Matador

10/06/09

Best late night place for happy hour

by happyhans at Citysearch

I love this place. Great place to hang out late night. They've got the best happy hour menu in Seattle. The spicy habanero prawns and the shrimp quesidalla are the best. Plenty of tables so it's easy to get a table even on weekend nights. Also, they always play good music. The service is generally but the servers can be a little inattentive when it's busy.

• Pros: Habanero Prawns

03/27/09

Great all of the way around

by lproper at Citysearch

I've only been to the Matador twice, but my husband's and my experience there has been completely different than a number of their reviews. Both times we've said during dinner how great their service is - and it really has been...as nice as Crow, imho, and I love Crow.

I can't vouch for the mixed drinks, my husband drinks Bacardis and Cokes which are pretty tough to screw up and I have the Dos Equis Amber on tap with two limes which is hard to screw up too. The comments on their food being so-so I definitely don't agree with.....both times I had veggie enchiladas and they were delicious. Especially the Enchiladas Picante....mmm...yum!

So I guess I'd say to go and try it once for yourself and see what you think.

• Pros: Really nice waittresses, great enchiladas, Dos Equis on tap
• Cons: A bit crowded at Happy Hour, but not too too crowded

09/10/08

Worst margaritas in the city!

by Alexandrea at Citysearch

Although the Matador has a hip, cool, antique, Mexican feel to it, the ambiance can't make up for the fact that the bartenders make some of the worst drinks in town. Specialty drinks like Mojitos are OK, but any standard bar drinks are less than satisfactory. I consider a Margarita a standard bar drink, and you can usually judge a bartender by the margarita he/she mixes (especially in a Latin-vibed place). The margaritas my friends and I had were the most watered down, tasteless, and boring we have ever drunk. One guy in my party even sent his back- only to receive the same thing. They were like watery limeade! Oh, and when he did this, the waitress got a little lippy with him. He said, "I'm pretty sure there is barely any tequila in this." She replied, "I'm pretty much sure there is." Kinda snotty especially to a man who was probably about 40 years older than she was. We also had some typical drinks like rum and cokes, and bourbon presses, which had absolutely no effervesence- all the guns must have been broken. We kind of experimented through the night with different drinks and they all pretty much sucked, even the mojitos seemed watery. The appetizers were so so, but what is a happy hour without happy hour drinks? The only thing "Happy Hour" is the food. There are no "Happy Hour" drink deals. Don't bother fighting the crowds. Go get a good margarita at the Chupacabra on Phinny Ridge!!

• Pros: Pretty waitresses, cool ambiance
• Cons: Crappy drinks, snotty waitresses, cougerish