Toronado Seattle

This is pretty much your best option in Roosevelt for dinner and drinks in a pub atmosphere. Their rotating tap selection is INSANE. It’s huge and there’s always something different. I like how they represent the local breweries. They are always cool about offering a sample of something or answering questions and they are great at describing their beers so that you are sure to order something you like. Their food is also pretty descent. There’s always a pretty good toasted vegetarian sandwich with some sort of house-​made savory jam. The customizable mac and cheese is also pretty bonkers. There are something like 30 options for things to add to their solid base mac and cheese. My favorite thing is their daily infusions. They infuse a beer into an ice cream, salad dressing, potato salad, and mustard. Different beers for each item. And they post it on a chalkboard like you would the specials. Beer ice cream sounds weird, but so far I’ve tried 3 of them and been happy every time (it’s especially good when they use a stout). I highly recommend pairing a scoop of ice cream with their warm peanut butter cookies. Make it a sandwich! So good. You can sit and visit with a friend for hours. They check on you just enough and leave you alone enough to socialize with your companion (s). As long as you keep ordering drinks, you can really make a night of it. Such a cool place. I don’t understand why they have such low ratings on here.

The bartenders Ken and Matt are fucking awesome. Ken always has amazing suggestions for IPA’s since those are my favourite and they never seen annoyed at my requests. FANTASTIC beer selection! I recommend this place to anyone who asks me where I like to have a great pint and cool atmosphere :)

I went here because I read it was one of the best up and coming bars in Seattle. It started off very cool. The bartender made it a point to offer me the rest of the whiskey pour from the bottle since there was a half a pour left. I said way COOL of you. After we were done, I realized the bill showed they charged me for the ½ pour that was suppose to be free — WTF!!! Plus our food sucked! Whatever… Don’t come here.
My friend told me it was empty so what’s the big deal. Now I know to always listen to my friend. I’m a dummy.

Beautiful tap list with new Pac NW-​focused options every time we visit. The food is a pleasant surprise! We’ve had everything from the turkey hoagies to the straight up hamburger and loved every bite. I think Toronado is underrated; give it a try and see yourself!

The vast selection of beer unfortunately does not make up for the offensively bad service and majorly overpriced bar fare in my opinion. Our waiter had to be flagged down repeatedly for a group of friends and I to be given any service what-​so-​ever. This was one of the few times I’ve gone somewhere intending to eat and not eaten due to being so underwhelmed by the menu. The prices clearly reflect that Toranado thinks more highly of itself than appropriate. I believe a friend paid $ 10 for a plate with a few strips of mediocre bacon on it… Once we’d had enough it was significantly more difficult than necessary to get the sever to take multiple forms payment.
Overall, I agree with other reviews which point out the pretentious vibe surrounding Toronado; the staff act as though you’ve just stepped into a five star restaurant serving only the most elite. It’s quite off-​putting. In reality their fare is nothing exciting and their staff do nothing in the customer service department. It’s also personally offensive that a place like this considers themselves ‘farm to table.’ They should have done their research.
Despite living within walking distance, my boyfriend and I haven’t been back since our first visit and don’t plan to change that anytime soon.

The food is tasty but expensive for what you get. I made my own Mac and cheese; it was yummy but also tasted like Hamburger Helper. My bf ordered a brat for $ 14 and we were disappointed by the size. Great beer selection, nice employees.

Great beer selection and food, owner is a very nice guy. They used to have a great bottle selection which has dwindled recently. If you haven’t had Cable Car I think they still have some, get some friends and split a bottle of you are interested in a sour that’s extremely limited.

In agreement with several other reviewers, this place seems to think it’s fancier than it actually is. Looking at the language used on their website and on their menu, one would think it was fine dining, but it isn’t (the meager portions notwithstanding). The food was good, not great, and definitely overpriced. It surely did not taste like it was «farm-​to-​table,» as advertised. At this price point, you can find much higher quality elsewhere. We’ve definitely found better food in North Seattle for the same or less money.
Also in agreement with other reviews, the service was astonishingly poor. With a loud voice and an obnoxious «I’m-too-cool-to-care» affected movement, the waitress seemed to crave more attention from the room than she was prepared to give it. It was slow, almost empty, with only three quiet couples seated at three tables and 3 – 4 people at the bar (where there was a bartender). Still, she would hurriedly run orders from the kitchen like the place was slammed, only to return to her perch behind the bar to continue her (apparently more important) conversation with a customer sitting there. Not once did she come over to check on how we were doing, whether we would like anything else, including condiments, water, or even a smile. We had to flag her down repeatedly for elements of basic service. What we did get in spades was her half of her bar conversation, loud and clear.
Maybe all the lovey couples were a little too much for her to handle right after Valentine’s Day… whatever. I still won’t be back.

Been here a few times, they have a good beer bottle list so come here for something crafty and awesome. drafts can be a hit or miss. Food is pretty good. we’ve only tried their mac n cheese which was yumm-​o! Place itself is pretty big and there is plenty of seating. Staff is pretty nice, they have good service. Parking can be a pain though so be prepared!

Good beer selection and good but smaller food menu. Fancy enough to make it worthwhile to go out, but also really accessible for different taste preferences. We will be back to try the build your own mac and cheese.

Very attentive staff working, nice ambience for conversations. Lots of beers on draft & food was good. Great location!

Really friendly and knowledgeable owner introduced me to fresh hop beer. Bar is long and has plenty of outlets to charge phones and hooks for purses, which I love. Lots of beer choices displayed on screens in the corners of the bar.

The staff are great, the beer selection is large, and the food is goooooooood.
Corned beef hash: amazing. I had it yesterday and then dreamt I was eating it again last night. It’s really really really good.

Great beer selection with decent prices, which slightly offsets the expensive food. The corned beef with potatoes and duck egg is perfection! The borsch is also delicious (to my surprise) if you’re trying to decide on a side dish. Plan to expect a packed house during beer release events, and definitely come for take the pint nights. I have never been to the SF Toronado, but I would rather have the kinder Seattle staff any day! Do you really have secret french fries? Because I not-​so-​secretly want french fries.

I met some friends at Toronado for late night beers and had a great time. I had previously lived in San Francisco and been to the SF Toronado which is a lot more hipster-​douchey than the Seattle one. The Seattle Toronado is great. There is a kitchen (so you can get food), and they take credit cards. The beer list was extensive and very affordable. I didn’t have any food but from what I saw on other tables, it looked very good.
Toronado is definitely on my list of beer joints to hit up regularly.

Came here with a girlfriend one Friday night for a drink. We sat at the bar and both ordered manhattans. Mine was a bourbon manhattan and my friend’s was a traditional whiskey manhattan. They had about a billion liqueors to use for the base and I don’t remember what we each ordered but we were helped out with recommendations by the friendly bartender. Both drinks were very good and definitely strong.
The place is spacious and open which I liked. The bar was extensive and clean. There were screens that showed the several beers that were on tap. We did not order food but the food that went by looked pretty good. I really liked the environment of this bar and would definitely go back or frequent it often if I lived in the neighborhood.

The Toronado Seattle is sister to San Francisco pub. The San Francisco bar is definitely a dive inside with one of the most incredible beer lineups in San Francisco. And equally incredible beer line up in Seattle but there is nothing divey about this bar.
Good balance of northwest craft beer and imports.
The whiskey selection is equally awesome as well.

For the beer lover, there’s everything to love about this place. For the beer lover on a budget, there’s everything to love about this place with the exception of some of the prices (not sure how many places really need a $ 75 t-​bone. Yes, $ 75.).
This is a busy intersection a couple miles north of downtown, when the distance is starting to make you feel like most blocks are going to be residential now if you keep heading away from town. But this area is definitely still all businesses. Toronado sits right on the busy corner, with a patio and the trademark dutch door.
Next door, there’s already one kickass beer bar with great food, so, if you get skunked for a table at Toronado, seriously, next door is just great. But Toronado is the shiznit without a doubt. Inside, there are booths, tables, highboys, and then a long bar. It’s a nice bustling space with a pretty good sense of separation from spot to spot. There are flat screens with games and whatnot showing, and in the back, there are big flatscreens with the draft list showing.
There are dozens of fancy liquors, and many good bottled beers in the cellar I imagine. But the heartbeat of this place is the tap list. About 40 taps, virtually all of them interesting to great, with many of them hard to get. You can usually walk in here and get a glass of something that’s not pouring at more than a couple other places in the state. Some of the local beers can be had for $ 6 or so a pint, but many of the rarer beers range upward of $ 1/​oz. If you have a hard time imagining paying the equivalent of $ 20 a pint or more for beers (albeit in 6 or 8 ounce pours), you’ll want to stick to the locals.
The food is really damn good. As mentioned, they do offer a $ 75 t-​bone, which might not be too high on your dining priority list, but there are plenty of more reasonably-​priced options. Everything is more ambitious than the usual pub grub. There’s duck prosciutto, there’s a bunch of local and organic stuff, there’s a lot to choose from for the adventurous eater. We had that prosciutto, a steak sandwich, and corned beef hash. They were all excellent, with explosive flavors, interesting platings, correct cook temps, and minimal greasiness. The kitchen is really on top of it.
The service is all really nice. They’re all in constant motion, and they all seem a bit more stressed-​out than most bar staffs for some reason, even though they all clearly know where everything is and there were plenty of people working the front of the house. Would love to see a relaxed, happy, and confident vibe settle over the place – like all the best beer spots have. But the food is excellent and the beer selection is exceptional.

There are some harsh reviews here on this place. I have been to all threee Toronados and I do see the points the Unilocalers are making but even between SD and SF locations there are differences. Can’t expect Seattle location to have similar vibes and offerings from the Cali locations (there are distribution rules just to name one of the reasons).
Anyway,
I went to the Grand Opening party today and there were some awesome stuff. I got to try Duck Duck Gooze for the first time which was amazing. I wish they also offered up Cable Car but they had some good kegs from Surly, Maui, Lost Abbey, etc.
I ordered the Duck Confit for lunch and Honey Bourbon Pecan Tart for dessert and both were awesome — although I agree the prices were quite high. I read that they only use local and organic ingredients though.
Service was great. Although they were a bit short staffed today.
This place does remind me of other good beer bars in Seattle (like Burgundian), which isn’t a bad thing. Parking here was relatively painless and they have outside seating as well.
Credit cards accepted. Noone under 21 is allowed. So don’t bring kids. SD location allows kids so I was hoping this would be case :(

As someone who who knows the name Toronado from San Francisco, the Seattle version was a bit of a mixed bag.
They both have the ‘Dutch door’ on the entrance, and they both open the top half on warm, sunny days. The Seattle location is bigger, brighter, and on the corner.
The SF version looks so old and beat, it’s as if they built the bar first and then built the rest of the neighborhood around it. The Seattle version is much more new and shiny looking, so if scratches, dings and dents make it «authentically gritty and raw» then the local version lacks authenticity. The Seattle décor is sparse. Hopefully time will fix this.
They both have an extensive tap list than includes multiple beers that are hard to find. Looks like they have 40 tap handles, so if you like beer you will find something. The San Francisco Toronado had at least three beer engines (maybe it was four?) so finding bupkis in this category at the Seattle location was a bit of a disappointment.
The service in SF could be a bit surly, especially at first; but finding a pleasant and helpful waitstaff in Seattle was not a disappointment for me.
Seattle Toronado has beer, and booze and food, but the menu isn’t all that compelling.
San Francisco Toronado has beer. And beer engines. Damn.