The Upstairs

First night in Seattle.. . my brothers flight came in late. After walking all over belltown for food. We decided to grab a drink.
We spotted this across the street where my brother got a slice of pizza at.
We just made it for last call.
The bartender/​manager was very friendly and a local.
We chatted it up with him. Being the only ones in the bar until 30mins in.
Getting to know the area, the bartender was very informative.
This place used to be an old apartment bldg. You can tell by the old stature of the place that it was converted to the bar. I really liked the feel of the environment. Old, rustic feel.
The name of the bar was a given. The bar was located upstairs of the bldg.
Nice and cozy. Fully stocked.

Totally bummed with the service tonight. Showed ID’s immediately at the bar and proceeded to order drinks. A huge group came in after us, so I sat down at a chair RIGHT next to the bar to wait for our drinks. About 20 seconds later one of the employees frantically walked around asking who had just placed an order. I got his attention and he told me «You need to see the bartender. Your order is incomplete». He was curt and abrupt. I approached the bar (stood up and took ½ a step forward asking another patron to move slightly). I was asked if I wanted to pay with cash or card and told my drinks would be done in 10 seconds. If my drinks were almost done, why make such a big deal to open a tab? Then when I said I wanted to close out, the guy looked at me like I was an idiot. Totally killed the vibe. I come here a lot and didn’t appreciate the poor service. Won’t come back on a Saturday night if these goons are working.

Cozy little neighborhood bar, literally upstairs from the street. Had a Holy Mountain Czech pils and a glass of the Elmer T. Lee bourbon. Also, the bartender was playing a Ratatat album.

This was the favorite of the bars I visited during my visit to Seattle. It was small and intimate with a speakeasy feel. The drinks were stiff and the crowd was cool. I would totally hit this place up on a future visit. There was nothing that I didn’t like about this place. I will say that if your looking for a loud, party atmosphere, this isn’t it. This is sit down (or stand), have some drinks and hang out with friends. Just my kind of place.

The Upstairs is pretty rad. I met a friend for drinks there around 6pm on a Monday. There was only one other person there! I really enjoyed the quiet, cozy, vintage-​y, haunted house-​y vibe. There are old velvet couches and settees and chairs that make you feel proper and kind of cool. I can use all the help I can get. We ordered our drinks at the bar. I had «Diablo’s Revenge, made with house-​infused spicy ghost chili tequila, thyme-​infused vodka, raspberry liqueur, lime, and ginger beer. Bartender Jonathan, It was phenomenal! Thanks! To die for. I typically brace myself when ordering chili-​infused cocktails, but this one was the absolute perfect balance of spicy and herb-​y and sweet. I could go for another right now! Except it’s 8 am. And they’re surely closed. And drinking at this time of day is frowned upon. Womp. I would definitely come back for a relaxed evening with a friend or two– even a date. I do see in previous reviews that it does fill up a bit. I’ll have to visit again during busier hours to see if it changes my impression.

3-​stars simply for the venue– it’s like a private, upstairs lobby area with a bar room and a lounge with comfortable, relaxing couches. Mood lighting makes it feel like an exclusive VIP room.
The drink menu wasn’t so good– we all tried quite a bit of their mixed drinks and weren’t impressed. When you start mixing tart and sweet drinks, or sour and strong drinks– it begins to taste like an identity crisis.
We arrived around 9pm and the place was empty. By the time 10:30pm hit, the place was crowded, stuffy, and the venue suddenly lost its charm. This is just not one of those places you want to be in a crowded, small room. Since you have to order your own drinks at the bar, it’ll the line and crowdedness just gets worst.

If you want a small and intimate lounge to enjoy a drink with your significant other or a few friends, The Upstairs is your place. On a Sunday, we caught a resident DJ playing an excellent set which set the mood for the dark, speakeasy-​like setting with vintage couches, furniture, and paintings.
It’s really cozy here– so inviting that you may have a few more drinks despite previous plans and take a nap. The Upstairs is probably not for everyone as it is on the calmer end of the bar spectrum. But regardless, it’s a nice place to wind down, enjoy your drink, and connect with your partner/​group.
If I lived in Seattle, I would be a regular here.

A great little place for a pre-​funk. You can get small appetizers that are delicious and well-​balanced drinks to go with. The bartender was very friendly. I love this quaint little place.

This place is a cute retro looking drinks-​only-​with-​a-​few-​nibbles bar. It really is upstairs, with just a sandwich board for notice outside. It’s dimly lit with odds and ends furniture. My favorite is the couch just past the bar in the other room. The day I was there they were out of the Kraken eggnog, which is kinda why I went.
The bartender was a little slow, and you must go up to the bar to order. He didn’t exactly ignore me but didn’t acknowledge me either. I had some Montenegro cheese soaked in olive oil. I also had the hot toddy, since the eggnog was missing. The first hot toddy was amazing, the second so-​so. This place potential, but still has some bugs so to speak for a smooth sailing evening.
It does have a great ambiance for an intimate chat– be prepared to share your space and get to know your neighboring drinkers, because it is a tight squeeze!

Une vraiment belle trouvaille. You haven’t heard of The Upstairs? Their drinks are on point, the atmosphere is dialed in and the service is top notch. Sitting in this speak-​easy styled saloon (especially near the window) makes me regret not having a stronger grasp on philosophy. If there was a plaque on the wall that said Hemingway came here to finish his last novel, I’d probably believe it. I might even start that rumor.
All accounted, solid place to take a date or rendezvous avec les amis.

Literally upstairs. lulz.
I really liked how they carried Tim’s Cascade chips (so Seattle :)). Not really being a big drinker, I got more of a kick out of the chips and dip than the drinks. I did end up getting a Grapefruit Sparkler but would definitely pass on that next time (kind of a weird taste). I hate ginger, but I actually liked the Dark and Stormy that my friend got. My other friend also got a Hemingway Daquiri which was probably my favorite drink (aka sip) of the night.
It’s really dark and the décor reminded me of a speakeasy/​prohibition period. It got busy on the weekend, and it’s a small place, so seats fill up quickly around 11 PM. It’s not incredibly loud in there, so you can still have conversations without raising your voice.
The bartender was really friendly and even gave us his opinion on what was good at Serious Pie.
I’m definitely not a bar person, but I would come back!

Their motto is Cocktails and Goodtimes… but I’m going to say nay on the good times. Bartender was mediocre and could care less about our business or our presence there. He was very blah, had his back to us most of the time, or left to the room on the side. Multiple people in our group tried to engage him in conversation about the drink selection and he was less than enthusiastic. I’ve been to many craft bars and had lots of fun conversations at the bar. The bartenders usually give great suggestions and it’s part of the experience. You pay a little more for the experience and drinks, but I wish I never came.

This is a great little spot with a really nice vibe. It has a low lighting atmosphere and has a bar space and a lounge space, both separated by a wall with a door. My only real complain about this place is that sometimes when the lounge is a little more populated, it can get quite loud from all the voices competing with each other.
Overall, a really chill place with a good vibe and also a really cool spot for a first or second date.

I didn’t have a lot of time but I found my way to this tiny place on 2^nd avenue. It was just around the corner from my hotel and across from several really nice restaurants.
A simple order of the «Penicillin» and it hit just the spot. It was a Saturday night about 11. Busy but not crowded. Good vibe and the décor looked awesome.
Staff super friendly and accommodating. Do pop on up.

Ordered a blood and sand. Not a bad drink. Place has a slightly creepy cool feel. The bartender was straightforward and made us drinks really quickly. Not a bad pit stop until the next drinking area. There is one bar and two rooms. They have couches to sit on or if you want to stand its not bad either.

Great place to grab a drink away from the busier bars in Belltown. Loved the dark atmosphere and home vibe. Had a great old fashioned and penicillin. Bartenders kept the vibe low key and provided great service.

The Upstairs is another speakeasy-​influenced type bar — although more relaxed/​chill than Bathtub.
You actually simply walk up the stairs to find it –go straight for the register to order your drinks and pay. Then — find your seats!
There are plenty of seats at the bar as well as plenty of little couches in the interior side of the lounge. The Upstairs seems to attract all types of crowds (Bathtub is more 20s and 30s). Here you see larger groups or people going solo.
Overall, the drinks here are pretty tasty as well but they’ll make traditional cocktails, too. Drinks range from $ 9-​$ 12.

Talk about fortuitous happenstance. We only had about 1 hour left before having to return home and wanted to get some dessert at Pinxto. They were actually closed for testing of a new tasting menu so we decided to simply go next door to the very cool and related The Upstairs.
You go up the building and are transported to a place that literally looks like a Speakeasy with a small bar area, lounge seating with live music, and old school music and décor.
The dim lights, great music (both live and background) pairs perfectly with the awesome cocktail and drink menu. The one bartender working was legit, making drinks on the fly and perfectly keeping the line moving.
Pimm’s Cup — $ 11. Served in a copper cup like the Moscow Mule and also with ginger beer. It was super refreshing and had the right kick of alcohol. We ordered a few more.
Lemon Thyme Cocktail — $ 10. A nice sugar rim and a great cocktail with thyme infused vodka, lemon juice and sugar.
The live music played against a backdrop of an all black and white movie and we chatted with some other friendly patrons. It was a great wrap up to a nice night before we turned into pumpkins and had to run home. The food menu is limited and I would have loved to have the bacon wrapped dates downstairs at Pinxto, but I loved the Upstairs.
The Upstairs accepts credit cards, including American Express.

When you tell a bartender to surprise you, and you then tell him that you were going to choose a gin-​based libation but want to branch out… well you can imagine my surprise when I was presented with a delicately prepared… GIN cocktail.
Sayyyyy whatttt?!
Ok. Maybe he just didn’t hear me through his poor attitude.
Even still, the drink was delicious — though I was disappointed to learn that it wasn’t a specially-​crafted drink but instead something from the menu (Corpse Reviver). Dude. Where’s the creativity?
The saving grace at this speakeasy is the comfortable room to kick back on a couch and listen to a group of folks role-​playing Russians competing at Battlefield.

This place is so cute and chill. I wanted to order an eggnog drink but they ran out of eggnog, thus the 4 stars. They recommended the seattle 76 for me instead which tastes like grapefruit. Not bad!
The atmosphere is really nice! Comfy! The interior is really hipster! Lol