Denny’s

Good lord — about time they took out that eyesore. Historic site? Don’t make me laugh. Only in Seattle…
And yes, I have lived here my entire adult life, I don’t own a condo, and I still think that place s-​u-​c-​k-​e-​d. The only cool thing about that was their one-​time bartender Cosmo who would get you effed up for next to nothing and Brittany the scalding hot waitress.
I actually drove out to the site the other day so I could dance on its grave, so to speak.

Gone, but not forgotten. I have some good memories at this particular Denny’s, but since today marks it’s official demolition, those memories now live in my thoughts of yesteryear.
I was hoping that with achieving landmark status, the powers that be would realize that such a building couldn’t be anything but a Denny’s. Oh well, make way for yet another high rise condo complex.

A couple years ago I had the worst service here I’ve ever had at a Denny’s restaurant. I almost wrote a letter.
But I was sad when I learned of the closure and planned demolition. A Seattle landmark gone but not forgetton.
Why are they tearing this down and not the shit hole piece of crap?! Oh yeah, $$$$$Condos$$$$$: /

RIP Dennys. I miss you. I didn’t come to see you in the past 4 years or so, but I did prefer seeing you as a working restaurant than a boarded up place to post bad Michael Jackson re-​relase posters. :’(
And back in 2003 you made me the two stiffest Black Opals I’ve ever had. Bravo for that.

I miss you Ballard Denny’s, I miss you so much.

Billy Pilgrim became unstuck in time.
(Part 1):
Billy Pilgrim was in a restaurant amongst both the very young and the very old. The smells that greeted his nose were both sickly sweet and intoxicating. He would have killed for this food back in Dresden. In fact, perhaps that what he was fighting for all those minutes ago (it was of course years, but when one is stuck in time, everything gels together). Who’s to say? He ate hash browns with ham and eggs and washed it down with cup after cup of hot but unexciting coffee.
(Part 2):
Something struck Billy as vaguely familiar about his surroundings. There was a building with signs nearby indicating rooms were available to buy. It was by no means the most horrible looking building he had ever seen but neither was it the nicest. It was bland and completely unoriginal. It dawned on him this was the spot where he had been for breakfast what seemed a very short time ago. He smiled to himself remembering how satisfied he’d been after finishing his meal and how he and some other diners had shot the shit about politics and told dirty jokes about Helen Keller.
He sighed and wondered to himself how many other businesses had been dismantled and how many jobs lost or displaced thanks to such ludicrous real estate. Mostly, though, he wanted to know where people would go to be with their fellow man once the majority of the planet Earth was human living quarters.
So it goes.

Change is good, especially when it means closing a Denny’s.

Sadness… I went to hit up the Ballard Denny’s after a night of bowling madness (yes, I enjoy a bit of bowling from time to time. Although, the shoes always suck), complete with alcohol. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any water at the bowling alley for some reason — at least, not until after 1am. And since I had been actively bowling, I was starting to work up a sweat and feel the water loss.
So, we left. And we decided to go hit up Denny’s, maybe grab a bite or three while sitting and bullshitting for few hours. Me and one of the other guys were walking along (the other three that were with us had decided to go grab food at McDonald’s first) and he asked, «So, where exactly IS Denny’s?» I stopped, looked across the street, pointed and said, «Well… It WAS right there.»
I’m not saying that Denny’s (or, for that matter, Perkins, IHOP or any of the other «family style» restaurant) has great food. Granted, the «Moons Over My Hammy» was a damned good sandwich, in my honest opinion. But, all in all, Denny’s has always been cheap and, at least somewhat, tasty food.
«When deep space exploration ramps up, it’ll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks.»

Update! Yesterday afternoon, my husband and I saw a bum pee on the side of the dennys shell. Hand propping himself up on the Ron Paul graffiti. Peeing on 15^th. Hey City of Seattle, how about trying to do something positive with the people who don’t have homes and obviously have problems w/​the booze rather than selling the soul of your city to developers? Thank you very much. I’ll get off my soapbox now…
_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​— -
I never got to eat here, but I have eaten at my fair share of dennys (even one in Japan!) and I can tell you that they are all pretty much the same. Moons over my hammy…
Today, I walked by it’s rotting carcass and it smelled like cat poop. Yuck!
Plus, more condos? Really? Are there really that many people who need crappy expensive housing here?

Please note that these are stars of nostalgia… Denny’s sucks big green donkey dicks.
When I was a tender young thing of 15 I met Scot. Yeah, one T — punk rock, ain’t it? Well, he thought so anyway. He also thought that the tiny, triangularly spiked Mohawk that extended from his hairline along the top of his head was the shit. It’s name was Felix.
He was 19 — neither of our parents liked it, so we did a lot of sneaking off together. We would walk from our Discovery Park neighborhood, through the train tracks and the ka ka part of Magnolia (now with a median home price of $ 600K) over the Ballard Bridge in the middle of the night. In the summer he would steal roses for me from gardens along the way, gift me little bits of trash that he thought were special (say a super shiny piece of metal or a bottle cap), and we would share plates of fries over cups of coffee until the wee hours of the morning when we would make our way back before we were missed.
On many other occasions, we would come here with our gaggle of smelly, swearing, smoking nihilistic pals and get kicked out time and time again. Once with Christ on Parade. Remember those guys? Probably not.
Bye, bye Denny’s in Ballard. Thanks for all the fries, and the sweet memories. Ahhh — to be young and not give a fuck again. Really.
And RIP to Scot.

Make the madness stop. I’ve never been a fan of Denny’s but I’m even less of a fan of giant condo buildings.

Sadly I must report that the Ballard Denny’s is now closed. Soon to be demolished for new condos basking in the neon halo of the Walgreens across the street.
Thanks for introducing me to the idea of combining a Grand Slam with a sports lounge.

After a night of Ballard carousin’, my friends insisted we stop at Denny’s for some late night/​early morning chow. I admit… I was apprehensive, but oddly intrigued. I had not been to a Denny’s since college, but my memories of drunken buffoonery and Moon Over My Hammys were calling. Ok, the smell of this place when you walk in. not so good. Kind of smelled like a hospital, which is not what you want a place you’re going to eat in to smell like. No matter. Our young waitress was a peach. She was the only one helping a good sized crowd, and she rocked. I thought I might play it safe and order fries, but I was soon seduced by the nachos… yeah– I still can’t believe I ordered nachos at Denny’s. They were good! The chips were crisp and fresh, the cheese was perfectly melted and in good supply, and the «seasoned ground beef», i.e. taco filling, was hot and spicy. Yum.
My friend ordered a boca burger that actually looked good, and had the greenest leaf of lettuce I have ever seen on it.
So, I’m far from adding this place to my all time favorites list, but for a drunken nosh– it’s totally awesome. Next time I’m getting the Moon Over My Hammy…

Okay so… this is hard to admit… but I mostly go to this Denny’s for the drinks. Okay, okay… and the jukebox. Fine, I eat the food too… ;o)
The lounge is dark and musty, and sometimes thats just what I need. There can be a few «fruit loops» in the place, but they’re fairly easy to ignore. Sometimes the place can be totally dead, or other times the «regulars» are there and you’ll swear your in Cheers! Also, how can you not love a bar where they’ll turn up «Bohemian Rhapsody» by Queen and let you dance and sing your heart out to it… and even join in?! They serve good drinks, and if you come in enough times, the drinks only get better. I’m not sure how much longer this lounge is going to be around, so take advantage of it while you can!

I’m a native of Seattle. Well, not a native. If I were a native of Seattle, my skin would be darker, I’d have black hair and lots more of it, and my ancestors would have lived in villages along the Duwamish River and hold potlatches where the Seattle center is now (The Indians called it The Potlatch Meadows). I Was born here though and I remember Denny’s from way back. I used to go there a lot in the 1980s but stopped when I quit smoking seven years ago. The ventilation system there was (still is) terrible so back then, even though you were sitting in the non-​smoking section it didn’t make much of a difference. I started going back there after the Washington State Smoking Ban went into effect. Here’s my assessment:
The breakfast and lunch items are still pretty good like I remember but the dinner Items (At least the turkey dinner) was inferior to 20 years ago. In fact, a cheap TV dinner blew it away.
Denny’s is not a restaurant you go to if your picky about what you eat. There are much better restaurants for that. No, Denny’s is more for greasing up after clubbing or for a last minute «I’m right here and am too hungry to walk seven blocks to Vera’s»
. I only go to Denny’s for breakfast once in a blue moon. It’s not a BAD restaurant, you just have to know what to order when you go there.

Moon over my Hammy and pictures of the food so you can just point to what you want when you’re too fucked-​up to talk and… they have a cocktail lounge… so you can get so drunk you forget you’re actually eating at Denny’s!

I’m completely with everyone here. This IS the coolest Denny’s in a «been around since your grandparent’s time, hasn’t changed much, get a Grand Slam at 3 am after bowling at the Sunset Bowl» kind of way. My mom visits every summer. We go to the Ballard Locks every summer. We eat lunch at Denny’s after visiting the Ballard Locks every summer and the staff is really patient and sweet when it takes her fifteen minutes to figure out how to pay the bill that she thinks is a little high even though she has insisted on treating us all and wouldn’t hear of my taking her out to someplace like Ray’s. I love my yearly rut.

It’s Denny’s, how could you not love it? Located conveniently next to a retirement village, this Denny’s is always hoppin with the older crowd, which makes for some «oh how cute are they» and «awwwww» remarks while dining.
They do have a sports lounge, so if you want to get some sauce with your slam, you’re more than able. I wouldn’t suggest looking around too hard, as it is a Denny’s and can get a little dirty/​filled with strange people.
This ranks as my favorite Denny’s of all time though, only because I saw the COOLEST guy there. It really doesn’t get any better than a minister/​insurance man wearing a full on leisure suit, with a southern accent, dripping in gold. The entire time I ate I got to listen to him either: a. counsel his buddy on God, or b. yammer away on his cell phone to some poor woman who I’m sure was getting swindled somehow. Oh, and he was checking out the two elderly ladies wearing shorts who were sitting across the aisle from him. How cool is that?!

Probably the greatest Denny’s in the history of Denny’s. One. They serve beer. Two. It is an awesome spot for people watching, 24 hours a day. Three. It’s really fun to say «moons over my hammy» when you’re wasted.