Daly’s Drive-In

Good bye Daly’s. Old Seattle just took another step into the grave.

If I could give more stars I would. This institution opened in 1962 and I was 4 years old when I had my Daly’s experience and I would be back ever since. My brother who is (12 years older then me) used to hang there as a teenage with all his friends. I remember when it was all open, they had seating and covered but outdoors. Then I think in the early 1980’s the made it indoors. I remember as a teen alot of my friends worked there and I used to get a free shake from them (my fav was strawberry). LOVED them! I loved there Daly’s deluxe burgers and their fries. I could play pinball while I waiting for my order. My mother and a great old friend of mine just loved the halibut and fish.
To the owner of Daly’s;
Why did you sell out just to have another boring glass box condo or office space with retail on the first floor building replace something so wonderful as you? Why don’t you open at another location please?

i’m really devastated that the drive-​in is closed.
I really like their sandwiches. better than kid valley’s and dicks. Their shakes were pretty good and their onion rings.
Not the cleanest place but i loved their food.
It’s making me cry thinking i can never taste their sandwich/​burger again :(
This was the place to eat while my mom was a student at the U-​DUB. including her sisters. they’re the ones to introduce me to their sandwiches. I am so sad.
I’m grieving…

I am so sad Daly’s is closed! They had good fish and chips, and pretty good shakes. Yeah it smelled like a grease bucket in there, but we had some good times together…

Daly’s is like a plainer version of Kidd Valley’s that also serves fish burgers. I’m pretty sure they’d go out of business if another burger joint opened up near by.
Daly’s best quality is probably their shakes which are good, but not great.

I used to own a catering company right down the street from this place, so I write this from the a LOT of personal experience. I don’t get Daly’s. Is Seattle so green in its food experience that all it takes to get five stars on Unilocal is loading down some generic, doughy bun with waaaay too much stuff and a skinny little, gristly beef patty? I can respect Dick’s and even eat there, on occasion. They’re gut bombs and gut bombs have their place, especially at 2 a.m., as a sobering-​up device. Daly’s burgers just make no sense. As another poster mentioned, they come with about a half cup of mayo, a gigantic fistful of lettuce, a messy slathering of pickles, mis-​directed catsup and mustard, and every single molecule of the grease that was generated in cooking the burger. On successive days, I had the same burger three times and the first time, it was so stuffed with lettuce that I couldn’t taste any of the condiments. The second, it was awash in mustard, and the third, it oozed so much grease into the basket that I had to build a little pallette of napkins and wick the grease off the bun so it wouldn’t collapse. What’s the message here? «Well, it ain’t really good but there’s sure a lot of it!»? Greasy fries, too, and the ambience of a grade-​school lunchroom. I gave it two stars because it has a nice view of the lake — if you eat in the parking lot.

I love the Burgers & Shakes. Delicious… Always a stop on the Eastlake Rides…

I’m surprised there are the number of negative comments there are in the various reviews of this place. If you’re not in the mood for a greasy burger or deep-​fried foods, why would you walk-​in to Daly’s expecting something more? The fact is, Daly’s makes one of the best burgers in town. Period. There’s a reason you order up a bacon burger and a shake and find yourself shelling over $ 11.00. It’s worth it. While my experience is entirely limited to the burgers there, I’ve heard good things about the other selections on the menu, and lunchtime finds many, many people lined-​up ordering something other than burgers. That said, the burgers here are exceptional. Cooked just right, good toppings, and the kind of burger that looks delicious in a movie. I highly recommend cramming down a bacon-​cheeseburger (if you roll like that) the next time you have a hankering for a burger.

Remember when you were a kid, and you and your big brother would go to the lake and hang out there for like 12 hours until you had sunburned shoulders and a peeling nose and you would work up an appetite so fierce you would pretty much eat anything that was put in front of you and it tasted like Manna from heaven?
Daly’s reminds me of those days. The old school Mrs. Pac-​Man and pinball in the back. The comics both kids and grandparents alike can enjoy, plastered on a whole wall. The grilled burgers, the fries with the skin on them, the shakes and the fish sandwich. It has a lakeside atmosphere– slightly abandoned, floor askew, ceiling dripping. I don’t mind character– I like it, actually.
But, the stomachache I had to face that evening was the cold slap in the face I needed to remind me that you know, once in awhile it’s Ok to eat like you just don’t care. As long as you’ve got Pepto on hand.

come on, let’s be realistic: dick’s is MUCH cleaner.
*burger-i’d have given it an «A-​» if it hadn’t been $ 4.50.
*fries were alright, onion rings completely mediocre.
*a large soda, which is more like a medium (i guess they can argue that they aren’t contributing to obesity like «them chains»), is kind of ridiculous because they charge you $ 1.99 for it and you have to pay to refill.
décor=am i in eastlake or old ballard?
did i really just pay $ 17 for a soda, two burgers, and an order or fries and onion rings? will i get my money back if the ceiling caves in on me while i’m eating? are you SURE someone inspects the back of the house?
nice view, though.

This place borders on disgusting. It’s kinda nice that you can get a fish sandwich rather than a beef patty, but it’s basically what you’d expect from Dick’s Drive-​in with none of the cool factor. I mean, Dick’s is gross too, but it’s a Seattle icon. The biggest thing going for Daly’s is the wide-​open parking lot, with 10 spaces perpetually available — and you’re gonna need ‘em, ’cause there’s practically nothing nearby to walk from.
BTW if you want a GOOD piece of halibut or salmon, check out Ivar’s Fish Bar, a walk-​up window just on the other side of the canal in Northlake /​Wallingford. That place is deeelish! Get a cup of one of their three seafood chowders, too.

Oh, don’t you dare come here thinking that Daly’s has moved into the 20^th century. No way!
Not only are they from the «You need food that sticks to your ribs to be healthy» school of thought, they’re the friggin’ valedictorian! Any place that serves deep fried mushrooms with pride deserves to be visited at least once.
I love their salmon burger, but haven’t figured out how they had Copper River months and months after you couldn’t get it anywhere else. How big is their freezer exactly?
Now if they could figure out how to serve deep fried shakes, they’d be good to go.

The Tartar Sauce — That’s why this place gets even 2 stars.
Otherwise I found the food here to be pretty gross. My burger had ¼ cup of mayonnaise on it, and I’m not exaggerating, I guesstimated. The bun was cold, smooshed and flavorless. The meat was most likely the inspiration behind the «Where’s the Beef?» commercials on the 80’s. The shake was made with frozen blackberries, the onion rings were fairly thin and in a tasteless batter, and the french fries were actually ok, especially dipped in their delicious tartar sauce.
When I walked in I had high hopes for this place, it had a «They Love Us on Unilocal!» sticker so I figured you guys had done all the dirty work for me. It reminded me of the type of place I went to with my grandparents and I’m a sucker for nostalgia so I overlooked the obvious warning sings of a sloping floor, lemonade in a bucket*, and pushed on with ordering knowing that my fellow Unilocalers would not have let me down.
I suppose I’ll go back and try their fish & chips to be certain that I can’t squeeze out the littlest bit of love for this place, but I’m not looking forward to it… bah.
*Apparently they like buckets here because that’s what they have attached to a pipe in the ceiling to catch the drips. I wonder whose job it is to change the bucket.

Its amazing that more people don’t know about his little place, but I’m aimin to change that. My friend used to work here so thats how I found out about it. They paid her quite well and the food is awesome. Its even better than (gasp) Spuds! Yes, I said it and I shall not take it back.

They used to give us free fries for being Seattle Prep students. Don’t know if this little treat still exists, but it was the reason I started going here. Excellent burgers, chicken, beef, veggie you name it! Great shakes, thin fries just as I like them and I am pretty sure they have fish and chips as well. The epitome of greasy food! Well worth stopping in and checking it out if your in that kind of mood :)

I had an ex that would drag me here. It was her favorite place. The burgers are ok but not to my tastes.

Oh, Daly’s, for but what sweet halibut thou serveth; fried in batter with heavenly chips and custom milk-​shake! How I salivate to ponder that I once tasted your sweet, flaky decadence.
Daly’s is good eatin’s. Try the halibut fish & chips or the salmon burger. Both great, along with the real ice cream/​fruit milkshakes. They also get extra points for having a full wall of old Far Side and Dilbert comix to keep you entertained whilst waiting to order, as well as a good 3 – 4 pinball machines and (not sure anymore, but used to have an old-​timey jukebox).

This place makes their own veggie burger from scratch! It is great. They also have salmon and chips. Theirdouble cheese with bacon is a tasty treat with some fried mushrooms, rings and fries. Their shakes are tasty and they have so many flavors it is yummy and yummier! There is a parking lot for your convience and pinball machines to play while you wait. They also have Pole position by atari!
IT is a little pricey but worth ever finger lick and dipping sauce!

Yet another Seattle institution, I can’t believe it hasn’t been reviewed yet. I’m sorry for the sake of the onion rings. OR aficionados would really like these. The burgers are good and worth paying for (that’s saying something for something of a cheapskate) but I’m really sold on the salmon burgers. LOVE the salmon burgers. I always get takeout ’cause the place really does feel like it’s been around forever, and not necessarily in a good way, plus I only remember when I happen to be driving down Eastlake. So make the onion rings happy, go down and eat them.