Dark Room

Returned with some friends recently that hadn't been to Dark Room. We shared a few dishes. Two were the same as I had on my last visit but this time the Golden Glizzy dog off of the Golden Hour menu 3 Sisters uncured beef hot dog, kimchi pimento cheese, caramelized onion, pickled jalapeño, fried red onion, dijon, housemade poppyseed milk bread bun. Amy one of the co owners is a wonderful baker on top of being the chef so you know the bun was perfect! Matthew one of the other co owners is an excellent mixologist cocktails here are always well balanced and fun. Finally tried the Pisco & Paparazzi comes with a Polaroid of you that you can keep or put on the wall delicious drink as well. Sat at the bar this time cause I ran onto another friend that happen to be there I actually prefer to sit at the bar when I'm on my own or one other person. Always fun watching the cocktails being created

This is a review for the early bird weekday, one cocktail w/nibbles, solo but curious customer (6/6/23). I was able to find free two hour street parking a block over from Greenwood. There are nearby private pay lots and also located near Metro bus routes.Dark Room had opened in early Feb 2023 in the former Teacher's Lounge site. It is cool how this radius spanning 85th & Greenwood has an evolving collection of cafes, restaurants, and bars/cocktail spots.I sat at a central two top facing the entrance and sidewalk window. Not really dark per se, since I arrived shortly after 4pm, lol. I was able to see employees doing some photography and prepping new menus at the front tables taking advantage of the natural light.The music playing during my visit was not hip hop, but a pleasant eclectic mix of rock and blues. The wait person was very welcoming as I was brought the menus and water in the ubiquitous self serve bottle. I liked the interior with the play on photography, like vintage cameras, and a featured local artist's photo collection. I ordered the following:Deep Roots ($17) - strong and smooth with a large ice cube and citrus garnish, cocktail crafted with Uncle Nearest whiskey, Jack Daniels, demerara orange bitters and angostura bitters. This was sipped slowly and made sure I consumed most of my water. I was able to also glance at the updated cocktail menu - hot off the press - during my onsite visit. Kimchi Pimento Cheese ($9) - updated pimento with local Beecher's cheese and kimchi, served with a dozen Ritz crackers. Korean Meatballs ($13) - loved the succulent beef & pork meatballs served with a delicious rice porridge, sweet and spicy sauce, cilantro, and sesame seeds. This was a generous and savory late afternoon - dunch/linner - happy hour kind of visit. I was not stuffed, but likewise, had enough to absorb that solid cocktail. Innovative cocktails. Tasty eats. Service from start to finish was pleasant and on point. A terrific addition to Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood!

Went there on a Friday evening, parking was a bit painful to find but there was no wait! We were seated immediately (we chose to sit at the bar though there were a couple of table empty). The place had the perfect ambiance for a date night.I'm trying to stay away from alcohol these days and I was hoping to have some mediocre drinks. I saw a couple of drinks in the non alcoholic section. I ordered the paparazzi one. $16 for a non alcoholic cocktail looked too much but I went for it and it was amazing! I later realized the alcoholic one for the same drink came with a Polaroid! There should have been one with the non alcoholic one too! I next ordered the non alcoholic ginger based drink and it was okay.For appetizers we got the Anju and Banchan. They both were great!

WARNING: THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER HAPPY HOUR!I have been wanting to check this place out for a weeks since they opened, and finally had the opportunity to do so this Tuesday night with a friend local to Greenwood! Parking was a breeze: there's a cute mall strip around the block with plenty of pay to park spots.The restaurant lighting lives up to name and you're immediately greeted with old school hip hop that makes it impossible not to nod along to.Our selection of cocktails for the evening included: Espresso Yourself, Pisco and Paparazzi (comes with a polaroid), and Guns N' Rosé. We each ordered a second, and agreed that this was the most impressive happy hour we have had in 2023. The drinks served as a pleasant interlude to the small plates. We split the Korean Meatballs (came w/ 4 & a delicious porridge), Banchan, and the Kimchi Pimento Cheese. The appetizers were dainty yet filling. The plating was as moody as the ambience, and those who are chopstick insecure do not fear (forks included). Each plate was perfectly paced and our water glasses were never empty. The real star of the evening was the rice bowl with soy braised beef and a soft boiled egg. The salad and mac mix together perfectly to create one of the most sophisticated dishes I have had in Seattle. We will be back. What a wonderful addition to the seattle food scene. I am excited to see what is to come!

This place is popping. We came on Valentine's day for dinner and nearly all the tables were full. The whole time folks kept streaming in.It's a cozy space and as the name suggests, dark. Here's the food we ordered from most to least favorite: 1. Pork and shrimp sandwich. We loved the sweet bread. We split everything, but my partner said that next time, he'd just order 2 of these for himself. 2. Kimchi pimento cheese. Nice savory dish to snack on before the mains come out. 3. Meatball atop congee. Pretty good, and well-sized.4. Beef rice bowl. I had high hopes for this dish but it was a bit off. The rice was mushy and the pickled veggies didn't taste very pickly. Hopefully this was just an anomaly. Since there are other dishes we haven't tried yet, and since we enjoyed the sandwich, we will skip this next time. I don't drink, but my partner was a huge fan of the beer lineup, and enjoyed his cocktail. Dark Room is a solid 4/5, but I'm rounding up to 5 since this is a new spot. We look forward to returning, and are excited to have this in Greenwood. Perfect for date night!

Darkroom is good, verging on great (so I'm rounding up). Overall, a stellar addition to the neighborhood.Things I was enamored with:The cocktails. I mean, wow. Creative. Not too boozy or too sweet. Just -right all around using interesting booze and mixers. We've been 3 times and every time I have to stop myself from trying the whole menu. Every time there is a selection of new & interesting things to try.The bites. Love that in this time & place where all the food is comfort food you can come here and get smallish portions at reasonableish prices of not-too-heavy fare. On our most recent visit we ordered rice bowls and an anju and this was perfect.Things I was less enamored of:I'm old, and cranky. I get that the theme is, well, a darkroom. But, it's dark in here. Like I couldn't make out all the things in my rice bowl because the room was too dark-- which is scary when you are a vegetarian-- but it worked out everything was delish! Two out of three times the music has been super loud hip-hop. So, I pretty much love everything about this place but the vibe. At $17-18 for most cocktails it's definitely on the spendy side. I lean toward "worth it" but, yeah.

Dark room is such a great addition to the neighborhood! My partner and I came here for dinner and drinks on a Friday night around 6:30, and they were quite busy! We didn't have to wait or anything, but we did grab the last free table. They have such an interesting drink selection! My partner got the Kimcheech & Chong, and I got the Guns 'n Rose since I'm a total sucker for any drink with egg white in it. Both drinks were great! For food, we ordered kimchi pimento cheese, banchan, mayak egg, pork and shrimp sandwich, and the congee. The kimchi pimento cheese was so good esp with the ritz crackers. I loved the banchan! The night we went, they had eggplant, cucumber, and broccoli. They were all delicious, but the eggplant was def my favorite. The mayak egg is a pretty small rice bowl, so don't expect a standard size rice bowl, but it was so good! The mayak egg was cooked perfectly so the egg was jammy. My partner got the sandwich which he loved, and the congee was so good too! It was a thicker congee, so not very soupy and more a thicker oatmeal consistency, and it came with four meatballs which were really flavorful. This is probably our new favorite neighborhood cocktail spot! Will definitely be coming back and trying more of the drink and the two things we didn't order on the menu lol.

This place was such a fun vibe & the food was amazing!! Loved the rice bowl w spam especially. Getting a tasty drink with a complimentary Polaroid photo was also super fun :)

I tried this place last night for the first time for happy hour, and I absolutely loved it! The food was fantastic, service was great, and overall ambience was pretty chill - not sure if they always do this but during my visit they were playing absolute 90s hip-hop bangers the whole time. My theory is this place would be a solid first date spot because the happy hour menu 4pm-6pm is pretty reasonably priced so no big pressure on cost and the portions are smaller for happy hour so you wouldn't be super full after your date. 10/10 would go again I also hear they do movie nights where they sell a multi course meal during the duration of a movie... so cool I'm definitely coming back to try that too!

Wow, wow, wow!!! Absolutely love this place! The Dark Room named after the photography/dark room/camera vibe that is all over this place. Oh and it's also "dark", very dim lighting and killer ambiance. It's pretty small so I would recommend coming with just a small group or a party of 2. We were lucky in that we got to be seated right away, but I can tell that won't always be the case depending on the size of your group and how full the place is. We got the last table, so like I said we lucked out.My friend got the Pisco & Paparazzi which we didn't realize but it comes with a free polaroid (remember those from back in the day?). Nice little souvenir of our adventure in the Dark Room. Also, there is a nice red sign that says "Take some shots" which is fun to do some photo ops right here in front of the sign.Drinks are around $11-$18 and they also have a food menu too but since we went around 10pm we weren't really hungry at that hour.Staff were attentive and helpful. I love all the photography/dark room decor they had (there is so much to look at). There is also a "polaroid wall" near the bathroom (which is also helpful as there is only one bathroom, so if you have to wait, you might as well be entertained while waiting for the bathroom). Great music and I feel that the "dark" theme works really well to make this place seem cozy and classy, as I'd been in the space before when it was a different bar and back then it just felt "small". It's amazing how decor & lighting can really change a place, and give it that much better of a vibe!