Ivar’s Seafood Bar

This is a great branch. The customer service is great and super friendly. I see the manager taking time speaking to the customers, specially the elderly ones, who love to visit and chat. Also super clean. You can tell that this restaurant gets lots of repeat clients.

Sad to see the iconic Ballard location close down. N-​o-​t-​h-​i-​n-​g can replace it. An online blog article image was misleading. It shows the dock location, which remains open.

Fast food Seafood — pretty much what you see is what you get! Staff here is friendly and the food is always what is expected.

Affordable — Kid Friendly! — Delicious!
This Ivar’s was a wonderful place to take my two toddlers to lunch. There is a really good play area in the back of the restaurant with booths right there. I was able to eat and enjoy my lunch while they played 5 feet away, and it was far enough from the main part of the restaurant that I didn’t worry about them disturbing other diners.
My 1 and 2 year old shared a side of popcorn shrimp (less than $ 2!) and nibbled on a few of my fries.
When I walked in it look like a pretty casual self-​serve place, but the woman working was really attentive and helpful.; she brought us small cups of water with lids on it. I really appreciated it.
This was an awesome detour for us on our way to Fred Meyer.

Six of us came here for dinner on a quiet Monday night. Food was fine, and arrived pretty quickly. I had the clams, fries and a bowl of (white) clam chowder. My wife had the clam chowder sourdough bowl and was quite satisfied. Food was hot and filling.
The thing that made the visit memorable was the assistant manager, Jim. He was friendly and efficient. He brought the food to our table, and he remembered what each person had ordered. He also made several trips to bring more water and utensils — all of which he did not have to do.
We were charmed at the extra steps he took to make our visit pleasant.

Yummy yummy yummy I have clam chowder in my tummy, yum yum it tastes so good!
Found this place kinda by accident, just in the neighborhood and was hungry. Very happy with discovery! I got some fried Halibut which was delicious. The soup was my favorite part of the meal. It’s a casual place, order at the counter and they bring your tray out to you. I love that they have a parking lot, I love not having to search for parking.
Very pleased, will be back :)

Peaceful n. quiet

I sometimes get an Ivar’s craving. This place heats up the clam chowder like no on else. The fish is pretty good too. My complaint (and the three to two stars demotion) comes from having fries that are *always* cold in the middle.
It doesn’t help that the food takes forever to come out. I’d think that after frying the food for so long that they’d be piping hot… I keep coming back though. It is like crack.

For $ 11.99 (a little more with tax) I got a cup of clam chowder, three piece cod fish and chips and a drink. I was able to split this with a friend (we weren’t too hungry), so it was a great value.
Almost every time I go to Ivar’s I order the fish and chips thinking it’s somehow going to be better than the last time I ordered fish and chips. Not the case. I know Ivar’s is supposed to be known for their fish and chips but they’re pretty average to me. This past time it tasted like the fish had been tossed around in some bread crumbs and shoved in the oven.
However, the chowder is a different story. Ivar’s famous clam chowder lives up to the hype and is the perfect creamy blend of clams and vegetables.

Food is good, service is horrible. One worker was nice, the other walked around slamming food on tables and then mocked me when I acted unimpressed with the service. If you like good service, do not go here!

HAIKU REVIEW!
Bedecked for Christmas
Fast food fish and twinkle lights
Praise the birth of Cod

Isn’t consistency yummy? Yes, yes it is!
I really enjoy getting my fish fix here. I have cravings on occasion for salmon and chips. Well actually, I skip the chips, I just want the salmon! For dinner, this place is usually pretty empty, which personally I enjoy. Lot’s of room, no wait.
The kiddo loves their mini shrimp and interesting desserts. The kids fish and chips come with one of the most entertaining bags. Yeah, I’m reviewing the bag the food came in. And it is actually really fun. Either that or I just come here after very long days. hehe.

Guess when you are on vacation, you have to splurge a little. At least one fancy/​expensive dinner. So, we picked Ivar’s Seafood because of friends’ recommendations.
Their «White» clam chowder was pretty good. Taste a little different from the New England clam chowder.
I had the prefix dinner special. Got the baked Ling cod as my entrée. It was pretty taste. Had cod before but not «Ling» cod. Had the blueberry ice cream crêpe for dessert. It was just okay.
The serving sizes were huge. Its not the healthiest meal, so if you are really feeling guilty, then you should go for run around the block.
Its a bit pricey, but you are paying for the quality and freshness.
Overall, the experience was nice. We sat by the window and had the view of the harbor, and were able to see the sunset.
Service was nice and friendly.
Cheers to large portions and over eating!

What. A. Buzz. Kill.
I love going to Ivar’s on the Downtown Seattle Waterfront, so I thought this place would be just as great. Uh, nope. Food portions are much smaller, I’m not a big girl but I like to eat in mass amounts. Call me greedy.
So I kept ordering and I kept eating, was never satisfied. BOO!
Is it just me or is the menu different from the DT location?

We were given a piece of advice by a homeless guy the minute we opened the car door… if you eat at Ivar’s you will pay twice the money for going inside, stick to the outdoor menu. My sister and I thought we might be in for a good olé fashion mugging, but no, we just got some good advice.
We parked, probably, as far away as you could get from them and walked, we were passing lots of places and we were all starving by the end, so we we looked at the outdoor pricing, which is comparable to the happy hour menu, that starts at 3pm and hey, we got there at 3pm, lucky. The outdoor seating is okay, if you are in the mood for metal seats in a glass enclosure. I wasn’t feeling the animal on display thing and we went inside to check out how bad the pricing might be to get a warm comfy chair by the window. Had it not been happy hour, the average prices ranged in the $ 13-​$ 22.
The hostess seated us next to the window in the bar, great view. I got the salad, ordered it with no walnuts, thanks to a no-​walnut allergy and as I watched the waitress NOT write our order down, I was not too surprised to see walnuts… this is where they get a 3 star on service, it took forever for us to get anyone to come back to change it. They brought my salad out and then my husband had a salmon burger and fries, it was huge. My sister got the hummus plate, the food was good sized and tasted great, but the service never did improve, super slow drink refills and our waitress never came back. They did have a lot of stuff on the menu for happy hour, which was good. I, also, got the grilled blackened cod tacos and they had a good fresh flavor to them.
I wanted to go back the next day for clams, but got out voted because the crowds were now huge down on the wharf and nobody wanted to wait. the place we did eat, will be in my next review. the Emerald Queen Casino.

Wow. Kind of a disappointment to be exact. Especially for the price. $ 7 for the 3 piece, the fish pieces are barely bigger than my thumb. Even if they it was larger portion, there was nothing really that impressive about it. Just batter fried fish.
I know food prices are on the rise but this is nuts. Ivar’s has a big tradition here in the Northwest but Ivar is long gone. His company is managed by a team that has obviously cut back on product to increase profits. This is good for them because it seems to be working well with all the great reviews. The problem for me is that they are not the only game in town.
It will be a long time and will take convincing to go back with so many other great choices in the area to choose from. At least 7 just in Ballard, two within blocks that I have yet to even try.

If you’re craving fast fish and chips, Ivar’s provides this and more at a fair price. Their chowders are super and I’m quite partial to the smoked salmon variety when the weather is nippy out… which is a fair bit of time during our autumn and winter months. You can get one of the three varieties (clam, red and smoked salmon) in a sourdough bread bowl. If it’s to go, they provide the bread wrapped up for assembly at home. I like their grilled fish and salads. And I’m smitten with their moist cornbread with a hint of butter and honey. Damn good!
I had an instance where I grabbed a takeaway order and when I reached my destination, the cornbread was forgotten. I called back and the manager offered to replace my entire order since I didn’t want to head back out. When I returned several weeks later to claim my free meal, my name wasn’t on the list. The employee took down my name and with nary a question, happily provided my meal replacement.
I’ve always encountered friendly staff here both quick with a smile and banter as you wait. This location has a lot of seating with an ample parking lot. The bathrooms are clean and the dining area well maintained. I like wet nap that is provided after your meal and as many refills as you want, if you’re a soda fan.

I ate a tanker full of clam chowder yesterday.
it was delicious.
now i feel like a cow cause i have a ton of milk in my belly.

While visiting Seattle we went here one evening for a nice dinner and it exceeded my expectations! The food was so awesome! I had salmon that came with a little salad and watermelon. It sounds weird, but it was so good!
We watched the ferries pass by as the sunset. The restaurant is dimly lit so it makes for a romantic evening. Our waitress was very nice. I would definitely recommend!

Generally solid fish and chips. Certainly not the best I’ve ever had, but Ivar’s works in a pinch. My friend’s fish was overdone though, which was kind of lame. I’m a fan of their fries though — they are pretty tasty.
Kind of a weird location, what with no view of water or boats or anything, but it is easy to get to. The way they do things here is a little bit weird. They delivered us our food on trays, but as soon as they brought the trays to the table, they took everything off of them and set them on the table. Like each thing individually… food, napkins, tartar sauce, etc. I don’t understand why we couldn’t just have everything on the tray like they brought out to begin with? Like most fast food places?
I’m not a huge fan of their tartar sauce — it doesn’t seem to have enough flavor for me and they never give me enough anyway! I miss Skippers because they had that sauce bar where you could take as much tartar, cocktail, ketchup, etc as you wanted — more fish and chips places should do that, but they are instead rather stingy with their sauces and Ivar’s is no different.