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Start a Top 5 for Dive BarsEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in The Infatuation. Updated July 2026.
The Ballard Smoke Shop · Ballard
One of Ballard's oldest dive bars, with bar stools that carry permanent impressions from decades of regulars. The smashburger, a thin, juicy patty under melted American cheese and pickles, has its own following separate from the bar side that keeps people coming.
Central Saloon · Pioneer Square
Billed as the city's oldest saloon and the site of Nirvana's first Seattle show, this Pioneer Square room is still primarily a live music venue, with draft beers and garlic cheese curds keeping the bar side honest between the sets.
Blue Moon Tavern · University District
A University District live music tavern papered in band stickers from decades of shows, with vintage leather barstools that have absorbed just as much history. It is less about the drink list than the room itself and the crowd that fills it.
Pacific Inn Pub · Fremont
A diner style Fremont dive with a remodeled patio, known for fish and chips that outshine the bar itself. It stays mellow even when the rest of Fremont is busy, which is part of why regulars keep it as their steady spot.
Linda's Tavern · Capitol Hill
A Capitol Hill room with a buffalo head presiding over the bar and Twin Peaks touches throughout, known as much for its strong bloody marys as for the crowd it has drawn since long before Capitol Hill gentrified around it.