The Ould Triangle

My favorite place on Greenwood. Great place to grab a beer. Wish I could leave a better review. It is what it is dive bar. See you all this week

The OT is what it is and makes no excuses and puts on no airs otherwise. If you come more than a couple times you’ll have friends at this place. Ray and Tracey are two of the finest folks I know in Seattle and I’ve been horrible about stopping in over the past 3 years or so (used to be there all the time) because I don’t drive much anymore and it’s a trek to get there by bus from where I’m at in Ballard. BUT I’M MOVING THREE BLOCKS AWAY NOW! Had to pop on and review this place with the number of stars it’s had in my book since we walked in with Ray more than a decade ago. Ima see y’all much more starting in May and lookin forward.
By the way, for the most part, anyone that complains about his bar, on Unilocal no less, just needs to hang out someplace else — it’s better for everyone that way. That’s not necessarily a dig against the complainers, it just is what it is and if you like this pub anywhere as much as I do you’ll understand exactly what I mean.
slante

Love the live music this place offers. Service and atmosphere are good.

Went to watch live music on a Wed. Arrived right after work, the Soundbite food truck was awesome and brought food in to the bar for us. Only gave it a 4 because parking is a bit challenging. Very friendly little dive bar.

Love the outdoor fire pit. Bartenders are friendly. They do have some parking outside, luckily there was a spot right out front when I pulled up, so I didn’t have to worry about trying to find street parking or having to parallel park.

The outdoor covered patio with firepit and is the best drinkin spot when you want to bundle up and do some outdoor drinkin and don’t want to freeze your ass off camping.
I have watched the Seahawks and Husky games on the little tv out there, and it was a great time!
Food truck in parking lot makes a mean meatloaf sando.

It’s a very low key place with good drinks and for a neighborhood bar it’s all that we could ask for. We live nearby and have dropped in at various times. The staff has always been attentive and talkative and most of the patrons are friendly regulars. We like to play darts and they have two good boards and we were able to dance for my birthday and one of our anniversaries. My husband and a friend who had bands in their younger years are looking forward to singing and playing original music at open mike some night soon!

Great atmosphere and bar. I had such a good time listening to the music and the bartender was probably one of the nicest ladies I have seen bartend in a while.

Great food on Saturday and Sunday. Stop in the afternoons, not too crowded and great service!
I have always been treated well when I go here. The only drawback is that the parking can get a little weird, but that’s it. The clientele is fairly low key, and the staff is ever vigilent to make sure you are having a good time.

My crew and I play trivia all over the North End, so this was a good choice. Hostess Mistress Gina’s name alone was a draw. Plus an acquaintance of mine has his new food truck out front a few days a week and I needed to give it a try.
The pub: A mishmash of people who all seem to know each other. At first we were a little put off by it, but by the end, we felt really welcome and at home. Good beer selection plus Blackthorn cider – yay! Delightful outside area with a fireplace out back for the smokers.
The food truck: I had the lasagna, which was ten bucks and gigantic. I couldn’t finish it, though I definitely did the next day. It was a little fluffy (ask Ed how he does that) which gave it a lightness, as opposed to how heavy lasagna is sometimes. Ricotta, spinach, loads of mushrooms, mozzarella, sausage… oooh so yummy.
The trivia: Don’t be put off by Gina’s slightly overbearing intro – it’s good trivia with lots of little twists and turns. We had a great time playing and were in a strong position to win until blowing the picture round.
FYI, this bar is kind of a sister bar to Molly Maguire’s in Ballard – the owners of these two bars were once married.
We came in strangers and left regulars. If you’re looking for trivia on a Thursday night, go check it out. Starts at 7:30. Cheers, OT!

I’ve been going to the OT since the late nineties. There’s always something going on every night of the week. Live music every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. Live poker on Mondays, Open Mic on Tuesdays, Trivia on Thursdays, Pot Luck on Sundays. The best neighborhood Irish bar in Seattle!

Cool divey Irish pub in Greenwood. They offer a VERY LIMITED menu so don’t expect to eat here. Not having a real menu available is probably the only downside to The Ould. It’s a dive bar so I don’t expect much of this place anyway.
They have live music on the weekends but The Ould is usually slow during the week. I prefer this place over other bars in the north Greenwood area. They have better bartenders than most North Greenwood pubs (especially during the weekdays) and live music is always a plus.
They also have a covered outdoor patio which is nice.
This place is worth a visit if you are in the area.

I want to share that Tracey, after reading my review and scathing comments, found a way to contact me and personally apologize. Even if it was a year and a half later, I really did appreciate this. I wish her, and the Triangle all the best!

What a great place to have a drink and let the night slip away over a perfectly poured Guinness, or perhaps the luck of the Irish doesn’t run through your veins! No worries, you can tickle your taste buds over the remaining 20 beers on tap or hit something stronger with a nicely stocked bar. There’s something happening each night ranging from live music to poker to free BBQ on Sundays you just can’t go wrong with this neighborhood bar. Bartenders are friendly and warm, just like the patrons you’ll find nestled inside, hell one night we wrote random words on post-​it notes and created crude sentences. As with all bars it has darts, pool, and a few big screens. Give this hole in the wall a shot if you’re passing through, you won’t be disappointed.
Pros:
— 21 beers on tap w/​rotating specials PLUS the glassware to go with it
— Late-​night activities every night, check their website for details
— Covered outdoor patio with fire pit
— The atmosphere of the place with the regulars breaks away from the everyday
Cons:
— Not much of a happy hour, only 50 cents off taps during a small window.
— No kitchen = no food. You can have take-​away delivered or a pizza delivery guy might drop a pie for 6 bucks on the late night if you’re lucky.

This is a cute little dive… with some of the most original bathroom grafiti I have ever seen.
I like this place just fine it’s older the stage is rickety, the dancefloor is teh same way, the patrons are varried and the bartenders and pretty nice considering the bitter lives we all lead. The music is usually fun and they have a pretty nice beer list not to mention blackthorne cider on tap last time i was there which made me smile.
All in all I’ll come back when I’m in the area, a fun little place to hang out with friends.

WA friend saw an ad in either The Stranger or the Weekly that said Tues night here was Irish Music night. We thought cool, let’s check it out and see how it is then.
We walk in around 8:15 and nothing much was happening. It was pretty obvious this is the type of place where most of the patrons are regulars. I personally prefer that kind of place and if I lived closer I would stop in for drinks on a regular basis.
The Irish music was basically a few people sitting in a circle doing their thing. It almost felt as if we were in somebody’s living room. People who got drunk and decided to break out in song. I enjoyed what I heard but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for or expecting.
The bartender (blonde girl, I don’t recall her name) was very friendly and poured a decent drink.
Overall not a bad place and I suspect this is a neighborhood Cheers type place, where everybody knows your name.

I dig this joint.
The only time I do not dig this joint is when the punk bartender chick works… I don’t know when she works so it’s Russian Roulette– but every time I go in and she’s working, there’s some awful, obscure music on super loud and she’s way too busy being into herself than she is into her customers, especially a customer that she doesn’t know really well…
But everything else is great. It’s the kind of place that gives you the remote to the TV when you ask for it. Homey. Know what I mean?
There’s a smoking patio out back– I’ve never been out there and not had some sort of interesting conversation with someone I’ve never met before.
Looks like there’s some people that have reviewed this place earlier that are a little pissy about things like it being dead and parking– I’ve never had a problem parking here and I love it when it’s quiet.
And NEVER have I ever heard someone using a fake Irish accent– it’s just a cool neighborhood bar– some people really need to get over themselves.

I wound up at the Ould Triangle for an open-​mike night on a Wednesday evening not too long ago. I don’t generally do open-​mike nights… wait, let me clarify… I have never done open-​mike nights before, because it never really crossed my mind to do so.
So I was a bit surprised to find myself at the Ould Triangle with my acoustic guitar, for an open-​mike night, on that particular Wednesday evening.
So what happened that led me here, you ask? Well, even if you didn’t, I’m going to tell you anyway. I’m wordy like that. I met British singer/​song-​writer Tea For One (Neil Wardleworth) and his girlfriend Emma at the Dubliner while playing Rock Band. They had shown up for an open-​mike night that was advertised somewhere on the internet, but apparently hasn’t happened at the Dubliner for quite some time. Instead, he and Emma wound up playing Rock Band with us, and we got to talking about music, touring, etc.
Later in the evening, he pulled out his guitar and we had our own little open-​mike night, trading songs, talking, and generally having a great time. He and Emma complimented me on my singing and playing, and invited me out to the Ould Triangle for a Wednesday Open Mike with them. This was a pretty huge compliment considering how good Neil is.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, I found myself at the Ould Triangle with my acoustic guitar, about to play songs for a crowd of people I had never met, songs that I’ve only ever really played for about 3 people previously.
The Ould Triangle has that old pub feel. Wood and leather, with an outdoor patio with lots of covered tables. Their selection of beer is wide, they’ve got a lot of booze behind the bar, darts, billiards/​pool, and a couple video games in a corner.
There isn’t much food to order here, except things like potato chips or nuts. However, the bartender told me they have a big list of menus of local delivery places, and you can order food in.
Anyway, I walked in, met Neil and Emma there, we ordered a couple rounds for each other, and listened to the Open-​mike «administrator» begin the evening. Neil was on next, and he rocked it. He’s got a great voice, a great musical style. I bought a couple of his albums off iTunes, they’re less than $ 4 and worth it. Find it from his MySpace page:
A couple other folks got up and played their songs. There was a full range of talent there, from pro musician (Neil) to semi-​pro, to hobbyist crooners. By the time it was my turn, I was unusually nervous; I play live shows often, but playing bass and singing backups in a loud rock band is a much different experience from sitting up there alone, just you and an acoustic, singing your own songs.
The crowd was really supportive, even when my acoustic’s pick-​up broke and I had to borrow Neil’s guitar. I played my songs, got a great reaction, and felt really good about it. Everyone came up afterward, complimented my singing and song-​writing, and were really supportive.
I’ll definitely come back some time, though I’ll need to get my guitar fixed first.

It’s actually pretty pretentious. All the bar tenders seem to have fake quasi-​Irish accents and wear a lot of wool. People aren’t very friendly there and look at you like you’re an alien or something when you walk in. They really push the fake-​but-​oh-​so-​want-​to-​be-​authentic-​Irish thing. It was much better back when it was The Globe.
That said, they do have some good beer on tap and the prices are OK. Parking is a nightmare, and it can be worse trying to get back out than in. It’s usually quite, and no one ever has too much fun, but if you’re only looking for a drink it’s not bad.

I mainly frequent this place due to it’s proximity to my most humble abode. That said, there is some good and some bad about this place. I’m an extremely critical pessimist, so I’ll give you the bad first, so hopefully the good really stands out.
Bad:
This place is usually deader than Julius Caesar, save for a weekend night. For some that may be good, but the place is fairly big and spacious, so it can feel like a morgue at times when there are only 5 – 10 heads in there.
There’s no food, so don’t expect it. This isn’t really a detractor, but you’re a good five blocks away from sustanance if you require some.
The bathrooms here are small and usually in need of serious attention – at least for the men. I can’t speak for the women’s bathroom, but I have been there when someone in the women’s «room of rest» was yelling out for someone to bring in some TP because they were out… and then they didn’t have any in stock so they had to bring bar napkins. Yikes…
The good:
There’s always plenty of good to say about an Irish joint, right? The bartenders pour with a heavy hand, and they have great beers on tap here. A good selection of scotch and other spirits that often are lacking at neighborhood pubs. This is the main reason I return. They are capable – as they should be – of pouring the proper pint of Guiness… so that is refreshing.
They have live music on weekends that is a cut above the typical swill you’ll find in North Seattle bars. Nice folk/​jazz duets & trios will stumble in and play a few sets of jovial tunes and some well-​conceived original music for you.
The back patio is conducive for an evening beer outside, and the layout lends itself to being able to find space if you need it.
All-​in-​all, this is an unassuming pub with the necessary means to provide you with what you want/​need, but I’d keep my expectations on the even side.