Went for the Seahawks with a friend. Had a bloody mary...they have a good bloody mary bar with all the fixings
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Edgar Jimenez
Great place to meet locals and play some billiards.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Summer Staley
Ginger beer has gone fermented & alcoholic - big bummer as someone seeking a non-alcoholic drink. Environment was fine though, fun music!
Scott Cates
I've met the most interesting people at the Lock & Keel. And I'm a regular here.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Hank
I like this bar because I’m only 19 but they let me drink anyway 😁
Kyle Calvo
I recently came in with a group of friends and I was refused entry into the bar for not having a “United States ID”. I’m from the island of Guam. Guam is a territory of the United States. I presented my GOVERNMENT DRIVERS LICENSE which is a REAL GOVERNMENT ID. My brother (who has both a California and Guam license) even tried explaining this to the staff and they were unreasonable and rude. They demanded for my passport which I didn’t have at the time. If you’re visiting Seattle from outside the US and want to feel like a second class citizen, look no further than Lock and Keel.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Sarah Prince
Every drink I've had here has been excellent, awesome happy hour, and the pizza is good too. Very chill neighborhood feel, super nice bartenders. Get a cucumber cooler and hang on the patio
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Laura Graham
The dude bartender gives rude and unwelcoming service, won't be returning
What a weird experience. Went in on a Monday afternoon and it was dead - it’s got a moody atmosphere but while I was checking out the area (and frankly, waiting for next door to open), I thought I’d get a beer and chill. She asked for my ID (flattering at the age of 39) and when I gave her my British driving license, she wouldn’t accept it and would only accept a passport - who carries that around? Then she just walked away and that was that 😂
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Alex Wolf
The following is the experience I had earlier tonight, a little over an hour ago: A few friends and I agreed to meet up the street at Lock & Keel for a simple beer. I was sober, having had only one beer, over an hour prior to this incident.
As I approached the door, I could see the bar was relatively dead inside, with only a few patrons in the back. At the very moment I took my first single step inside the doorway, the bartender, from about 20 feet away, yelled "sorry guys, I can't serve you." I assumed that it was because it was slow, and about 12:30am, and maybe they were closing early... however, he had already poured one of my other friends a drink, who was sitting at the bar.
He then followed his statement with a real shocker: "Sorry, but you're showing multiple signs of intoxication." I laughed. So did my buddy. Surely he was jesting... we had simply strolled in, totally coherent, to meet friends (who were already being served). Nope. He wasn't joking. He said liquor control had been all over him recently, and reiterated that he couldn't serve me or my friend due to "multiple signs of intoxication."
I was stunned. Never have I been cut off before... and we were stone sober! Not even like... "I've had a couple beers" sober. I mean, I was dead boring, dull as a funeral sober. I own an alcohol producing business myself, and am well versed in service and the appropriate signs and methods regarding intoxication. This guy was clueless... didn't assess us individually, didn't wait for us to approach, and didn't offer any explanation (of what "signs" he claims saw). He hadn't even SEEN us yet! Perhaps he was just generalizing us with some larger group of others who had been served already, such as the group outside smoking? We attempted to clarify that there might be a misunderstanding... we had simply just walked in and were new patrons, who hadn't been served and weren't already intoxicated. Nope, didn't matter... he just repeated his blanket statement that new, inexperienced, frightened employees do that are completely out of their depth. There was no point in arguing... I wouldn't pressure someone to give me alcohol. It's tacky. And unprofessional. So that was that. This is an extremely weird case of a bartender having zero judgment, and absolutely no instinct for the job. There was no context for his decision, and absolutely no tact on part of his job of discerning individuals and their sobriety. Needless to say, I was pretty offended... but as a person who's licensed myself, I wasn't about to push the issue. We just told him "fine... we're in the area frequently and we were planning to make this our spot to grab a drink, but now we'll never return."
He made a terrible, completely uninformed call, and cost his bar 6 patrons permanently (we meet down the street twice a week). The bar is obviously a dive, and was struggling on a slow night... and this is the kind of thing that will kill their business. And it should. No wonder the LCB is all over this guy, issuing fines... he clearly can't do the job. To assess a person's sobriety properly as a bartender, you should engage them first... gauge their cognition, get a sense if they might need help if over-served, etc... At the very least, you should observe them behaving in some way that shows signs. In this case however, simply taking one perfectly normal step into the building was somehow enough to blow the whistle? It seemed like he simply didn't want to work any more. But instead of saying he was closed, he singled us out in a way that was discriminatory and completely false. He rejected two very, very sober and normally behaving customers, based on nothing but a whim.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Jay “JP” P
I stopped by Lock & Keel the other night and had one of those small but meaningful experiences that remind you why some bars just get it right. I ordered a Diet Coke, but for some reason, my credit card wouldn’t work in their system. Before I could even start fumbling for cash or awkwardly apologizing, the bartender—this super sweet girl with black hair and a nose ring—just smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me.”
It wasn’t about the free drink; it was about the vibe. She was friendly, calm, and made what could’ve been an embarrassing moment feel like nothing at all. You don’t always get that kind of kindness in busy bars, and it stood out.
Lock & Keel isn’t just a place to grab a drink—it’s a spot where the staff genuinely seem to care about making people feel welcome. Shoutout to the bartender with the nose ring and black hair—thank you for the Diet Coke and the good energy.
This place deserves all five stars. Cheers!
Jay
I stopped by Lock & Keel the other night and had one of those small but meaningful experiences that remind you why some bars just get it right. I ordered a Diet Coke, but for some reason, my credit card wouldn’t work in their system. Before I could even start fumbling for cash or awkwardly apologizing, the bartender—this super sweet girl with black hair and a nose ring—just smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me.”
It wasn’t about the free drink; it was about the vibe. She was friendly, calm, and made what could’ve been an embarrassing moment feel like nothing at all. You don’t always get that kind of kindness in busy bars, and it stood out.
Lock & Keel isn’t just a place to grab a drink—it’s a spot where the staff genuinely seem to care about making people feel welcome. Shoutout to the bartender with the nose ring and black hair—thank you for the Diet Coke and the good energy.
This place deserves all five stars. Cheers!
Dan K
Great place to chill and play some pool. Great service to boot.
Went for the Seahawks with a friend. Had a bloody mary...they have a good bloody mary bar with all the fixings
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Great place to meet locals and play some billiards.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Ginger beer has gone fermented & alcoholic - big bummer as someone seeking a non-alcoholic drink. Environment was fine though, fun music!
I've met the most interesting people at the Lock & Keel. And I'm a regular here.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
I like this bar because I’m only 19 but they let me drink anyway 😁
I recently came in with a group of friends and I was refused entry into the bar for not having a “United States ID”. I’m from the island of Guam. Guam is a territory of the United States. I presented my GOVERNMENT DRIVERS LICENSE which is a REAL GOVERNMENT ID. My brother (who has both a California and Guam license) even tried explaining this to the staff and they were unreasonable and rude. They demanded for my passport which I didn’t have at the time. If you’re visiting Seattle from outside the US and want to feel like a second class citizen, look no further than Lock and Keel.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Every drink I've had here has been excellent, awesome happy hour, and the pizza is good too. Very chill neighborhood feel, super nice bartenders. Get a cucumber cooler and hang on the patio
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The dude bartender gives rude and unwelcoming service, won't be returning
Atmosphere: 2
Service: 2
Good place to have a beer.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nice local bar with pinball
Restaurantji Recommends
What a weird experience. Went in on a Monday afternoon and it was dead - it’s got a moody atmosphere but while I was checking out the area (and frankly, waiting for next door to open), I thought I’d get a beer and chill. She asked for my ID (flattering at the age of 39) and when I gave her my British driving license, she wouldn’t accept it and would only accept a passport - who carries that around? Then she just walked away and that was that 😂
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
The following is the experience I had earlier tonight, a little over an hour ago:
A few friends and I agreed to meet up the street at Lock & Keel for a simple beer.
I was sober, having had only one beer, over an hour prior to this incident.
As I approached the door, I could see the bar was relatively dead inside, with only a few patrons in the back. At the very moment I took my first single step inside the doorway, the bartender, from about 20 feet away, yelled "sorry guys, I can't serve you." I assumed that it was because it was slow, and about 12:30am, and maybe they were closing early... however, he had already poured one of my other friends a drink, who was sitting at the bar.
He then followed his statement with a real shocker: "Sorry, but you're showing multiple signs of intoxication."
I laughed. So did my buddy. Surely he was jesting... we had simply strolled in, totally coherent, to meet friends (who were already being served). Nope. He wasn't joking. He said liquor control had been all over him recently, and reiterated that he couldn't serve me or my friend due to "multiple signs of intoxication."
I was stunned. Never have I been cut off before... and we were stone sober! Not even like... "I've had a couple beers" sober.
I mean, I was dead boring, dull as a funeral sober.
I own an alcohol producing business myself, and am well versed in service and the appropriate signs and methods regarding intoxication.
This guy was clueless... didn't assess us individually, didn't wait for us to approach, and didn't offer any explanation (of what "signs" he claims saw). He hadn't even SEEN us yet! Perhaps he was just generalizing us with some larger group of others who had been served already, such as the group outside smoking? We attempted to clarify that there might be a misunderstanding... we had simply just walked in and were new patrons, who hadn't been served and weren't already intoxicated.
Nope, didn't matter... he just repeated his blanket statement that new, inexperienced, frightened employees do that are completely out of their depth.
There was no point in arguing... I wouldn't pressure someone to give me alcohol. It's tacky. And unprofessional. So that was that.
This is an extremely weird case of a bartender having zero judgment, and absolutely no instinct for the job.
There was no context for his decision, and absolutely no tact on part of his job of discerning individuals and their sobriety.
Needless to say, I was pretty offended... but as a person who's licensed myself, I wasn't about to push the issue. We just told him "fine... we're in the area frequently and we were planning to make this our spot to grab a drink, but now we'll never return."
He made a terrible, completely uninformed call, and cost his bar 6 patrons permanently (we meet down the street twice a week). The bar is obviously a dive, and was struggling on a slow night... and this is the kind of thing that will kill their business.
And it should. No wonder the LCB is all over this guy, issuing fines... he clearly can't do the job. To assess a person's sobriety properly as a bartender, you should engage them first... gauge their cognition, get a sense if they might need help if over-served, etc... At the very least, you should observe them behaving in some way that shows signs. In this case however, simply taking one perfectly normal step into the building was somehow enough to blow the whistle?
It seemed like he simply didn't want to work any more.
But instead of saying he was closed, he singled us out in a way that was discriminatory and completely false.
He rejected two very, very sober and normally behaving customers, based on nothing but a whim.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
I stopped by Lock & Keel the other night and had one of those small but meaningful experiences that remind you why some bars just get it right. I ordered a Diet Coke, but for some reason, my credit card wouldn’t work in their system. Before I could even start fumbling for cash or awkwardly apologizing, the bartender—this super sweet girl with black hair and a nose ring—just smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me.”
It wasn’t about the free drink; it was about the vibe. She was friendly, calm, and made what could’ve been an embarrassing moment feel like nothing at all. You don’t always get that kind of kindness in busy bars, and it stood out.
Lock & Keel isn’t just a place to grab a drink—it’s a spot where the staff genuinely seem to care about making people feel welcome. Shoutout to the bartender with the nose ring and black hair—thank you for the Diet Coke and the good energy.
This place deserves all five stars. Cheers!
I stopped by Lock & Keel the other night and had one of those small but meaningful experiences that remind you why some bars just get it right. I ordered a Diet Coke, but for some reason, my credit card wouldn’t work in their system. Before I could even start fumbling for cash or awkwardly apologizing, the bartender—this super sweet girl with black hair and a nose ring—just smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me.”
It wasn’t about the free drink; it was about the vibe. She was friendly, calm, and made what could’ve been an embarrassing moment feel like nothing at all. You don’t always get that kind of kindness in busy bars, and it stood out.
Lock & Keel isn’t just a place to grab a drink—it’s a spot where the staff genuinely seem to care about making people feel welcome. Shoutout to the bartender with the nose ring and black hair—thank you for the Diet Coke and the good energy.
This place deserves all five stars. Cheers!
Great place to chill and play some pool. Great service to boot.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
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