Sunset Tavern

Often I think to myself when I see negative reviews on Yelp: "If only the reviewer had given them another chance--perhaps it was an off-night, perhaps the server was frazzled." Tonight, I retract this sentiment in its entirety. When your experience is as miserable as what I experienced a the Sunset Tavern tonight, there is nothing so enticing that it could possibly convince you to try again.

Let's start with the service. When I am one of three people sitting at the bar, I expect someone to take my drink order. If, furthermore, the bar is nearly empty on a Tuesday night, and there are two bartenders both of whom are chatting away, then my sympathy disappears entirely. Ten minutes should not elapse before you notice that I've been signaling you.

Secondly, I wasn't expecting amazing pizza from a bar, but when your crust is more rigid than cardboard, I believe that's reason enough to feel disappointed. I'll let your imagination fill in the rest.

I didn't leave the bar because of the food or service though, I left because of the music. Between bouts of wincing, the stranger sitting next to me at the bar commented that we were currently experiencing the worst sound check that he had ever heard. The music was both tortuous and intolerable. I left half-way through my meal specifically because the music was among the most horrible sounds I have ever witnessed. (If you knew me and my affinity for pizza, you would understand that there are few things on this earth that can draw me away from a warm slice of pizza, good or not--but this was one of them.)

I fled from the Sunset Tavern.

I can say without reservation that this was one of the worst eating or drinking experiences of my life. When in addition to this, I realize that I paid an eight dollar cover to enter, I can only say that nothing will ever persuade me to return.

I've seen some great shows here in the past and had some good times, but the Sunset is a bit overrated. $6 for a beer?! I thought this was a dive bar, not some fancy ass Belltown club with overpriced drinks. Unless there is a band you really love playing, I'd skip it.

This used to be a gnarly dive with live music. Now it's just a dive with live music. The smoking ban a few years ago sure did tidy things up in this town. The Sunset is downright civilized now.

This is a nice bustling strip of Ballard Avenue. Maybe the bustlin'est, actually. Virtually every storefront is a restaurant or bar that's interesting and worth a visit--and if not, it's probably popular and busy, anyway. The Sunset is the punkier option through here, supporting local bands, new bands, offbeat stuff in the realm of live music. They only hold about 100 people, though that doesn't stop them from packing in what feels like more than that from time to time. They keep cover charges low, and as a result they have a nice simple straight-ahead economic model for bringing in interesting bands that need a shot at live gigs.

There are a few tables and chairs, a long banquette. There are nice folks working the door and behind the bar. Most unrecognizably of all, compared to the Sunset of 15 years ago, the sound in here is really nice. Didn't really even need earplugs to watch a pretty loud show in here.

They do tend to draw in a certain segment of crowd here who aren't here to pay attention to the band. They just want to drink and chat. They probably paid the cover, though, and they're money in the club's pocket, so technically they're kind of supporting the scene. If a band you like is playing here, or if you just want to check out a live band tonight, check out the Sunset. It's doing the work.