The Hillside Bar

Free peanuts. There was a weird homeless guy there. I don’t have anything else to say.

Nothing special but a great dive bar for those whoa re regulars in Capitol Hill. The environment is a little low key but it includes a pool table, dart boards, and other games to keep you entertained. Also, located next to other local bars for anyone looking to start a bar hop. Drinks are reasonably priced and the bartenders have always been friendly and helpful. This is defiantly my local bar and will be returning for several more late nights.

Great bar smack in the middle of bar row on Olive Way! Nice staff, a pool table and also darts and pinball upstairs are enough to keep me busy, so give it a try sometime!

I’ve never been to or even heard of this bar until recently when my friends had his birthday here. It was very nice if the bar to let him set up his cake and everything here. I guess I’ve never passed by this place before because it’s not on the main part of Capitol Hill’s nightlife, Boardway. But it isn’t far off a walk if you were to want to find that part of Capitol Hill.
The bar was roomy, it had your typical bar setup, but with an expansion of another floor where the pool table is at so plenty of room to stand around, walk around, and not get cramped to one spot. The only weird thing was that the bathrooms have curtains instead of doors so you kind of have to hold onto it hoping nobody accidentally comes in.
Tell me about your experience if you’ve been here or is going to after reading this review:)

Not many low-​key dives left on the hill: this ones good. Neighborhood vibe & cheap drinks!

It’s a noisy, tacky dive bar… exactly what were looking for.
Great place with a damn good beer selection.

My new favourite neighbourhood bar… great staff… great beer selection. Pool table… Darts…Skee-ball and jukebox. The wife and I love it!

My friends and I went to a speakeasy at Knee High and since the drinks there are expensive we wanted to get drunk somewhere else and more lively as well.
The bartender was super cool and friendly, they had a extensive list of draft beers. We all got some drinks and walked down where the pool table was but they only had one pool table and people were already playing a game. So we went upstairs where there was a group celebrating a birthday i guess. Upstairs is were the 2 dart boards are but there is only 3 darts that actually in working order. There was another dart but its missing a piece of its tail so only one group can play darts since there is only 3 darts. If you walk past that there is 2 video game machines one is pinball and the other one was a hunting game where you shoot the animals. We must have spent atleast 20 bucks on that game competing with each other haha.
This is a nice cool little bar to go with your friends for a drink and some games but I dont know how it would be when it is crowded since I assume there will be a LONG line for the pool table and darts on a busy night.

Drinks only review:
Good bar layout, there’s a lot more space than it looks like on first impression. The atmosphere is more of a hangout than a bar, but luckily they serve booze too.
I came in on a busy night, but the servers were quick, professional, and poured good drinks.
The only thing I didn’t like so much was how loud it was.
Dang kids, get off my lawn!

Hands down the worst service I’ve had in any bar in this country. Since moving from England I’m always saying there service is better here. Not so in this bar.
The lady was incredibly rude. The peak of the rudeness was when I asked if I could get some water, and without turning her gaze to look at me, she simply pointed toward the back end and said «sink in the rest room». I couldn’t believe it!
She ignored everyone at the bar the entire time I was there, so what made me laugh was when her friends came in, she was all smiles and joy! The kind of waiter who deserves literally no tips but will get them anyway– but not from me!

I checked this place out my last day in the city. It was chill neighborhood bar. Played some good tunes too.

This is a great spot for drinks with friends Very welcoming bartenders. Great beers on tap and lots a fun music. Also have pool and darts. When I was there they were hosting an event for a raffle which was great. Also, not super crowded so a perfect place for a drink and chatting with friends.

We came here after initially trying out another bar (captain blacks) and feeling really unwanted and uncomfortable.
We walked into The Hillside Bar and Josh, who was tending the bar, greeted us. He was super friendly and took care of us! We liked him a lot. He was a nice guy.
The music is quirky and random. The atmosphere was nice and clean. The bar is split into two sides, one with the bar and one with the pool table. I didn’t explore the pool table side much but it all seemed chill. The crowd was laid back and a mixture of sorts. Mind you, this was on a Wednesday night. I cannot vouch for a warm Friday night but I’m sure the whole area gets packed.
Overall, I would recommend this bar if your looking for cheap drinks, a regular bar crowd and some pizza to munch on. It’s not gourmet gluten free vegan locally sourced organic artisan pizza, but it was cheap and hit the spot.

Our first bar in Seattle! Prices were very reasonable and darts were free. Super relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Great place to hang out, noise level was perfect for chatting.

Amazing happy hour prices, free peanuts, free darts, great location, jukebox to pick your music, arcade upstairs, and chill people… What more could you ask for? They accept American Express (for now).

Sean and the staff of the Hillside bar has done an amazing job rebooting this local bar! Bloody Mary’s kick ass! Great place to play pool, darts, or just chat with the friendly bar staff.

Nobody carded me when I ordered alcohol; that’s likely the why there is a frat party ambiance. See photos.
I wouldn’t mind so much if weren’t for the stumbling drunk youngins’ who immediately accosted me as I entered the bar, forcing me to remember why I purposefully don’t live in a «college town» (or the University District).
When I go to a place like Hillside I expect an environment where I can be assured those who appear age 18, 19, 20 are not actually that age, because they got carded and denied entrance to Hillside as the law requires.
Perhaps the bartenders are required to keep some sort of paperwork which prevents them from doing their job appropriately, making it a management issue. (One bartender was continuously occupied by a yellow notepad near the register). In this case I hope the owners of this bar make adjustments to their workflow.
In any case, the raucous, callous, sloshy, chanting, and pseudo-​collegiate atmosphere resulted in a 15−20minute wait (for my Ranier) with only 10 people at the bar and 3 bartenders serving them. I somewhat enjoyed watching the drunks scream at one another, making me feel okay with giving them the Unilocal-​requisite one star.
Perhaps it is different on a weeknight?
Update: Apparently the bar has a Funny Article wall. One of those articles describes a 14-​year-​old boy who got stabbed in the abdomen over a meaningless, «funny» statement to another young would-​be assailant. The child sustained life-​threatening liver lacerations and may have died (article did not say).
Posting this article is tantamount to memorializing violent crime (and in this case, violent crime against children). As a patron sensitive to this, I asked the bar manager (Jim) to take this down. «I’m too busy» was the passive aggressive response I received. He asked me to «take it up with Shawn.» So, I left a note notifying that person of this review, and requested that this article be removed.
I will update as appropriate but I’ve learned not to expect change from venues that foster these types of issues.

I love the Hillside.
1. Great layout, lots of little nooks to hang out in.
2. Darts and Big Buck Hunter! Also pool.
3. Deliciousss pizza
4. Affordable drinks
5. Cute bartender
Can’t beat it! :)

The is a very low key neighborhood bar with a pool table, darts and a few pinball machines. A great place to grab a beer and converse as the volume is reasonable and there is always an open seat. Pool is free on Sunday.

Didn’t this place used to be The Elite? I was told that was a «top-​heavy» gay bar. I’m not sure what it is now, but it’s a pretty fun place to hang out. The place is huge, for one thing. There are tables and seats galore, a pool table, a gaming area for sitting down with tables and stuff, and also an upstairs with arcade machines. Awesome! The drinks are pretty standard for what you’d find at a more divey bar, but not bad. We came in on a Sunday night and service was rather nonexistent. Then again, it’s a Sunday.
Restroom «doors», at least for women are actually curtains and divided up really strangely. I think the larger of the two stalls actually has a sink inside of it. The curtain thing is just weird and feels unsanitary to me. I did my best to avoid touching them, but otherwise the place seemed clean.
I don’t know what this place is like on big nights, but Sunday night it was the perfect place for a drink and chatting with friends.