The Gerald

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
I highly recommend the poutine, and the risotto balls. Great place to watch the Ballard Crit!

Loved the staff, loved the décor. The food was average and overpriced. I got the beet salad, friend I was with got the mac n cheese. Both were small portions. I can’t speak to the bar or bar menu, as I was only eating.

This place is very good. We ordered the wings, truffles Mac and cheese, and the loaded grilled cheese. The Mac and cheese was very good but I suggest ordering whatever special they have going for a little more added texture. The wings. The loaded grill cheese (avocado, tomato, egg, & bacon) was very good but one side was a little burnt. Overall it was pretty good.

Really enjoyed the brunch here. At first glance there didn’t seem to be any vegan options, but they were able to make the chilaquiles vegan. And make a custom vegan Bloody Mary. Great service as well. I’d go back!

Drinks outshine the food at this trendy new-​American bar full of those late-​30s and well dressed. Busy and affordable happy hour for small bites but no discounts on cocktails, which is the reason you’d be here.

I started writing this review giving them 4 stars but after writing it I just have to bring it down to 3 because of the service. The food is easily 4 stars though.
Visited recently during restaurant week. This place gets bonus points because they include a cocktail with their restaurant week dinner along with the normal three courses! Our group had the dates w/​bacon and risotto cakes to start, the grilled chicken, paella, and short ribs for entrees, and finished up with a few desserts (spacing on what those were). All of it was really great! I specifically had the risotto cakes and short ribs. The risotto cakes were probably my favorite — the crispy outside with soft creamy inside and the corn bits! Yumm! Cocktails were also good.
So for the service: we had a reservation which turned out to be unnecessary for a Wednesday evening but that’s ok. So given that they weren’t super busy the poor service is even more confusing to me. Our group admittedly got distracted a couple times from the menu because we were chatting so we had to ask the server to give us another minute twice but we were (at least we thought we were) really apologetic about that and asked in a pleasant way. I don’t know if that’s what caused the server to basically rush us through the entire evening or if that would have happened anyways? Once we got our order in the food came out quickly and we had a couple drinks. But overall the server didn’t check on us much and after the second drink never came back to ask if we wanted another, which we definitely would have. All of a sudden she just brought our bill over to us without us asking for it or seeing if we wanted to order anything else. In the end we had two drinks each and three courses from the restaurant week menu and they had us in and out of there in an hour! I was shocked by this honestly. We had hoped for a fun, casual evening out with friends here and we walked out going «what happened». Needless to say we still had a fun evening but just walked across the street to King’s Hardware and spent our money there for more drinks.
I’d be open to going back another time with the hopes that the service was a one time issue.

Great late night happy hour!
Started off with the cheese curds, lightly fried and seasoned, yum!
For the entrée I had the paella, delicious. Generous serving of prawns, spicy, seasoned perfectly. Multiple people in my party agreed it was the way to go.
The Grenache wine I had wasn’t anything spectacular but the food it’s definitely worth checking out!

Went here for a friend’s birthday dinner and absolutely loved it! I was super impressed with the food. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and omg it was delicious! The first really good pulled pork I’ve had in awhile actually. There were pickled peppers in the sandwich and it gave it the perfect kick. You can get your choice of fries, chips or their slaw and I got the slaw. I really enjoyed my order.
I also shared some appetizers with friends. The mac n cheese and pouting fries were delicious. One of my friends ordered the lentil&goat cheese salad and the paella and I had a bite– both were really, really good! So impressed with this place!
Their menu is great– both drinks and food. For the casual setting this place is, I am very impressed!
Interior was cute and service was great. I’ll be back here for sure as I have no complaints!

This review is solely for the greatest burger that I enjoyed while at this restaurant/​bar. We had dinner and drinks here but all I can remember is this amazing burger– juicey, thick, delicious cheese, fresh tomato and lettuce, a wonderful mayo for flavor. I suggest that everyone go here and order the burger, you won’t be disappointed and no words could do it justice

I came here for the awesome happy hour ($ 5 bites and house wines, plus $ 7 cocktail of the day). I was not disappointed in the food– the poutine was yummy– and the wine was tasty as well, but when I asked about one of the house cocktails on the menu, the Emerald something, the bartender, Jessie, responded by saying, «Well, it’s a lot of muddling, but I’ll have my trainee do it», as if to say that it would be a lot of work and I was inconveniencing her by ordering it. I would like to mention that there were only four other people at the bar, so it was not busy in the slightest. Feeling put off by her response, I told her to cancel my order and just bring me the check instead.
In addition, I had previously asked about the daily Mac and cheese and had considered ordering it, but was surprised when it appeared in front of me, not having confirmed with the bartender that I in fact wanted it. This was a happy mistake, as it was delicious and I probably would’ve gotten it anyway, but felt that the bartender should’ve clarified with me before ordering it.
Overall, the food was good (I cannot speak for the cocktails), but the service was pretty bad here. I will not be returning to the Gerald.

Every time I step inside I feel like I’m transported into a 60s kitchen replete with woodgrain décor, scratchy music, punchy time cards, heavy bangs and classic cocktails. The extremely homey yet supremely modern vibe can cure any ailment you bring to the bar. Want to be coddled? Try the cheese curds or the poutine. Want to be punished? Ballard Old-​Fashioned with the Devil on Horseback. You name your mood, they’ll give it right back to you.

Went here for dinner with hubby on a Wednesday night. It was a solid meal. We started with olives and nuts (a really generous portion for six bucks), which were pretty yummy. I had the balsamic chicken over beans and greens. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my meal was prepared and flavored. Cool atmosphere and nice waitstaff. We’ll be back.
Tip: Don’t be put off and leave if the restaurant/​bar area looks full; there’s a cozy little back room with 5 or 6 tables that’s kinda hidden.

Went for drinks with old friends and new the other night and really enjoyed my experience. Between the 4 of us, we tried nearly 10 different cocktails, and every single one of them were delicious.
Food wise, the fried cheese curds are a must.
It was a Wednesday night, and got kind of busy around 8:00. Music was pretty good, a mix of everything and nothing terrible… Tho it did get really loud there for a while when it got busy.

How do I put this lightly? This was the worst customer service I’ve received in recent memory. And that includes Chinese restaurants, so it’s not like I have high standards to begin with.
We came in for brunch early on a Sunday afternoon. The place was at about half capacity, so not too busy. There were probably 4 – 5 waitstaff circulating between the bar and inner dining areas, none of whom greeted us. We loitered around the entrance awkwardly for a few minutes before we went ahead and just seated ourselves.
10 minutes passed before I was so parched I walked up to the bar and asked for water. 5 more minutes passed before a waiter brought it to our table. After we were set on ordering, another 10 minutes passed by. In that time, another party had come in, been seated, and had their orders taken (okay, so I guess we weren’t supposed to seat ourselves?). At that point I finally got up and flagged a waitress down, who took our orders.
Our food did not come out particularly quickly, but at least what I ate (chicken and waffle sandwich) was delicious, By the time we were done, however, so much time had passed that I was only focused on getting on with my day.
Nope, it would take another 20 minutes to get the check and pay.
The strangest thing about the whole experience was feeling like I was invisible. And even when I demanded the attention of the waitstaff, they did not apologize or acknowledge that anything was amiss. I have received more service at self-​service restaurants. Did I enter the Twilight Zone?

I’m giving a two only because the wait staff were pleasant and fairly attentive. However, very disappointing brunch food. We had a breakfast plate, side of potatoes, and side of grilled «prawns.» The plate was normal and they cooked the eggs properly.
But the «prawns» were not only severely over cooked but extremely small. For foodies and shrimp lovers, they were 55 – 70 count meaning raw they are barely the size of your pinky finger. Cooked, and in this case very overdone, even smaller. When you can buy 30 – 35 count in a grocery story for under $ 10 a pound, this place should be able to upgrade given they only give you FIVE shrimp!
The potatoes were okay but given they were baked in salt, very under seasoned. If I were Alton Brown, I would say this place has been chopped.

This place is great! I go here a couple times a month for both dinner and brunch. Cocktails are great and reasonably priced as well. They have a good selection and their tap list is good too.
For dinner, I’ve had the burger and the chicken sandwich with fries and salad. They are both super good and filling. I can’t eat it all usually when I order it.
For brunch, I’ve had the chicken and waffles sandwich and the potato pulled pork dish. I LOVED the potato and pulled pork dish. The flavors were super good and I didn’t feel disgusting after eating it. The chicken and waffles sandwich was pretty impressive and looked crazy, but as you could imagine, it was a little much. The waffles were softer than I expected, but I guess if it was too firm/​hard, it would cut the roof of my mouth. My friends both had bites and confirmed it was delicious/​out of this world. I just couldn’t eat it all.
Service has always been friendly and attentive. Atmosphere is nice without being overly pretentious. Cozy vibe. This is a nice place to take friends for a nice cocktail with a casual atmosphere. Would recommend!

You can’t see it but I’m nodding my head. This spot is very Ballard, cute, modern, dark, cute, great décor. I wanted to make it for happy hour, but was too late. Darn.
Food: Pretty good! We started with the Beecher’s fried cheese curds, and they were damn good! Fried perfectly, came out quickly, and tasted awesome with the tartar sauce and ketchup. I ordered the chicken and waffle sandwich with a side of market chips, and the French 75 to drink. Market chips were hand cut and fried and salted well, and I could tell! French 75 was perfectly fruity and bubbly. The sandwich, however, could have been better. The fried chicken was juicy and crispy, which was good, but the waffles that surrounded it were doughy and did not have a waffle flavor. It would probably be better with a Belgian waffle or some batter that had more waffle taste.
Service: Not the greatest. I think the Gerald must not usually have a crowd on Thursday evening, because there was only one server and the front part of the bar was full. Would recommend another server, or something, because our one server was running around and kind of snappy at times.
All in all, it was not bad. But, with the looooong list of Ballard bars to check out, I don’t know how soon I’ll be back. Though, the happy hour menu looks really good and I’ll likely be back to give it a try. Everything is better when they’re $ 5.

First time I was here was on a Saturday night and bar hopping with friends. I recall the truffle popcorn was good. Don’t think I actually ordered a drink.
Second time I was here was for restaurant week. Had no idea there was real food being served! Had a good assortment of food in decent sizes. Had 6 people in our party and everyone was pleased with their food.
Street parking usually isn’t difficult to find nearby.

Fun pregame spot before heading over to The Tractor for a show… lets just get the bad out of the way first… the Mac n’ Cheese was kind of blah… it wasn’t anything to write home about… that being said, the service was great, the drinks were wonderful and the rest of the food was amazing… of particular note is their BLT, which is pretty delicious and the risotto ball appetizer… Anthony, our waiter, recommended a great bourbon for me to try… had so many and its been a few days that I can’t remember the name, we all know how that goes…
But Anthony really set himself apart in other ways… his table presence and anticipation were great, he was courteous, knowledgeable and even helped me out big time by being willing to store my back pack in their back office so I didn’t have to lug it around at the concert venue… overall, would recommend this place and will definitely go back!

Been on my bookmark for a while now, so we decided to come here for dinner and check it out. Nice little retro-​ish spot, up front had a decent sized bar, some tables and large booths. Dont forget there is a back area too with with shuffleboard and more tables.
We came in on a weekday and it wasnt busy at all, so we were seated whereever we wanted, nice staff greeted us with cool menus to check out. Specials are on the board behind the bar too. We started off with the «Devils on Horseback»: which is delicious dates stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon then quickly fried to a crisp. Pretty good in my book.
Then as for our mains we each tried their sandwiches: «The Pulled Pork»: delicious pork that wasnt too smoky or overly seasoned or sauced up, you could actually taste the pork. With appleslaw all served on a great brioche bun. A little messy is a good thing. Definitely would order this again.
*SWITCH*!!! We dont have cooties so its nice to switch sandwiches half way through.
Also, we got the «Maple Chicken Waffle Sandwich»: great boneless fried chicken, with the same appleslaw on a waffle made into a sandwich. Chicken and slaw were great with the apple butter, but sorta tasted like a light honey mustard to me. Waffle itself wasnt as fluffy or moist as I like but it was fine when you dunk it into some maple syrup.
Service was fine, the gentleman server was real nice & cool. Cool place to come to and would totally come back to try more of their menu and some hip cocktails.