Varro

Varro’s self-​posted, rather cocky announcement that it’s the coolest, hippest, chic bar in Seattle becomes rather ironic and hilarious after an actual visit to Varro.
On a 70 degree evening, the garage doors were thrown wide open so the restaurant was open to the street. I’d walked past its closed doors numerous times but once you catch sight of the interior, Varro is hard to forget. Outlandish decorated with a mural reminiscent of the one in the Westlake bus station, crystal beaded curtains, a column painted with red roses in bloom, and booths with seats that are all acute angles, Varro reminded me vaguely of the diner from Pulp Fiction.
Our server was a not unpleasant middle-​aged man who immediately reminded us both of Colin Mochrie (think bald dude in Whose Line Is It Anyway?). Unfortunately, he wasn’t funny like Colin and there was certainly nothing funny about spending $ 35 on 2 entrees that came on small plates and left our palates unsatisfied. I ordered the linguine with prawns and Bobby had the lamb al ferro. Linguine: overdone and rather tasteless. Prawns: okay. Lamb: I suppose we should have known that a problem was brewing when we weren’t asked how we wanted our lamb cooked because it came out tough and way too chewy.
Bobby had a Groupon so our $ 35 meal was half-​off but even with the discount, I sorely wished we would have eaten somewhere else.

I thought the food was quite nice and innovative and generally tasted good. While our particular server was nice, things took forever! In fact, our appetizers took so long they sent us another free round of drinks.
Speaking of the drinks, I thought the cocktails were way overpriced. Now, I know that it is a classier place than some of the others in the area, but my peach bellini in a tiny champagne flute shouldn’t have cost $ 11 (plus, the orange peel in it covered up the peach flavor entirely).
Overall, interesting food items on the menu, but the drinks are overpriced drinks and service was slow. I would like to try it again. Nice atmosphere (except the TV on the sports channel, which seemed out of place).

Summary: Terrible service, crappy food, undrinkable drinks, strange atmosphere
They have a nice location, but that’s where the good stuff ends. Went with a group of friends, ordered a few of their signature cocktails. Fast forward 20 minutes… We ask our waitress about the status of our drinks. She apologizes and promises to comp the drinks because they took so long. Fast forward another 10 minutes… still no drinks, but some appetizers arrived that we didn’t order. We’re told these are «on the house» because of our wait. These apps consisted of cold polenta triangles with overly greasy chunks of eggplant on top and stale french bread with what tasted like canned «bruschetta» on top. Really bland and unappetizing. Finally! Drinks arrive! I ordered the «Hill,» which was supposed to be prosecco, vodka, lime, Cointreau. It was completely flat (prosecco is supposed to be sparkling) and so sour that it turned my toes. Out of the several drinks we’d ordered, the only drinkable one was the «Hot Mess,» which survives only because anything tastes good if you dump enough chocolate in it.
So we choke down our drinks and ask for the bill. Another long wait later, the waitress plops down the bill. $ 13 per drink!!! AND she charged us for the appetizers we didn’t order. After a polite, «excuse me, there must be a misunderstanding,» she took the appetizers off the check, but refused to budge on the drink prices (despite promising to comp the drinks and the menu stating the drinks were $ 11) because the apps (which we never asked for) were our compensation for the wait. Finally got a check for $ 11 per drink.
During our extensive wait, we had plenty of time to take in the, um, unique, décor. We couldn’t decide which was the most garish element… the giant awkward column painted entirely with red roses, the giant flying happy Jesus on the mural wall, or the back wall covered in what looks like bubble wrap.
Oh, and the «DJ» is a guy with a laptop playing Vanilla Ice mash-​ups.

Like my coworker who regularly pounds on his desk whilst muttering eff bombs, this place is a little off. The décor tries hard to be euro chic but the cheap plastic light fixtures and rando DJ stationed at the front door at 7pm are confusing.
Went in with two friends for apps and drinks. We shared bottle of prosecco which was brought to the table all classy-​like in an ice bucket. The marinated olives were marinated olives. The Bianco salad was decent but nothing amazing and smallish for the price (and I promise I am not a fan of/​accustomed to giant chain restaurant portions). My friend said she liked the bruschetta but selfishly did not offer to share so I am unable to comment. Also as I recall it was assembled atop one giant slab of toasted bread so I guess sharing would have been awkward.
To Varro’s credit (?) we wandered in off the street on a Friday evening and there was lots of seating was available. And the server was competent, and also comped my friend’s pancetta when he complained that it was too fatty (methinks my friend may not have been that familiar with pancetta as a stand-​alone dish and it was really supposed to be that fatty. I don’t know because pancetta/​prosciutto kind of freaks me out unless incorporated into something in small bits. So the server gets props for dealing with our cured meat ignorance gracefully).
Anyway, if you are dying to eat and everywhere else nearby is packed, its worth a try I guess, but I do not plan to return unless absolutely necessary due to the onset of Hanger (sustained hunger + accompanying anger). Better options on Pike/​Pine abound.

Varro caught my eye a few short weeks ago while walking around on the Hill. What a cool spot! Finally got to check it out yesterday when my husband and I decided to stop in there for a drink.
This little modern Italian themed bar is great! I love the décor, it’s colorful, the light fixtures are really artsy, the live DJ is super friendly and plays great music, and the service is quick. Our sever was very attentive as well, kept checking up on how we were doing, which was nice. The food menu was extensive, prices seemed appropriate (however some cocktails did seem a bit pricey), however we just had dinner at home prior to coming here and didn’t try any food out this time. It did sound quite tasty though!
They have a great cocktail and beer selection and their happy hour prices are great. It’s from 4 – 6 and 10-​close, and they serve $ 2 pizza of the day, when normally it is $ 6, $ 4.50 wine, and $ 7 wells. Good deal if you ask me! They even have an excellent selection of Italian beer.
I would like to go back again soon and try some of their dishes because the Sausage Panino and Polenta and Eggplant sound delicious. I’ll definitely have to go back a few more times!

I really wanted to like this place since my bf lives within walking distance… but I have to say, Varro is just not that good. I won’t be going back.
We had a groupon for $ 35. Easy to spend $ 35, right? WRONG! We walk in, the place had 2 or 3 tables filled. We are greeted fairly quickly and was told it was self seating. We picked a table and browsed the menu. I chose a glass of wine and the bf chose a cocktail (which btw are all priced at $ 11). Although I have to admit the cocktail was pretty good. but not $ 11 good.
We also ordered some starters — one cured meat and one cheese (pancetta and fontina, which was served together on a plate. Tiny portions. We also got the brushetta. While the bruschetta was good… the cheese tasted funky, leaving a weird taste in my mouth and the pancetta straight out looked like thick-​sliced fatty raw bacon… seriously (check out the picture I posted). I love charcuterie plates and enjoy cured meats… but this one looked gross, nothing like I’ve ever tried before. I even asked the waiter about it and he stood by their pancetta and said that’s how they serve it, in a snooty way — making me feel that I was uneducated in the ways of cured meats. We didn’t touch it. Oh and we never received napkins or utensils the entire time we were there!!!
We did the calculation in our head and figured we didn’t even spend $ 35 to make use of the full groupon value… although i wanted to leave, badly. we decided to order another cocktail to use the remaining amount on our voucher.
I will NOT be ever returning to this place again, and wouldn’t recommend it to my friends.

For me this is a 3 star place, which means I would only go here if someone in the group asked that we go here. But I’m giving it 4 stars because I think they’re trying very hard, the bartender was nice, and I need to go more times before I can really say for sure.
The main thing keeping it from being 4 or 5 stars for me personally, is the beer selection. They have almost no good beers. They have about 8 beers, but 4 of those are light pale lagers — the Bud Lites of Italy and Europe (Peroni, Amstel Light, Dolomiti). They only have one dark beer, the Moretti La Rossa, which is a passable Italian dobblebock. They have one Washington beer, the Maritime Pacific red alt, and one Oregon beer, Deschutes Mirror Pond. No taps, all bottles. Only one local beer when there are many beers made in Washington that would go better with their food? Doesn’t make sense.
You might say that cocktails and wines are sufficient and that people going there don’t want more diverse beer selection. But I think that would be a mistake. The food they’re serving is not mundane Olive Garden fare. It’s rich, flavorful dishes like braised pork belly, duck breast, cured meats like pancetta. Wine will not hold up well to those things. Wine paired with salty, fatty pancetta is like asking Cinderella to go up against Mike Tyson. The light lagers they have also will not hold up to these foods. You need a hearty porter, stout, dobblebock, or dubbel.
Varro’s beers are also kept at Budweiser temperatures — 34 – 36 degrees. This is way too ice cold. That temperature is designed to hide flaws in low quality beers. It’s like serving your red wine chilled.
So it’s tough to go here and try to appreciate their food when there are other restaurants like Bambino’s, an Italian place in Belltown focused on wood fired pizza, with a phenomenal beer selection. So I hope they come to their senses and realize that beer deserves just as much consideration in an Italian themed place as wine + cocktails.

We walk in with instant confusion. It took awhile before we were greeted and guided to a few open seats. We realized after sitting down that the guy we thought was a snobby host was just a DJ who is weirdly placed right at the front door where a host should be. The décor is way too nice try and be cool and I felt like I was in a comic book. I think really the décor is the worst thing about the place. Our drinks were okay and our waiter was super nice. It took awhile to get our food and we only ordered two small plates [a small salad and some other app that I can’t remember] When the food finally did arrive it was the wrong salad that I had ordered. Our waiter was apologetic and just told me to keep the wrong salad for free and that he’d also bring out the right salad, which I thought was really nice! The first wrong salad was pretty okay and actually ended up being better than my original salad which ended up basically being fennel and one small shrimp. Blech! We had a few friends coming into town and meeting us out and we tried really hard to settle up and get out of there before they would be joining because we did not want them to think that was the life we chose to live, but it was too late and they arrived just as we were signing our tab. I walked out of there with my head hanging low feeling embarrassed about being caught red handed in that place.

Great new spot on 12^th to grab a drink. Love the décor and the vibe.

I had heard such good things about Varro and decided to check it out for myself. Sad to say the reviews were nothing like the reality. Upon arrival my first thought was «Wow. Seattle has gotten way too hipster for it’s own good.» The «dj» was right next to the front door, I thought he was the host or the ID checker. Nope, just some middle aged man with headphones spinning a remix of «Ice Ice Baby.» The décor was a bit strange. It was super modern but with a giant vintage black and white mural on the wall and crazy IKEA-​like light fixtures.
Fortunately the people I was meeting were already there so I have no comment as to the whole host and seating arrangement business. The bar wasn’t super busy so I assumed that service wouldn’t be slow. Boy was I wrong. We waited for about 15 minutes before a waitress acknowledged our presence and gave us menus. We had to ask for water. It took about another 10 before the waitress took our orders. Then came the epic wait for our drinks. Granted, we had a big party (7 people) but the majority had ordered beer so I didn’t understand why it took so long. There weren’t that many customers and the bartender was chit chatting with what I assumed was another waitress, obviously they weren’t slammed. Half an hour later we got our drinks. The waitress apologized and said she would comp some of the drinks, which I was happy about because the one I ordered was absolutely terrible (a martini, how badly can you screw that up?) Then out of nowhere one of the waiters shows up with a plate of food and said «it’s on the house.» Excited by the redemption appetizers, we dug in. They were terrible. It was this polenta cake thing that tasted like cold cream of wheat with a soggy overcooked mushroom on top. Needless to say, we didn’t finish them.
Once we were done with our drinks, which was about a third of the time it took to actually get them, we had to flag down the waitress to get our checks. And on the check was a charge for all of our drinks (nothing comped) and a charge for the appetizers that were supposedly «on the house.» Thankfully the waitress corrected the appetizer charge but didn’t comp any of the drinks like she had promised. We paid in cash because we did not want to know how long it would take for them to run a credit card.
Needless to say I will not be returning to Varro. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt of being a new restaurant on a Friday night in Seattle but after such terrible food, drinks AND service, I’m not sure if I want to waste 2 more hours of my life.

This place was so awful that I cannot even fully articulate the disgust I have for this place. I took one sip of my drink and never touched it again the rest of the time I was there. The service for food was slow, it took close to an hour to just get a panini sandwich and half an hour for olives and bruschetta that mind you was also awful. The olives were fine because they probably came out of a can. There were 4 of us who ordered 4 different types of drinks and they all tasted bad. I was absolutely repulsed by this place. The only thing that stopped me from walking out was the good music and nice waiter. Do not order or have anything but water because at least you know that will be fine.

I have been to Varro a couple of times now and the same thing comes to mind every time… there is nothing like this in Seattle. The one thing that Varro does best, it doesn’t fit in a mold. It isn’t a sports bar… but you can catch a great football (soccer) game from Italy on the TV. It looks like things should be expensive, they are in fact the opposite. The colors and vibe have just enough of so many things that it keeps you coming back for more. I am very happy there is a place that has opened which tailors to… anyone! No Varro isn’t a shady, dark place like Vito’s, but if you have ever been to Italy, you know that in the modern Italy… Varro hits the spot on so many levels! I hope that everyone can get the chance to experience life a little less molded… relax and enjoy!

Hello Varro. I’m Lily. And I’m hungry!
Thankfully, they delivered quickly to the hungry, hungry being that I was.
We had:
baked rigatoni & the fettucine al funghi, topped off w/​the tiramisu and biscotti, washed down w/​peroni, a blood & sand (lovely STRONG combo of vodka, blood orange, mint, basil, & grapefruit), and a little bit of Lavazza espresso.
Don’t you wish you had that meal? I bet you do! Well you can if you live in the Seattle area, you know.
The only «oddity» is that I found the décor to be confusing — super chic & modern… but w/​a flat screen TV in the corner above the DJ stand? That’s just… weird.
Besides the TV factor, it was great! We’ll be back for sure.
Props to JS when she said:
«If the sight of over 40 year olds at Varro is enough to garner a 1 star review from another reviewer and will keep pretentious under 25 year old hipsters from hanging out at Varro then I’m all for it.»
I couldn’t agree more. :)

Great people, great music and a great atmosphere! The place feels a lot like a European Café/​Bar. The bar’s well stocked and the Lavazza coffee doesn’t disappoint.
We were there for brunch (which is awesome) and sat at the bar to make the most of the friendly, fun staff! Definitely try the Sugo Eggs.

A little sterile feeling. Not my favourite.

My wife and I went here this afternoon for brunch, so I have no opinion on the cocktails or bar food — however, brunch was good enough that I’ll be back in to try these as well.
My wife had a poached egg dish (served over polenta with a mushroom-​cream sauce) — this almost came together, but could have used some extra spice or salt, or a more vigorously flavorful mushroom.
I had the PAT panino — pancetta, arugula, and tomato. This was wonderful — the bread was fresh and tasty, but didn’t overwhelm the ingredients, and the pancetta’s porky goodness was offset well by the arugula and fresh, juicy tomato. I almost felt like I was eating something healthy.
The service was a little bit slow (this was their first day serving brunch), but the waitress was fantastic. They didn’t have any tea, so my wife asked if they had any hot chocolate — she said no but they had the ingredients so she could make one, and she proceeded to come back with one of the best hot chocolates we’ve had in years.
The place felt really relaxed, and we were both reminded of chill afternoons we’d spent in London — overall, we had a great time and will definitely be back.

If the sight of over 40 year olds at Varro is enough to garner a 1 star review from another reviewer and will keep pretentious under 25 year old hipsters from hanging out at Varro then I’m all for it.
With that said, I wish I could actually write a review on the food because the service was zero star atrocious.
My partner and I arrived at 7:20pm and immediately were confused.
Initially, no one greeted us. The «dj» (and I use that term loosely — it was just a guy standing in front of his laptop) is right at the door where you would expect a maitre’d to be situated. So at first we thought he was wait staff.
The bartender and three wait staff were clustered together at the opposite end of the bar shooting the breeze so we kind of stand around until we were told by the disinterested bartender to have a seat anywhere. We opted for the window bar seating to people watch. This will be a cool spot to sit on a hot summer day when they roll up the window.
We scan the menu. They offer some tasty wine options and equally tasty food options. I SO was looking forwards to the duck breast and my partner was already drooling over the braised pork belly.
We check out the lounge. It’s a cool space in an eclectic sensory overload kind of way: funky chandeliers, weird modern wall treatments, a mural, open shelving behind the bar with a bust in one of the cubby holes, bright and vibrant paint. It’s a lot of look but in a fun way.
There’s maybe 15 people tops in the entire place. Couples in the booths, a table of six peeps in the middle of the lounge celebrating a birthday, and one guy sitting at the bar. No one looked like a used car salesman.
At this point we’ve been sitting for fifteen minutes. None of the wait staff acknowledged us or brought us water, silverware, or anything. One of the wait staff repeatedly walks past us without even a simple: «Hi, I’ll be right with you.»
After five more minutes of waiting we both turn in our chairs and stare at the cluster of wait staff STILL hanging out at the bar area chatting each other up. We finally catch the eye of one of the wait staff who comes over and is all: «Oh! I should get you guys some water. Would you like to see the drink menu?»
After we say yes she disappears. We wait. And we wait. And we wait some more. I was wondering if she had to fly to Artois to tap an artesian well for our water. Close to ten minutes pass and still no service. At this point I’m beyond annoyed so we gather our stuff and leave. We go to Boom Noodle instead and are waited on within minutes of taking our seats. I love Boom Noodle but I really wanted to love Varro too.
Perhaps the lack of attentiveness is due to the restuarant being new, trying to find their service groove. Or maybe it’s due to us sitting at the window with our backs to the restuarant. Or maybe it’s due to the ONE wait staff who actually seemed to be working primarily focusing on the birthday party table. Or maybe they read the other one star review and are only giving attentive service to pretentious under 25 year old hipsters. I dunno. I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I would love to come back to Varro and try the duck breast and have a glass of pinot nero. I live three blocks away and would love to make this my regular stop-​in-​for-​a-​cocktail-​after-​work spot or a let’s get out of the house and hangout spot.
However, after my experience (or lack of one) I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Love it! Remember: they serve Lavazza coffee! Very mellow, very nice environment. I’ll be here a lot.

While the cocktails and food were fine, the setup/​atmosphere and the vibe both really missed the mark.
I’m not sure what they were trying to go for, but it comes off as tacky, not authentic, and not really a fun place to drink. It’s way too bright, the blue bar and overall color scheme looks off, and the general layout of the space — including the bar and the tables — is awkward. It does not feel homey at all. The Italian advertisements flashing on the hi-​def TV are just cheesy. Overall, it’s just not a comfortable place.
In addition, the vibe feels more like Belltown/​Fremont scene — the bartenders were nice but the whole thing had kind of a frat/​sorority alumni feel to it.
It gets an extra star because the food and drinks were alright, but the rest totally misses the mark. There are way too many cool places in this area to hang out here. For a much better, and seemingly more authentic and comfortable «Italian» bar, try Vito’s on First Hill.

I’m a bit confused by this place. It looks like a lounge meets kitchy burger joint as summed up by my friends. There is a random mural on the wall, a few booths and lots of seating. Should be fun over the summer when they can open the garage door.
They have a good looking cocktail menu which I’m excited to come back and try more of. They have a drink called an Amaro di Americano which is great, the Hemmingway Daiquiri was good too and they had a good selection of Amaros. The Hill tasted to much like a cosmo for me, the Ital 75 was good too.
Its to bad for a lounge that they didn’t serve food past midnight. I’ll come back to try the duck and pork belly another day.
Overall a very eclectic place probably won’t be a go to dinner spot but they have a DJ which makes it a bit different from the places I usually hang out on the hill.