The Peoples Pub

So im eating house made cheese covered spatzel with weinersnitchel. Really heart warming. Place is a bit of a dive, but worth going in with a family, not passing it by if you want German.

The food, drink and service are good… the bathrooms are disgusting. Really disgusting. If the bathrooms are a sign of the kitchen upkeep, I would rather eat from a local dump with rats. I noticed the disgusting toilets on my way out… Yuck!

Why did I ever stop going to this place? It’s amazing!!! The happy hour is now from open to 7 and 10 to close. The BLT and a load of fries for 6 bucks? Yes, please.

Great music, game was on but sound was off (yes! Everyone can watch or not!) and the server brought us a bunch of scratch paper for us to play pictionary. Great beers on tap, chill relaxed environment. A local fave!

Good beer selection, food fast, easy, and pretty well done: not exceptional but solid for what you get.
Excellent example of a dive bar, but oddly empty for 11pm on a Friday night

I arrived at 5:00 pm this evening, a Friday night. I order a drink called the Sin and Gin — the bartender informed me they were out of absinthe (an ingredient in the drink). I ordered a beer instead. An hour later my friend ordered a shot of Jim Beam. Sorry — they were out. Another suggestion — nope, out of that, too. Its a Friday night, and they were out of three types of alcohol. Pathetic. There is no excuse.

We were going to the Sunset Tavern to see a show, so we wanted to grab a bite to eat beforehand. I wanted German food, so we chose PP, which is literally .1 miles away from the venue. It was pretty good, but a little bizarre.
We UBERed over from our hotel in downtown Seattle, and we took the tiny, complimentary waters that are typically provided from the Über driver into the restaurant. After we sat down at a table, the bartender came over and yelled at us about the waters, saying there was no «outside waters,» and then confiscated them. Okay. First, it’s understandable that PP does not permit «outside waters,» but you don’t have to be a full-​throttle dick about it. Second, if I were going to smuggle booze into a bar, I would use a MUCH bigger water bottle.
The server came over to take our order, and she was less than enthusiastic. Remember Phoebe’s twin sister who was a waitress on Friends? Like that. We started with cheesy spaetzle with fried onion, and for entrees, I ordered bratwurst and my boyfriend ordered the cheeseburger. Both of our entrees came with a choice of sides, which we were not asked about. My boyfriend told the server that he wanted his burger cooked on the rarer side, and if that could not happen, he would like to change his order. I thought his request was a bit much, but I guess I can see not wanting to consume a hockey puck for dinner. Our server came back later to ask me what side I wanted (fries, duh), but she didn’t ask my boyfriend what side he wanted. He later flagged her down to tell her he wanted a salad.
At this point, you’re probably wondering why this is still a four star review. Sit tight.
The cheesy spaetzle arrived at the table right quick and oh my god, it was frakking delicious. I will eat the hell out of that again and again. It definitely kicks mac and cheese’s ass any day of the week. Then our entrees arrived. My boyfriend’s burger was cooked too done, but it was nevertheless the most bitchin’est burger I have tasted in a LONG time. It came topped with fried pickles, bacon, and cheese. Oh my god, so, so, so good. My entrée was less stellar (still good though), but my dark and stormy cocktail, which gave me a slight case of face-​melt, made me not care so much.
Overall, it’s a fun experience. Just adjust your expectations a little. PP offers Scrabble and other board games. The service is um, no frills. No «outside waters.»

three words: happy hour reuben. GO. NOW.

Came here for dinner, ordered food and a cider and then was told that they ran out of mashed potatoes at the START OF DINNERTIME! How is possible? You don’t eat a cutlet with fries, you eat it with mashed potatoes. Massive fail. And they don’t have any local cider here. I was incredibly disappointed with both things.
Biggest issue was that I opened my cider already and basically left it full on the bar because I could only have one drink and my plan was to have it with food. I was surprised the bartender didn’t give me a discount on the cider since I wouldn’t have gotten it if not for the food, and I left it full on the table. When I used to bartender I would have done that to leave things ok with the customer.

My first visit to Seattle and I drop in for a meal and drinks. I loved the atmosphere of the place so friendly, loud, and fun. The food was amazing and unbelievably delicious! The staff was very helpful and attentive!

This place is a disappointment. The drinks and food are consistently great and the prices are very reasonable (downright cheap for Seattle) but the service leaves a lot to be desired. We have visited this bar frequently and liked it enough to bring a great deal of people in, groups ranging from 4 to 20+, but the quality of service remains consistent no matter how long we have been customers or how often we come in. The bartender and server always seem to be way more interested in chatting up their friends than providing decent service. I know how divey/​neighborhood places operate and am fine with that dynamic but know better than to accept complete disdain when trying to get minimal service.
For example, after running up a big tab of food and drinks, my server took about 25 minutes to bring me a glass of water, even though there was plenty of time for her to chat up her friends and lean on the bar. Then, when we asked to split up the check 2 ways and clearly marked what was to go on what card, it was a huge deal. Luckily, she said she was willing to do it since «we were her last table of the night» and she got back to us in about 5 minutes with the new tabs and a lecture about what to do in the future. Crazy how little time it took to do something basic like split a check versus how long it took to get a glass of water.
I really really want to like this place but poor customer service seems to be a norm here rather than an exception. There are too many other good bars in the area to justify giving this place yet another chance.

Excellent grilled cheese and tomato soup. Great service. I recommend the Messy Jessie and the Scurvy Sailor from the bar. This place welcomed us in and treated us wonderfully after a bad experience at the Stoneburrner.

Love this place. Always have, always will. I’ve been coming here for nearly 10 years of happy hours, dinners and after hours adventures. Do yourself a favor and try the fried pickles. Tons of vegetarian and vegan options, and many options for meat eaters as well. The food is always fresh and tasty. Plenty of beer options and they have board games too! One thing I have always loved is that it never gets too terribly busy so you can always get a table. That can be hard to find in Ballard.
Service is always hit or miss and sometimes the food can take a long time even when it is dead in the place. When I think about it though, they have never messed up an order any of the times I have been here over the years. I’d rather have my order correct delivered by someone with a little bit of sass than a friendly server who gets it wrong. I just can’t believe after all of these years they finally painted over the graffiti in the ladies restroom! That is the only part of the place that has changed in all this time.

I love the People’s Pub. I live half a block away, and it’s my go-​to place for too-​lazy-​to-​cook nights. Grilled cheese and GREAT tomato soup in less than 15 minutes for under $ 10? Um yes. They also make a great burger and housemade potato chips. ALSO the jagerschnitzel dinner is freaking delicious, if perhaps a tad artery-​clogging.
The take-​out service is generally great (although you have to head back to the bar, usually, and get the bartender to grab your food and check). The actual service when you sit in the front and eat is, uh, lackadaisical, but if you go in with a mellow attitude about it you won’t be particularly upset.

My girlfriends and I went to the People’s Pub after a concert at the Tractor tavern. It’s the best place for late night happy hour. I’m a fan of the currywurst, fried pickles and the german potatoe salad, was addicting. We had a very nice gentleman who served us. We were getting ready to leave and he wished us a safe trip home.

Update: came in today to give this place another chance. Had a great time, and the bartender Anthony was super friendly and helpful. I’m so glad to have the peoples pub feel like it used to. Great food, great drinks, great atmosphere. Raising my review to 5 stars!!!
Old Review: Been here a couple times over the past 9 years since turning 21. Back when I had first came I loved the people a pub. The food was tasty and the staff was pretty friendly. But over the past year or so it has been awful. I keep giving it chances, hoping to have the positive experiences I used to, but it is always terrible. Once I was kicked out because the man next to me was drunk, even though we weren’t speaking to each other I was denied a drink and told to leave out of nowhere. I did not know this gentleman, and was told rudely to leave. Since then, I have received weak drinks no matter who I come with, incredibly poor service (when the staff shows up at all…) from multiple wait staff. I have been brought incorrect drinks and been snapped at when I asked to have the right drink. The general disrespect and rudeness has lost me as a customer. Its very sad.
EDIT: Since posting this review I have been reached out to by the owner, a very kind person who shared some concerns with me. If my conversation with the owner is worth anything, that’d be 5 stars right there.

Nice crispy fries and good burger… good value!

After having dinner, my girlfriend and I strolled down Ballard Ave looking for a cool bar to get some drinks. This place seemed relaxed, so we decided to check it out.
My girlfriend really loves bars with board games, so she was excited to see that People’s Pub had a ton of board games. We picked up a mancala board and played a few games.
On Saturday nights, People’s Pub has $ 4 ginger drinks (they add fresh, pureed ginger to them). I’m a big fan of Moscow Mules, so I was happy to hear about that. I was even more excited when I saw that my drink filled a pint glass. It was a decent Moscow Mule, although I expected to taste more ginger than I did (I mostly tasted citrus). For $ 4 though, you can’t really complain.
Overall, it was a fun, chill bar. I’m sure we will be back.

Wow. I’m genuinely surprised to see all of these great reviews.
Went here for happy hour with a group of 6. The value of happy hour is great, the food is average, and the service was terrible.
I got there before my friends did. I ordered a drink and some apps at the bar but some drunk guy was striking up conversation with me. Wanting to get away from him and also wanting room for my friends I started to move to a table immediately behind the bar. The bartender seemed really annoyed so I asked her if I should close out with her first. She said she didn’t know because she was «trying to get a server to come in.» I kind of stood there and said that I would do whatever she felt comfortable with. She just rolled her eyes– so I sat down at the table.
She did eventually get a server– it was a woman who had been sitting on the other side of the bar from me– and had been drinking. She actually got up from drinking, put on an apron and started waiting tables. Strange.
By the time my friends got there the back room/​bar area was more crowded. But it really wasn’t that crowded. Two people should have been able to handle it but our waitress just got ruder and ruder. Wouldn’t look at us in the eye– she would only ask one person at the table if they wanted a refill, etc. We weren’t rowdy, we weren’t rude– 6 people were drinking and getting food– so we weren’t cheap. At one point she asked my friend if he wanted a refill and he said no, I tried to ask her for a refill and she just walked away. My friend caught her and asked for another cider for me, she actually yelled «OH MY GOD.» and stormed away. Huh? What did we do wrong? She actually came back and slammed the cider down on the table. We all stopped our conversation, confused.
When it came time to close out, she asked if we wanted separate checks. To be clear, one person asked for the check, but we were prepared to get one. But when she offered, we said yes. Big Mistake. She sighed very loudly and said we would have to come up one by one to separate them. We were right next to the bar. So there wasn’t room for 6 people to get up and close out one by one. We tried, and got in everyone’s way. Plus it completely overwhelmed her to have a bar full of people and have 6 people waiting to close out. Then she tried to tell the last person that closed out that the first person hadn’t paid for everything. We called the first person (who had already left) and he said he paid for it. She was all like «Whatever» about it.
Honestly, the food was fine for the price, I wouldn’t call it authentic German food but it was okay. With the way we were treated, I wouldn’t go back.

From what I can remember, vaguely vaguely, remember — this place was a riot! It was our last stop on a round of bar hopping in Ballard and I’m glad we stopped by. The bouncer at the door was extremely cool. So cool that we stuck ourselves outside on the deck table and drank all night long. Hooting and hollering, playing our harmonica til we got kicked out cuz it was closing time.
The bartenders were quick with our drinks and the patrons were all friendly. It’s rare to be able to go inside a bar with a group of friends and within 30 minutes be friends with everyone around you. Perhaps the alcohol in my played a role but judging by the photos taken and the videos recorded, The People’s Pub was by far one of my favorite nights out in Seattle history!