Great Notion Brewing - Ballard — Restaurant in Seattle

Absolutely awful service. My friend and I went in to get food and while we waited, thought we would just have a quick drink. We were the only ones standing at the bar waiting to order and we were ignored by every bartender. They were purposely looking down so that they didn’t have to make eye contact. It was only when another woman came up and asked for water and complained that they had been waiting for quite some time for their server to bring it to their table that I was able to catch the bartender’s attention to order. She took our order and pushed the toast handheld device towards me. When she came back with our drinks I asked her if poor service was typical for this bar? She made an excuse that they had just been slammed with customers. Not really a good excuse to be so rude to people.

The person at the door had told my friend and I that we couldn’t sit at the bar while we were standing to wait for a drink because they were running a list for seats. I looked around seeing a number of empty seats and tables across the room and shook my head. It didn’t appear as though they were in any hurry to fill the seats from this so called list that they were running. I told them that we were just waiting for food and we’re having one drink while we waited.

We walked outside to the terrace and stood there drinking our beers. Then the same person who had just told me we couldn’t sit to wait came up and asked if we wanted a table. I told them we were fine with standing because we were just waiting for food. I then told them we wouldn’t be staying because the service is awful. They said okay, cool and walked away.

I’m originally from Seattle and I’ve lived in NYC for the past 16 years. I would say I’m pretty used to bad service or rude bartenders but not usually when I come home to visit. This was a whole other level of rude, dismissive, avoidant service that I don’t even deal with in the worst bars that I’ve been to...

I don't usually write reviews but this experience has really stuck with me. My friends and I stopped here after climbing and were told there would be a bit of a wait for a table of six - no problem we can wait. They had us sit in the corner by the bathrooms. Half of our group went to order food while the other half stayed to hold the table. When they got back the other half went over and were told it was too late to order. It was 20 minutes prior to the alleged kitchen closing time. Due to the kitchen closing early we then decided to have a few of our group go grab food from another place since we were drinking and had just exercised (safety first). At this point we had been there for about half an hour and plenty of parties had come and gone and we were still shoved in the corner next to the bathroom being ignored. All of a sudden there was a very strange smell throughout the brewery, but none of us said anything because it felt irrelevant. My friends came back shortly with pizza and we quickly and quietly ate it. A server came over and told us no outside food was allowed and that people were complaining about the "foul smell it was creating".... The smell happened prior to the food being there. The whole situation made us feel incredibly uncomfortable. We were ignored the whole time, never given a table, and treated incredibly rudely by multiple staff members. In addition to the poor service we found the beers to be mediocre, and two of them tasted rancid; as if a sour had gone bad. I have never been back and do not plan of...

Let me start by saying I am a big fan of GN and love to support local but recently had some negative experiences at the Ballard location I have some allergies but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying life and trying new things when I asked one of the servers if they could check the ingredients list for me (as they are not listed online or on the can) I got a eye roll and a sigh before they passed the task off to another server after establishing that I was allergic to everything they had on tap (as the RGB keg I wanted to try had “burst”) I ordered 2-4 packs 1 of seedless 1 of RGB, I order my food sat down with friends and asked if I could open one of my cans I got told “no beer to go is beer to go” and then proceeded to offer me a can pour of seedless this didn’t sit right with me I love to support local so paying $30 for a 4 pack is worth it to me but not with poor customer service and great notion is about the only thing I drink but the Ballard location just gives off a bad vibe like it’s one of those gentrified breweries where only “cool bros” can go. It’s a longer drive but I will be choosing the Georgetown location over Ballard as they have a better vibe and better customer service (probably due to location)

Not the only negative experience I’ve had here but the...