The People's Pub
- Hours:
Mon-Tue 6:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m.
Wed-Thu 3:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m.
Fri-Sun 3:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner, Late Night
- Music: Juke Box
- Best Nights: Thu, Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: No
- Coat Check: No
65 Reviews for The People's Pub
The food takes achingly long but I like the spatzle here. The decor is divey but not enough to make it cool. This is a good neighborhood spot if you are a beer snob and want to get away from the eastsiders. I like the tall guy server with long hair. He reminds me of Jesus.
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Our favorite hangout. It's chill and comfortable without trying.
We like to go during happy hour and order the fried pickles (uh-MAZ-ing!) and sausage and cheese plate. I like to pretend I am drinking beer so I order Strongbow. They have it cheap and that makes me happy.
The schnitzel sandwich is my fave for a semi-splurge (the wiener schnitzel is my fave for a real splurge) but the BLT is good for a happy hour sandwich.
As previously mentioned, the skinny waiter with long hair is great. We always call him "South by Southwest" because he often wears SXSW shirts.
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Now one of my most favorite bars ever. It is my safe haven on Friday and Saturday evenings when the frat boys invade Ballard. The past three times I've been, I've managed to get a table. The service has improved 100% from my first visit. And again, if you like beer you can drink for so cheap here. $3 for a pint of Spaten Optimizer and that's not a happy hour price.
People's, it took me a while, but love you.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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02/21/2007
"Um...did you ever actually see our waitress?" my out-of-town friend asked after we left People's.… Read more »
Not a big fan of German food, but gotta love those fried pickles!!!
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Good place for some happy hour fried pickles! mmm. I often enjoy the selection of beers on tap here too, lots of local options.
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9 out of 10 times, the service is friendly, and when it's not, you forgive it because you love this place and its lack of pretension. Don't go at peak hours on a Friday or Saturday night expecting fast service.
My husband is addicted to the spaetzle. My standby is the fried tomato sandwich. But wherefore art thou, beets stuffed with goat cheese? Why were you taken off the menu? Please People's Pub Powers That Be - please put my beets back on the menu!
The back bar is cozy and has great atmosphere (yes, I guess it's kind of divey by Seattle standards).
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This is my most solid pick in Ballard.
Happy hour veggie burgers and weird german meats for all you carnivores - BIG beers from around the world for pretty cheap!
The front room is kinda tacky but the bar in back's got style
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Okay so it's not the best service or the greatest atmosphere but it is a nice place to hang with friends and have a beer. It has been a regular get together place for my friends and although the one waiter was kind of an ass the first time (the foo fighters look like) he made up for it by apologizing.
I have yet to understand why people in Seattle expect friendly chatty down home service like you get in the South. This is Seattle, generally people are bitchy or sullen. As long as I am having a good time and getting decent service I can let a few things slide. Especially when you throw German beer in the mix.
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To be honest, I need to give People's Pub another shot before I can write a fair review but I'm gonna go 3 stars for now. Drinks were just okay, kind of took a long time considering the bar was not busy at all...
But... You gotta love a bar with board games, who doesn't love board games? Battle of the Sexes kept me very entertained even though I felt like all the questions for the females were DUMB. (not YOUR fault People's Pub)
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I have heard that their is a gay club in Berlin that has a dance floor below the urinals where the boys can dance in a shower of pee.
This German place isn't that cool, but they have good beer and a nice happy hour.
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Never has a place been so aptly named. This is indeed a pub for the people. Simple well executed german food, good bar with a great focus on tap beer. A kingly place to watch the game and a great place to sit and eat quality food in ballard sans line. They have a good scotch (with great prices) list and a scotch happy hour on sundays. And, get this, for being considered what is now "divey" in ballard, the staff is really pleasant and wants to be there. Is your dad coming to visit from the mid-west? brin him here. Best fried pickles in town.
Ich liebe German Food.
Ich liebe German bier.
Ich liebe People's Pub!
Their Spaetzle is great! Their weinerschnitzel is better! Sunday, a group of us went for dinner and I had these pork croquettes w/ some rotkohl on it - it was awesome!! If you want some good German food and great atmosphere, this is a great place to go! And it doesn't smell like sauerkraut either! :o)
Oooo... and they have board games too!
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I like the People's Pub. The bartenders are generally very nice, the food is really good (even though it takes a little while to get to you) and the aioli is HEAVEN.
I love this place. Happy hour prices are great, food is tasty - just enough to fill you up but not too much. I tend to order off the happy hour menu because it's usually what I crave - best cheeseburgers around - but their dinner menu is also a good sampling of German fare. And German beer! Oh so good. Nice people, atmosphere varies from rowdy to relaxed. Great serving staff but sometimes overworked so give 'em a break, they'll make it to yr table when they can...
Good hamburgers. Good Fries. Cheap and good glass of wine. All in all I was really happy with the food that I had here. We went to try and find a place to watch basketball games and ended up with some yummy food. Also, random tidbit; I would not be surprised if our waiter was related to david grohl from the foo fighters because he looked exactly like the guy!! :)
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This is the first restaurant we went to when we moved to Ballard. We go almost every Friday for Happy Hour - the fish & chips are the best deal ever. The service is always efficient, if not brisk, and I love the random music and the Cartoon Network on the TV.
We occasionally drop in for dinner or weekend lunch, and always have a great experience. It's great to sit back in the bar and get away from all of the Hipsters on Ballard Ave.
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Very crowded and noisy in the bar - a younger twenty something hang out. Excessive amounts of the other white meat - however, my gardenburger (when it finally arrived) was positively succulent! Slightly surly waiter and very sloooow service made this place a "don't go back." I know it was busy, but he made every effort to not give any eye contact or check back to take our food orders - I had to flag him down. 4 stars for the food!
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This place is a joke.
Took a table in the front; waited 10 minutes, absolutely ZERO recognition, not even a menu, from the waitress.
Moved to the back of the bar since it seemed more populated and we figured we'd get some service. Found a table and sat. Table top was broken, would easily flip over if one put their elbows on it. Finally the barkeep took our drink order, and waitress arrived 5 minutes after that.
One waitress for a restaurant 1/3 full.
Placed order of pickles, one beer, salad, two entrees. Took 30 minutes to get us a beer and fried pickles. Never mind the rest of our dinner order...over 30 minutes after our order; no salad, no entrees, no refills on beer or water. We left money on the table for the pickles and beer and walked out, telling the waitress to cancel our order. Her reply: "what table are you guys at???"
I think her comment says it all for People's pub. The other reviews on here complaining of poor service are VERY true.
I really wanted to love this place; I LOVE German food and beer. I don't, however, like to be ignored completely and wait forever when paying for a $50 meal. Very easy to get better service at an Applebee's (that is an insult).
I can't remember the last time I walked out before our orders arrived. I eat out almost every day.
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How could I hav eneglected to review the Peoples Pub? I came her once a while back and the food was just OK but over priced. The beers fine. I remeber the service was very slow. Beers sat empty for long streches. It was all in all just an average experience. It might have been an off night but if I go back I will update.
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Holy crap. I can't believe I feel inclined to give what used to be my favorite bar such a tits up rating. The last two times I've been to the People's, the lights have been sickeningly bright, the food was crap, and none of my favorite waitstaff, bartenders, or cooks were in sight. I don't know what happened to the delicious roasted beet or the massive Woodford rocks, but something has changed. I'll try it one last time, I mean for christ sake this has been a mainstay of mine for years, but if I'm disappointed again, I'm done. New ownership? What's up?
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So, I was flipping through a past issue of my Virginia Tech alumni newsletter, when I noticed an article about places where Hokies can go to gather with fellow alumni across the country. Well, low and behold, the People's Pub in Ballard was listed for Seattle. Needless to say, I had to check it out.
I enjoyed it. The German fair was sehr gut. It was happy hour when I arrived, and they have a special happy hour menu with many reasonably priced food and drink specials. I ordered a Bratwurst with Frites and an order of deep fried pickles for the table. The pickles were strange(part of the reason why I ordered them in the first place) but good. The Bratwurst was delicious, reminded me of Grandma Kerr's kielbasa when I was a kid.
The visit was short lived, but I think I want to go back another time, maybe for a Virginia Tech football game to try out their huge selection of imported German beers. The TV in the bar is kind of small, so maybe I'll just get my order to go and head back to my place, we'll see. I hear the atmosphere here is the real draw.
All in all, the People's Pub gets a big thumbs up from me, and for representing Virginia Tech, it gets an even bigger Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi!
Their wurst is the best! If you know what I'm sayin'?!
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Discovered this pub while waiting for a table at La Carta de Oaxaca. I'm so glad we had such a long wait at Oaxaca, cuz this place was a pleasant surprise.
We hung out in the bar---which is in the back. They have a decent selection of German beers I'd never tried before. We ordered a round and chilled at the bar. The bartender was cool and hooked us up.
Oh yeah, there is also a huge window behind the bar looking out at the water (Ballard Locks?)--cool view. Another thing which sold us on the place was the music...they were playing Radiohead's new album---can it get any better?????
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I ended up at PP around 4 PM on Halloween after a night of binge drinking, after which I decided to play hooky with a few friends from out of town. We went out to the Locks for a bit and then decided to cure our hunger pangs and find a HH somewhere in Ballard.
I didn't drink anything and barely ate anything due to a massive hangover, but the service was great and the fried pickles were tastier than I would have imagined.
The Caesar Salad was no bueno and the fries weren't that great, but at the time it was a great setting for a lazy afternoon.
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I came here with a couple of friends, counting down the hour we had til' we had to escort one our ladies to a date she was meeting at the Lock and Keel. We had attempted to go to the Matador but of course it was packed and wanted to enjoy happy hour before the hour of happy was over! The People's Pub is right across the street so we hopped over and went into the back where the bar is.
Great view! We sat at tables (not at the bar) but were still impressed with the ginormous window with a view of the Locks.
Experience put simply: average with a little disappointment.
The waitress was nice but slow. I ordered the fish and chips minus the chips but subbed with salad....and this was to split with one of my girls. The fish and salad came without anything for us to split it on and only one piece of fish. Sad. Who gets fish and chips expecting only one piece of fish? Next time I will make an effort to order chips and fishes! Everything was pretty run of the mill. Not to sound like an alcoholic but may I please have some rum with my coke and ice?
Friendly folks, good sites and convenience gives this hidden watering hole it's three stars. I may stop in to give it one more shot.....
Why do I heart The People's Pub? Hmmm.... so many reasons.....
1)Happy hour every day. $2.75 beers. Good menu, too. Mark and I fill ourselves to the gills with tasty German food and beer for $25 with tip.
2)Spaten Pils on Draft. 'Nuff Said.
3)Did I mention the best food ever invented to go with beer? That's right, folks- FRIED PICKLES! Perfectly done, too. With some tasty-ass Tartar on the side.
4)Unpretentiousness galore! No uber-hip superglossy typical bimbo-esque barmaids here, NO SIR! No basil/watermelon-tinis! Just the real shit.
5)Easily walked to in a few minutes. I'm saving the planet!
6)Great Jukebox and generally awesome muted TV (daily show, spaceballs...) and Board games, too!
7)I've been here when it's slow and when it's super busy and the service has been consistently good, even when it was packed on a saturday night and there was only one server.
People's Pub, don't ever leave me!
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Deep fried pickles and beer are the answer to a rainy Saturday afternoon in Seattle. I know, deep fried pickles sound disgusting, but, trust me, they are divine. The People's Pub features a great selection of beer and some good snack offerings. I can't say that I emphatically recommend the dinner options (hence the 4 stars) but if you're there at dinner time, it will do. I've always found the staff to be delightful. The back area is more fun, but if you are here with kids, the People's Pub offers a family dining area up front.
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I was here years ago for a bachlorette party and I remember them kicking people out so our large group could all sit together; I thought that was pretty cool, sorry if you were one of the people who had your table taken right out from under you that night I had nothing to do with it.
I was again here this past Saturday for some happy hour fun. The $2.75 wells were a pretty good deal. But the best part was playing Battle of the Sexes and beating the boys! Yes thanks to the People's Pub it was made very clear that girls (i.e. Mitzie and Rebecca) are smarter than the boys! Cheap drinks and a little boy ass kicking makes for a great happy hour.
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Mmmm...German food and beer! Uff da!
I love the back main bar area and the little window overlooking the water. Very pretty if you catch the sunset.
This place always delivers fabulous food, but I'd have to say the staff is always very slow which can be annoying. They also took away my favorite dinner menu item which would have pushed them up into the 4 star category: roasted stuffed beet w/spaetzle. OMG! That was the best thing I'd ever seen on a menu and now its gone! Demand they bring back the beet!!
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I absolutely love this place.
When you enter it is the kind of place that you don't expect to have stellar service b/c their business is primarily occupied by repeat offenders. I like that appeal. I always go there for the food and beer. It is so good I go there even though I am not even near Ballard.
I am not a veggie but their veggie burger with swiss is so good. Plus always paired with pom frittes and a nice salad....except during happy hour but it is such a good deal who cares?!
A place that has spatzle always holds a special nook in my heart.
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Yes! I don't have to go all the way to Leavenworth to find a good German meal! I was super excited to go to People's Pub for happy hour. I ordered a Paulaner and the bratwurst and was completely satisfied. The Paulaner was only $2.75 and delicious. My hh bratwurst also came with ground mustard, a roll, green salad and sauerkraut and was only $5. There was enough food on my plate to act as my dinner and spending $5 on dinner makes me happy. My coworker and I will definitely be back to enjoy many happy hours here!
Also, has anyone tried the fried pickles? Hmm...that sounds absolutely disgusting yet I want to try them.
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Went here for the 2nd time yesterday, and I gotta say, this place is awesome. In fact, Rebecca L. and I were about to eat somewhere else, when we realized that we could be here, playing board games, and I had to run down the waitress and tell her to abort beer.
The smallish, but eclectic array of board games is certainly a major draw; where else can a pair of poli sci majors play The Game of Law School? (for the record, I answered FAR more questions correctly, but probation gave the win to Rebecca L. I sense an impending rematch...)
But even if you aren't a poli sci major or board game enthusiast, the place offers super-cheap happy hour specials (which still apply on weekends, unlike some OTHER establishments...): Under $3 per drink, and about $5 per food item, and even after trying almost all of them (the pork croquettes are AMAZING) and drinking the whole time, our bill was about $34 for 3 people.
We sat relatively close to the bar, in the back, so we didn't give the service much chance to come to us, as we were almost constantly waving more orders to them.
In any case, this place could easily become a Sunday-afternoon habit.
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Yikes. I used to love this place. The wide variety of German beers available, the deep fried pickles (one star is just for the pickles), the wonderfully decadent Bavarian cuisine....it should have been one of my favorite places.
Unfortunately, I have seen enough. The past few times I've gone, it's been packed to the gills. Great for them, not great for a group of people looking for a nice place to drink off the Ballard art walk. No hostess in sight, you're left to find a place for yourself, and on the off chance that you actually do, good luck flagging down a server to take your order. The table most definitely won't be clean in any case, and make sure you wipe down your chair before sitting on it. Dark beer stains.
One fateful night, my party of about 7 people and I did just what I've described. We found a table in the front section, bussed it ourselves, and wiped down the spilled beer and grease from the table top with paper towels I grabbed from the bathroom. We'd waited 10 minutes for someone who worked there to do it, but to no avail. Finally a waitress arrived at the table, looking perturbed, and took our drink orders. I asked for a late night food menu as well, which she sighed heavily at, and flatly refused to split our check.
15 minutes later, about half of the beers arrive. No food menu.
Another 15 minutes later, another waitress comes by with a food menu (no signs of our other beers) and pours water for everyone at the table. Except me. She proceeds to pour about half a glass of water into my lap, says "oops," and walks away without an apology or an offer of a towel.
Another 15 minutes later and a third waitress comes by to ask for our food orders. No original beers.
Yet another 15 minutes gone and the first waitress comes by to ask if we need anything else, and we request our originally shorted beers, a towel, and an ETA on our food, plus a couple more drinks.
15 minutes after that, the second waitress comes by with our food, our originally shorted beers, and our check. It's last call.
By this time, I'm so shocked at the service I'm ready to leave, but I eat my pickles in disbelieving silence, drain my 20 oz. Spaten Optimator, and pay for our tab.
The third waitress comes back with our second round and pours water into my lap as she's refilling our glasses and takes our payment.
This was the single worst service experience I have EVER had. I tried to be patient and understanding. Yes, the bar is always full of Ballard rowdies and drama club retirees. Sure, it can be stressful. Many of my best friends are in the restaurant and bar business and I know how hard it can be, and why you should tip well. Still, they had to either be mildly brain damaged or outwardly malicious to have caused such a debacle.
That night, I didn't leave a tip, mostly so I could pass one on to unsuspecting patrons: if you're looking for a great German pub, don't go to this one. You're better off going to Prost!, Feierabend, or die BierStube. They may be a little pricier, but at least you won't look like you've wet yourself when you leave.
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Went in here once with my friend Greta and it went like this: walk in, look around, and walk back out.
2nd attempt: Went in here again, with Greta, another night after I decided to not pay the Sunset Tavern cover. Mosey to the back, sit my drunken happy ass at the bar and order a Bloody Mary. This place throws me a bit because the front reminds me of an old restaurant/diner with a speak easy lounge/bar in the back. Great big window with a view behind the bar though
Two drunken ass clowns decide to try and strike up a conversation with us. Proceed to get pissy because I'm "one of those girls", which I'm not quite sure of but am guessing "bitch who doesn't pay attention to my drunken advances". So one of them proceeds to tell me he was a naked dude on a bike at the solstice parade(I proceed to try and picture him naked), while the other one repeatedly yells at me that I suck. All the while, I'm trying to down my Bloody Mary, which is far too fucking Africa hot for my tongue.
So there it is. I must mention that the bartendress was a peach, even if she did give me heartburn with that drink.
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Stopped in here after another wonderful meal at La Carta and thoroughly enjoyed sitting at the bar for two hours chatting with my friend. Started with the Hacker Pschorr Weisse (always good and on tap to boot) and then got a Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout.
The view from the bar is beautiful and I actually really enjoyed the crowd. I don't know what it is about Ballard's hipsters as opposed to Capital Hill's but they are much more tolerable.
The bartender was a sweetheart and this definitely felt like a neighborhood place. I saw the front of the house, but don't think it could ever hold a candle to the back room and its accompanying coziness.
Two cheers for People's Pub, however the German factor was lost on me (sorry folks, my family is Southern German and I know what it is suppose to look like).
Oh shit do I feel good!
The beer, the food, the dessert...
I suddenly wonder if I've been living under a rock.
How did I pass this place a hundred times, only to look in, write it off and keeping walking?
Oh Ballard how you've redeemed yourself.
Three words: deep. fried. pickles. So good, they'll blister the roof of your mouth with their hot pickley greatness. And you won't care.
This is my most favorite Ballard bar, with a small-ish back room where a table always seems to be waiting just for me. They have a great beer selection (the fact that I know this as someone who doesn't even really drink beer speaks highly of the place, no?) and nice and sturdy cocktails. I'm really impressed with the selection on their German-focused menu, even though I always end up ordering the same thing - tomato and goat cheese sandwich. Delish. Extra greens on the side is a nice treat.
People's Pub will always get my vote for the most inviting, comfortable bar in Ballard. From board games to great people-watching, this is my spot.
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just absolutely not impressed.
its dingy and dark, and i even like dark bars, but this one has that feel of dust and old decor that obviously has been neglected for years.
the waitstaff literally had to be chased down to take our orders and get our bill.
and the chairs were wobbly.
the good selection of beers is the only reason it gets stars at all in my opinion..
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One word: Optimater...oh and Spatzle...oh, and "The Scurvy German"- I guarantee you aren't gonna find that drink in any other bar around town...next time you're in- give it a try. Those three things right there make the Peoples one of my favorite stops.
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I have to agree with Lauren D. FRIED PICKLES! Need we say more???
I came in one Saturday night, starving after an all day hiking trip. The waitress was awesome, bringing us things that were only on the late night menu and not technically available yet. They had great beer and amazing german food. I love me some saurkraut and brats!
I will definitely be back soon.
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A fun place in Ballard if you have a few hours to wait for a beer and some food....if they have some still.
I want to like this place so much. I like the german beers, I love Prost. but come on, it is hard to sit there for 20 minutes and not see a server in sight. This is not just one experience. Multiple multiple times have we gone and sit....sit.....sit....sit with no beers no food nothing, not even a "hey we are busy hold on a sec"
The food is okay, not the german strong hold. the beers are good, but are served in warm crappy pints glasses and filled to the rim. I thought most german beers have a nice head on them.
If you are looking fror german food I suggest going to Feierabend. If you are stuck in ballard and need a german beer hit up the people pub.
It seems to me that just a little more effort the place could be cleaned up and run smoothly.
