Ba Bar Restaurant
| Address: | 550 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122, USA |
| Phone: | +1 206-328-2030 |
| Site: | babarseattle.com |
| Rating: | 4.4 |
| Working: | 10AM–2AM 10AM–2AM 10AM–2AM 10AM–2AM 10AM–4AM 10AM–4AM 10AM–2AM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 8
RA
RandumDude 5261
For starters, the parking around the facility is not the best. I went on a Friday afternoon and parking was okay. Every tight quarters parking. (Go Seattle.) I parked east of the facility by Championship field. For the Pho Ba Bar, its self is quaint. Small, but it has the college city vibe. Would not recommend for very large parties. (10+) If you have a group of six, they can seat you at bar style table or they have benches to accommodate. The menu section is about one page with a good section. It comes on printer paper with a clipboard. Not for sure why the choice, but when going to a restaurant I do not want to feel like I’m back at the office. For the food that I ordered, I had razor clams and beef pho. The razor clams are really good. Some of the best that I’ve had in a long time They cook them in a mixture of herbs and other stuff to give you a clam broth that isn’t just water. For the Pho, the size was kind disappointing. And the ratio of beef to noodle for me, off. Lots of beef, good size though, not a lot of noodles. But I will say that the broth was really good. If you like fish sauce with your pho, don’t add too much. You’ll get a saltier taste. My one complaint about the Pho Ba Bar is that why did it take about 15 minutes for my Pho to get to me when the rest of my party already had their entrées? It could have been a communication issue, but not the best impression of a first timer. Over all, if you live in the area, a great place to eat and hang out. Very good selection of alcohol if youre into that. But for a person who lives south of Seattle going back is not very likely. I would say go eat at this place once and form your impression Me, not likely to go back because of traffic and area.
WH
White Lotus International
Supposed to be one of the best Happy Hours in Seattle. So we tried it. My wife is Vietnamese and is a great cook. True, she is from Hanoi, and cooks Northern cooking and most of the authentic Vietnamese food we see in the US is Saigon, or Southern, cooking. Very little authentic or strikingly Vietnamese cuisine at the very trendy Ba Bar. It is more Chinese-American-Vietnamese-Whatever Fusion. Not creative at all. Very pedestrian, very street.....not in a good way. More like "Street Festival". Ba Bar is very unlike anything I have ever tasted in any of my many travels all over Vietnam. As close as I can figure, it is Vietnamese-American cuisine or a creation of some imaginative wannabe chef. One clue is that most of the clientele are westerners who most likely know nothing about Vietnamese food. Very few Vietnamese would claim this food as theirs. Their Ha Noi Pho is nothing like Ha Noi Pho. They dont even know there is a difference. And they should know that Pho was created in The North. But.....they did not. Trendy. Unique. But not Vietnamese Street Food. Vietnamese Street Food is MUCH better.
JU
Justin Anderson
Bottom line first: good drinks, great Vietnamese food, great atmosphere, solid value. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This place is legit. Great food, solid atmosphere, and knowledgeable friendly staff. Our bar tender knew the cuisine very well and was able to help us order. The hue dumplings were bomb. Chewy rice vegetable dumplings in an amazing soy vinaigrette. The sài gòn chicken salad was tossed in another homemade vinaigrette and was super tasty. We ordered the rotisserie chicken and it was anything but a plain chicken dish. The skin was roasted perfectly to a crunch with flavors of ginger, soy, and sugar. We ordered it with a fried egg. This was served with another soy vinegar based sauced that paired the chicken perfectly. Would 100% come back to this place. Next time Im trying one of the noodle bowls. I also came here once for late late night food after going to the bars. Did one of the noodle soups and it did not disappoint. 2nd visit: great Saigon wings, super crispy and good flavor. Vermicelli bowl was super light with a great fresh, acidic dressing and good toppings. Love this place.
CL
Cleopatra Cutler
Ba Bar is an amazingly versatile joint in an area otherwise bereft of noteworthy food. Four reasons why this placell survive: 1) French breakfast (cold at 7, hot starting at 8). Freshly baked baguettes and croissants? Dont mind if I do. 2) Viet street food for lunch and dinner with a lengthy midday happy hour and a late night "industry hour." 3) Theres a wide price range, which is important considering its wedged in the middle of an amalgamation of pay scale demographics. (Also, its fairly close to the hospitals, and there never seems to be good food near hospitals) 4) Ba Bar is stuck in the restauranteurs no mans land between Capitol Hill and the International District--but that area is definitely a boomtown. With Capitol Hill creeping southward toward the Central District (see Canon, Von Trapps, and Cafe Presse), Ba Bar might just be ahead of the trend.
BE
Ben Timby
4/5 food, 5/5 service. Business owners clearly employ sneaky fees into their carryout orders though - 5% to go fee, and an additional 5% service fee..? Asked the server about it, said it was to cover container cost..? Also, dont trust the menu prices you see on here, they must not have updated them. After paying 10% in takeout "fees", paying 20% more for our plates because of false advertising on their Google search result menu, and giving a good tip (I try not taking my frustration out of employees pockets, though many people might normally), I hope this business sees this review and knows that I think theyre a bunch of crooks in my eyes taking advantage of people not taking a closer look at their receipts.
DA
David Diez
Okay and plentiful food. Service was alright. I ordered fish spring rolls. I was surprised when the waitress brought it out to me, completely disassembled, and told me that it was for me to do (WTF? no warning that this is how the dish is served?). Well, after making a complete mess of the table and myself, and after taking over much of the table for the bowl of hot water needed for constructing spring rolls, I ate what were sub-par spring rolls... no surprise, since I was making them. Besides this, the other food was okay, but not great. If Im in Seattle again, I will definitely skip this place. Too many other good restaurants to eat at in Seattle.
MO
Monica Peterson
The rockfish bun is so yummy. Ive also enjoyed a few fun, light, and tasty bottled beers there. The atmosphere is nice, though it can be quite crowded. Ive only had one particularly lousy experience there, involving a new waiter that did not communicate that the kitchen was out of several key ingredients. It gets irritating when you order something, and its main ingredient is out, so you get a weird version of what you ordered, and this is not communicated until your plate is in front of you. That same waiter was also not well versed on keeping care of his tables. But, all in all, it is a fresh and tasty experience. I would go back any day.
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Linda Tuttle
Service was slow and unresponsive. When we first walked in the door we werent greeted for the longest time, and when we were, there was no real indication to when we would be seated. After standing around for about 15 minutes, once seated, service was again sparse and we receiced a glass bottle of warmish water to drink, as we waited for our phó we ordered. In general, the cook did not fill the bowl up with broth, the broth was very salty and there wasnt anything extra special about it, except that the steak/brisket was very tender. Overall, was not the experience I was hoping for.
