Sunset Alehouse — Restaurant in Issaquah

Great staff, good drinks, noisy.

Busy early on a Saturday evening (5:00ish), it appears Sunset Alehouse has already outgrown their space. We were greeted and seated quickly by a nice host. The bench was hard but good for the shorties; our feet touched the floor and our legs didn't go numb from the edge of the bench pinching blood supply behind our knees--it was a nice detail.

We ordered IPA ($6) and the Sunset Iced Tea ($9) (bulleit bourbon, muddled lemon, peach puree, and I requested no agave sweetener). Beer could have been much colder but the Sunset Iced Tea was so delicious and perfectly stiff, especially on a hot day spent in the sun.

One note about our great server: the bar was backed-up and we waited a bit longer than usual for our drinks. She came over and offered to go ahead and place our meal ticket while we waited for drinks so it didn't back up our entire meal. It was very thoughtful, professional and appreciated with a hungry 9-year-old in-tow.

The menu looked really good: pub fare, great salad selection, fun burgers and creative and varied entrees and sandwiches to choose from. We chose the Full Buffalo Chicken Salad ($14) and made a few tweaks (ranch instead of blue and buffalo sauce and ranch both on the side) which our server happily recorded in her ticket book. Greens were fresh, not a wilted or slimy one to be found. The ranch was really, really good. I would order the half next time ($9) because that extra $5 just got me more lettuce (which turned out to be too much lettuce and I boxed-up). The full needed another chicken fillet IMO.

Husband ordered the Sunset Grinder ($14 + $4, NY-style, double meat and cheese) with tots, extra crispy. I also had my eye on this item at first. It was delicious but neither he nor I realized it was a hot sandwich before it arrived. We wanted a cold sandwich. We could have certainly missed that in the description, but we both did. Tots were super crispy and delicious.

Daughter ordered a plain burger and fries ($11 we believe, don't recall exactly). The burger was cooked well and the steak fries were decent.

We counted 10 kids in the small dining area. Then 6 more arrived. The place was very loud but the servers were excellent. The kitchen was pumping food out at an amazing pace considering nearly all the seats were occupied. The parents had their cocktails and the kids had their fries and all was well in the world for 30 minutes (respective to each table with families). The bussers were on top of it, also.

Overall this is a nice place to grab a drink and a casual bite with or without kids but it is very loud. If you are sensitive, wear ear plugs, you can't hear your table...

I have been a rather frequent visitor to this establishment over the last 3 years since moving to Issaquah. I have always been a fan of the food, and the beer. I have been twice in the last couple of weeks. I went in with my family and girlfriend on March 27th, and had no issues. Sunday the 3rd of April was an entirely different story. My girlfriend was asked for her ID (out of state ID, but still perfectly valid), which they did not do the week before, the 18 year old server in the bar area checked the ID, returned it, and asked no questions. The manager then came over, asked for the ID again, took it to the scanner, and came back minutes later with the ID. Up until this point, there really was no problem, it was just odd as my girlfriend is 27 years old. The manager began to tell us how lucky we were for him to not be confiscating the ID, and that the state issued ID was not real. He said that the ID scanned in the scanner, no problem, but his outdated book of state IDs had a difference on it. His "updated" book of IDs had the exact same ID as my girlfriend, but the current and updated version of the ID is totally different, so his claim that the book of IDs was correct is bogus. He was completely smug throughout the entire process, and seemed entirely too joyful kicking us out of the restaurant. The snickering and sarcastic comments as our group of 7 people left the restaurant was uncalled for, and pathetically unprofessional. I am all for protecting yourself from serving underaged people, but to do so in such a rude and patronizing fashion is unacceptable. I have come to expect a certain level of service from Jak's and their family of restaurants, and this experience has completely...

We went here probably once a month for years, and up until a year or so ago, I would have given it 4 or even 5 stars - it was great for what it is. Lately, though, the service has taken such a nosedive that we have really stopped going as often, and find it much less enjoyable. Part of what used to make it great was a stable, experienced staff who got to know regulars and made the place run smoothly even when it was really busy. As of our last couple of visits, though, it seems that all if the original waitstaff is gone, and they've been replaced by much more junior staff. They're all polite enough, but inept and slow, requiring us to flag down the hostess or our waiter mutiple times. We were there with our 2 young kids, and that used to earn you quicker, more attentive service here - last time, they actually forgot to put in the order for our daughter's cheeseburger, then were so confused about what had happened that they comped the table next to us, then uncomped them with no explanation, which I thought was really rude, and never actually apologized to us, though we were comped her meal and a couple of drinks. Thankfully I had ordered a meal I could share with her while we waited, but hungry kids and tired parents really need waitstaff to be on the ball. The food is still very good for pub food, and the beer list is solid, so we'll continue to come here rather than the Rogue, which has bad service AND bad food. But when loyal customers start considering The Ram instead of a local favorite, that should be a sign to management that they need to invest in more training and maybe better compensation to keep...