Russell’s

Got the pulled pork sliders. They were decent, nothing amazing, but just OK. The drink menu was amazing. If I were around in the area again, I’d definitely come back just for drinks. The waitresses were all really friendly and gave timely service. As soon as we sat down at the bar they gave us a glass of water and the drinks we ordered came in no time. Just when we needed a new drink, the waitress was right there asking if we wanted anything else.

Great service! The food was delicious — three of us split the sliders, beet salad, brussel sprout panzanella and a pretzel. The wine on tap wasn’t very good but the cab blend was perfect! We stayed several hours talking and catching up without feeling pressured to leave, and also had the right amount of attention from our servers.

My wife really enjoyed the selection of mixed drinks as well as the presentation. We went for Happy Hour, the Hummus plate was a little too basic, but the meatball dish was much better. My wife ordered a dish composed of bread and mushrooms, which she enjoyed.
To drink I ordered Hamm’s and at $ 2.50 for a 16oz, you can’t get much cheaper at a nice venue.
Basically, it has a trendy, hip atmosphere, with expensive drinks, but also a few less expensive options so everyone can feel comfortable. We will most likely be back for another Happy Hour in the future.
The bartender was friendly and attentive.

Excellent customer service and fresh plates. This has an upscale neighborhood pub feel. It’s a great place to meet local neighbors and the bartender is often the owner so he cares about his business. Great mixed drinks. Not a large selection of wines but that didn’t bother me. Really enjoyed the experience and will be back. $ 6 old fashions during happy hour.

Love this place! The service is amazing and they are always cheerful and have great energy! I am always bringing my friends and new connections to this place! They make you feel like «Cheers» everybody knows your name and drink… I will always support them! Bonus: Ashley makes the best desserts! All homemade pies! And she has smile on her face! You will never be disappointed here!

Awesome place to kick back, catch a game, and meet some great people! Food is great, and drinks are well poured. Say «hi» to Joe, the owner, who gives great personal attention.

Loved it. It was like the ñeighborhood Cheers with the owners saying hello to the regulars bby first name, the food was great and folks seemed to enjoy just hanging out and chilling after a long day. Have dinner, bring a fri we nd or we atch a sports game. Nice!

The sign says «good things» for a reason. This place really lives up to the adage: if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. The menu is short but there’s not a bad thing on it. There are a few select beers on tap and you can always trust that they’ve chosen well. Even my chronically disastisfied father was happy with his wine. The highlight though, and why I keep coming back despite having moved to the other side of the city, is the cocktails. This man is an artist. I could describe all the wonderful cocktails I’ve had here (on and off the menu) but I would run out of space. What I will say is that I have never had a Sazerac to equal Mr. Russell’s before or since.
There’s more to this little bar than the fare though. It’s really a beautiful little space. Cosy in the winter and with an open front in the summer. It’s a comfortable neighborhood atmosphere (although so many people have discovered it that it can be packed on weekends). Both the owners are extremely pleasant people and have added a personal feel to the space. I wish every neighborhood had a place like this but sadly it’s one of a kind.
These two have turned good taste into a business model to spectacular effect.

Great drinks, great small plates, cool place…
Not good for groups as the whole place only holds about 10 people but otherwise very hip.

This has turned into the best bar on a street that desperately needed something more. The staff are personable and fun without being cheesy. They finally got the 2^nd TV so I see no reason to leave.
The bar is stocked with good booze and the food is tastey. A vodka filled thumbs up.

Ray: It was slightly cooler, but yet a very nice evening last night, so Josh and I elected to walk to a near-​by restaurant for our weekly foraging.
We walked a few blocks from his apartment, down Stone Way to Russels, a smaller place, that offers just two menu items, so they must be good, right? Russells offers several appetizers, but the dinners are limited to a meatball dish or chicken pot pie. After seating ourselves in one of two booths, we were greeted by a quite beautiful waitress who was very cordial and had an up-​beat attitude. We ordered a couple of rotating IPAs which were served up pronto. That’s when be both ordered the chicken pot pie.
After what seemed to be a way too long wait (I am sure it was at or over 20 minutes) our pies arrived. In fact we had finished the beers we started with and ordered a 2^nd beer to have with the meal. The pies were beautifully plated in a white ramekin on a larger white plate, all sprinkled with fresh chopped parsley. The presentation was thoughtful and looked (and smelled) delicious. I dug right in. When I eat chicken pot pies (a comfort food for me) I always break up the crust and mix it in the filling. That’s what I did with this pie and started the shoveling process.
Then it hit me… SALT! Oh my god! So freaking salty!!! I was having trouble eating it all. Some bites were fantastic, some were too salty and one (I felt the coarse salt crunch) was so salty I almost spit it out. I am sure the chef must have salted the filling, then did a half assed job mixing it all in, leaving the lions share in my pie. It was way too much!
After another visit from the attractive waitress (my favorite thing about Russells) we received our check. That’s when we noticed that the «happy hour» beer price was $ 5.00! WHAT? That’s regular price isn’t it? Looking deeper we found that happy hour drafts were $ 1 off. Big whoop!
Ok — time to wrap this up. Three stars for Russell. Hey chef! Taste the freaking food before you serve it! How’s that for a novel idea? Not planning to go back there any time soon.
Josh: This is the second week in a row that we have gone some place that doesn’t require driving. I’ve been to Russell’s a couple times before for happy hour cocktails. I’ve taken a look at their very limited menu and have wanted to swing back by to try the chicken pot pie. Last Thursday turned out to be the day for this.
We walked down there from my apartment, a relatively short walk a few blocks down Stone Way. Russell’s is a fairly hip spot, kinda small and personal, with a very positive vibe going on; like the employees actually like working there. Refreshing. We took a seat in a booth and had waters and menus brought over promptly. I knew what I was there to eat (The pot pie; there’s really only about two entrees on the menu, the chicken pot pie and the meatballs).
It took a few minutes longer then I might have guessed for the food to come out, but I guess I expected that because those pies have to bake. When they did arrive, they looked pretty good. Just a plate with a bowl that is covered with pie crust and filled with chicken pot pie filling, no sides. It was pretty good and creamy, with a flaky crust that was cooked about perfectly.
I wouldn’t mind seeing something that comes on the side of that pie. I mean fourteen dollars for a pot pie with no sides left me a little wanting. Overall though the experience was fairly positive, but I’m not overwhelmed. I’ll probably go back for more happy hour libations, but probably not for food. 3 stars.

All liquor is delicious. Had amazing service. I’m not gonna lie, they had an amazing liquor selection. I’m very lucky to have one of my favorite bartenders bring me into this restaurant.

I must have made the unfortunate mistake of asking them to turn some music on during the commercials of a ‘pre-​season’ football game, because the waitress was extremely rude, and so unfitting to the way I asked it– which was, by all standards, very nice. I was there with my boyfriend, and we were both completely thrown off and immediately regretted spending our sat evening patronizing the place.
We were so distraught by her attitude, that we put down what we thought was our due amount (I did the math) but it turned out we were short less than $ 1, so here comes the waitress, running down the street, yelling dramatically after us, as if we had ditched out on the entire bill! I am not happy to say that I suck at math, which I clearly do, but I still couldn’t believe how dramatically she acted as she approached us — asking «WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!»
My boyfriend handed her several bills — more than enough to cover what we owed, plus a tip. More than I thought she deserved, actually. But she still acted as though we had physically assaulted her.
Many of my friends that go to places like that, agreed that she was way out of line. They would also have asked for music during commercial breaks — it’s not a crime, especially when you’re being nice about it and you’re not in a Sports Bar. Nor do they think that, when it came to underpaying by $ 1 (though it was an unfortunate mistake on my part) that it seemed fitting to chase us down the street as if we were actual criminals.
Anyway, fast forward a few days, I ran into her at a neighborhood bar, and decided to apologize. I told her I was sorry that things got so out of hand the other night. I never intended for that to happen. I apologize.
Instead of saying, simply, thank you for that, she added how rude I was and how much it had haunted her (she hadn’t slept for days… Really?!). I told her how I was trying to apologize, and instead of hearing me and moving on, she was causing more trouble and being even ruder. Then she tapped her boyfriend on the shoulder — the owner (Joe Russell), to come to her rescue, and he was an absolute maniac! He wouldn’t let me walk away from the conversation, though I never said a bad word or even raised my voice, as he verbally assaulted me. He actually blocked my way as I tried to leave, literally, not letting me through (!!!) to my table and then came up *several* times later to verbally assault me again in front of my horrified friends.
I will never set foot in this place again, nor will I recommend it to any of the friends I have in the neighborhood which I have lived for nearly 4 years. I am a business owner myself and have worked in food service for many years — I would never consider treating a customer or a person the way that he treated me. I found it unconscionable.

Great neighborhood bar. Open & bright with a fresh innovative menu and craft cocktails. Fantastic staff. Joe & Ashley are welcoming, professional, friendly and just fun to have a drink with.
I love this bar

Nice little place that offers up a lot of the same type of fare you find in most modern Seattle Americana bars. The drinks were good, nothing exceptionally creative but definitely well poured. The cheese plate we split between four people seemed a little sparse for a $ 10 Happy Hour offering so I’d opt for a different dish next time (I’ve heard the pretzels are a big hit).
There is nothing special or unique that makes this place stand out above any others but the food and drink was enjoyable.

Super cute place to chill and grab a drink at! Good wine and beer. Didn’t get to try their food but apparently one of the owners makes all the pies herself? Gotta love a homemade pie!

Cute little bar for happy hour and drinks, unfortunately I did not try any of the drinks but they looked good on other peoples tables!
The food here was kind of too fancy and small plate to satisfy me and too overpriced for me to be really happy about it but the food tasted good.
But really the meal balls are just meat balls, it’s nothing special. That was way too expensive for me.
I’m giving it four stars still even though I wasn’t impressed because I do not like American food and the pie filling was good. The crust was weird.

You know those Unilocal reviews that start with two paragraphs of asinine detail about someone’s relationship in the guise of relevant context about the dining experience? «Me and the hubby went here hoping to have a nice relaxing time on our anniversary and he has irritable bowel syndrome and we told the waitress…» or «My ladyfriend was PMS’ing HARD and we just needed a quick drink to calm the nerves» blah blah blah.
Well I’m NOT going to do that. BUT I COULD, because every time I’m here with Mrs. Bonesaw we have a perfect experience chumming it up with Joe and/​or Ash, crushing modestly-​priced house manhattans, eating naughty pretzels or making with the freak freak on that beet salad. And arriving at 11:59 on New Year’s Eve, we had two flutes of champagne in our hands in time to cheer on an arbitrarily-​designated unit of earth’s aging.
What I’m trying to say is: it’s a great date spot, a homey space, a versatile food menu, and a badass happy hour. It’s a relatively new husband-​and-​wife venture, so yes, you may not get your appletini within seconds of your order. But they’re good people who want to do right by the neighborhood and really care about providing good food and a welcoming, enjoyable space.
Go for brunch. Get the biscuit. Unless you have irritable bowel syndrome.

«Where everybody knows your name» — sums it up.
My local spot. Joe always make me happy with a little. whiskey taste and fantastic cocktail. Always has the good tunes and if you’re lucky you might get to hear some DJ Quik and Joe rapping along as well. The Avocado breakfast sandwich is the best for Sundays and football.

I. Love. This. Place.
Wallingford/​Fremont has a plethora of bars down by the water or up on 45^th. Russell’s not only has a perfect location between the two areas but is also exactly what this area needed.
Joe Russell, who is the owner, is typically working and makes this bar truly stand out. He has taken the time to ensure there is good food, good staff and a fantastic environment. The entire décor of the bar is based off of the retro red fridge that was like the second fridge in his family homes garage. He wanted the entire feel of the restaurant to be like his dads workshop and you can see this in the structure of the high wood beams, metal stools and other various knick-​knacks that represent this throughout.
One of my favorite items on the menu is their homemade pie, which changes daily. If you see Ashley around she is the creator of those pies and should thank her!
Russell’s is now open on Sundays for the games and has a small brunch menu, definitely try a breakfast sandwich, the biscuit they use are to die for!