My climbing crew and I make a habit of stopping by here every Thursday after Stoney G's. This place is as good as a dive bar gets!
1. Sloopers. Need I say more? Huge steins of beer for dirt cheap.
2. The beer is always crisp and always cold with the perfect amount of foam.
3. Lotsa regulars--where "everybody knows your name."
4. Bartender is always on her A game.
5. Tator tots. After 11pm. Again, need I say more?
I love this Ballard bar!
Went here on my birthday for the "Sloopersized" drinks and nachos. I read a lot of great reviews so I decided to try it out with a few friends since it sounded like a cool dive bar to try out. While walking up we saw the sign, so we knew we were at the right place. However, the outside looks more than a little sketchy and none of us were completely sure if we wanted to walk in. However, we came all the way here so we figured we should at least try it. The inside looks a LOT better than the outside, and the bartender was pretty nice. They were awesome too since this was the only place that actually gave me a free drink on my birthday. Their Sloopersized drinks were definitely impressive and exactly what I was hoping for/expecting. Though their nachos were definitely not as great as I was hoping for; the toppings weren't very well distributed and the chips were pretty soggy (like when you microwave nachos). Overall though this place is pretty good for drinks and has great prices. They also have champagne and wine for really great prices if you don't want a beer. I would definitely come back for another Sloopersized drink, but I think I'll pass on the food.
Review Source:My husband and I have had a couple meals here and the food is very good. Their food is typical tavern food, but quite delicious. Â Very good fish and chips. Â Pool tables for those inclined and beer to suit every taste and of course mine is Georgetown Brewery, Manny's Pale Ale. Â Somewhat of a dive bar, but blue collar comfort and mood.
Review Source:I love The Sloop!
I started going there when I worked across the street back in 2009; it was the beginning of me falling in love with Ballard and moving here from Downtown.
The 1st time I went in there, I just felt at home. I know it's trendy to use the term "dive bar", but it is simply what a bar should be. The staff is friendly, the regulars are cool and entertaining, the game is always on the tv(s), the food is consistently good and the beer is cold. Speaking of the beer, get Sloopersized! You know you want a 34oz mug of beer in your hand.
I like the bacon cheeseburger, fish sandwich and fish & chips. If you're there with friends, share the Slooper nachos, they must weigh 3lbs. The seasoned fries are the best, try them! Walking across the street and having them twice a week caused my midsection to start becoming Sloopersized, but I digress.
They have pool tables, pulltabs, Big Buck Hunter, darts and a jukebox. The games side of the bar is usually pretty packed. There are nightly dinner specials. It's a beer and wine bar. The ladies room has a bottle of Vaseline hand lotion marked Sloop Tavern Courtesy Lotion, bwahahaha.
I'm writing this on an Angeleno's point of view in where a "dive bar" is coined around much like everything else trendy in LA. In other words, LA does not have true dive bars and this was exactly what I was looking for. I was only there for a short while but, in the few hours I got a good sense of yummy food and big cheap beers. If I ever get back to Seattle, I will call this place my home bar.
Review Source:I never knew I liked reubens until I came here and ate part of someone else's order. I in fact ordered a mushroom swiss burger. I never order burgers, but it sounded yummy. It was.
They have a couple pool tables, some arcade games, and some interesting characters. During our visit, the waiter did like Clark Kent and changed costume -- well, more like the opposite I guess, he went from staff to patron. He was a character too.
My boyfriend and I had a healthy discussion on whether this was better called a tavern or a pub, or perhaps a dive bar. I think we agreed to disagree.
We also learned what a sloop was, exactly.
Hooray for dive bars! Theres no way you can not like The Sloop Tavern. It's not the biggest bar, but they make best of their space. And of course you can't forget the famous sloopersize beers! I've been here quite a few times, its usually at the very beginning of a long night stumbling around Ballard.
They have two pool tables, one dart board (that breaks sometimes in the middle of a game), golden tee and my favorite...big buck!
It's a great place to kick back with some friends and have a few beers. Very centralized location so, it's easy to get around from there.
This place doesn't make any apologies for what it is, a hole in the wall with great food and large cold beers at a reasonable price.
Hungry? I strongly recommend the BLT, Reuben, or club sandwich (not on the menu) with seasoned waffle fries. If you order the club sandwich (my favorite), split it. You'll thank me later. This sandwich is huge and soooooo good!
Thirsty? Their huge beers are cheap, and cold! (no full bar)
Conveniently located between hipster downtown and the Ballard liquor store next door, the Sloop is kind of a combination of that -- divey, cheap alcohol with folks in overalls, except here the folks in overalls are authentically fishermen. Don't expect too much in terms of decor (think: darts [though plastic], pool tables, Big Game Hunter, lots of yacht trophies with great names on the wall, pull tabs behind the bar), but expect a lot in terms of beer sizes. Slooper-sized beers are large and cheap, clientele is interesting to look at if a little scary to talk to, but everyone is nice and drunk, so nothing to really be afraid of.
One of the great vestiges of Ballard's fishing history...
At first I thought, "How could I not have reviewed the Sloop?" and then I realized that the Sloop is just that-- forgettable.
No full bar here, fellow lushes. Just a questionable selection of wine and some beers. I am not a beer drinker, so I will not comment on that selection, but WOW. If all you are going to sell is beer and wine, you should probably stock a little more than Sutter Home and Chateu St Michele or whatever other crappy stuff I was forced to swill here.
They do have a lot of pool tables, which is cool, some video games, and a very laid back vibe. Needless to say I will not be back until someone else drags me in, as was the case with my first visit.
Love the slooper sized beers, it draws me here every time. Â This is definitely my pre-funk hangout when going out on the town in Ballard.
Place is kind of small, but has all I need to start my night, beer and pool tables. Â I have only eaten here once and I don't really remember the food, so I'll assume that it was decent.
Getting my ass kicked at pool is more fun at The Sloop.
I swear, if my Lady never scratched on the break, I would never win a game. She's not that great at the game either, just better than me. But we really love to play and find ourselves more often than not at The Sloop. The bartenders are cool. They usually bring us our NA beers at the pool table without having to stop at the bar to order. Â The place is usually half full on weeknights, mainly with the older male variety of human. Weekends are a different story. I stay away.
One night we were hungry, tried a burger, and were pleasantly surprised. Nothing fancy, but very good. We eat there more often now.
One night as we approached the front door, there was an older man standing outside: white hair and beard, yellow rain slicker, boots, pipe in his mouth. I thought he was a statue. He was the perfect Ballard fisherman right off the packaging for frozen lemon cod fillets or something. So you may get something like that if you stop in.
Any place where the average age of the patrons is 60, and I can get a beer the size of a Big Gulp is A-ok in my book.
I love the Sloop and it's sort of oddish charm. Seemingly random bar decorations, the sweet, and helpful staff, and the strange banter you can have with other bar patrons. Going to the Sloop is cheaper and more entertaining than most movies I've been to in the last year. Plus, beer is delicious.
Food's not to shabby here, and beers and munchies are of a pretty fair price.
I only wish it weren't so far off the beaten path from the other bars in the area so it was a more readily available stop on any impromptu pubcrawl.
The Sloop may be where old pirates go to slowly dissolve into a pool of grog.
It's a neighborhood place. Â No need to put on finery to attend a gathering here because no one else is going to either.
Service is with excessive attitude. Â Kind of like if you showed up in someones living room that you didn't know and demanded that they bring you beer.
I have decided the Sloop is my new lover. I am so enarmored I don't care how he'll treat me as long as I can bask in his glory.
Service is slow, the food dirt cheap, greasy, and bad for you, and best of all drinks the size of your head. Its filled with young folks and old grumpy regulars. The booths are not attached to the floor so after a few of those "Sloopersized" beers your ass will be on the ground. There are two pool tables and video games. Â
The Sloop looks like its been around for a while. This is a bar you respect because of all its encountered. Take your pretentiousness and holier than thou attitude somewhere else because it is not tolerated here.
There is a small yard attached where homeless men like to hang out. On my way in I heard one chastise the other because he got one beer rather than a six pack that had been requested.
I love you, Sloop.
Odd that a place called The Sloop, with a case full of sailing medals, has staff that doesn't seem to like sailors.
On the other hand, I'm not sure that the feller serving us liked anyone really.
One of the folks in my party: "Hey, just double checking that we're getting the seasoned fries?"
Server: "Yeah, unless he's dropped them [in the oil] already."
Zoiks! Like, Scooby Doo, how hard is it to season fries?
Righ Roh Roh!
Manny's AND Mac and Jack's. Sweet. Everyone's happy. Especially when there's 34 ounces worth of it.
The place is dingy and parking might be difficult, but all in all an ok spot.
PERFECT DIVE BAR.
and more! The games definitely make this place a step above the rest but come for the cheap and delicious basic food groups (chicken strips, burgers, nachos) and the magnificent MUG of beer. I haven't had this quantity of quality beer since Berlin. And that is saying something. Plus the waitresses is a gem! Tip her nicely you cheapskates- skimp on beer prices, not on tips.
Please feel free to make ample jokes including the word sloop, it is all in good fun.
Top 5 reasons to love the Sloop:
1. Big Screen Safari Buck hunter. Enough said.
2. I'd like to Sloopersize that please. Oh my huge beer is only $5 - thank you very much.
3. The food seemed pretty impressive for a dive bar. Delightful unhealthy treats that were very yummy in my tummy.
4. I love fishermen.
5. Pull tabs and pool and darts - oh my!
Please relocate ASAP to Boston harbor so I can frequent you more often.
Awesome! Â I fully, 100%, totally remember The Sloop. Â I wasn't wasted (just yet). Â Props to me. Â Although trust me, it was tempting to drink copious amounts... $5.50 or so for a big @ss mug of heffeviesen??? Â Nice. Â Seriously, the ginormous, 32 oz mugs they have put a normal pint to shame and when you put a big one and small one side by side it's hilarious! Â My sloopersized ate your pint for a snack... hehe.
Anyways, the place was a lot of fun! Â They have pool tables and for some reason I actually wanted to play (I suck at pool and normally avoid it at all costs). Â Maybe it was Ali's awesome friends that made missing every single ball (even the cue ball) that made it not so bad... hmmm.... The pool tables are quite close to tables so you might accidentally stab some stranger with your big stick, but the locals probably won't mind that much (we know from experience).
I was kind of scared of the food, but it's actually wayyy tasty! Â It's greasy, unhealthy, cheesy and fried. Â Winning combo for a Saturday night... something I wouldn't eat on a daily basis, but yummy every now and then. Â All of these nice little surprises make The Sloop a quite pleasant place to drop by!
The Sloop FAQ:
Q. Is The Sloop busier than you'd expect at 6:30 on a Saturday?
A: Yes. But just grab a beer, mill around for a while, snatch up any table that opens up, and soon you'll have half the place to yourself!
Q: Did The Sloop recently upgrade its Buck Hunter Safari game?
A: Yes. It now features a Big Screen and a Sweet Light-Up Bazooka Gun.
Q: Does The Sloop have good appetizers?
A: Yes. Especially the nachos, chicken strips with *seasoned potato wedges*, and jalapeno poppers. But if you're starting a birthday party here, it might be wise to eat more than just appetizers.
Q: Is The Sloop a good place to start a birthday party?
A: Affirmative.
What else do you need to know, really?
This place is great...big, cheap beers, lots of fried food, surly looking crusty fishermen, a whole gang of homeless guys sleeping in the empty lot next door. Â The Sloop usually draws a friendly, drunken crowd in which the pretension level is absurdly low.
Maybe the place gets some odd characters from time to time or draws underage drinkers, but the bar staff is militant about checking IDs and they get really pissed if you try to buy a single pulltab with pennies, even when the place is empty. Â Despite being a bit curt, the bartenders are quick to serve you a huge mug of beer. Â You'll definitely need a cab to get home from the sloop. Â And if a tall girl from Chicago tries to offer you a bite of her banana, don't be scared; its just my roommate who tends to down a slooper and start offering fruit to random strangers.
I once sat at the bar here, with a beer the size of my face, next to a 70-year-old retired bartender who spent a few hours telling me dirty jokes and singing Irish drinking songs.
This is what I live for, people! And if you don't already live for this, then I highly recommend it. Human beings are AWESOME.
The Sloop is all about bang for the buck to me: 33.8 oz frosty mugs of microbrew for under $6, excellent 3pc fish & chips for about $8, and 50 cent pool tables. That's about as good as pub value gets. If you need still more buck-bang, they also have Big Buck Hunter.
I don't usually pay much attention to the crowd (which may say something about the crowd), but one night my roommate and I ran into a couple of decent-looking cougars there. Wasn't my thing, but in case it helps you out... :-)
One of the reasons why I love this place is for its convenient location, since I live a stone's throw away. Â Sadly, I can't seem to scale over the barbed wire fence separating their back yard from mine, so I have to walk *all the way around the block* in order to order me up a sloopersize mug of beer.
Don't forget your ID. Â Even if you fancy yourself a regular, those sometimes loveable and always curmudgeonly bartenders can't distinguish you from the throngs of other pretend-blue-collar-hipsters, and won't think twice before kicking you out for not bringing proper identification (or for looking at them the wrong way). Â So be nice and polite to your bartenders. Â Even if they might lack any patience with you and won't begrudge you the merest hint of a smile (isn't that part of the Sloop's charm?) ... The more sloopersize mugs of beer you have, the less you'll care that the bartender isn't showing you any love. Â Go cry in your beer, hipster! Â Your big, beautiful beer.
Jabs at the ever increasing number of non-blue collar patrons aside, yes, it does seem less of a true fisherman's bar than it used to be. Â But we were here a few weeks ago after a regatta of some sort, and by the end of the evening, the bar was packed with nautical ruffians of all kinds - and it was awesome and authentic (if you ignored us pansy-a&% pretenders in the corner).
The food is greasy goodness. Â Well, it's honestly nothing to write home about - just standard dive bar fare, with moderately okay fish and chips, nachos and burgers ... but after one (or two, or three) of the aforementioned mugs of beer, everything will taste delicious.
Woe that I rarely seem to catch the kitchen before it closes. Â I could be wrong, but I think on summer weeknights, the kitchen closes by ten (no ifs ands or buts about it, and begging and pleading with the bartender doesn't help either - and crying just makes them laugh at you). Â So don't fret if you can't get any food - just have another beer.
I'm sincerely surprised "sloopersized" isn't on Wikipedia yet, as it's a phenomenon that I link to all beers served in mugs 32 ounces or larger (regardless of the location of where I drink said gigantic beer).
The food is pretty decent and not too spendy, and the beers won't set you back too much either. Â A couple of pool tables and variety of video games will keep the ADD kids in your group occupied, and there is always a game on one (or all) of the tvs.
To quote my guy friends "the bigger the beer . . . the bigger the good time, " and I can't say I disagree as I've never had a bad time at The Sloop.
Let me start off by saying that I don't even really drink beer.
I'm the kind of gal who usually prefers getting dolled up and sipping on a lemondrop while chatting to my girlfriends. Â If the bar's swanky and hip, I'm there. Â I'm more than supportive of any boyfriends frequenting a dive-bar or tavern, talking sports and playing pool - but it's usually just not my thing.
Last spring, however, I signed up to play adult-league kickball in Ballard. Â And my kickball team was sponsored by the Sloop. Â Which meant every Sunday after our game, the entire team headed to the Sloop for beers and a re-cap of the game. Â And I LOVED it.
I drank cider and ate greasy bar food (which is exactly the way bar food should be). Â The guys on the team loved "Slooper-sizing" their beers. Â We played various games and chatted with Ballard locals. Â The guy who runs the place was professional and friendly. Â Seriously the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Sloop Tavern, you may have just converted me.
When it comes to my reviews, I try to entertain you, dear Yelpers. On this one, I was torn between two, so I will post both, and you can decide which one you like. Enjoy!
#1:
Hey, yeah - I wanna sloop, baby
Here I go, here I go, here I go again (again?)
Yelp, what's my weakness? (Beer!)
Ok then, chillin', chillin', mindin' my business (word)
Yo, Scott K, I looked around, and I couldn't believe this
I swear, I stared, my Joel M my witness
The bar had it goin' on with big ass beers...uh
Wicked, wicked (oooo) - had to kick it
I'm not shy so I asked for the liter
A drunk? No, that don't make me
I slurped it like a beer should be
Came to my senses and I chilled with my beer for a bit
Don't know how you do the voodoo that you do
So well it's a spell, hell, makes me wanna sloop sloop sloop
Sloop sloop ba-doop
Sloop ba-doop
Sloop ba-doop ba-doop ba-doop
Sloop ba-doop
Sloop ba-doop
Sloop ba-doop ba-doop ba-doop
#2:
So in that off chance if/when Hell freezes over, and I get married again, I will be faced with the daunting task of the reception. When I think wedding reception, I think Sloop. Cause honestly folks, nothing screams sophisticated upper crusty class like cheap 1 liter beers, pool, pretty tasty bar food, Big Buck Hunter, sports and drunk old geezers!
Actually, I'd probably save myself a bundle
Sloop rules!
I brought my Aunt and Uncle here when I feared the Duchess Tavern was TOO divey. Though I was wrong about that, they loved the Sloop and claimed that it was the perfect dive! They loved all of Ballard based on the Sloop alone.
I had a good burger, Chris had the turkey sand, and my Aunt and Uncle both had the fish and chips. $41 bucks for four lunches, a side of fries, one diet pepsi, and three Slooper-sized beers. Not too bad. My only weensy complaint was that service was slow because one poor guy had to do all the serving himself. The place was pretty busy for a Sunday afternoon too. Thumbs up to him because he remained smiling and polite while totally over-worked.
Check out the blackberries in the parking lot. YUM!
Beer served in so large a glass that my skinny arms must use both hands to hold. Â Or search for a straw.
    +
Blue collar beer in said glass for under $4. Â
    +
One said beer down and I'm singing songs to myself in the john and scrounging up quarters to put in the sex toy vending machine. Â
What does this all add up to?
    =
A fine ass joint.
But don't come if you wear khakis often or have a credit card for The Gap. Â Wee don't lyk yur kynd 'round hurr.
God, I love this place. Â The Sloopersized beers (and before I drank beer, hard cider) have NEVER let me down, and the turkey sandwich is, for my money, the best in the city.
The BEST. Â It's, like, real chunks of turkey breast carved off an actual (presumably dead and cooked) turkey, served with shitloads of mayonnaise and cranberry sauce on squishy, squishy white bread. Â And get the seasoned fries, too. Â UMMMM. Â YUM.
No better combo on a hot day.
32 OZ OF BEER FOR FOUR-FIVE DOLLARS.
That is all you need to know. Really. This place is a real dive (just the way I like it) and it's never been crowded the times I've been here. My friends were hit on by a dude without teeth one time. Real classy joint.
Fun times are always had when you get people to drink multiple sloops (not recommended unless you want to destroy your liver).
When someone calls a place a "dive," I just want to yell, "Hey Buddy! What?! Do you think you're Donald Fuckin' Trump or something??!" I mean, really, if its too "divey" then what are you doing there in the first place?
Okay, that's my little rant. Anyway, the Sloop is an awesome dive in downtown Ballard (and I say dive with affection). They serve multiple sizes of beer, including the schooner (really, what's the point), the pint, and the super-sized litre (I think it's actually a 32-ouncer). It's kind of an eclectic crowd, with migrant workers brushing up against working-class Ballard folks and the stray group of obnoxious frat people. Last time I went the 32-ounce Raineer was pricing at $4, I think, which is a pretty good deal.
One word of advice. After multiple 32-ouncers it's not really a good idea to switch to cider from Raineer. My "friend" got too drunk and deserted me at the Sloop once. I had a full Raineer in front of me, and he left me with a full cider. With friends like that, who needs friends? As far as food, the Sloop makes surprisingly good fish and chips, and on St. Patty's I had some excellent corned beef and cabbage. They're usually pretty understaffed, so you just have to be patient and wait your turn.
Once after the Syttende Mai (17th of May) parade in Ballard I went to the Sloop and there was a huge group of clowns that came walking in after the parade. They all started ordering shots of whiskey and trying to pick up middle-aged women. It was amusing. My friend and I tried to convince them to give us a ride to the U-District, but they were just like 'no.'
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