King's Hardware

07/13/2008 Posted by LaShapell

Great burgers, good brews. Skee ball is the most underrated bar game around...do not go for the 100's though...it is fools gold.

07/13/2008 Posted by TanyaHawk

King's is something that not enought spots in Seattle are anymore. A place to go out, meet friends, meet strangers and get drinks. I hate (new)Belltown I don't want to have to wear heels to go have drinks with my friends---if you do than great have a good time. I want a bar that I can just go out casually and have some cocktails in a lively atmosphere with good music and a casual atmosphere. Kings delivers big-time on all counts. The brunette girls that work here pour great drinks and work hard to serve a packed bar. I appreciate bartenders that are actually making my drinks on a busy night and not flirting with customers. The back bar is awesome place to hang on the weekends as its easier to get a quick drink. Saw some other posters complain about service here but I have never had any problems...and seriously there are hundreds of bars in Seattle if you want individual service there are a ton of them that have about 3 customers in them. If you want to party a bit with a lively crowd it is going to take a bit longer to get served. Get over yourself a bit and enjoy the night. Otherwise go someplace less busy. I am sure they will survive without your $5 of business and I will benifit from your negative energy being removed from the scene. I will always make King's my first and last stop in Ballard.

Pros: Good selection of Beers on Tap, Burgers rock, Bar staff slings em fast

Cons: Serves to the Universtiy Ave crowd abit too much with the cheap beer cans

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

05/29/2008 Posted by seattlekatie

My friend and I went to Kings Hardware this last Sunday, 7/25/08, on the advice of a friend who said it was a "great bar". Well, I'm still trying to figure out what he likes about this bar. Kings is divy, but does that really give the bartender a free pass to be completely rude? The lone female bartender, while fitting nicely into the atmosphere with her long, unwashed dark hair and "I bought these at a thrift store so they must be vintage" clothing, was the rudest person I have ever come across at a bar or restaurant in Seattle. She practically screamed at my friend when she asked the bartender if she could change one dollar into quarters for skee ball ("THERE'S A MACHINE IN THE CORNER!!! ARE YOU BLIND?!?!"). Seriously, it was ONE DOLLAR, and there was a huge crowd by the Skee ball machines so it would have been impossible to know that there was a change machine located there. Then, when we were leaning on the bar while talking, she yelled at us to move because where we were standing was apparently a service well. So we moved, but apparently NOT FAST ENOUGH for Miss Dark and Twisty Bartender Witch, because after 5 seconds she AGAIN screamed at us to move. We WERE moving. It was OBVIOUS that we were moving. It was COMPLETELY UNECCESSARY to yell at us again. Seriously... someone (a manager maybe???) needs to sit her down and explain to her that she is in the CUSTOMER SERVICE INDUSTRY, that she needs to SMILE and be POLITE to her CUSTOMERS who are *gasp* the REASON SHE HAS A JOB! This woman's customer service skills are better suited to a maximum security prison than a bar. Have you ever heard the saying about how a person who receives good service will tell two people about their experience, but a person who has a bad experience will tell 10 people? It's not just a saying, it's a fact. Because lets face it- I can get a beer for the same price in Belltown and at least the chick behind the bar will serve it with a smile. Go elsewhere.

Pros: Nothing special about this place!

Cons: Evil female bartender

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful

05/09/2008 Posted by cscott007

I love burgers and I love beer; two simple things that go great together. Right? Not at King's. Being in (ahem, former working class) Ballard, I ordered a PBR, which arrived warm. I can deal with cheap COLD beer, but a warm, cheap pint is inexcusable. Next we orderer our burgers which arrived some 20 minutes later (with the salad I had ordered "to start") and featured one shriveled, dry ball of meat (I wouldn't call it a "patty") on a large (nicely toasted) bun. The condiments were one piece of unsavory looking lettuce, a slice of tomato, two small pickle rounds, and two slivers of red onion. I mean, the onion rings were good, but seriously, for $9? The most maddening part of the whole meal, though, was our waiter. I've had this guy twice now and if I ever return to King's, I will ask which section is his and turn tail. Our "server" was everything but. He was too busy flirting with his co-worker (so much that he spilled beer on our table when she goosed him!) and disappearing for stretches. He cleared our plates and pintglasses, handed us a check, and then we couldn't find him for, like 10 minutes. Actually we never did - another server had to check us out. Bottom line: you can do way better for way less

Pros: Inventive burger combinations

Cons: Service, value, attention to detail, parking

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

01/26/2008 Posted by drdobb

If you like paying as much or more for quality single malt as anywhere else in town and especially appreciate a wimpy pour, this place is tailor-made for you.

Pros: if you can afford to get lit there and live in ballard, you should be able to walk home

Cons: it is not as good as a few places down the block such as sunset or hatties hat or...

12/22/2007 Posted by braintrainr

I went in on a early Sunday afternoon. There were only 4 other customers in the restaurant. The service was ok/good. The waitress was nice enough. The burger(cowboy burger) that I ordered was nothing special the fries were ok though. The waitress was thoughtful enough to ask if I wanted the burger rare, medium or well done. I said "medium", the burger arrived "REALLY well done" and the meat was verrrrrrrrrrrrry DRY. (I guess this might be to boost beer sales.) It was nice of the waitress to ask, but If the cooks mess it up then the cause is lost. The burger didn't even go out to the edge of the bun! Also, they only gave a small piece of tomato and a couple of pickles as condiments. This is a big no no in my book and didn't justify a almost $10 buck price tag. I feel I have had better at fast food chains. My opinion: Spend your money elsewhere!

Pros: Service was "ok", beer selection was "ok"

Cons: Food not done to order, skimpy burger patty for size of bun, service was "ok"

10/03/2007 Posted by gabriel1988

Let's face it, a mind numbing suburban plague has been marching over Seattle like the Red Army hopped up on Pottery Barn toffee. That being said, Kings Hardware is a lone foothold of grit in that rising sea of sameness. It harkens back to the days when walking into a Ballard bar and saying hello would either get you a 30 minute dissertation on trawl gear, or a fat lip. Its got the best outdoor deck in the city, an open causeway to Rudy's Barbershop next door, Skee Ball and floors of scarred timber. Add a never ending supply of Rainier Tall Boys and you've got the best spot in the city to watch people with fresh haircuts, relive the carnival midway and make the most of a rainy night. The burgers are top drawer and the staff knows what they're doing. They're easy on the eyes too...real easy. Sometimes I wish they were easier but that most likely has something to do with me. So, if you're looking for a quiet place to schmooze your Suzy, stay home and listen to records. Otherwise, swing by Kings and find out what Seattle used to be like, before the end started marching in.

Pros: The staff, food and decorum

Cons: My hangover

10/02/2007 Posted by dinner_and_drinks

remember the first time you THOUGHT you saw a homeless kid in gutter-punk clothes, but it was really just the door man for a "too cool" flavor of the month bar? welcome to Linda Derschang's first true flop. you may have seen her super-success "linda's" on capitol hill. linda started the whole "cool dive bar trend" with that one, but she tried to do it again with king's hardware, and instead just annoyed everyone in ballard by bringing snobby sluts and smelly frat-rockers to ballard's quiet little bar community. but... i have to say, if you can stomach the snobbery, try the burgers, they're decent.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

08/25/2007 Posted by radia

Some friends and I went to King's for beers and burgers and ended up waiting an hour and a half for our food! Our waitress gave us no forewarning of the backup in the kitchen. Adding insult to injury, my burger had sweet pickles on it, rather than dill. The place is pretty large, so when the evening crowd picked up, it became so loud that we could barely talk to each other. Overall, an unpleasant experience, I will not be returning.

Pros: outdoor seating

Cons: wait for food is atrocious, way too noisy

07/11/2007 Posted by swmarlow

I live in Ballard and have visited King's just a few times, mostly for the outdoor patio, which offers both sun and shade. I generally avoid it on weekends when the trendier crowd shows up and it is more crowded. Happy Hour (5 to 7) micro pitchers are a bargain and the ratio of women to men is always fair. Besides a bathroom more suitable for a dive bar, my only other complaint is about their chicken wings, which must be the smallest wings on the planet; I'm not sure it's even legal to process chickens that small...or maybe they are not really chickens?

Pros: Happy Hour micro pitchers, deck

Cons: chicken wings