The Duchess Tavern on NE 55th Street at night, with a line of people along the sidewalk under the Duchess Est 1934 sign

2827 NE 55th St, after dark.

Ravenna · Seattle · Est. 1934

Ravenna's front room since 1934.

On the same corner of NE 55th since 1934. Cold pints, pool tables, shuffleboard in the back and a burger basket nobody has felt the need to reinvent. Seven nights a week, right up to two.

Call (206) 527-8606 Get directions

4.3 · 401 Google reviews Open every night till 2 AM

1934

Established on NE 55th

4.3

Google rating

401

Reviews, and counting

2 AM

Last call, seven nights

The room

Same wood, same walls, and a great deal of purple.

The Duchess opened in 1934 and never really left. Knotty pine to the ceiling, vinyl booths worn smooth, two mounted moose keeping watch over the doorway, and framed Husky teams climbing every square inch of wall between the televisions.

The banner that went up for the ninetieth year still says it plainly: same ownership, new management. The wood stays exactly where it is.

Inside the Duchess Tavern: wooden booths and tables, mounted moose heads and a Real Dawgs Wear Purple banner over the bar

The carved wooden sign behind the bar reading Duchess Bar and Social Club, Est. 1934

A wall at the Duchess covered in framed photographs of old Seattle and Husky teams, with string lights along the wainscot — Framed teams and old Seattle, floor to ceiling.

The copper-clad fireplace in the back room of the Duchess Tavern — The copper hearth in the back.

The covered back patio at the Duchess Tavern with cedar walls, a Duchess sign and metal tables — The covered patio, out the back door.

The row of draft handles along the bar at the Duchess Tavern, a bartender pouring underneath them

On tap

A wall of handles, and whatever's open by the glass.

Nothing here is curated. It's poured. What's on tonight is written on the board above the bar, and the bartender will tell you what's good if you ask nicely.

Draft

Domestic, micro and Husky pints, by the glass or by the pitcher.
Bottles & cans

The cold case, the old standbys, and a Rainier when that's the right answer.
Well & boilermakers

Shot and a beer, martinis, and a peppar bloody mary with the celery in it.
Wine

Rotating. As the board puts it: ask the bartender.

Happy hour

All micro pints

Weekdays 3–6 PM

All day Sunday

The bar at the Duchess Tavern: draft board, bottles, string lights and hand-lettered signs

Two bloody marys with celery and beer sidecars on the wooden bar

The back room

Rack them, then hold the table.

Pool tables under brass shades, shuffleboard down the side wall, and every screen on the game. This is the half of the room people plan the night around, and the half they end up staying in.

Spelled out in the front window

Shuffleboard & Pool

In neon, facing NE 55th.

The Duchess back room with a mirror ball, wooden booths, framed photographs and televisions

The shuffleboard table under the UW letters and a mounted moose at the Duchess Tavern

From the kitchen

Basket food, and plenty of it.

Burgers and fries in a red checked basket, pizza by the pie, wings with celery and ranch, and nachos built for four. Nothing on the plate is trying to be clever.

Full menu is on the board at the bar. Ask the bartender how late the kitchen is serving.

The block

In Ravenna, purple counts as a house color.

Real Dawgs Wear Purple hangs over the back room. The Husky football reunion photos never come down. On a game night the place fills the way it has for generations of students, professors and people who just live three streets over.

Neighbors are looked after, too. There's a framed sign about it by the front door, and by the look of it, it has been hanging there a very long time.

The Duchess Tavern storefront by day on NE 55th Street, with its green awning and the Duchess Est 1934 sign

A framed sign on the wood panelling by the door reading: Please respect our neighbors. Keep the noise down when leaving the Duchess. Thank you.

“Please respect our neighbors. Keep the noise down when leaving the Duchess. Thank you.”

Framed by the front door

What people say

Four hundred and one people have had their say.

4.3 401 reviews on Google

All these years in, the scoreboard is public and nobody here is editing it. Read the lot on Google, the great nights and the off ones, and make your own mind up.

Read them on Google

The front room of the Duchess Tavern with people at the bar and in the booths, a mirror ball, mounted moose and televisions — The front room: the bar, the booths, the moose and the mirror ball.

Find us

2827 NE 55th St, Ravenna.

The Duchess Tavern

2827 NE 55th St
Seattle, WA 98105

Open in Google Maps

Call the bar

(206) 527-8606

Open seven days · 3 PM – 2 AM

Big night?

Tell us what you're planning.

We don't take reservations for a table of two; walk in, the room is big. But if you're bringing a team, a reunion or a game-day crowd, send word ahead and we'll see what we can do with the back room.

Or just call (206) 527-8606

Been in lately?

How was your last visit?

It takes ten seconds and it genuinely helps the bar.

Or leave a public review on Google

Ravenna's front room since 1934.

Same wood, same walls, and a great deal of purple.

A wall of handles, and whatever's open by the glass.

Draft

Bottles & cans

Well & boilermakers

Wine