Pono Ranch

Came here to catch the new weekly Wednesday night jazz jam. Super chill vibe, had a great time hanging back and chatting with the bartender. The beer was good, the Mac & Cheese was WONDERFUL. The food’s definitely on the spendy side, but I sure enjoyed it. I had no issues with the service whatsoever.
Overall, seems like a very laid back spot to listen to tunes and have a drink. My opinion might change if I come by when it’s really busy (according to other reviews), but as of now, I definitely plan on returning.

Good food and really friendly service. Devon was really nice to our 5 y/​o daughter. Food was high quality and cocktails and beers were delicious. We went on Mon in winter so I can’t say how it is when it’s busy. We will go back.

Disrespectful staff, horrible food, overpriced. No idea how this place is able to stay open. Must be a front for money laundering. I’m depressed writing this because this place has such potential and I have no idea how they can stay open. Sh$t barf.

After staying away for months we went back to Pono Ranch recently on 2 occasions. Met friends for beers after work one evening and on the next visit had brunch on a Saturday. This is a unique outdoor space and a great place to enjoy drinks. I’m giving them 2 stars because the food and service seem to be their Achilles heel. The servers and the kitchen are probably doing the best they can under the circumstances. The end result is average everything. So go for beer, wine and cocktails. Once the place gets a manager in there that knows how to run a restaurant and it’ll be like having a license to print money. Until then there’s better food at any of the 1,000 other restaurants in Ballard.
p. s. Establish a dress code. Spend a few hundred bucks on polo shirts for the staff with the logo on ‘em and ban ratty cut-​off jeans

Often, popular restaurants have themes giving us a chance to sort of fantasy-​escape, transported out of hum-​drum to anything intriguing, and the owner well-​designed an interesting space. A nautical /​industrial feel. I like the water and flames, and seating around that, with cushions.
On the other hand, about that word Pono: It has very positive connotations in Hawaii, and makes one wonder here, since the place isn’t in any other way Hawaiian currently and I didn’t see anything explaining the name. The word «Ranch» is also not in the realm of marine/​nautical.
Many have mentioned the staff and I suspect there were potential employees who might have considered working there and shied away as they would not look forward to having the words Pono Ranch on their resume or as part of their personal brand, it easily brings to mind, say, Porno and/​or Bunny Ranch. Requires explanation every time the name is mentioned. Due to that, the place may be attracting a higher percentage of applications from those who are just starting out in that field or something, and I wish them well.
There are fixable issues. Begin by cleaning the bathrooms every day and vacuuming up the cigarette butts in the gravel out front. I smoke and don’t litter. Most don’t smoke and don’t like seeing the rain-​soaked remnants lying around as the first visual on arriving. What may seem like little things to some matter a lot to others, and those others, being customers, matter. Spoils the escape. First and foremost …
Rename it if you want to stay in business.
PS Pono once had espresso and even a drive-​thru, driving out was risky business (tough luck there), and more importantly the coffee suffered from poor quality as evidently paltry research was done to find out what works and what people like, the lids were odd, for example. How tough could serving coffee be? Ah, not so easy after all. Maybe brushing aside those trying to help isn’t the best plan, mmm.

The issue with this place is that it’s horribly unorganized, minimal staff/​no staff with poor/​slow/​shy service, and the food is tasteless. The venue is great, just wish everything else was great. We still go when we have a big group that wants to sit outside somewhere and since it’s not packed all the time here we choose this place.

So I’ve never actually been here for food before but I came here as a final destination during a friend’s bachelorette party and it was a really fun spot!
From what I could see, there weren’t a ton of beverage options — they had a few beers and what seemed to look like a limited bar but it was the end of the night so that was totally fine by me. This place was incredibly PACKED. The lines to get drinks were huge, the lines for the bathroom were INSANE… there were 2 stalls that were co-​ed so everyone was fighting for the bathrooms like crazy.
However, despite all of this, the outside was SO much fun. There were beams and poles (WATCH OUT) as part of a nautical-​ish theme but there were tables to sit at and places to stand around and mingle. On a nice night, this place is the perfect place to come and hang out. The time I came here, the crowd tended to be younger — late 20’s and up. They have live music when it’s nice outside. Can’t wait to check it out again!

We stopped by here on a bike ride on a Sunday for the «brunch». The food was less than mediocre and severely overpriced. $ 9.95 for a BLT that comes with ONLY fruit, are you kidding me? And by fruit I mean cantaloupe and honeydew with so many seeds you are constantly biting down on something hard. My boyfriend ordered the burger cooked medium. When it came out, he cut into it to see it if it was cooked OK. You could practically hear the MOO from the cow it was so raw. We sent that back.
The only reason I am giving them 2 stars is because I have to admit they have a really nice outdoor area perfect for bikers along the Burke Gilman Trail. However, with so many breweries in the area that cater to bike riders there is no reason to stop here.

Plastic cups really?
Poor selection of local beer, as in no local beer (they do have mannys). In the heart of ballard brewing district this place continues to fall short.
Food meh. Mostly pub fried stuff.
Excellent outdoor area, that’s about it.
This place could be great, but every time I come I am disappointed.
Oh ya, plastic cups for beer… Really?

I’m writing because if we don’t support this AMAZING place, you guys will all miss out. Okay so maybe its because I’m from Tucson, but I love the atmosphere of this place. Look around and you’ll see all of the talented art work that went into the construction. Lots of places to sit, around a fire pit, near the stage, inside near the bar. Whether you are a big group or just yourself, its a warm wonderful place to be. There is honestly no other place like it that I know like it around Seattle and quite a refreshing departure from all of the other trendy places going up.
Now I might change my tune in the winter. .. but I will try to frequent it as much as I can during the warm summer nights.
Disclosure: I haven’t eaten there. Just drinks and listening to music!

This place isn’t known for their food. Or their service. Or their music. If you absolutely love colored umbrellas and manny’s or Coors light then this is the place for you.
We came here for a friend’s birthday because it supposedly had a nice patio and was supposed to be nice outside. It ended up being cloudy but when we got there we found our group at a nice long picnic like table. No one had food yet but most had their first drink. A while later our friends gave us menus because we didn’t see the waitress. Finally she came and took our drink order. They had pretty much only IPAs and manny’s on draft. I opted for the manny’s. I narrowed my food choice to two options and asked the waitress her opinion. Amazing that I chose her two favorite options. She explained how amazing the pineapple salsa was on the chicken burger so I went with that.
A while later they brought out nachos. Well some stale chips with some microwaved cheese and beans on it. $ 13 for microwaved nachos without any meat on it. I ate them because I was starving. Five years later my chicken burger came out with some fries. I literally had to use three different condiments on the fries to make them palatable. The chicken burger tasted like any chicken sandwich you have ever had at a 4^th of July picnic along with some canned pineapple turned into some meager «salsa».
Cue the music. This band obviously can’t hear themselves which is a miracle because it’s literally blowing my eardrums out. Our party had to relocate in order to hold a conversation. Stevie Wonder is all she knows and it is cringe worthy. The music guy looked like a punk they pulled out of the gutter who was picking his nose the whole time with fingers that looked like they haven’t been washed in three years.
They have a corn hole set which I was excited about because I’m the regional corn hole champion (not really) but they were missing half the bags and the other half didn’t have beans in them.
This place is a candidate for a reality show. Do yourself a favor and go to hot cakes.
Two stars because I didn’t choke on the food.

This place is special and it depends on when you’re here.
Off-​peak come in, sit, get a meal with friends. On a nice day sit on the out door patio for a pretty good happy hour. Have the chili it’s great.
The bar tenders are friendly and good at what they do.
Peak times, when it’s nice out, come out for a live show outside. Bring a good sized crew becomes there’s plenty of room. The cover is reasonable and the outside atmosphere is great.
The problem here is the lines. When it’s busy getting anything takes a while. There are two bars, but they are just not fast enough. They could sell a lot more if they would devote some attention to the problem. Increase staffing or something please.

The trick to enjoying Pono Ranch is to know the do’s and don’t’s.
DON’T order any food here — not even chips. You’ll be wasting your money. I cannot emphasize this enough! The. Food. Is. Awful. (Management: Please get new chefs/​recipes. I would love for Pono Ranch to have good food!)
However, DO come here for a decent beer selection and excellent outdoor space with a casual, unpretentious vibe.
Pro-​tip — there are REAL bathrooms inside.

So disappointed in this place! Went on a Saturday night. Paid a $ 5 cover for a reggae band, which was fine. BUT waited in line at the one single bar inside, attempted to order the Pono Punch drink special that was advertised, but the man behind the bar that took our order said only the other guy Bartending could make that. He was slammed making drinks at the other end. So annoyed therefore we left. Didn’t want to spend another $ there!
This place has potential for sure and a very cool atmosphere, but the management and staff need to figure it out. It’s been open for a year now. Get it together.

Location and atmosphere is goo. The food was bad with slow, confused and generally odd service. I don’t blame the lovely servers but they certainly need much more management and training.

Haven’t posted a review in a long time but felt the need to after experiencing pono ranch.
This place had the potential to be such a great place to come hang out but unfortunately it is poorly run.
They ran out of drinks and food, only had two waitresses on staff with a packed patio, and the waitress forgot to give us our tab after waiting 20 min.
Would love to come back and give this place another shot if they get act together

Deserves every bad review for shitty service it has garnered.
Surly hostess, wait lists for nonexistent crowds, and lines at the bar. One and done.
Also — porta-​potties!

I guess it’s tricky when you build a bar emulating the Austin patio experience in the northwest, where sunny days are pretty limited. Sunny days arrive and spots like Pono look ideal. Beer, bar food, sunshine etc. Like most sunny patio spots in Seattle, everyone has the same idea at once on those nice days. Most of the other spots expect to be busy then, Pono does not.
During the ²⁄₃ of the year when the weather is grey, Pono is a sleepy spot and can get away with 1 – 2 people on staff. On those magical sunny Seattle days, Pono ranch does not have enough people on hand to deal with the crowds. Expect long waits, bad service, messed up orders and other issues that come with understaffing. Not the fault of the employees.
This place has potential, but management needs to learn how to read a weather forecast and anticipate the busy days.

Ordered nachos at the bar upon recommendation, paid for it, and was told they’d be taken out to me since my party was seated outside. After 30 minutes of waiting while everyone else got their food and seeing the kitchen had closed down, I finally went back in to ask about it. Apparently the nachos had been sitting on the kitchen counter for a while, with the server’s full knowledge of it, so by the time I got them, they were cold, soggy and the meat was overcooked. not happy.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. Ballard needs more outdoor spaces, and I was so excited to try Pono Ranch. We came on a sunny Saturday afternoon for some happy hour. The space itself was great. An interesting look with reclaimed wood and metal and a fire pit. Plenty of shade if you didn’t want the sun. However, the place seemed very disorganized.
It took a while for the one server to acknowledge us and bring menus. The couple next to us had menus, but after a few minutes probably realized what a circus this place was, and promptly left. We were able to snag their menus, but still had to wait to be acknowledged. For the draft beer list, the menu only said ‘Seasonal’, but when my husband asked our server, he couldn’t even tell us what they all were.
I was quite hungry, but we decided to skip the happy hour food because 1) prices weren’t that great, even on happy hour. 2) slow service 3) several kids were running around. Apparently, it’s a great place for parents to bring their kids and let them run wild while they drink. Not really the place we’re looking for.
Overall, we were pretty disappointed. We might give it a try again, but I’m really hoping they can get their act together first.