Russell's Tavern — Restaurant in Seattle

Cute little bar, and one of the few spots in the area that serves food past 9 pm. However, my main takeaway is that they're mostly a bar which also happens to serve a few food items. They have plenty of drinks, though all their non-alcoholic options are premade—no mocktails or anything. They seem to have table service, but I ended up ordering at the bar after no one came to take my order for a while.

As for food, their smoked mackerel fish tin, which comes with crackers, pickled vegetables, and house-made crème fraîche, is a must-get. The salty fish and crackers balance perfectly with the sour veggies and creamy topping.

Their baguette sandwich is a little disappointing. The flavor rotates weekly, so maybe some weeks are better, but mine was just some turkey, cheese, jalapeños, and mayo. It was pretty dry and chewy; I wouldn't recommend it.

Luckily I came on a Wednesday which is pie night! So I got a delicious slice of blueberry plum crumble pie with homemade whipped cream. I'd definitely recommend trying to snag some pie on a Wednesday!

Overall, this isn't a place I'd recommend for dinner, but it's a great spot to share some drinks and snacks...

I was at Russell's with a friend and we were waiting for our food, watching the Superbowl on the TV. One of the staff (I'm assuming manager or owner) turned off the captions on the TV. This person then walked by me and I asked "Why did you turn the captions off?", he replied "Do you want the captions on?" and I said "It's good for accessibility, for Deaf or Hard of Hearing". He then proceeded to shout at everyone in the tavern "Is anybody Deaf in here?!" Which, if they're Deaf, they are not going to hear you say that. I was so embarrassed.

My friend and I got our pretzel (which was so delicious), but our eating experience was ruined by this same staff person sitting at the bar with friends while looking/glaring at us every now and then.

From my perspective, I was not rude when asking about the captions. I just simply asked "Why?" I was hoping that maybe it would open up space for conversation about why captions and accessibility are important, but instead this person reacted rudely and lost a customer (who would have come back purely for the pretzel).

I did email Russell's about this experience, but got...

I can’t wait to come back to this place.

I’ve passed it a handful of times because my daughter has play rehearsals at Dance Fremont next door. In an effort to kill time and quickly feed her before her rehearsal, I decided to try Russels. I had no idea it was 21+ until I approached the door. My daughter is 9 so she technically was not allowed to be inside.

The nice woman behind the bar said we could still place an order to go but we just needed to step outside since my daughter is underage. I totally understood, so we waited outside, and then placed our order. My daughter chose the meatballs and they were freaking DELICIOUSSSS. They may be the best meatballs I’ve ever had.

I truly appreciate the customer service here. I briefly chatted with another gentleman who was kind as well. The vibe here is very laid back and cozy.

Thank you to the staff here for being so helpful and not turning us away. It is truly...