Matador in West Seattle:  Ok… here’s the deal.  This was my first time going to Matador in West Seattle and honestly I probably won’t be back.  It wasn’t because of the food, the scene, or them being too busy or anything like that.  The bottom line; the bartender was a bit of a slime ball.  I know this might sound a little harsh but here’s why:

We sat down at 12:30pm.  It was a pretty bright day in Seattle and the restaurant was a little on the dark side so my eyes were still adjusting.  After we sat down, I saw the happy hour menu on the table and saw the times ” happy hour “4 – 6″ and “10 – 1″.  Since my eyes were still adjusting I didn’t see the actual Happy Hours were “4pm to 6pm” and “10pm to 1am”.  At the end of the day, I’m responsible for not seeing this.

Here is were I have a serious issue.  While we were ordering our food, we picked four items straight from the Happy Hour menu.  I was holding the Happy Hour menu while I was ordering.  I was pointing to the items on the Happy Hour menu that we were ordering.  Did it not occur to the bartender that I was mistaken whether it was happy hour and that maybe he could have given me a heads up?  Needless to say I was a little surprised at the sticker shock of my tab.  Instead of being somewhere in the expected mid $20 range, it was in $46 and some change.  When I asked the bartender why my tab was higher than expected, he said something to the effect of “sorry, it wasn’t happy hour”.

So my advice is this…  When going to the West Seattle Matador, just be very aware of what time it is, what menu you’re ordering from, and double check your tab at the end of the meal.  And don’t expect the dark haired bartender with a beard to be forth coming about what your final bill may be.

Lesson learned.

Dinner at Duke’s on Alki:  I had the Bacon Blue burger and I have to say it was pretty damn good.  My partner in crime had the Fisherman’s plate (I think that’s the name) and it was really good.  The broth was very flavorful and the clams and fish in the broth were excellent.  We sat at the bar and the service was good with the only glitch being the service was a touch slow.  Other than that, it was all good.

Good times.  Loud music.  Their grilled ham and cheese sandwich is one of the best in town.  But then again, how hard is it to screw up one of those?  The kicker is that Thursdays is half beer and booze.

The Dugout in Pasco

The Dugout was  a little busy for a Thursday which is a good thing.  Good drinks and decent karaoke.

Jokers in Richland

Jokers was pretty good for a Thursday even though we got there at about 12:30am.  Oh well, whatcha gonna do?

The Cab Ride via Tri-City Taxi

I’ve got issues with Tri-City Taxi.  A while back, I emailed them for some info and received a “holier than though” email.  Last night, we hopped in a cab and it didn’t occur to me until after we were down the road that we were in a TC Taxi Cab…

Now, we’re leaving Jokers and heading back to the Dugout when we get to the corner of Welsian Way and Aaron Drive (right there at the McDonalds).  Instead of taking the logical right turn to hop onto I-182, Jack, our driver, takes a left towards George Washington Way.  I asked him why he decided to go this route and his response was that it was actually shorter than the other way.  Hey Jack!  I call Bullshit.  Granted, you only gouged me for an extra quarter mile but I can imagine that through the course of a night, these little extras make a tidy profit.  Yet another reason to NOT use Tri-City Taxi…

Now, not only would the burger be just fine on it’s own, this “x-rated lime sauce” is like no other sauce I’ve ever had.  The flavor was outstanding as well as delivering a bit of fire at the end.

Not to drag on, and on, and on, and on…. but I can easily say this is one of the top three burgers in the Tri-Cities.  And don’t even get me started about their onion rings….

It was a tough call not getting the Bloomin’ Onion because I haven’t had one of those in a while.  But we decided to start off with the Crab Cakes and they were pretty good.  I hadn’t had them before and would probably order them again.  For dinner, I ordered my usual Ribeye but had them grill it on their flame grill and not the flat top grill.  The flame grill takes that marbling in the ribeye and gets a helluva flavor on it.

We ordered dessert and it was the killer.  I normally don’t order dessert but the Sydney’s Sinful Sunday was calling my name.  There was something about that ice cream rolled in toasted coconut that was calling my name…

I made sure I got my money’s worth.  For $12.99 All You Can Eat Wings, I made out like a bandit.  Here’s the Final Score:

• Hot Buffalo Wings (Pretty Good)
• Spicy & Tangy (Pretty Good)
• Garlic Wings (Pretty Effing Good)
• Mexi Lime Wings (FAIL)
• Atomic Wings (Pretty Effing Hot & Good)

Apparently, it’s all you can eat wings every Wednesday.  Definitely worth it.

The first night I went with their basic cheeseburger. The second night I had their signature “Ultimate BBQ Burger”. It was good enough that no extra sauces of any kind were needed and it was gone in about 2 minutes.

On a side note… I’m hoping that someone there has a craving for some coffee sometime soon (she knows who she is). #justsayin

• Uncle Sam’s Saloon: They have a lot of great beers on tap including Irish Death from Iron Horse Brewery. They have a good jukebox, plenty of flat screen TVs for whatever sporting event is going on. The bartenders are all pretty cool too. They even have a kitchen that kicks out some damn good food.

• The Pub: For a long time this place was hit or miss. Lately though, they’ve tightened things up and have been doing really well. They have the usual beers on tap and every kind of liquor you’d need. There is plenty of seating, pool tables, shuffleboard, and free popcorn.

• Jackson’s in Kennewick: Again, they have great beer on tap, the whole gambit of booze you’d need. They have pool tables, big screens, and during the warmer months the patio is open.

• The Sports Page: All the usual beer and booze. Plenty of space to find a seat. Tons of TVs around and the food is pretty good.

Now you may notice I stuck to a theme here. These are all great places to sit down, relax with a drink, and catch whatever sporting event may be going on. These places are usually low on drama and are great places for friends to get together and have a good time.  I could write up a whole other list of places to drink in Kennewick that are “sporting events” free too.  You can also see what’s going by checking out the Tri-Cities Events Calendar.

There can/will be a whole other list that could be made for places to go when you’re looking for a little trouble.