Must-see nightlife in Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

  • Ancient Grounds

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    If it's not enough that this cozy coffee nook serves some of the best espresso shots in the city, Ancient Grounds also doubles as a showroom for a well…

  • Owl & Thistle

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    One of the best Irish pubs in the city, the dark, multiroomed Owl & Thistle is located slap-bang downtown but misses most of the tourist traffic because…

  • Bookstore Bar

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Cementing downtown’s reputation as a fount of good hotel bars is the Bookstore, encased in the front window of the Alexis Hotel, which mixes books stacked…

  • Zig Zag Café

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    If you're writing a research project on Seattle's culinary history, you'll need to reserve a chapter for the Zig Zag Café. This is the bar that…

  • Storyville Coffee

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    There are so many coffee bars in Seattle that it’s sometimes hard to see the forest for the trees, unless it’s the kind of wood that adorns the curved bar…

  • Alibi Room

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Hidden down Post Alley opposite the beautifully disgusting 'gum wall,' the Alibi feels like an old speakeasy or perhaps the perfect place to hide from the…

  • Radiator Whiskey

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    A fruitful marriage of style and substance, Radiator Whiskey, on the top floor of the Pike Place Market, has exactly the amount of rustic design you'd…

  • Athenian Inn

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    There’s nothing fancy about Pike Place Market's Athenian, but it’s a landmark and a bastion of unpretentious, frontier-era Seattle. Consider, as you sink…

  • Nest

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Like other modern rooftop bars in major American cities, the Nest is overpriced and usually crowded with cliques of lawyers and PR executives. But the…

  • Pike Pub & Brewery

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Leading the way in the US microbrewery revolution, this brewpub was an early starter, opening in 1989 underneath Pike Place Market. Today it continues to…

  • Tasting Room

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Pike Place Market is a good spot to sample the wares of some of Washington’s best wine producers, and there are few better places than the Tasting Room,…

  • Kells

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    One of three West Coast Kells, this Pike Place Market Irish pub is the most atmospheric and authentic, with its exposed-brick walls, multiple nooks and…

  • Seattle Coffee Works

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Amid the frenetic action of downtown is a cafe that truly treats its coffee like wine. Seattle Coffee Works’ woody interior is split in two, with a normal…

  • Virginia Inn

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Near Pike Place Market (which it predates by four years) is one of Seattle’s most likable bars. Lots of draft beers, a bright brick interior and modern…

  • Shuckers

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    Even if you're not a guest at the adjoining Fairmont Olympic Hotel, stop in at this classy oyster bar for a menu of ultra-fresh bivalves that changes…

  • Starbucks

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    The world’s oldest surviving Starbucks store, but not – as many assume – the first. The original Starbucks opened in 1971 at 2000 Western Ave (roughly a…

  • Contour

    Downtown, Pike Place & Waterfront

    This plush venue is almost always open and has a more extensive (and cheap) food menu than you might expect of a club whose top priority is clearly to…