Bal Mar in Ballard

If you're in Ballard and looking for a place to stop in for Happy Hour Bal Mar isn't a bad choice.

Their happy hour is daily from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm with both food and drink specials. I love it when a place has both food and drink specials and happy hour everyday of the week.

Their happy hour food specials are:
Steamed Manila Clams for $5.00
Chicken Potstickers for $4.00
Chicken Satay for $5.00
Steamed Edamame for $3.50

Their happy hour drinks specials are:
Featured Cocktail of the Month $6.00
House Red or White Wine $5.00
Premium Well Spirits $4.00
Draught Beer Pints $3.50

One thing to also mention on Monday's its all night happy hour for food but not drinks.

My last visit I only had a glass of their red it was a Merlot and for $5.00 it wasn't bad not great but not bad either. Their dim lighting and faux brick/concrete wall warms the place up a bit and kind of makes you feel like maybe you are in Belltown not Ballard, though word on the street is Ballard is becoming the new Belltown. The service was a bit snotty but good in a weird way and on a plus they were always refilling our water glasses the whole time we were there.

Overall I’d give them a 4.0 out of 5 cheers.

The Matador in Ballard

The Matador in Ballard it's an OK place for happy hour but not a place for me in the evening that's for sure. One super sucky thing about The Matador's happy hour is they have no drink specials, come on people have both food and drink specials to make this fat chick happy.

Their happy hour runs daily from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm and again from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am, my last visit was during the early happy hour not late. They offer $4.00 to $5.00 snacks for happy hour food; you have your choice of the following:

Chicken or Shrimp Quesadilla
Nachos
Spicy Fried Calamari
Matador Chili
Matador Romaine Salad
Roasted Tomato & Chicken Soup
Fire Jumbo Prawns
Tex-Mex Spring Rolls
Ancho-Chipotle Wings
Chicken or Steak Tacos
Baja Shrimp Tacos
Blackened Fish Tacos

There was a group of us and we shared the shrimp quesadilla, nachos, spicy fried calamari, fire jumbo prawns, chicken tacos and Tex-Mex spring rolls. I tried the quesadilla which was good, the nachos which I liked the best and the fire jumbo prawns which were very tasty but not so much firey. To go with my food I tried to enjoy a glass of their red sangria, it didn't do much for me but I still drank it. A couple people had the mojito and others had beer they all seem happy with their choices so I guess I was just in a un-sangria mood that day.

Service was pretty crappy, we asked for chips and salsa and never received them, and before we were done we had our check on the table and were basically being asked to leave so we did.

Over all I'd give them 3.0 out of 5 cheers, the food was good but no drink specials and crappy service brings them down in my book.