Tavern Law

Speakeasy theme bar Tavern Law is a high ceilinged space with several seating areas: the bar/waiting area with its stools and high tables, a middle section with rows of restaurant tables, and a back nook containing a big booth beneath a striped wallpaper wall. The 1920s thematic touches are all there - vested bartenders, a wall of books, rows of bitters, a blood bank refrigerator, and a roulette wheel as decoration behind the bar - though the service can feel more like a transaction than a conversation. It's a bar for hanging out with friends more than worshipping at the altar of the mixologist.

Drinks on the alphabetically-arranged menu are a mix of classics and house creations that (as in many Seattle bars) include plenty of gin and brown spirits mixed with bitter amaros like Cynar, Fernet-Branca, and Averna. A shorter and simpler happy hour menu includes more citrusy drinks like the New York Sour and the Old Cuban. All drinks on review visits were well-executed. Upstairs is Needle & Thread, a separate room (not always open) with its own bar and more personalized service, which sometimes plays host to guest bartenders.