Cafe Venus and Mars Bar
Categories: Bars, Breakfast & Brunch, American (New), Music Venues [Edit]
609 Eastlake Ave ESeattle, WA 98109 (206) 624-4516
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30 a.m.-2:00 a.m.
Sat-Sun 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun 6:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Music: Live, Juke Box
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: No
- Coat Check: No
35 reviews
Neighborhood: Downtown
"Usually, I do not like a chatty waiter. I was a little worried last night that it was going to be a party of 3 last night instead of a…" read more »
24 Reviews for Cafe Venus and Mars Bar
I went here with a friend for a local show and I had a great time. The venue is tiny... but it was cozy. The bartender was very sweet... and I thought the sound quality was decent. Good place for small shows.
We didn't eat but the food smelled really good... I am thinking I may have to try it next time!
This is the type of place I am always hunting for. Off the beaten path, Mars Bar is in a low-traffic stretch of eastlake beside I5. What you'll find inside is a real down-to-earth bar with great food, live music, and one heck of a happy hour.
Happy hour features $5 pitchers of PBR, and a surprisingly long menu with items averaging $5 that include unique salads, personal pizzas (try the NOTE: Not of This Earth featuring pesto, squash and mozerella), a hummus platter, and more. And happy hour goes until 7PM. There aren't many places you can eat well and drink a pitcher of beer for $10.
The layout is spacious with three rooms: two bars and a cafe.
I've only run into two problems here:
1) It gets really hot in the summer (nothing a pitcher or two of PBR won't fix)
2) Some live music requires a cover, and if you aren't willing to pay, they make you move to the little bar behind the cafe. My group was recently unhappy to be forced to pay $7/each or move after spending 2 hours at a table in the main bar.
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This is a Sunday brunch review. First, let me tell you: brunch, beer and coffee (double-fisting) are extremely important to me.
And the food here has a great homemade touch and tastes great. AWESOME!
I think this calls for a quick story. I went with a good friend who also appreciates breakfast + beer + coffee. The food was great (I had a nice plate of eggs and potatoes, and some other fixins').
[mom, I appologize] we ordered pints of beer around 10:30am along with fresh coffee.
I guess it just felt right, but I think everybody else in the place kind of smiled and snickered. Well, by 10:45am, pretty much everybody else at the place had also ordered a fine, strong Sunday morning breakfast. So we set an early trend that day. Good times!
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Venus has the best cornbeef hash in town and at a great price. Why other people stand in line at other establishments, while Venus is realatively quite on Saturday and Sunday mornings, is beyond me. Also thumbs up on the bloody marys.
I've been working right next to it for over a month and I finally went in there yesterday for some grub. I had the Firebird pizza and YUM! It was really really good. I could have eaten another one though.....
I will definately go back in and try different things each time...and also go have a drink after work.....
But I've read some great reviews about this 'cheesecake'....that's my weakness right thar so I'll have to please my tastebuds with that.
It's nice to have a spot only footsteps away with good food and a great atmosphere and staff. I'm sure we'll get to know each other by first names before too long!
Oh and the lounge is quaint but ROCKS! And I love the staff there, been chatting with them and they are really cool.
cool atmosphere, cheap prices and good brunch!
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I helped pay for this place with my overly generous tips to the owner when she was a bartender at Ileen's. Seriously - ask her. So five fucking stars. YAY FOR BIG FAT GREYHOUNDS KATIE!
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The personal pizzas are out of this world, the chai is the best on the planet, and their mooncake (cheesecake) is five-star.
After eating here though, I always take an astronomical dump. Not good.
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I really like this place, it's even great for shows (though it can be loud sometimes). But! I have one major gripe. The bar has some of the slowest service on the planet. Seriously - every time I come in there, it doesn't matter when, it can take up to 15 minutes to get a drink - when you are second in line. I timed it while frustrated one night. The main reason for this is only one bartender - but, even those bartenders seriously are slow. They meander around the bar and do other stuff - never asking you what you'd like - if you don't speak up you will be ignored.
Maybe that's supposed to be part of the charm? This is definitely a place that many people probably love because of it's hipster exclusivity, which is fine, but if you aren't part of the club, be prepared for weird looks while PAYING to see a band, and buy 2 drinks at a time, trust me.
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This is just about cheesecake.
Could you have a successful restaurant that only served sticks of gum that tasted like five-course meals? Mull this at the Mars Bar over cheesecake that is the opposite: all texture, no flavor. It's like anti-dinner-gum. It's like great-textured poi.
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The ownership let us have a cancer fundraiser for a friend here gratis.
That alone gets the 5 stars, but good hearts aside, this bar reminds me of the way Seattle bars used to be when they were fun. It's got the two sides that are connected for ironies sake, vintage scooters parked outside, and laughter in the air.
Go for the breakfast. It's just unique enough to get your attention and just off the beaten path enough to not be packed.
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I love the Venus and the Mars Bar and I hope my Yelp account isn't deleted for saying so like a few of my friends were. What the hell is going on around this neighborhood. Mark and Katie rule. Kind funny hip people. Great food and spirits. The old Cascade lives on here. Thank God.
I visited this place with a friend who raved about the food, and she was right! The mac & cheese goes way beyond any standard I've set for such a item, pizza and soup that were super flavorful and unique, and a real life jukebox had a great selection of Radiohead to Johnny Cash. Friendly down to earth staff round out the whole experience. This is truly a hip little hidden gem of Seattle.
Short, shameful, confession: I sidle by bars keeping an eye out for pinball.
I didn't even see the venue-appropriate "Attack from Mars" pinball, and I was already in love with the place. Granted, it was on one of those recent hot days, and they put a frosty cold glass with cold beer in it in my hand.
Funky. Chill and friendly patrons and bartender. Wirelefs internets.
Excellent happy hour specials: cheaper drinks and food; $3 salads. Pretty inventive salads, at that.
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A hole in the wall is what you call a gem. And by "hole," I mean hidden, not dirty. My girlfriend and I saw a comedy show but after being bored for 10 minutes, we went right next door to Cafe Venus and ordered what was probably the best meal we've had in six months. She ordered a meatloaf sandwich, and I ordered the mac and cheese, which was perfect with a bread-crumb crust. Yum. The coffee is awesome but the best part was the dessert. We had a bread pudding that was to die for. It was big, moist and is made to be shared. Service is great and the decor is very cosy. Do yourself a favor and come here!
I went to a comedy show here a while back and had a lot of fun. This place would have gotten 5 stars, but the seating situation wasn't super practical. I felt like there weren't enough seats facing the stage. I had to sit at the Asteroids arcade game "table" way in the back and was constantly shifting my head to see because the drunk girls in front of me kept getting in my way. But, I was there more to listen than to watch, so it wasn't really a big deal.
Oh, and since laughing makes me hungry, I decided to get food. I got the caesar salad and the 'Mars mac n' cheese'. It was out of this world!!! Pun totally intended.
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I like this place for some reason. It has an odd energy to it, not to get all new-agey on yo ass. I love the sit down video game.
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No PBR on tap anymore? Women get their own restroom? They replaced World Cup Soccer pinball with the Mars Attacks (not the name) pinball? I can live with those three things because this place... Is cooler than cool. See, the first room is full of booths where you can sit and eat (I highly recommend the rocketship), with a computer where you can Yelp about the place as you are there. The other room, is where you can play Mrs Pac-Man or Galaga (as well as pinball) and sometimes hear live music for a $6.00 cover. On Thursday - Saturday nights, you can go in the back room at a cozier bar with an awesome jukebox. Plus, they have a killer Happy Hour Menu.
By the way, as far as bartenders go... Adria totally rocks the proverbial house.
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I don't even like Bloody Marys and the one here was DELICIOUS. It has homemade gazpacho as the base, then a bunch of fresh veggies and spicy vodka. Tasty brunch, good dinner too, and a cool atmosphere with local art on the walls and friendly people. They don't have a huge staff, so this isn't the place to go if you're in a hurry. But if you have time to kick it, it's worth the trip.
They also have grub for both vegans and vegetarians =]
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Great weekday place to grab a salad or pizza and a beer. Great happy hour (really inexpensive). Not very many people working normally (you're best off wandering over to the bar when you want something) but everyone is friendly.
Free wi-fi too :)
Breakfast menu is unfortunately not nearly as good as dinner, and the service is slower.
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This place has a fabulous happy hour!
In this case, fabulous = delicious, variety & cheap. The service is often super slow - as is often the case of the truly great happy hour locations. The pizzas and the hummus plate ("Jupiter's Landscape") are my favorites, but there is quite a variety of flavors to choose from - an excellent departure from the one-hit-wonder menus offered at many other South Lake Union locations.
ALSO, I am a sucker for any place that chooses a theme and goes for it whole-heartedly. And Venus has done that.
ALSO, there are several yummy vegan and vegetarian options - including outta this world salads and intergalactic soups.
It loses a star for a few too many weird occurences - which is probably due to the interesting crowd that frequents the place.
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tasty homemade treats, a killer jukebox and cheap drinks are the heart and soul of this little hide out. They have also do a really good brunch on the weekends as well as lunch and dinner every night of the weeks. I especially enjoy their homemade salsa and quiche of the day. the mars bar defiantly makes my favorite list for a food or going out for drinks.
The brunch is amazing! You don't have to fight a crowd or wait for a table and the food rocks. With a rotating special menu and quiche every weekend. Where else can you get a Pint of Mimosa for five bucks!
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I attended a show Friday, February 10th, featuring the bands; We Wrote The Book On Connectors, Manplus and Tennis Pro.
This venue is like most others of its type in Seattle. They serve drinks, appetizers and have a small stage for live performances. From the behavior of the crowd they looked to be mostly regulars.
I had a Vodka Cranberry and Long Island Iced Tea. The drinks were of average quality. I had these Nachos however that were freakin great. If the rest of their food is that good you will not be disappointed. One minus point though. There was only one Bar Tender, as it is a small place. Drinks can only be ordered at the bar. Which is generally common with venues that have live bands. But I'm a snob. I live in the suburbs. I want to sit on my lazy butt and have my drinks brought to me. So, laziness aside, I'll give 3 stars for now. I'll provide an updated review if I end up there again.
P.S. We Wrote The Book On Connectors Rocked! A review of that band will be posted in the future.
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