Skylark Cafe & Club 3.5
We headed out to see a friend’s band play at West Seattle’s Skylark Cafe & Club. Read on to learn more about one of West Seattle’s cooler haunts.
Beer 3.0
The selection at Skylark is mostly made up of selections from local breweries such as Mac and Jack’s, Ninkasi, Rogue, etc. coupled with a few local favorite macro brews for good measure. If you don’t find what you want on draft you might find one of their bottled macro brew selections to better suit you. That said, if you’re a big fan of craft brews you might be hard pressed to find something you’ll be really excited to drink here.
We started off with a pitcher of the Ninkasi Total Domination IPA – a typically flavored northwest style IPA. Curious to try something a little off the beaten path I followed the IPA up with a glass of Ninkasi’s winter ale, Sleigh’r. As a dark double alt it’s very German in nature and unique for a winter style ale. This one warrants taste testing if you’ve not had it before.
Beer comes served in pints and pitchers.
Food 3.5
The Skylark has an impressive menu selection considering the size of the place. I wish I could have tried a few more things. I get the impression I would have left feeling differently about the food here if I had gotten truly gluttonous. Alas I did not and as such I left feeling like the food was mediocre.
I ordered the Mac N Cheese which by itself is basically a smallish casserole dish of penne pasta noodles swimming in a not so creamy mess of melted cheese. Sure, it’s better than the stuff in a box that you get at the store. But being that Mac N Cheese has really matured in recent years at so many other places I hoped that the same would be true here. Unfortunately adding bacon and chicken to my Mac N Cheese did very little to add any excitement to the dish.
To avoid a complete gut bomb of a meal I also ordered a small dinner salad which was mostly pretty standard, except for their homemade rye croutons which were actually really good.
The other dish ordered that night was the French dip which was reportedly dry and not much to speak of. It came with some regular ol’ fries.
Service 4
We had a very friendly and attentive service experience that night. Our server was on top of our every need that night offering up smiles in abundance. If it wasn’t as loud as it was that night (more on that later) I’m sure she would have had lots of friendly conversation for us as well.
Ambiance 3.5
Let me start off by saying if you are going to show up at the Skylark during a night when bands are playing be prepared for noise. Lots and lots of noise. This place is Loud (yeah, that’s with a capital ‘L’). We even had to yell in between sets to hear each other. Don’t get me wrong. The live music is definitely a plus. The stage, lighting and sound is all very well done for a venue of this caliber. But you really ought to be in the mood for this kind of scene before you show. Otherwise I suggest visiting on a night when no bands are scheduled to play.
The walls are lined with old Buick Skylark ads and pics, hubcaps and old license plates, which all comes together to create a sort of hybrid classy/classic service garage theme.
The venue is a little small, so plan on showing up early if you want to secure a seat on a night that bands are playing. I would imagine that in the nights bands aren’t playing seating is a little easier to come by. But don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.
Cost
So… I blew it. I forgot to keep our receipt that night. No itemized cost breakdown this time folks. I’m sorry. I can say that our total bill, which included two entrees, a salad, a pint and most of a pitcher with tax and tip came out to an even $50. Not bad for dinner, drinks and entertainment for 2.
