Reservoir Tavern

Lived around the corner back in the day, decided to pop in for a beer one night. Sat at the bar watching the news some super drunk woman tried to chat me up. So drunk I couldn’t understand a word she was saying, which I politely let her know as I watched the drool slowly fall from her lip onto her shirt. She got up and went bat shit crazy on me, came at me like a silverback gorilla protecting its territory. Bartender ran over, pulled her off of me and escorted her out. I finished my beer and walked home with a memory I will cherish as long as I live!

I like myself a good dive bar, and I had high hopes for the Rez when I recently moved into the neighborhood, but my one visit there was a bit of a disappointment. Some dive bars give you a good vibe when you walk in, others don’t, and for whatever reason this one just didn’t do it for me. On the dive bar scale of trashy to douchey hipster, I’d say this is more of your trashy dive than your douchey hipster dive, so maybe I’m more of a douchey hipster than I thought I was. I dunno. If you like divey spots, you should probably pop in and see whether or not it’s your kind of place.

Ohhhhh Yes. I love this bar.
I love how it smells funky, I love how sometimes the seats are squeaky, I love how the shuffleboard scoreboard has been broken since I started coming here almost 15 years ago, I love how cranky and lovable the bartenders are, I love how cheap the drinks are, I love how everybody who’s anybody in this place knows everybody else and will buy you a drink JUST FOR BEING THERE, I love their electronic jukebox, I love the french fries, I love that I can take my drink out into the back yard and smoke at the same time, I love that the covered smoking area has a heater, I love that I can bring my own meat in the summer and BBQ it for free on their propane grill, I love that I can go at any time of day and see someone I know, I love that the regulars are REGULARS (like 10+years), I love the random mix of people that find their way into this place, I love that one time when my mom moved here from Chicago she stopped in to use the restroom at this place and was hilariously shocked to find out that I hang out there on a regular basis, I love everything about this place except people who want to come into my wonderfully sticky/​smelly/​cranky/​sometimes silent bar and talk crap.
Lemme tell you this — pretentious douchebags need not apply. I don’t wanna see you while I’m trying to have fun here with my friends, and I’ll probably skip your top 40 songs on the jukebox, so feel free to move along to somewhere where its loud, the drinks cost twice as much and you will never have as interesting a conversation.

Very disappointed by this bar… Drove by the Rez many times and eventually decided to give it a shot. Went in and the first thing that struck me was that it was dead silent. Everyone I was with immediately turned to eachother and talked about how awkward it was. We went in anyways and found seating on a few bar stools which barely stood up. We all bought a few beers and kicked it, but were soon encountered by a growing feeling of self conciousness and unpleasantness. The dead silent bar plus the disrespectful bartender made for a pretty bad vibe. We eventually paid $ 10 to play a few songs, only for the bartender to come tell us to stop the music because they were closing in 30 minutes… We were very confused because it was hardly 1 o’clock, but we went with it. Eventually we got kicked out at 1:30, even though the hours clearly said they were open to 2. Bartender cussed me out, and called me names as I exited. Safe to say I will never even drive by this place in the future, I will never utter the name of the rez, I will have the name «the rez» deleted from all texts or e-​mails every sent and received in my name. It was a sad experience, will not be going back.

I wish I could give zero stars for this bar. After walking in for the first time, no music was playing whatsoever. I had to pay to play music on their touch tones system, ridiculous at $ 2 a play, otherwise there is no music in the bar. The biggest problem with the bar is the owners. The open hours on the door say 2:00am every day except for 12:00 AM on Sundays. However, the owners have decided they reside in a different time zone and close according to the clock inside which is 15 minutes fast. Kicking everyone out at 1:45 is unacceptable when business hours state 2:00am as closing time. The Roosevelt ale house down the street serves beer still 2:01am. Their bartender Karen is nice enough, however with minimal seating and no music unless you pay, there are plenty of other bars in the area which will treat you better and will take your money until closing hours. If you want a proper bar, avoid the rez and pick a better bar in maple leaf as there are plenty, such as the ale house or old fifth avenue tavern, you will have a much better experience and will be able to enjoy real business hours.

Ha Logan, what are you new or something? Just about every bar I’ve ever stayed till closing, closed at 1:45 (times called «bar time»). It’s legal sh! t cuz they have to pour out all the drinks before 2am.
Anyways, this is a great low key spot to have a drink in my neighborhood, they have a «beer garden» where I can smoke and drink which is worth the 5 star review right there. But they also have a very friendly group of people that work there too and cheap really good burgers. Great place, cheers.

The pool tables are cheap, great food and it’s super nice. There’s a grill outside you can grill your own food on. The TV that’s outside is pretty awesome too. However, it gets three stars because of this bartender named Kathryn? Kathleen? I can’t remember her name, but she refuses to make food. I asked for a cheeseburger (I swear I even said please), she responded with rolling her eyes and «Jesus!» And a firm No. She said she wouldn’t make anything other than fries because she was too busy? It was 4 pm and I had just watched her chat with two customers about their lives. She told me to wait for the next bartender to come in an hour…

The bartender is a bitter old woman frying fish with 2 inch grey roots. The bars mostly occupied by bitter locals complaining about people who have died (i swear every time I go there someone’s talking about someone who died). There’s a lot of troll like women (large over the age 45 unemployed) who will be rude to you for no reason. It’s clicky like high school. No thanks go to pinehurst down the street. Way better vibe.

Not a bad place to stop in and work the pull tabs and shuffle board table.

Lousy place. The regulars are old and crotchety so you know it is a dive bar. That’s great.
Where it really falls down is the staff and management. They tend to be fairly rude fairly consistently.
Tried it a few times, won’t be going back. And I live fairly close. And I’m lazy.

I’ve given this place a couple of tries. It’s not my cup of tea, but a buddy who loves dives loves this spot, and my dad goes here every time he’s in town. I’m a fan of dive bars, but that needs to be coupled with something like a great beer selection or bar tenders who don’t get annoyed when I ask what kind of IPA she means when she just says «IPA.»
To each their own, i suppose.

Am awesome local dive. Stiff drinks and a backyard area where u can hang out and smoke. Love this place :)

I was not super impressed with the basic décor and average divey-​ness of this bar, but I still give it a high score because the local crowd was very friendly, and one of them even bought me a round. The back door patio was nice. The centerpiece of the bar are the pool tables and shuffleboard.
Overall, it has some nice feature, even if it doesn’t have the character and charm that normally I look for.

Great bar with fun people, shuffle board, pool & a digital jukebox… Oh yeah & $ 7 pbr pitchers, yeeeeehaw!

Great place to stop in for a burger and a beer. Spacious, chalkboard in the mens room for you to write on and the food is serviceable. The bartender was personable as well. Great neighborhood joint.

Went to the Reservoir Tavern today after work with a small group of people. I was excited to go a dive bar and became more excited when I saw a shuffle board. Unfortunately, the bartender was extremely unfriendly and made our group feel like we were annoying her by trying to order. She took a couple orders of food and after a few other guests came in told us she wasn’t making anymore.
I was one of the three people in our group who was «lucky» enough to get an order in but I felt extremely uncomfortable eating in front of my friends who were only able to buy bags of chips. There are way better dive bars out there with bartenders who are friendly and will even man up and make food when it’s ordered! Shocking, right? Needless to say this place doesn’t deserve your money.

Stopped in after a dip at Magnuson Beach… lemme tell you something, I LOVE DIVE BARS!!!
Had a couple pints, for CHEAP!!! Played some ol school shuffleboard with some ghetto ass fools which was a blast, typical dive bar crowd, typical dive bar atmosphere…
Must go back for more…

This was a great surprise! My fiancé and I were walking home from dinner when we spotted this little gem.
It looked like the kind of place you could toss a few back with no judgment so we went in to check it out.
They have a couple of pool tables, a shuffleboard table and it was not very crowded for a Friday night. Definitely a local bar with cheep beer ($ 2.50 draft) and friendl people. Sometimes a little too friendly (sharing life stories unsolicited). But that just makes for the adventure. Like I said, cold beer, friendly people, and some fun games. What’s not to love?

When I first started coming here I wasn’t really a Unilocal user. That I haven’t written a review is surprising. Benefits of coming to the Res include:
shuffleboard
pool (free pool on Sundays for a tournament)
heated outside patio area with a giant tv for watching the Hawks/​Huskies
absurdly friendly clientele
pulltabs
strong ass drinks
salty bartenders who dislike your liver/​sass
pretty solid bus access to and from DT/​Capitol Hill
The Res has always been a place I’ve felt comfortable; if I lived closer I’d probably spend my waking hours there growing more wildery by the day until POOF I’d become a 65 yr dockworker with terrible back pains and great stories.

This place is divey. Of course I had to check it out!
Drinks: awesome.
Bartender: awesome.
Outdoor patio: awesome. There’s a tv hidden inside a shed.
It’s definitely more of a place to go with a bunch of your friends when you don’t want to sit inside your house all night.
I will be back!