New Bar Review: The Shelter Lounge

MyBallard.com alerted us to the opening of a new bar in Ballard a mere 4 blocks from our house, so we decided to check it out last night. It also happened to be the bar’s second night open. The location is kind of far from the main Ballard bars, but it is across from the popular Bit Saloon. I bet both bars are going to benefit from being so close to each other, as having more bars around encourages more people to visit the area. Here are my thoughts on our experience:

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Ambiance:

“The Shelter Lounge” is a cozy space illuminated by the gas fireplace and faux-candle hanging lights. This made the bar a little dark which in turn made the menus difficult to read. The lounge features five mafia-style booths along the wall and one large oval shaped bar as the centerpiece of the room. There is also a quaint sitting room with benches and small side tables. Both the bar and the booths are made of the most beautiful, natural woods. Gus tells me they are expensive tables (the bar is long, thin pieces of wood pressed together and molded into a nice arc). One of the unique features of this place is that the bar is both indoors and outdoors. There are three garage doors behind the bar that can be opened onto the bar outside. The outdoor bar is covered by a sweeping pergola with a clear plexiglass roof, and contains heat lamps for people that want to enjoy it on cold nights. When the doors are open, however, the inside bar gets COLD. I wore my coat the entire night.

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They had a DJ last night, and he told me that the bar manager is planning to have one every weekend night. They were spinning a nice mix of 80’s rock with some newer beats mixed in. Overall, it was very easy to talk over the music or to sit and groove, whichever you preferred. The bartenders weren’t the most friendly/personable, but I’m going to chalk this up to Day Two kinks that need to be worked out. They were all pretty busy and still hadn’t memorized drinks, etc. There were three bartenders that served the entire bar and one cocktail waitress (there may have been another but I couldn’t tell for sure). This system seemed to work out well last night, but I wonder if it will be enough on a busy, summer night. There are four very nice Samsung LCD TV’s (two inside/two outside), and the bartender let me know that they do have NFL Sunday Ticket and plan to show the Men’s NCAA basketball games.

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Food & Drinks:

Admittedly, I got there too late to enjoy the food. However, I am quite intrigued by the menu because it features a very eclectic mix of food. Included are: avocado fries, corn on the cob, banana cream pudding, elephant ears (mmm my fave!), and numerous sandwiches & entrees. All are reasonably priced around $5-12. One thing I noted in particular was that they are serving a Grilled Wild Salmon dinner for $12 (which includes rice and beans or mashers and corn on the cob). Seems very cheap to me! As for the drinks, I think they are still working out the exact options they’ll feature. They didn’t have my Firefly (sweet tea) vodka, but I’ve only found one bar in Seattle that does, so far… The Big Picture. The Shelter has a nice selection of beers, and all were quite cheap ($3-4). There are also several specialty cocktails on the menu including Blueberry Mojitos and Jalapeno & Cucumber Margaritas.

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Bathrooms:

Ok so yes. I do consider the bathroom to be its own category. I use them several times while I’m out, and I want to have a nice experience. There are two large stalls, both of which have huge wooden, floor-to-ceiling doors. The whole room still has that new wood smell! The door locks are put on backwards, in my opinion, and one of them didn’t have an interior handle making it difficult to pull the door shut and lock it. The sink is beautiful! Next to the lovely purple orchid is a clear glass bowl sink sitting on the counter. I think this is a real nice touch and makes the whole place seem up-scale.

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Conclusion:

Overall, I say the bar is a success! I’m very happy to see another option in this area of town (read: walking distance to my house) and recommend everyone go check it out at least once. It’s located at 4910 Leary Way NW and is open from 4pm-1:30am Mon-Fri and 11am-1:30am Sat-Sun. There is no website yet (that I could find), but you can see the reviews page on Yelp or pictures on Ballard News-Tribune. If you do go visit the Shelter Lounge, let me know how your experience was. My top three pros/cons are:

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xxPros:

1. Cheap food/beer prices
2. Cozy Decor & fireplace
3. Location (close to my house)

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xxCons:

1. Busy bartenders
2. Bar temperature
3. Lighting too dim to read menu easily

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FCC Disclaimer: Because bloggers are supposed to disclose their relationships with the places/products they review, here you go: I was not paid for this review nor did they even know I was going to write one. We did get free beers due to a bartender error. After insisting it was ok and that we wanted to pay, the bar manager refused. Yay us, free beer!