Lock & Keel — Restaurant in Seattle

The following is the experience I had earlier tonight, a little over an hour ago: A few friends and I agreed to meet up the street at Lock & Keel for a simple beer. I was sober, having had only one beer, over an hour prior to this incident.

As I approached the door, I could see the bar was relatively dead inside, with only a few patrons in the back. At the very moment I took my first single step inside the doorway, the bartender, from about 20 feet away, yelled "sorry guys, I can't serve you." I assumed that it was because it was slow, and about 12:30am, and maybe they were closing early... however, he had already poured one of my other friends a drink, who was sitting at the bar.

He then followed his statement with a real shocker: "Sorry, but you're showing multiple signs of intoxication." I laughed. So did my buddy. Surely he was jesting... we had simply strolled in, totally coherent, to meet friends (who were already being served). Nope. He wasn't joking. He said liquor control had been all over him recently, and reiterated that he couldn't serve me or my friend due to "multiple signs of intoxication."

I was stunned. Never have I been cut off before... and we were stone sober! Not even like... "I've had a couple beers" sober. I mean, I was dead boring, dull as a funeral sober. I own an alcohol producing business myself, and am well versed in service and the appropriate signs and methods regarding intoxication. This guy was clueless... didn't assess us individually, didn't wait for us to approach, and didn't offer any explanation (of what "signs" he claims saw). He hadn't even SEEN us yet! Perhaps he was just generalizing us with some larger group of others who had been served already, such as the group outside smoking? We attempted to clarify that there might be a misunderstanding... we had simply just walked in and were new patrons, who hadn't been served and weren't already intoxicated. Nope, didn't matter... he just repeated his blanket statement that new, inexperienced, frightened employees do that are completely out of their depth. There was no point in arguing... I wouldn't pressure someone to give me alcohol. It's tacky. And unprofessional. So that was that. This is an extremely weird case of a bartender having zero judgment, and absolutely no instinct for the job. There was no context for his decision, and absolutely no tact on part of his job of discerning individuals and their sobriety. Needless to say, I was pretty offended... but as a person who's licensed myself, I wasn't about to push the issue. We just told him "fine... we're in the area frequently and we were planning to make this our spot to grab a drink, but now we'll never return."

He made a terrible, completely uninformed call, and cost his bar 6 patrons permanently (we meet down the street twice a week). The bar is obviously a dive, and was struggling on a slow night... and this is the kind of thing that will kill their business. And it should. No wonder the LCB is all over this guy, issuing fines... he clearly can't do the job. To assess a person's sobriety properly as a bartender, you should engage them first... gauge their cognition, get a sense if they might need help if over-served, etc... At the very least, you should observe them behaving in some way that shows signs. In this case however, simply taking one perfectly normal step into the building was somehow enough to blow the whistle? It seemed like he simply didn't want to work any more. But instead of saying he was closed, he singled us out in a way that was discriminatory and completely false. He rejected two very, very sober and normally behaving customers, based on nothing but a whim.

This bar will never get our business again, which we will now take to the neighboring (brand new!) bar down the street, which is far nicer and more professionally run, with better food, alcohol selection and entertainment.

Sorry Lock & Keel... you should train your staff better. Your bartender is killing your business, and he has no place in...

One of my best friends has a degenerative muscle disease. This causes his eyelids to sit low. He has had over four surgeries to attempt to fix this. When we attempted to enter Lock & Keel the bouncer said “I cannot let you in” to my friend. This is something I have dealt with multiple times when going out with him to drink. Each time I have brought the bouncer to the side and explained his condition and they have understood and accepted his entrance. However, this bouncer (don’t know his name) and female bartender (by the name of Adrian or Adriana) that was sitting outside could not seem to comprehend his condition. They said he was a “liability” and they could get fired since he looked intoxicated due to his eyelids. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. So, according to them my friend, who has a muscle disease should not be allowed in any bar ever since his eyelids sit low and always appears intoxicated? Obviously, I got very upset and did my best to make them understand but they wouldn’t budge. He had only had one drink at my house before we headed there and was definitely not intoxicated. Absolutely unacceptable discrimination of a person with...

I stopped by Lock & Keel the other night and had one of those small but meaningful experiences that remind you why some bars just get it right. I ordered a Diet Coke, but for some reason, my credit card wouldn’t work in their system. Before I could even start fumbling for cash or awkwardly apologizing, the bartender—this super sweet girl with black hair and a nose ring—just smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me.”

It wasn’t about the free drink; it was about the vibe. She was friendly, calm, and made what could’ve been an embarrassing moment feel like nothing at all. You don’t always get that kind of kindness in busy bars, and it stood out.

Lock & Keel isn’t just a place to grab a drink—it’s a spot where the staff genuinely seem to care about making people feel welcome. Shoutout to the bartender with the nose ring and black hair—thank you for the Diet Coke and the good energy.

This place deserves all five...