Ivar’s Seafood Bar

Whenever I travel to seattle I always have to hit up an Ivar’s for some clam strips and chowder. This Ivar’s was small but very clean and fast with the order. I have no complaints as we got our entire to go order quickly and accurately. Good place to get some quick seafood.

I’ve been here several times and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a seafood bar. Fast service and good food for the price.

On a cold day, there’s honestly nothing better than a bowl of soup.
And here in the PNW, that would always have to be clam chowder. In a bread bowl. No exceptions.
You know how hard it seems to be to find a bread bowl? I understand that its more expensive to produce and maintain on the menu, but at the same time? It shouldn’t be that hard to provide to your customers.
After looking around and trying a few difference places in an attempt to find what we needed, my fiancée and I finally ended up at Ivar’s. I should note, however, she wanted someone to serve us and not a «fast food» type of place. Yup, she protested quite a few times.
When we got there, finally, our counter person was super awesome and had a great suggestion for how we could get the same intended food and get a little extra bang for our buck (combo meal so we could get some clam strips and save a little on our second drink). That, I love.
As to the food? There’s a reason why Ivar’s is a Northwestern institution. The food is always fresh, they use great local ingredients, and you’re going to get the same quality if you’re in the food court at Northgate as you are in Mukilteo, Downtown, or in Kent. Sure, there might be different atmospheres and audiences, but the food is always that great quality and served in hot plentiful portions.
The bread bowls we got should have been more than enough, but we had to have some clam strips on the side and boy oh boy were they spot on. My other half is from Baltimore, Maryland where they KNOW chowder and I think this is the quietest I’ve seen her! Because if she talked at all? She wouldn’t have been able to eat!
A++ definitely will be back. Especially seeing there are a lot of cold fall and winter days ahead!
(And next time, the fiancée will be begging to come here rather than looking elsewhere…)

Great customer and food was delicious. That’s pretty much all it takes for five stars

This restaurant use to be one of our favorites-​great food and very friendly staff.
We went the other night and it’s changed owners apparently.
It was totally different.
My husband use to love the creamy smoked salmon chowder but this time it was watery and had different ingredients in it. It was terrible.
I ordered the large prawns and chips. My prawns were over cooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. The fries were overlooked and there were lots of small scrap pieces of fries in my basket instead of whole fries.
We won’t be returning to eat here.

Now I’m sure that 50 to 60 years ago, Ivar’s was the best fish n’ chips you could buy in the northwest however times have changed. What hasn’t changed is the traditional recipes and the quality of which the Ivar’s restaurants provide.
Their ingredients are fresh and locally sourced. I know for a fact because I actually used to deliver the fish to the restaurants. It doesn’t matter what location you visit, the standards are high at all of them.
Sure you can get a more modern experience and more modern recipes at many new establishments these days but if you’re in the mood for that nostalgic traditional flavor of the Puget Sound, Ivar’s is a winning bet every time.
Much like Gino’s when in Chicago, when you visit Washington, you must eat at Ivar’s! Great hospitality, friendly staff and a rich history are all a part of the experience.
Enjoy!

They have great food at good prices. The the customer service is excellent. Try
the new England clam chowder in a bread bowl or their classic fish sandwich

A childhood favorite, ivars is a northwest institution, wish they would keep the panko breading all of the time!

Love this Ivars! The restaurant is very clean. The food is always fresh and delicious and the service is always excellent.

What can I say? It’s Ivar’s. But for fast food seafood this is where it’s at. Friendly staff, fairly fast service, plenty of parking and places to sit as well as plenty of choices for those seafood lovers. Their fish has an excellent salty taste and thin crispy batter. Their fries are okay… nothing to write home about but as per usual anything dipped in tarter sauce tastes amazing!

Love the restaurant by the ferry but I’ll take the chowder, prawns and fish anywhere

Every time I come here its DELICIOUS! Service is good. Kind of pricey but the food makes up for it.

The staff actually appeared to be enjoying themselves and were doing a heck of a job. The menu actually had a couple of healthier grilled options, though more expensive. The fried fish was as good as ever. Nice!

This rating is based solely on the food. It’s good! The go-​to order is a 3 piece fish w/​fries, a side order of shrimp and clam chowder. I’ve tried both chowders and you can’t go wrong with either one. I’ve tried different items on the menu and for quick seafood, everything has been delicious.
On a side note, the fries are just okay — notihng special.

Service was friendly but they messed up on 2 out of 3 orders. They made the cajun fish and chiyp just right. Nothing spectacular but nothing too horrible. They have one of the new soda machines.

good fast fish.
been hear a few times now and it is always crazy busy. staff is real nice. and they have one of those crazy soda machines with like 50 billion selections.

Walked in here looking for a quick dinner around 8:30 PM and since they don’t close until 9, we thought it was okay to eat in. However, we walked in and no one was at the counter. We waited five minutes and even if that doesn’t sound like a long time, it was a long time to wait for someone to get our FAST FOOD order. And yet no one showed up. They couldn’t have been in the back of the kitchen cooking because we were practically the only customers in this shop. Withholding the urge to yell impatiently for customer service and risk them spitting in our food for giving them a hard time with only a half hour left on their clock, we just walked out and ate somewhere else.
Seriously, if you’re not going to serve anyone at 8:30, you might as well close at 8:30 instead of 9. I do enjoy an Ivar’s meal, but I definitely will not be having it at this location.

We had a $ 5 entertainment book coupon so we took our family. (6 & 8 year old boy, me and my wife). Not too high of expectation being a chain and on the Kent hill area. We were all delightfully suprised by the sincere service and clean, hot, tasty food. We ordered the boat with 10 pieces of fish, slaw, and chowder to share with the family. Peachy our server bent over backwards for our family to go ABOVE AND BEYOND average service. She noticed our varying family tastes and mentioned we could sub a couple pieces of chicken and salmon along with the traditional cod in the basket. She also was able to split up the bowl of chowder for the whole family rather than just giving us a vat of it with 4 bowls to split it ourselves. She even walked it out to the table herself to serve us.
This was all done swiftly, professionally, and with a heart of «pay it forward» service.
I wouldn’t have thought to come back again without a coupon, but with the glow that our family left with today, we will be revisiting when we need some nice hot NW Ivars grub.
Thank you for blessing our entire family today Peachy!

Fish & chips? Good.
Service? Meh. There wasn’t really any. I don’t know what some of the other Unilocalers are speaking of.
It seems as if most of the restaurants around KM lack on service as many high school kids are employed there.
I needed sauce for my 4-​piece. The «sweet tartar sauce» pump wasn’t there. I asked the girl at the counter if they were out of it and she rolled her eyes and said they have to-​go packets. Now I, too, was irritated. I didn’t ask so that I could know what their inventory level was like. So I asked for some. She got me two, and seemed so inconvenienced. It was worth the trouble, though. I like tartar sauce and sweet relish.
I’d come back with very much lowered expectations regarding service. The food was what kept it with 3 stars.
PS: The cole slaw is delicious.

Amazing! Kudos to Helen, Kerry and the rest of the crew tonight.
I used to work for Ivars, so you know it is good if I came back. My mom’s birthday was today and she wanted to go to Ivar’s. I called and spoke to Kerry and he assured me he could accomodate our party of 15 at 6 no problem. I called again the day of and he told me that Helen had set up a small area and put reserved down on the tables so we could all sit together.
Helen took our orders quickly and efficiently and you wouldn’t believe the new soda machine so AWESOME Diet Raspberry Coke! Our food was hot and tasty and served quickly.
They kept checking on us and deivered our food and cleaned our area. Towards the end of the party, Kerry found a candle and brought my mom a piece of cake (actually he gave it to me as it was my party) and helped us sing happy birthday.
This crew went above and beyond from reserving our tables, the quality of food, the service, and the comfortable inviting atmosphere.
Definitely a great night thanks to Helen, Kerry and crew.