Brendan D.
Yelp
Seattle's Eastside lacks the character to create really good local Ale houses. An Ale house is built on and thrives by the locals that regularly visit. The community both forms and is formed by them. Since moving to Seattle proper a couple of years ago, I've been eagerly discovering and tasting from the plentitude of Ale houses scattered throughout Ballard, Magnolia, Phinney Ridge, West Seattle, and more. I've only just now imbidded at Sully's Snowgoose Saloon. Though the ale was good (I selected the smooth Black Butte Porter from their twenty-nine different ale's on tap), Sully's is an Ale house best left to the local locals.
Sully's is confusing. It gives the impression of a traditional Ale house picked up from along some old English road and then dropped on south Phinney Ridge. Multiple times driving by I mentioned to my wife "That place looks interesting. I'll have to try it." Sadly, the first thing I noticed when I entered was the smell -- a musty, dirty smell typically found in bars, not Ale houses, especially not one with such a wide selection of brews. Sully's is a bar trying to be a Pub. As a bar is comes complete with a pinball game (where one regular eventually lost his Tommy-like bid after an extend play), jukebox, and one, overworked barmaid. As a Pub it offers a broad selection of good and inexpensive ales. The food, well, Sully's doesn't really offer any. Their fare is limited to two types of grilled cheese sandwich, chili, and pizza by the slice. My Pub mate I ate elsewhere.
Sully's has its place among Seattle's Ale houses. It just not a place I intend upon returning when so many others offer so much more.