommend going on a Tuesday for the Boozy Doodle sketch night, where big sheets of butcher paper are draped across the tables and they hand out markers and crayons to the patrons to draw with. The bartender on Tuesdays is awesome; he helped to set up the sketching nights. He was playing weird old movies on the TV the night we were there, which added to the kooky atmosphere.
Would I go back on a non-​sketch night? Not sure, but if I really have to be honest I wouldn’t order the food here, and I’d probably stick to bottled beer since when we were there the bartender had to chase down and trap a mouse running around behind the bar. Sorry Al’s Tavern fans, I know that this probably doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s one of those things that doesn’t instill faith in the general cleanliness.
Go for the cheap beer and the drawing, leave the cheap grub to Taco Time across the street.

I am in Peace Corps right now and I miss Al’s something fierce.
So unpretentious it is easy to miss the place (the signage is terrible) Al’s is a great place to have a beer in the middle of the day. It can get kinda loud on weekends, but as a weekday haunt it is unbeatable. The barstaff are super friendly and even when the crowds do come, my glass rarely runeth empty.
The regulars are great too. I am a big hairy dude, but a lot of my female friends have said they love Al’s because they know the regulars (a bunch of big hairy dudes) will take it upon themselves to eject anyone who makes someone feel uncomfortable in «their» bar.
Food choices sorta suck, but there are all sorts of options in Wallingford (taco truck is a couple blocks away).

4 stars greet you on your way in through the front door. dive bar? hipster bar? somewhere in between both, beer in mason jars, 2 pool tables, touch screen game, pinball machine, video game, juke box with an ecclectic range of tunes. i myself have been greeted only by friendly bartenders, but then again i’m not one to piss off bartenders. i love this bar, and the way it stands on it’s own, as al’s doesn’t remind me of another bar so check it out you may find you like it in all its charm.
bluegrass jams mondays
ladies night tuesdays… probobly more going on other days but i find myself there these 2 days

Als is an awesome bar. I love the mural, the bartenders and drinking out of an old jar. I usually go alone and check out the peeps. There are all types. When I do bring friends, they also think its way cool.

So I walk in. I’m meeting friends but they aren’t there yet. I walk up to the bar and wait my turn. And I wait. And I wait. The bartender repeatedly serves people who have come to the bar after me, without so much as looking at me. Finally she practically snarls at me, asking what I want. I tell her I want the porter. She asks for my ID and it takes me a minute to dig it out, which clearly puts her in so much pain that she nearly dies right there at the bar. Finally I find it, she looks at it, and then asks me what I want again. I tell her the porter. A mason jar of the stuff slams down on the counter in front of me. I offer a card and she stares at me as though I’ve just crawled out of the sludge and am growing legs right in front of her. «We don’t do CARDS here.»
One of the regulars at this point takes pity on me and points out the ATM, but I have a twenty in my pocket for once and offer that instead. I’m so flustered by her bitchiness that I actually forget to tip and only remember once I’m sitting down… but I decide I’m not too worried. (Of course, when I go for my second jar a bit later, the service is even worse.)
The atmosphere sucks. I like a good dive bar, but this place is trying a little too hard. The beer jars suck. Are they the pint size? They feel smaller.
I liked that there was a dog in the bar, but I wish that he had been pulling the taps because all dogs automatically get five stars from me.
I won’t be coming back here. Why would I when there are several places on 45^th where the bartenders know my name and actually want my business?

Friendly.
If I was in the area, this would be my go-​to bar, regardless. Somewhere between dive and swank: this bar is comfortable and not too self-​aware.
I wish the pinball was fixed, but you might rather play pool or mock-​the-​hipster.