Roanoke Inn

Great food; inexpensive prices; large portions. Another great thing is that minors are not allowed so you do not have a bunch noisy kids with their soccer moms to deal with.

This place will probably stay exactly as it is until either it burns down or some wealthy numbskull buys it and bulldozes it for some McMansion. Good place for a beer and a bite while you wait for the absurd I-​90 traffic to dissipate.

delicious local Hefeweizen on tap! what more could you want? $ 1 each chicken wings during happy hour? you’ve got it! Great little spot on an island that often needs a place that’s older and grounded. This is a bar, don’t expect fancy food and don’t bring the kids.

I had lunch here with friends that live on the island — excellent venue to sit and «catch up» — great food, easy parking. However I was warned, it’s gets busy on Friday-​Saturday nights. Might not find a seat :)

While always a good location and ambiance, and usually pretty decent food and service, tonight was the worst service and food I have ever had in my 25+ years of going to the Roanoke. Not sure what is going on, but it wasn’t the same as I was expecting tonight. The Burger, tuna salad and Spinach Salad were pretty good, but the chicken Nachos and Chicken Caesar were really medium or less. Barely any chicken in either and what was there was cubed precooked breast like you would get at Subway. Nothing against Subway, but just saying, not what I expected. Also the Burger came out about 15 minutes after the rest of the meals, one of just many unobservant service errors of the night.

It’s basically canned and frozen food thrown on a plate. A glorified truck stop diner. Also, canned olives on and in a breakfast burrito? What? Coffee was old and stale and water served in plastic cups, God knows why. At least the outdoor seating is nice.

You have to set proper expectations for The Roanoke… it’s the «Cheers» of Mercer Island. Wether you’re making a pitstop during a bike ride or catching a cold one with friends after work, the Roay delivers. Personal favorite is the Roostertail — grilled chicken breast with mushroom & Swiss cheese.

That this place is so popular speaks to the dearth of options on Mercer Island. It is a glorified dive bar with bad food (don’t go dried burger!), flat drinks, inattentive service. The porch might be charming, but inside is depressingly dark and extremely loud.

Dropping my rating to 1 star due to Roanoke’s refusal to accommodate minors. Tried to take my son and a friend there for a burger yesterday and was promptly escorted out and told Roanoke is a tavern and cannot seat or serve anyone under 21, even outside.
While it’s not Roanoke’s fault that WA has some of the screwiest liquor laws anywhere, the facility appears to be capable of meeting all requirements for a restaurant liquor license, which would allow minors to be seated in the dining areas.
Something just didn’t seem right about this and I was curious why something that looks and acts like a restaurant could have such a restriction placed on it by the state. So I checked the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WALCB) list of on-​premises licensees. The latest listing, dated 7÷13÷15, shows that Roanoke Inn is licensed as a restaurant, not a tavern.
According to WALCB, taverns in WA are only allowed to serve beer and wine, not spirits (i.e. hard liquor). Roanoke serves all of the above. A restaurant license is the only option for an establishment like this that serves spirits and restaurant licenses only prohibit minors from being in the bar area.
I’m not sure what the deal is here. Perhaps I have my facts wrong. Maybe the owners don’t want any business from families. I’d love to receive an explanation (or further education).
In any case, be forewarned. If you show up with your family, you may be promptly escorted out the door and told to go elsewhere as I was yesterday.

LOVE this place!!! They have awesome burgers, salads and food in general. Their breakfast is also a homerun! They have great outdoor seating in the sun and shade — whatever fits your fancy — they deliver! Awesome staff — I couldn’t be more pleased every time I go and I have gone for years!

This was my first time there. The ambiance was great. As the weather was beautiful and just warm enough to dine outside comfortably. The menu was decent with the typical bar and grill food. I had a burger… an average burger. There was nothing that stood out about it. My boyfriend ordered a steak sandwich. There was something that stood out about that… it was about 40% gristle and fat, and that is being conservative. When it was mentioned to the server, she delivered what sounded to be a hurried and unconcerned «sorry» with no offer to replace the sandwich with another menu item. At the end of the meal, the check came. We were charged the full 13.95 price for the substandard sandwich. So… If you don’t mind fat and gristle and poor customer service, this is the place for you. Good luck.

Great place to eat bad food in the dark

This place has been there since the beginning of time, and has a universal appeal. Whether I’m there with my 23 year old brother in law, work associates and clients, or my wife, we have a good time and a good meal. In all seriousness, I would question the taste of anyone who doesn’t like the place. My favorite 2 servers are Greg and Eric, but the entire staff is great.

3.5 stars seems accurate here, for now.
I’ve been here twice, and while the food is «good», you’re really paying for the overall quirky ambience and view of Lake Washington. It’s a great spot to grab a bit on a sunny day: grab a friend and chill on the porch. It’s bit hidden, so you probably wouldn’t find it unless you were looking for it.
The pork sliders are yummy. I’d suggest getting it with fries instead of the cole slaw.

This place is the bee’s knees. I really try not to spend too much time on island businesses for fear of being recognized, but I just can’t stay away from the Roanoke.
This super old tavern is so rich in history (just turned 100 years old!) and Mercer Island is lucky to have it. I don’t believe in ghosts but if I did, I would come here to chill with some groovy ghosts cause I know that all the coolest dudes hung out here.
This place is a hidden gem. They have 12 beers on tap and an interesting food menu but why eat when you can drink? But note that this isn’t a place to come to get trashed. You could if you really wanted to but you would be such a weirdo.
The atmosphere here is super laid back and chill. It’s dark and gloomy making it cool in the summer but weirdly cozy when it’s colder. During the summer, coming here is a must after an afternoon of boating with friends. The patio is just amazing on a cool summer night.
Lately, I’ve been coming here for a night cap, to relax, to catch up with family and friends, to flirt with strangers. Basically this place is like a one size fits all type of deal, super malleable and truly perfect for any occasion. Our high school does their big deal reunions here which just shows you how special this place is to us Islanders!
I read a review where another Unilocaler thought characters from The OC would fit in here. First, I giggled and then I could totally see it. Having spent a huge chunk of my life on the island, I could totally see that but at the same time this place is super super chill.
The other day, I convinced a friend who thinks MI is the worst place on this planet to come here and he LOVED it. The people who drink here come from all walks of life, mostly MI folk but they are super laid back and fun to connect with.
If I HAD to eat something here, I would order the nachos because they’re huge and smothered with cheese. On Thursday nights, they do spaghetti nights and people always rave about it. They have fun lunch specials that gets posted onto their FB page if you’re into that.
Give this place a chance. You will grow to love it.

It’s a cozy, comfy, lovely tavern at the north tip of the Mercer Island. I will come here for a beer or two anytime ($ 5), but the foods are just OK.
On this lazy Friday lunch hour, the servers were over-​whelmed. If this is an on-​the-​clock business lunch, customers will be pretty stressed. But the patrons were all just chilling and drinking and chatting, so no hurry.
Fish and chips should be avoided. The burger looked pretty tasty. So was the fish tacos.

Umm… Since when does Mercer Island have restaurants?
I came here for happy hour with a friend per the recommendation of her husband. The place was beautiful and cute — it reminded me of the restaurant by the bay that was in the OC if you can remember that far back. Rachel Bilson. Adam Brody. Mischa Barton.
Anyway, this place had such a relaxed feel to it to juxtapose the general reputation of Mercer Island. But also kind of ironic because of the maritime décor.
The server was so incredibly friendly. He put up with our antics as we split a bottle of wine and a giant plate of nachos. The nachos weren’t anything to write home about — they were a little dry even though they had a ton of stuff on them. However, they were filling and hit the spot. As did our bottle of Riesling.
I would love to come here and sit outdoors sometime. There were people outside when we got there — but luckily for us, we sat inside — and it started to rain so everyone else was forced inside. Teehee.

They are open from 8 a.m. To close on weekends. Which could be midnight or 2 a.m. depending on how busy they are, and weekdays from 11 a.m. To close. They had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. With daily specials that change every week. Breakfast is only served on Saturday and Sunday with lunch starting at 12:30 p.m.
They have an assortment of seating areas. Inside they have a bar with about 20 tables and outside they have 3 different seating areas. There is a covered front porch with six tables which is always open and depending on weather a garden and patio area with 6 tables and a large backyard with 8 tables.
It’s a 21 and up bar and restaurant so if you want to go someplace with your kids this isn’t it. Also no pets are allowed. They don’t take reservations but there is almost always room available if you have a somewhat large party. Also they do appreciate a heads up either by phone or by stopping in if you are going to bring in a large party.
This place has a very long history starting in 1914 with memorabilia everywhere.
The menu, although it sounds like standard fare when reading it, has and much more gourmet taste.
They have a full bar, a wine list, a set of regular taps with beers like Manny’s, Macs and Jack’s, bittburger, Coors Light, and Budweiser. But they also Carrie six other types which change regularly including a couple of ideas and other assorted beer.

I came here after riding 2 laps around Mercer Island with my training group. They’ve been here the last couple rides, but this is my first time. When you are in Mercer Island, there are really not many options, I guess! We were so lucky to ride on a sunny Sunday and able to sit outdoor.
For me, this place is more like 3.5 stars. It’s an old house converted into a Inn/​Tavern. It has its old house charm even in the bathroom you can see those flora wall paper. It’s very interesting. I am all about parking! There are parking spots in front of the house and there’s also a back lot. There’s also an instruction if both the front and back lots are full, you can park a bit further towards to Lid park.
We are thinking coming here regularly after our weekly ride around the island. However, we haven’t really talked to the owner or management. That would be super nice if we get like 10−15% discount every time we come here for beers and food, right? :-)
A sunny day, it’s full of people there partying and drinking beers. A couple members in the group went there early and got us a table outside in the yard. About 6 – 8 of us sat there and had a lot of fun chatting up. The server also joined our conversation a couple times, It was a lot of fun! Definitely a mellow place with mellow service.
I had a Ruben Sandwich with Caesar salad. It was good and definitely hit the spot after 2 laps around Mercer Island. That’s just what I needed!
I am sure I will be a regular here soon if I keep up the training with my group every Sunday :-)

Came at the peak of the noon morning rush just as the breakfast menu was fading and switching to the lunch menu. I shoehorned myself on a bar stool in front of 20′ touch screen monitor game trying to catch my attention to feed it some quarters. It was so bright, I was thinking that it was giving me a suntan too.
This is more of a bar that serves food then a restaurant that serves drinks. So, more of a place to hang out an drink instead of coming for the food. That said, I’ve had the burgers and they are quite respectable along with having the club sandwich which is so big you should share it. The hot wings were good and my recollection is these are the best thing on the menu coming with endless celery and great blue cheese dipping sauce.
Now back to my last trip where I had to make a decision as the breakfast or lunch menu. Breakfast ended at 12:30PM and it was now 12:26PM; so should I wait for the lunch menu?
Well, I should have waited 5 minutes and picked the lunch menu as the Denver omelet was the worst one I’ve ever not eaten. Appeared like the cook took pizza toppings of onions, bell pepper and ham; then stuffed it in a paper thin scrambled egg wrapper with some cheese. The red onions (not white) weren’t chopped and just stringed out in strands that were not appealing to me. So, I picked out the ham and egg feeling disappointed to see this being the worst Denver omelet ever. It came with a couple of hash brown patties like the ones you get a McDonalds that were deep fried and had a taste of whatever had been in the deep fryer; not a good flavor when they should have been freshly graded and pan fried to crispy goodness. Seemed as if the omelet was rushed and both it and the hash browns were undercooked.
The service seemed like I was invisible an other than the first encounter to get a drink, I had to catch eye contact with the bartender to get a menu, place an order or ask for the check.
Roanoke Inn is an institution neighborhood pub on Mercer Island and I’ve enjoyed the lunch in the summer on the porch. Breakfast is a bust. But, I’d come here for beers and burger anytime.