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88 Keys Dueling Piano And Sports Bar
Rating Details »
Category: Sports Bars
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square315 2nd Ave South
(between Main St & Jackson St)
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 839-1300
- Hours:
Mon. 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Tue. 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Wed-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sun. 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
- Parking:
- Street
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- Live
- Best Nights:
- Thu, Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- No
19 reviews for 88 Keys Dueling Piano And Sports Bar
The stars are strictly for the service, which was excellent, and the band that was playing when I first arrived.
The drinks were really weak. This is not a good sign at a bar.
The "comedy" was sad. Everyone in the place seemed to be in general agreement, but was nice enough not to boo the guy off stage.
Went here last night, Saturday, with Hubby and two friends. We had a blast! The pianists are great, singing and piano playing skills.
I deduct two stars because the drinks were the weakest I have ever had. Someone in our party ordered a Long Island Iced Tea and it tasted like water. I had a vodka tonic, and it tasted like tonic with lime. After we ordered our second round of drinks, we mentioned to our server that our drinks were very weak. She apologized and explained that the bartender was new and she even thought he wasn't very good. So, she made our next round of drinks... oh man! Those were the strongest drinks I have ever had!! So I give back one star because our server was super friendly and corrected a situation when we mentioned it to her.
The only food we ordered was chips and salsa as we had been at a bbq earlier in the day. The chips were very tasty and the salsa was spicy, which I love!
I did not look at the food menu, so I don't know about the prices or selection. I probably would only come here for the entertainment and drinks anyway. Even before we started drinking, we were having a blast watching the pianists.
88 Keys gets four stars because the service was awesome and the entertainment was great!
I was really looking forward to coming to this place. I had been to a couple dueling piano bar places in Cali, but never up here in Seatown. I guess all I can say was that I was disappointed.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but the chicken enchiladas I ordered was a tad bit better than eating a Hungry Man frozen meal of enchiladas. My personal test of a Mexican place is by the enchiladas it serves, these were easily the absolute worst examples of such I've ever had. The menu is uninspired, don't ever eat at a place that looks like it has to serve food to please the masses. PLEASE, if you know what's good for you, go eat dinner somewhere else before the piano fun starts.
The server was fair, it looked like he had a lot on his place and was running around covering all his tables in a timely manner.
As for the main reason you would be going to a place like this, in general the piano skills of the guys are pretty damn good, but their singing voices amount to little more than talking loudly and in rhythm. Sometimes their singing and the volume of it will drive you to cover your ears it's so piercing. I got tired of it real quick. The "clever" dirty songs are so lame, it reminded me of songs we made up on the school bus in 7th grade.
Everyone looks like they're having a good time here, but I just didn't get into it. I think you have to be close to or just beyond the point of being shitfaced to really get into it. After 88 Keys, I'm gonna see how Chopstix is.
I only gave it a 4 star because I haven't tried the food yet. I visited the 88 keys for Monday Night Karaoke and while there got a special treat from the owner who played the piano and sang live for us as well. The D.J. Mari was awesome and the sound system is excellent. There were several very good singers for a slower paced Monday night. I can't wait to check out dueling piano night and the nights when they remove the tables to create a dance floor. You can walk from both stadiums to this club and enjoy a wonderful exciting atmosphere.
i went here for a company function. The food was terrible, i would compare it to taco bell. Overpriced. Comedy was terrible, but it was open mic so not the bar's fault. Dueling pianos was pretty cool But overall i would not go back.
Tonight, I attend a ColorsNW Jobtini. Jobtini is a networking event for hiring managers / human resources of local companies to meet prospective employees. Umhuhhh.
The atmosphere is relaxed to meet, mingle, pass around resumes and business cards. I have actually attend previous Jobtini's. 88 Keys Dueling Piano and Sports Bar is the most spacious. Yeaahh.
88 Keys Dueling Piano and Sports Bar was an easy commute. The place seems like down home comfort. Everyone was nice. There was fun foods and lemon water for all. And piano music in the background. An ambiance to keep the crowd nicely paced. Righteouusss.
88 Keys is an appreciable place for any type of event, (except maybe Kids' Parties). Sooo surreee.
This is probably my favorite, get the night going bar! Its fun for all ages 21-100+ I've seen bachelorette parties and birthday parties celebrating 60 years. Its fun, crude, and outrageous. There is plenty of seating and it starts to get crouded around 11-12. There is a cover charge around $7, so make sure you bring your cash. Alcohol prices are about average, but make sure you drink has enough alcohol in it. They were testing one bartender out a month ago and the drinks were poor. However, we complained and had the other bartender make us a drink and whoooweee was it strong. Probably the same amount as all previous 3 drinks combined! Best place to get your party started!!!
Laughed till my sides hurt. And I wasn't even drunk yet. Gotta love their stand-up comedy shows!
I wanted to see what the fuss was about, and damnnn those pianists are quick with their hands and quick with their wit! Loved the show! Well worth the affordable cover fee.
Too bad the food servings aren't too big. Like the potato skins were divine, but I finished off the plate in a few chomps! But an exception is the huge plate of nachos drenched in cheese, spices and beef -- ahhh, delicious and filling!
Big enough venue. On the night I went there, there were 3 bachelorette parties and a birthday bash, so it's apparently a pretty popular place for a good time.
I've been to this place twice, and loved it both times.
Of course, you need to be the kind of person that likes dueling pianos, karaoke, making a fool of yourself etc etc.
The performers here are great at getting the crowd going and had a decent singing voice. It's a big venue with lots of room for your friends.
And I was there today for Santacon/Santicon, that's quite an experience I gotta tell ya. Singing dirty jingles with 100 people dressed up in Santa suits? You just can't beat that, :)
The entertainment there on Friday night was amazing! There was a comedian who held his own and then hours of dueling pianos which was great. The pianist had amazing voices, great stage presence, funny and they went on forever! I loved it!
That, to me was the only redeaming factor to the night though. The food was decent but way overpriced. It was expensive mexican food price for cheap mexican food quality. The waitress that we had was horrible. Whenever we would ask for ANYTHING she had an exuse for why she couldn't help us. For example, my friend asked for the drink menu and the waitress told her that they don't keep them on the table and that she had no idea where they could be. 45 minutes later, she showed up with one just to take it away a couple minutes later to give it to another table. She also gave us a huge explanation why there was no way to give us a pitcher of water. I don't want reasons to have someone not do their job when I pay to go to an establishment, I want them just to do their job. On top of that, I ordered a beer and was paying cash. She gave me a bill for $5.50 which I gave her a $20 and she gave me $14 back. I was going to give her the change and a dollar for her tip, but don't take the money that is mine just expect the tip. That was rude. Yes it was 50 cents but it should have been my discretion as to where that money went.
I have to say, we had friends at a different table that had great service, so I can't say all the staff is as negligent. I can't remember what our waitresses name was, but be wary of the girl that looks like she is almost too young to be in the establishment and gives you an exuse why she can't do her job everytime you ask for anything.
Wow i thought this place would have more reviews.
I visited Seattle to see a good friend a little while ago, and she knew I liked jazz clubs so she took me here. It's not quite the same as what I'm used to in southern california, but it was nonetheless a GREAT experience!
The music was a lot of fun, a lot of oldies and great oldschool 80's slowjams. The crowd was awesome, everyone was friendly-drunk and having a great time and laughing and singing together. I always have great experiences at jazz clubs. If everyone loved listening to blues and jazz music there would be no more war. When someone screws up and makes weapons of mass destruction, someone else would just be like "hey that's cool man, I'll make one with you and we can have a beer and let it go and we'll be buddies and maybe get together and jam sometime." Then you'll cry about your mothers, talk about how you both love the way moonlight bounces off of the bricks of that one coffeeshop around the corner, and save millions of lives.
88 Keys is that kinda friendly. I spend the whole time drinking, and singing loudly. Drinking progressively more, singing progressively louder, and having a BLAST.
Came here Friday night around 11. Surprisingly found some nice free parking right across the street. So hey the evening starts off well. Go in $5 cover, very reasonable. The place is not quite packed, but it's not dead either. Anyway this was my second only experience with a Dueling Piano Bar...the first being Chopstix. I actually enjoyed myself here a lot more. The crowd didn't seem as rowdy as Chopstix, but the place seemed more intimate and that pianists seemed to connect more with the crowd (like have people come up from some tables sit, and get made fun of for a song or two).
I think my favorite lines were used on my friend Megan was:
Rich girls use cotex
Poor girls use sheets
But not Meghan
She just leaves trails on the streets
Yeah that made for a good laugh. Anyway it might have been due to the smaller crowd that night, but service was lightning fast, and they always came by to check on you...I guess it's a necessity to have drunk people in a dueling piano bar, but nothing against good service. They even gave all the tables some free chips and salsa at one point in the night...free food..hell yeah.
Last, but not least. They have some phrase of the night thing (shown in the picture) where it starts at $1 and every new phrase costs an extra buck...or if you tip $50 they keep the phrase up all night. Anyway it's a good way to punk your friends for a couple bucks.
~G
A Piano Bar!
A Sports Bar!
A Bona Fide Babe Magnet!...Huh?
Okay, here is how it goes:
Wife and I arrive at 88 Keys at 8pm, ready to have a few and meet a friend who is celebrating her birthday (our party paid $15 a head and in exchange we received reserved tables for 16 and a free drink each -standard cover was $5).
The piano show had already started, featuring one middle aged fella and one young buck. There is a bar area and a floor area and, obviously, a stage. The space is cavernous, but dull. There is really nothing sexy about it. Maybe by being both a piano and sports bar, they couldn't commit to a theme.
Moving on.
We sally up to the bar (bartender singing along with the piano-men):
Honey, "Ketel One Martini."
Me, "Jamison, rocks."
Bartender, "$18.25."
Okay, I am switching to pints.
The first couple tunes I heard were Dancing Queen and Like A Virgin, ("Okay, this is going to be a long night", I muse) performed by the young fella with the halfway decent warble. Strange. Soon enough, the older piano-man says, "Stop requesting chick songs, we're guys." He said it with a smile, so no offenses were taken. He is kinda like an annoying uncle, with a tendency to spout lines like "How's everybody doing out there tonight?", but he can play the mouth harp, too, so he gets a bit of respect.
The crowd at this time is a wonderfully diverse mixture of white people. Some with brown hair, some with blond. A blue eye here and a brown one over that way. There is a table singing along enthusiastically, and I see a few 40-somethings (most were younger folk) who appear very Kent (Definitely from the 253 or the 425) with mustaches and little fashion sense. There is also a table full of babes sitting in the table closest to the stage (Gentlemen, make a move to the table of ladies drinking alone). Aside from this GROUP of gals, there seems to be an abundance of females...good news, guys!
As the night went on, learned a lot, such as:
- Humans love sing alongs, and piano-men encourage it (and, no, I will not join in to belt out the chorus of Love Potion # 9, thank you very much).
- The table full of young women were Alpha Phis (for a dollar and up the audience can pay to have the musicians write something cute, like "Alpha Phis on Top" on the big mirror).
- The older piano man wants to be Billy Joel.
- The longharied piano man, who joined the duo at 8:30, rocks (he kicked ass on my request, November Rain).
- These three "piano men" can transform into a three piece band (bass and drums) if the song requires it (which is pretty fucking cool).
- Apparently, after a few, I will yell "Buh, Buh, Buh" when signing along with Sweet Caroline.
- Three inch yellow heels are not that hot, even if you are in a sorority.
- Being a white boy while playing piano and singing Snoop Dog's Gin and Juice is very entertaining ("We don't love dem hoes").
Finally, if you go to 88 Keys on your birthday, the guys will bring you up on stage, help you atop a piano, and sing to you.
Not a bad time at all.
Dark, dingy bar with a cover and full of either tourists or frat boys. $5.
Drunk, obnoxious bartender who finally pours you a very expensive drink. $10
Scrambled eggs literally strewn all across the bar because said drunk, obnoxious bartender hasn't gotten around to clean up customers' food plates. Priceless
So bad. The comedian was painfully unfunny and the food was awful (the bf called it 'high school cafeteria Mexican food'). I ordered a shrimp cocktail appetizer and burger. The burger was pretty institutional tasting, with a small patty, iceberg lettuce and big tomato slice on top of it. The shrimp cocktail was just sad: a bunch of tiny shrimps (the canned kind, all pale pink and the size of your thumbnail) and dumped into some soupy mystery sauce). My bf liked my potato skins but I found them greasy.
The place was ghost town empty, too. Food was dirt cheap but I'd pay NOT to eat there again. I felt really bad for the staff. They were super nice . .but they're on a sinking ship. Hope they find gainful emplyment elsewhere ..
Didn't really know what to expect from this place, but was pleasantly and disturbingly surprised. Arrived with 3 friends around 7pm on a Friday night. They apparently have a cover charge, but was only $5 (even though they tried charging $10 at first). To our delight, there were two opening comedians before the pianos. First guy was alright, the second was hilarious at times. This was my first dueling pianos experience. Both players were good and quite funny. Most of the songs were before my time, but entertaining and much more so the more you drink. Crowd interaction was great and they got a bunch of guys to dance on the stage. The entertainment was definitely a good deal for $5 a person.
The service and food was a bit shoddy. Our waiter didn't seem like the brightest person in the world. He never gave us waters and got my order wrong even though I pointed at it on the menu. The food was pretty tasty. I ended up with chicken tenders, which were good. The fries were okay and the fish and chips were just fine too. A friend's burger was undercooked, to which the waiter replied, "What do you want me to do about it?" Eventually got a new one. The drinks were moderately expensive. About $8 for a car bomb and $4 for a pint of beer during their happy hour. Apparently they have a bucket of beer deal, which is cheap. Then it took the waiter about 30 mins to ring up the tab. Not too sure what his deal was. So...
Entertainment - great deal
Food - not too shabby
Service - lousy
Price - on the expensive end
I'm not a huge dueling-piano bar kinda girl (exception: Christine S's bachelorette party, see my review for Chopstix) so lucky for me, 88 Keys is in Sports Mode when I go there.
Getting a beer before a Seahawks game can be a daunting task if you aren't tailgating - FxMcRory's? Packed. Sluggers? Forget it. Tiki Bob's? No, just no. 88 Keys not only has room for you, but there might even be a place for you to set your drink and possibly even your ass! AND they have buckets of 5 Miller Lites for $12. Done and done. Now if something could only be done about the Qwest Field Eight Dollar Beer Beverage Situation.
I came here with a couple friends for something to do to end the night and I was amazed at how much fun it was. I've been to several other piano bars over the years and despite the sparse crowd here on the night I went, everyone was pretty fired up and ready to enjoy the night.
There were 3 pianists for the night and all of them were amazingly talented (from my non-piano-playing POV). They all put down some great songs and got the crowd going. From old standards to newer songs, each of the pianists knew his material and put his own twist on it.
Highly recommended.
I read David's review and had to see a piano man sing Gin and Juice for myself. It was everything and more then I hoped for. While I was there I saw two different bachelorette parties about about 3 birthdays. Drinks where pricey as David stated, and not very strong. Service was hit and miss with the waitress either ignoring us or forgetting about us until later in the night. I best part for was was requesting songs to see if they would get played. It really was alot of fun for a group of people. Not a place I would go regularly, but once in a while it can be great fun.
