The Sip — Restaurant in Poulsbo

I went to The Sip with my husband on a date last night. We were super excited after seeing the menu. The drinks and food are incredible. The concept is fun and innovative. We loved being able to try whatever we wanted without having to wait around for someone to grab our drink order. I will say the Frozé is way too sweet and definitely not worth $15. I couldn't finish even a quarter of it.

The atmosphere is atrocious and that absolutely killed it for me. The seats for one are not comfortable. We moved around a few times to try and find a comfortable place to sit. The space is very big and open and the sound carries everywhere. You can hear conversations from all around and people yell over each other.

The worst part is the children. Coming from a mother of three, there is a time and place for children and a self-serve taproom is not one of them. If you're hiring a babysitter to go on a date just to have to listen to other children scream, it really defeats the purpose. The children consisted of infants and young toddlers who (being age appropriate) were whining, screaming and crying probably from boredom or being tired. Who brings their kids out to the taproom at 7pm!?!? Honestly, it's irresponsible for a business like this to allow patrons with children to free pour without anyone to monitor how much parents are drinking. It's a liability.

At the very least, they should partition off the couch areas for adults only and maybe add some curtains to absorb the sound. If they really want to improve the experience for their customers while being inclusive to families, they should really have a cut-off time for children. No kids after 5:00 is perfectly reasonable.

I know they're a new business, and hopefully they'll listen to customer's suggestions. Until then, it's a one and done experience for me. There are plenty other places to get good beer and wine without children...

Happy that Poulsbo has a new place but underwhelmed by The Sip.

Pros: good selection of both wine and beer. Concept works well for controlling your own experience.

Cons: food and cost. Food was okay but pricey for what you got. We had nachos and charcuterie.l board. They were both okay. Nachos were lukewarm at best with plenty of unmelted cheese on top. Also the “bbq sauce” was something that should be on the side. Not a traditional bbq sauce and didn’t really work with the plate. But the serving size was good for a group.

Cost was the tricky part. The prices per ounce weren’t terrible but also weren’t good. Add that to having to clear your own table with bussing bins tucked in a tight area and overly full makes it a poor experience. All of that would have been fine until you get to pay the bill and the default tips are 18/20+% for staff to stand at the counter and do nothing. In a state that pays a decent minimum wage, places like this should not have defaults so high. No problem with adding on and I usually tip 20% or more but a place like this it just doesn’t seem to make sense and maybe the employee wages should be high enough and wrapped into actual costs instead of the current model at a practically fully...

We've never been to a pay-per-ounce joint, so we didn't know what to expect. We really enjoyed all the selections, as well as the great many options of games to enjoy while there!

Great atmosphere, lots of seating, lots of games... we just wish we had found this place BEFORE we had dinner, because we only went there for drinks and no food. The food that we saw looked delicious, however... so next time we will definitely stop in for both nosh and brew!

Lots to choose from in the taps as well... everything from a triple IPA to root beer (non-alcoholic) with some wine thrown in - which my wife enjoyed.

All the staff were very helpful and cheerful! We will...