Day Drinking – Downtown Seattle

Those of you that are familiar with us know, Day Drinking is customary day built into each trip to enjoy the local offerings.

We haven’t been as good at blogging about them as we should. Hmmm….maybe a flawed plan? But check out our previous post in this category, Day Drinking – Boise.

We experienced an epic day drinking afternoon in downtown Seattle.  While a little limited by Covid shutdowns, our biggest challenge seemed to be the fact that bars didn’t update their Google information to show their true open hours.

Now, as we move through this blog post with our recommendations and sharing our experience, please gloss over some areas that lack details as there are portions that tend to get a little hazy. Nah, just kidding, one of us pushed through, one of us snoozed at a table.  And I’m not telling which one. Then again, one of us rallied like a champ, and one of us is still nursing a twisted ankle.

The Search Begins

So after our amazing adventure in Skagit Valley the day before, we actually held off drinking until after 2. I know, it’s a little shocking.  We had a hotel room right downtown, the Charter Hotel Curio Collection by Hilton was perfectly located right in the center of all the goodness, and close to Pike Place Market.

Which is where our wander first took us.  I only got about a block down when I realized that NOPE, my post-Covid isolationist self was not ready for that level of people.

We raised our vibration by raising our elevation about a half a block up to Post Alley. Located between the Market and 1^st street, where we found one of our favorite Irish Pubs, Kells.

Kells has an outdoor patio with a little bit of skyline, and Irish car bombs. Aaaand, the cutest older server with a thick Irish accent who almost certainly was a relative of the owners. Unfortunately, she didn’t know squat about drinks and couldn’t recommend anything different for us. Now, I love me a good Irish Car Bomb, but it was our first stop and I felt an Irish coffee was a more realistic start to an afternoon, plus it was still a little chilly out. 

Sister Side Note (ssn) – Kells has been around a long time! It was one of the must-go places when visitng Seattle during college. Floods of memories!

This Is More Difficult Than It Should Have Been

A Google search showed plenty of bars, pubs, and cocktail lounges in about a 4 block radius, so we were off to first street to start a pub crawl of our own design.  First place closed, second place closed, third place guy outside smoking has zero idea if they are open but recommends a few places on the next block that he knows are open, and finally, success.

And unfortunately, it’s a creepy clown bar.

Shorty’s is technically Coney Island Themed and was the start of Seattle’s pinball culture, in case you didn’t know there was such a thing.

Now I’m all down for a good theme, and the tables were all made out of old pinball machines, and the music was 90s alternative, and I LOVED IT.  Peggy was unimpressed, but after a couple Kamikazees we got to play some skeeball and it’s all good!

ssn – those damn kamikazees were so good! Sub in your normal vodka for any flavor – I think we did peach and blueberry. You’re welcome.

And The Ball Gets Rolling…

Having broken our traditional one and done guidelines, we decided we needed to move on.  Right next door, just opened and completely empty was the Rendezvous and Jewelbox Theater.  In non-Covid times it houses a small theater, a basement bar, and a pretty 1920’s gin joint vibe.

I dug it and enjoyed checking out the décor since it was empty and we were free to move about.

This is the point where I have the Mermaid Man cocktail and start quoting Zoolander endlessly about being a MerMan, pops, a MerMAN! (here’s a quick tip, when I get focused on something, like a movie quote or I don’t know, say seashells imbedded in the Savannah sidewalk, I’m probably feeling pretty good).

So, Mermaid Man causes a bit of a brain freeze cuz it’s a frozen slushie drink and we must move on.

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ssn – when she says ‘quoting Zoolander endlessly’, she means endlessly – not an exaggeration! We’re talking Blue Steel, the Black Lung Pop, Ridiculously Good Looking, Water is the Essence of Wetness, on and on….

And next up on the list was the Lava Lava bar, yes!!!!! TIKI THEME!  How did my little heart sustain such joy as two themed bars in one afternoon? A big ole surfboard greets you with the menu list, and they are all tropical themed. And my heart goes a little thumpity-thump at a drink in a tiki glass.

We end up out on the patio, which was fantastic for people watching and gathering more recommendations from the patrons who had clearly knocked off work a little early. 

Rolling Downhill Quickly

It’s at this point that I get super excited that The Rabbit Hole next door is opening, so count it with me now. THREE THEMED BARS!!!  The Rabbit Hole is Alice in Wonderland. Which I’m nuts about and love to seek out Alice reference in places. It probably ranks above Wizard of Oz, but just under Winnie the Pooh – which does not make for a good bar theme, BTW.

Pretty low key design, so it’s definitely themed but not over the top and tacky, AND they get bonus points for more skee ball in the back. 

A Small Detour

So at this point, Peggy is drunk social media-ing and sees that one of the Seahawks has posted from a restaurant in Lake Union and we MUST go. Boom, Lyft to Lake Union, where you know how this is going down:  he’s already gone. 

ssn – you know we love our Seahawks, and this wasn’t just any Seahawk, it was Luke Willson! Love him!

And there’s a 20 min wait so we wander next door for some sushi to pad our tummies since it’s been a few hours since we have consumed anything non-liquid.

Sushi from I Love Sushi at Lake Union was just what I wanted, the gold flaked sake that Peggy insisted we get with it, was not.  Looked like Goldschlager, tasted like sake.

And, see, I get to blame Peggy for this one because she doesn’t remember that it was her that ordered it. But I think we all know it was.  And the sushi was so freaking good. Like I don’t know why we were surprised, we were in Seattle. But it was called “I Love Sushi” which doesn’t instill a warm fuzzy feeling that I would actually love the sushi, but I did!

Back To Our Mission (well, one of us)

Lyft back to where we left off, where we are pretty sure we need to go to Mr. Darcy’s for a Pride and Prejudice theme.  There is only one over-worked man we believe was the co-owner. The place is a little obscure but has such great potential.

There are only 4 cocktails on the menu, where I now decide I have to drink both of to keep anyone from noticing that Peggy is not drinking but instead has decided she should meditate on how close we were to hanging out with a Seahawk. By meditate, she must sit quietly with her eyes closed, in a bar.  And I’m sure we will get kicked out if they notice, therefore I have taken it upon myself to drink for both of us.  See, logic, pure logic.

ssn – y’all, I was done! I hit that wall, whoomp. I definitely had to close my eyes to center myself.

The Rally

Peggy has the forethought that we need a little booze snooze before dinner. We hit the hotel, and I’m sure we are done for the night. I document the occasion with a few pictures of her sleeping it off, giggling to myself for having outlasted her, only to delete them 30 minutes later when the girl rallies like the champ she is. WHOOT!

ssn – I’m not sure how this happened. I am not a rally-er. But this place is wildy popular and dinner reservations were hard to come by! She didn’t mention that they were also at 9:30 pm. Who does that??

Peggy had made us reservations at The Pink Door, which we had both been dying to go to.  It is just half a click above Pike Street Market back to Post Alley. While not a speakeasy, the entrance was not marked, no signs, just a faded pink door with string lights.

It’s a local seafood-driven Italian restaurant that has Burlesque and Cabaret acts throughout the restaurant.  We were super-duper excited to finally get to go.

Then they smashed our hopes and dreams by having canceled the floor show for covid.

Rally-worthy Pink Door Experience

But we will say, definitely add The Pink Door to you must-dos in Seattle. The restaurant is gorgeous, upscale, romantic, and the food was amazing!  The cocktail special was a dedication to George Floyd, proceeds were being donated locally. On top of amazing food and ambiance they also have a social conscious.  And I can not wait to go back when the floor shows resume!

ssn – oh sure, she can talk about me resting my eyes in public but completely leave out her little incident. I’m talking a lapse in walking ability. Maybe an over-extended curtsy. Whatever you call it, she ended quite gracefully on the Seattle sidewalk.

This is where we shut down our evening. Pretty impressed with the downtown Seattle daytime bar scene. And with many more bars that we will look forward to visiting next time. Including several roof top bars, and other quirky bars we do not want to miss.

Side note:  we hit up the Unicorn Bar on Capital Hill, it was fantastically tacky circus décor, themed cocktails, carnival food, and flair – plus karaoke during non-covid times, but this was the next day and therefore can not be included in our Day of day drinking.

Check out our next Seattle adventure: Explore Seattle Center and Seattle’s Quirkiest Neighborhoods

Checkout our other Day Drinking adventures:

• Boise
• Seattle – part 2
• Savannah
• Dallas
• Kansas City