Beardslee Public House — Restaurant in Bothell

I want to be fair. I don't really like most pub food & I really haven't for a long time. I only eat it when I'm with people who insist on it. I understand that taste is subjective and I don't try to force people to only eat what I want when I go out. I just wish that people weren't so enamored with this kind of food. What this ends up meaning for me is I have to work hard to find something on the menu that I won't end up hating. I was successful here and found the jambalaya, which was excellent. I usually find the thing I'm going to like at these sort of spots by looking for the thing that wouldn't normally be regarded as pub food and I nailed it with the jambalaya.

The space was honestly pretty cool & the service was good. A lot of people really like John Howie and I hear a lot of enthusiasm about his restaurants. I moved out of WA nearly 6 years ago now and I haven't tried the others but after I saw the note on the menu about the 20% service charge, I never will. This is part of the crap that made my family decide to leave WA after loving it and living there our entire lives. If you feel like restaurant staff should make the same wages as people who went to college or learned a trade & are laboring in their learned fields, just raise your prices accordingly & pay them what you think is fair. Don't pull this sneaky crap where you post a menu but add a massive, surprise surcharge that really impacts the bottom line & affordability of your offering. Those of us who actually worked very hard for tips at some point in our lives and were lucky to get 15% if we really hustled are just annoyed at this garbage.

I carried thousands of pounds of luggage, adhered to extremely tight schedules all while fighting Seattle traffic & entertaining people I was driving to the airport back when I was working my way through school and more often than not, I was lucky to get a $2 tip on a $90 fare. Was that right or in line with tipping etiquette? No, but it is very fair if you work in the service industry to not just have a great gratuity as a forgone conclusion regardless of the level of service you provide. I had plenty of very generous tippers as well who balanced things out. When I got repeat customers who were known crappy tippers, I provided less service. This is how it was meant to be and how it should still be. I've noticed that the level of service at every place I've eaten that pulls this crap is lower than at the places where servers know that if they work harder, they can make more.

If you feel so strongly about this, just raise your prices & take the business hit from people who don't agree with you. Skip the self-righteous note on the menu and own it. I'm more likely to eat at a place who does that than a place that does the surcharge. I never return to those places & I spread the word & dock at least 2 stars on my reviews. By and large, people are over...

For a restaurateur with John Howie's reputation I was hoping for more particularly on the menu - its essentially just 3 items - burgers, pizza and sausage with heavy emphasis on all the 'fine' ingredients, however what's delivered falls short of expectation, on taste, and portion size for the price. Don't get me wrong the food is not bad - if this were Bellevue or maybe the Hollywood Hills area of Woodinville I'd get it, but not Bothell. Also it doesn't add anything to the cuisine options in Bothell - there are no other entrees except recently added fish and chips which multiple Bothell locations already offer.

The setup of the venue itself is also quirky - its huge space and as others have noted, is very loud when busy. You literally find yourself shouting to person down the table from you. The bar itself has 2 massive beer taps that blocks the view of the bartender from majority of those seated at the bar. Also for such a large bar area next to a college you'd expect more TVs - there are only 3 so it doesn't make it a good game viewing option.

The beer is good but nothing special, lots of other local brews are more notable. For a quick beer or two after work during happy hour I have no complaints.

Only time I will go for food now is like my most recent visit this past Friday - we had just finished a project and me and my coworkers were looking for a late dinner and beer. We tried 3 Lions and Anderson school but they were packed and we were hungry. We opted to come here and at 9:45 on Friday night the bar was only about 1/3 full. For two of them it was their first visit, they ordered some appetizers along with entrees - there were shocked at how little food they got for the price. $15 for the crab artichoke dip that that included just 5 pieces of flat bread? $9 for 8 onion rings?

The bar was nearly empty by time we finished our meals and our waitress seemed in a rush to leave and brought us our check before we finished our drinks even though we were planning on more. We paid and moved to the bar where I chatted with the bartender a bit about some of my disappointments of the location. On the noise he said the cost of material and install was prohibitive and didn't sound like it was going to happen anytime soon if at all. On the lack of other entress he says 'we've been telling John but he doesn't listen to us you need to write to him'. On lack TVs in the bar 'John doesn't want this to be a sports bar, he already has one' - referring to Sport Restaurant & Bar across from the Space Needle. Oddly enough the menu at Sport has more entree choices and better prices then here in Bothell?

That sums it up, this places leaves me confused and I can't currently...

UPDATE 6/22/24 So disappointed to have to say that Chilaquiles AND the beignets are gone...instead they have Nutella filled donuts as a sweet appetizer. Tried them and they weren't the same great experience. The chicken and waffles were overcooked. Super dried, over-fried chicken pieces which made most of the chicken inside be super tough and greasy. Hope to see the Chilaquiles in the near future, but until then...there's nothing else calling my name.

previous review 5 stars 🌟 Delectable! Came here for brunch and was excited to try out this John Howie restaurant. So bummed we didn't find this gem sooner. It's a casual dress code place with upscale taste.

The food quality was like that of something I would expect to get at any other upscale brunch place. The beignets were delicious, although I failed to get a picture because we devoured them too quickly. The marionberry jam was the perfect addition to the 4 fluffy and crispy beignets.

The smash burger was so juicy without being greasy. Tasted like an bougie in n out burger.

The chilaquiles....i'm Mexican and let me tell you...my people were cooking it up in the kitchen and killed it with this dish! (You can see them cooking it as you walk toward the dining area). Tasted like the ones my aunt in Mexico makes me when I visit. TRY THE CHORIZO with them - it's a home-made chorizo that tastes just like the one I have in Mexico. I already booked us for a brunch post Thanksgiving Day to bring my mom and give her a little reminder of back home.

I got their blood orange margarita - definitely tastes like the one I had at John Howie's original restaurant. It's got such a range of flavors that taste delicious to the very bottom of the glass. The blood orange slice served with it was 🫶🏽.

Like mocktails? Their "ginnocence" passion mojito drink tasted like the real one with alcohol, except it obviously was...