Naked City Taphouse

Metalmonk

North Carolina

3.8/5  rDev -4.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Went to this Greenwood neighborhood joint because they were hosting a Dogfish Head tasting as part of Seattle Beer Week. The place is fairly non-descript, inside and out--long hall, bar, tables, chalkboard, everthing you'd need, not cold but nothing interesting either. Service was good but short and brusque--our guy was particularly "New York" if you know what I mean. Efficient, even had deep knowledge of beer, just wasn't overly welcoming. Not a problem.

They had JUST tapped the kegs as we sat at our table--a friend had Burton's Baton, I had the Palo Santo Marron, and they were absolutely delicious. Probably goes without saying, but they were indeed superior to their bottled counterparts. Finished with glasses of aged Fort, which was a real treat, and even more satisfying than when it was fresh (if memory serves, that was a few years ago...) A Dogfish Head rep came around to the tables, and he was informative, happy to answer questions, apparently having an excellent time. Nice guy.

Seemed to have a pretty good tap list beyond the special Dogfish Head stuff, lots of bottles too, focused on Pacific Northwest/West Coast brews and Belgians. Naked City was my first and so far only Seattle beer experience, and the DFH tasting was a great occasion with which to kick off a vacation.

05-11-2009 05:55:27 | More by Metalmonk

ScreamForMe

Washington

4.13/5  rDev +3.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

I finally got a chance to stop into Nakey City (aka Naked City) last Saturday evening (when the weather was all over the place here in WA).

The tap selection is great - and I like how they update what keg is coming up next for each tap (and Twitter when the changes have happened).

We had eaten earlier so the only food I had was the gumbo - which was delicious.

I'd like the vibe in the place. Pretty chill for a Sat night (I think the weather had something to do with it). I will definitely be heading back!

03-14-2009 03:47:36 | More by ScreamForMe

wkimmerly

Washington

2.75/5  rDev -30.9%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | food: 1 | $$$

I had heard and read so many recommendatiosn for this place, so I was quite excited to finally get there last night. I left extremely disappointed. First, the good news. The tap selection was expansive and well chosen. The house (Naked City) beers were very good, and brewed to style (at least the Dubbel was, the one I had). So from a purely beer standpoint it is worthwhile to visit. Now for the bad news. The food was absolutely horrible. Tomato basil soup...how can you screw this up? Lukewarm dirty dishwater is more like it. My wife's pretzel was lame according to her (to me, all pretzels are lame). I also ordered a grilled ham and smoked gruyere sandwich. What came was a chicken sandwich with some god awful unidentifiable sauce. Finally, we had to trapse through some pretentious photo shoot in order to get to the restrooms, each time enduring the glares of the "models" and the ever so artistic photographer. maybe one day I will give this place a second chance, but I must say I was very very disappointed despite all the hype.

12-12-2008 17:21:11 | More by wkimmerly

TheName

Washington

3.68/5  rDev -7.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 2.5 | $$

Nice new spot and crazy props to the home brewing geniuses behind it. Been a few times now and have left happy each time.

24 (yep, 24!) taps largely dedicated to Washington brews with handy dandy Twitter/RSS feeds to keep you up to date on what's on them. Recent visit had all WA taps with some Russian River, Bear Republic, and Stone mixed in for kicks. Extensive bottle selection but you'll have to ask what's what; no menus to be found. The house brews so far have been excellent and it'll be nice once they get licensing to brew on site. Beers aren't expensive but aren't dirt cheap. Definition of reasonable.

Food is ... fine. Selection's grown since opening but it's still limited and a bit pricey (a flute of 15 or so pickled hop shoots's good for novelty but at $4.50 you'll only think so once). This spot's about the beer and food's an afterthought.

Big and airy with modern cement and steel sort of decor. Honestly, it's a little big and--although it's not a terrible pain to order at the bar--some table service wouldn't hurt. Crowd's friendly enough if occasionally skewing toward "got Bud?" demographic.

Service is fair to middling but incredibly informed and attitude-less in my experience (Brouwer's servers take note!). They know what's on and know how to recommend.

All in all a great spot and definitely best beer bar in the Greenwood neighborhood.

12-02-2008 00:01:38 | More by TheName