Shorty’s

Cool little dive/​arcade bar. Had a security staff checking IDs at the entrance to ensure age requirements. Drinks are basic but bartender and staff were very friendly. Great selection of old school arcade games, such as pac man, pin balls, joust and robotron! The games were priced at an average of 50 cents. A little pricey if you tend to suck at videos games and can’t last longer than a minute. But all in all, it was fun to reminisce on childhood video game experiences.

Our stay in Seattle this weekend was fun but when you come here you have to hit this bar and yes its a dive to say the least a shit hole, But that what makes it fun they have lots of beers available and wouldn’t recommend the food from what I saw people eating scared me, The booths have a pinball playfeild for a table and is so cool, then you walk into this big back room and see the magic lit up all those pinball machines and tables between them so you can put your beer down while playing pinball, I was a kid in a candy store and found heaven and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful and a coin change machine on site so start feeding the money, Me and my lady had a blast here and definitely will be returning so put this one on the bucket list. And don’t be marijuana intolerant because they smoke it like cigarettes and got a buzz there just being in that atmosphere, I had to think this was some wild beer I was drinking and where do I get more.

Shorty’s is a dive bar. I knew that going in. My expectations were set as such, however, by the time we reached shorty’s, I was no longer in a dive bar mood which sort of put a dark cloud over my experience. Also killing the experience were the two girls who entered and sat next to us at the bar smelling like they had just spent the past 3 months marinating in marijuana. I hate the smell of marijuana. It makes me want to vomit.
As soon as a table opened up away from the smokers, we moved. Turns out the tables of the booths along the wall are made from old pinball machine decks which was a neat idea. The light of the bulbs in the table gives a romantic flicker of light.
You can’t expect smiley service or fancy drinks here but you can expect slightly stale tortilla chips served with cheese sauce that goes directly to your hips (these actually hit the spot on our visit).
At the end of the day, Shorty’s just isn’t for me.

I’m a huge fan of pinball, Robotron, and Big Buck Hunter. However, my experience was the same as the other 1 and 2 star reviews. If you don’t fit the prototype, the waitstaff just might be too cool for you. Plus, this time around it reeked of vom, yeast, or something.

Came in here during a weekend visit to the area. We were looking for something to do at night to curb our hunger, quench our thirst, and stop our boredom.
We came upon this place on a Saturday night around 8 pm, it wasn’t too crowded. The bartender was friendly, welcoming, and suggested some good local beers. Ordered a Number 3 dog, which as we were told were made from hot dogs that were sitting on the little rack for a couple of hours. Fine by me, serve it up. It was a pretty darned good hot dog. I wanted more, but we had dinner plans.
We grabbed our beers, and changed our $ 1.00s to quarters using the change machine. There’s 2 rows of pinball machines ranging in price from 50 cents to $ 1.00. It’s easy to get sucked into the world of lights and sounds and have fun.
It was just what we needed.
Thanks Shorty’s.
Now I’m off to find a similar place in the LA area…

Wow! What a fun place. So unique. Fun moving from beer in a booth to the pinball room and then into the classic big green chairs at the back bar. Great staff. Big hit with my date!
Bring a sharpie for some restroom graffiti.
My date borrowed one from the staff.

If you love overpriced pinball and crappy bars that smell like yeast with bartenders who act like they are too cool for school, then this place is for you!
I seriously don’t know why anyone goes to this bar. They are surrounded by better bars.

Good beer, bad food, and lots of pinball in a dark, narrow, unkempt, kitsch Belltown bar that leans hipster but mostly just attracts urban dwellers and pinball aficionados. That’s what I call a quintessential Seattle dive bar. And a place that I will, on occasion, spend some time. If you’re looking for an unassuming haunt to knock back a few pints and swap stories with your peeps. Shorty’s has you covered.

Divey but intimate, Shorty’s offers them together, especially when you’re looking for a shot and a beer. When you get bored but want to impress your company be sure to try out the Lord of the Rings pinball in the back.
Haven’t had any food here but my guess is its pretty much as advertised.

Love this spot. Rich was working the bar and helped direct us to a few choice sights and venues that made our stay in Seattle solid.

This is an awesome little bar. The outside appearance almost kind of a spooky circus feel to it, but don’t let that turn you away. Once you get inside, the atmosphere is really cool. It has more of a chill vibe to it, definitely not a party bar. The bartenders were very welcoming. The pinball room in the back is amazing. I would say maybe 15 machines in that room, all different themes. There are nice tables in between the pinball machines to set your drinks while you play. My only suggestion is that you be able to get quarters with a card somewhere. I would definitely go back again.

Love the Trophy Room in the back, really cool chairs, nice crazy décor. Couldn’t tell you what beer I had, but it was good…

I’ve been going there four years!!! This place sucks now. They are so rude!!! Don’t come here unless you want to waste your money and get treated like poo poo. Hipsters? And not cool ones know what I’m sayin? Fuck the new Shortys. I hope the bull doze that place to ground, and take all those new school Choads that work there with it lol it really sucks!

This bar is super creepy looking and feeling. I like that there were games to play, but other than that, there was nothing great about this place. The bartender was a bit rude and not very helpful when we asked for some change for the game machines. Basically we were told to go to the ATM machine, which charges $ 2 for any transactions. Not very impressed.

A must if you are bar hopping around the area– and here’s why:
1. Old school pin ball games, all in good working order. For those of you in your 30s and 40s, you will remember some of these games from the arcades of past. My only gripe though is $ 1 per game?! Come on now Shorty’s.
2. Friendly staff and bartenders that allow dogs inside. Even if you don’t own a dog, its nice to see various dogs hanging out having a beer.
3. Located among in the middle of Belltown, it’s a short walk from any restaurant in the area.
Solid bar– worth a visit whenever I am back in Seattle.

Stopped by Shorty’s for a drink. I’m a fan of dive bars, and this one had a definite grungy but welcoming feel. The tables are old pinball machines and they have a pinball arcade in the back. The bartenders were really friendly and the people sitting at the bar were easy to talk to. They recommended the slushy machine and we shared a large strawberry daiquiri. It was stiff and got the girlfriend and I pretty drunk as we went to the back to suck at pinball. We asked one of the bartenders, Dino, which one was his favorite pinball game, and he gave us a bunch of free games. Cool spot to hang out

I’m a big fan of Dorkys in Tacoma so when I was told we would be going to the pinball bar in Seattle I was excited. The beer is ok priced and some good food value for seattle bars. The tables are really cool. They are back lute covers from older pinball cabinets.
I would have been happy to give it 5 stars but I did take one off for the cost of pinball. It’s a full dollar for one play. Easily double other places. A dollar isn’t a big deal until you are drunk and play 20 games lol.
Have fun everyone!

Great dive bar! Our first bar stop during our trip to Seattle, there was only 1 bartender working Dino I think was his name. He was great, very friendly gave us great local beer recommendations and when he noticed we were tourists he gave us Shorty’s bumper stickers. The atmosphere here was great, the bartender/​crowd were pretty friendly, after a few beers we checked out the pinball games, so much fun for $ 2! If you like small dive bars, check this place out, they have PBR + shot specials and serve hot dogs. Great place to visit for simple. Quick. No fuss. And pinball!

Dare I say, the best bar I visited while in Seattle.
Granted, this was the bar we chose promptly following Bathtub Gin (see below review), we loved everything about it. Back home (SF) I don’t frequent dives as often as most for a few reasons: DBag pretentious bartenders and dirt/​grime. Aint nobody got time to fish out a fruit fly from my drink while a bearded lumberjack stares me down! GTFOH.
Shorty’s delivered.
Upon coming in, you notice a long narrow bar to the left with a row of tables to the right. The tables, going along with the gaming theme, are from the pinball graveyard (do those exist?! They must). There were two bartenders present whom were both quick, friendly and on their game. Ordered the usual beer and cocktail and came out to $ 12 and I was a happy boy, seeing as we just paid $ 12 for an armpit tasting cocktail at bathtub. (sorry not sorry for being a hater and name dropping).
We scurry to the back, through a game room which brought me back to my adolescent days of hanging out in mall game rooms for hours on end, into a large back room. The chairs at the bar in the back bar are worth a visit in itself. The décor was themey and the crowd was real. After we threw down a few, we cashed in some dolla billz and had a 2-​person pinball tourney (WrestleMania pinball?! YES).
All in all, a CLEAN, fun and engaging dive bar with cheap drinks to boot. Highly recommended when you’re in the neighborhood.

There is a bar and there are hot dogs… and there is an arcade! Not a fancy place, clearly you go for the arcade games and the fact that booze can be had. Enough machines so I never had to wait for one to open up and we played a variety of games. People were all minding their own business but not so standoffish that they can’t be bothered to say hello to the person playing enact to them. There were some dudes who were playing alone and I had to wonder where their friends were, but it was also Monday night.
Overall: A great way to drop $ 5 on some entertainment!

Cheap drinks, poor service. I ordered a hot dog and heard the guy say. «fuck, I hate people»
They have an arcade.

You cant go wrong with Shortys. Pinball and Video games and Beer and Delicious Nitro Dogs lol. And the bartenders are always there when you need them. Great to sit outside on the patio and people watch as well, once your quarters run low.

This place speaks to me on a spiritual level. We were in search of a bar, any bar, to get our drunk on before hitting a concert. We happened upon Shorty’s and boy am I glad that we did…
This bar is divey in every sense of the word. If you’re the kind of person who thinks of that in a negative light, then this review isn’t for you. If not, read on. Considering how much I love this place, I’m at risk of this getting too lengthy, so I’ll just do the highlights…
–Full bar, decent beer on draft
–Tabletops are old pinball machines
–10ish pinball machines in back room
–Outdoor seating
–FOOD! The best damn hotdog I’ve ever had. Order the Number Three, and add nacho cheese on top. Just trust me on this.
My new goal in life is to get my ass back to Seattle just so I can patronize this place again.

Welcome to Seatown’s Coney Island. It’s got hot dogs with mutagen green yet deliciously sweet relish; arcade games up front and about a dozen pinball machines in the back neon lit room. The front entrance could pass for a gathering of carneys if it wanted to. Shorty’s is nestled along a strip of dive bars along 2^nd ave in Belltown that start at the corner with Mama’s Mexican Kitchen and ends at The Crocodile. Staff are friendly and you should check out the tables at the booths, made of retired pinball game tops.

Pretty much a dark dive bar/​arcade with a crazy but cool dude behind the bar. Not too far away from the Space Needle if you want to check out a joint that’s kinda lo-​key. Looks like they have hot dogs here if u are here too long and need to have a bite to eat.
The guy behind the bar was cool and a straight shooter. We enjoyed conversation with him, but I can see how he could rub some people the wrong way. Not the ideal place for a tourist but a good joint!

I can only comment on the arcade aspect of this establishment. I didn’t get any food or drinks here.
Shorty’s arcade has a fine selection of pinball machines. Most of them I have seen at other arcades in the metro area but a few were new. For instance there was a great Wizard of Oz pinball game.
Each arcade you play has various charges to play one game. The older machines are a quarter and the more recent and elaborate they get it pushes towards a dollar to play a game.
A bill changer is in the first room. Make sure your bills are neat and not wrinkled because it is picky in that regard.
They have a few video games as well also that have various costs to play.
While Shorty’s wasn’t the best arcade place I’ve hit in the metro area it was still fun with it’s games and quirky atmosphere.

This is dive dive dive all the way be prepared to dive right in and play some pinball over there the fThis is dive dive dive all the way… in a good way! There are funky bartenders, with colored hair (er um), some dreadlocks, some faux hawks, and a lot of ink. Sure, they could stand to be a little bit friendlier (I think it’s part of the allure), but they pour a wicked mean strong drink on the cheap for downtown Seattle so no complaints from me.
Shorty’s is definitely pinball-​centric! All of the décor, down to the re-​purposed machines made into booth tables in the area across from the very long bar in the main room, to the blacK light glowing room in the far back that’s filled will classic and new pinball tables… beckoning you in to play. Pinball wizards welcome!
The ladies room is just clean enough. I wouldn’t eat lunch in there are anything, but they suffice and boy do they like their graffiti; every inch of walls covered from floor to ceiling. One thing I noticed about Seattle is there seems to be some connection, or infatuation, with pinball and people love to scribble on just about anything they can get their hands out — seems like a very welcomed part of «art» — some is actually very interesting — don’t think truck stop banter here. So, be sure to keep a Sharpie on hand, so you can leave your mark behind as well. When in… ya’ know! ;)
Anthony Bourdain said «[Shorty’s is] a legendary spot that draws all types of personalities, from professional cooks to hipster douchebags.» During his visit, he left after a random guy asked him, «Is there any way you would hold, like, a knife to my throat?» Funny and classic… it is what it is! Very unique and a great place to make a few memories.
Don’t be leery of checking out Shorty’s. I can’t personally ensure your safety, but I never felt uncomfortable in any way. Maybe these, all of the variety of them, are just my kind of peeps. Hell, I probably would’ve asked TonyB a similar question. Talk about a great photo opp! Cheers to weird!

What can’t I say about Shorty’s??? Bad things, that’s what! Pinball, bad food, great jukebox, beer flowin’ — ya know — heaven!!!
And something called «cheese dribble»??? YESSSS!!!
Did I mention they have some of my fave pinball ever: Addams Family + Strange invaders??? Awesome!