Loretta's Northwesterner — Restaurant in Seattle

I was skeptical of the claim that Loretta's Northwesterner had one of the best burgers in the country. While I can't specifically say it is one of the best burgers in the country, the Tavern Burger is one of the best burgers I've had the privilege of trying. I visited on a busy Friday night. The bar and indoor seating were full and the place was lively. This is not a fake dive bar, this is the real thing. You order at the middle of the bar and they'll bring out the order to you. The staff were busy and got friendlier as you talked to them. I ended up getting a Tavern Burger and a side of fries and sat at a table in the back area outside. When it comes to the food, the Tavern Burger is $5 and the fries were $3, so an affordable meal in Seattle nowadays. The value is through the roof when you take into account of how great the burger is. It's a standard looking burger with a beef patty, cheese, pickles, diced onions, and a thousand-island-like dressing on a normal looking bun but the flavors and texture are what set it apart. I think the main difference is the amount of caramelization they get on the burger buns. A lot of places but the buns on the flattop to get a char, but Loretta's gets the interior of the buns really brown and crisp. Because of the crispness, the burger crunches when you take a bite of it lending a great texture to balance the rest of the soft sandwich. The acid balance of the pickles and the pungent onions further the depth of the burger. The side of fries rounded out the meal but not before I bought another one to partially eat before I left satisfied. I'm glad I got to try the burger for myself and I see where the rating came from. I would...

I’ve been going here for several years and have had plenty of fun times in the past. I used to live down the street and it’s was my go to place. But those trips to Loretta’s will be no more. The food is good, the crowd is good but there is one bartender who is absolutely terrible. She has short hair and the worst attitude. She is unfriendly and lacks the people skills to be in a customer service roll. The first time I had an experience with her I chalked it up to everyone has a bad day. She accused myself and three friends of being too intoxicated to serve and refused to serve us. She was so smug about it. We were in shock and went down to the pizza place instead. Several other situations where she either went out of her way to either be rude or totally bothered by the patrons. After the fourth time it’s definitely her. As others have said in the comments, she is rude as hell. She appears to like the control she perceives she has over serving people alcohol.

I decided to give the place one more try and sure enough she was there and I watched her be rude to the patron in front of me at the bar. And then she was rude to me - I got the feeling she doesnt want to be there and that I am bothering her.

Sorry Loretta’s. I can’t go back. It’s expensive to go out for food and drinks and I will not do business with a place that knowingly employees rude people. There are plenty of other places that focus on the customer experience and work hard to earn the business. This ain’t something that whoever owns that place can’t be aware of. This is a long standing problem that is impacting your business. I hope this...

Had heard this place had the best burger in Seattle a while back, saved the restaurant and had been looking forward to going. Took a few people to try it out, extremely disappointed. I’ll be honest and say the burger and fries were both pretty good, definitely nothing incredible but decent for the price, better than some other burgers in Seattle for sure but not the best. Anything that wasn’t a burger however, was inedible. Food aside though, if the service was good and I was in the area again I’d have returned for another burger. It was not - absolutely abhorrent customer service. The main bartender was very, very unpleasant throughout every single interaction, messed up the order several times, and never apologized once. Accidents happen but if you despise interacting with the public and are unable to accept responsibility and apologize for your mistake, don’t work in the service industry. Legitimately one of the most unpleasant bartenders I’ve been served by, and I’m clearly not alone based on an abundance of reviews (some even from the same night, completely unrelated. Maybe she was having a bad evening). If you want pleasant service or even just run of the mill, impersonal dive bar service, don’t come here. You just get...