The Elite

Great service, great drinks, great atmosphere, ‘nuf said! This is one of the few bars on Capitol Hill that is bright and cheery vs drab and dark. That alone makes it a great place to hang out.

Hilarious, awesome bartenders here. I love the bartenders. Great drinks, good pours, and always a friendly face.
It’s a fun space, and I love their comfy leather chairs.
I love their chilled mugs (when I want a stout, I want it done right, so I really appreciate this).

I love me some Elite bar!
Fabulous bar tenders makin fabulous drinks.
And it is right down the street from my house!

Monday night football while listening to your favorite disco hits!!! Just like momma used to make!

They have pool, delicious drinks, cool lounge areas… I can’t see why I would go anywhere else on Capitol Hill now. The interior was really cool — lots of things to look at. And the bartenders were super nice, there were lots of people, but it was hard to notice with how spacious it was there. They have good size glasses for their drinks, and I must reiterate — they have pool. And pinball machines. I’m definitely coming back.

Matty doesn’t go out as much as he used to, but when he does, the Elite is his preferred drinking establishment on Capitol Hill.
OK, now I’ll speak in the 1^st person. — Things I love about the Elite:
–All of the bartenders are super friendly and remember my name!
–A few of the bartenders know my drink of choice, a Scottsdale!
–I suck at pool, but they’ve got a pool table if you’re so inclined.
–The upstairs loft area is a great place for friends that want to chat.
–The music isn’t too loud.
–They have an awesome Jukebox!
–I love the living room with the artificial fireplace downstairs – very comfy!
–If darts are your thing, they’ve got ‘em.
The Elite is a great neighborhood bar with a low ‘attitude factor’ in my opinion. Friendly employees! No dance floor, but that is just fine with moi. I’d much rather have good conversation with friends than ringing in my ears at the end of the night. Tons of cute guys at the Elite, and it’s not a meat-​markety atmosphere.

I am learning sign language here every Tuesday at 7:00. The teachers are super great (palms in air praise jesus style)
It doesn’t feel like a POS hole in the wall at all for a gay bar – the times I’ve gone to them in LA and here that’s how almost all of them feel, except this one. gotten a drink they’ve been prompt and friendly. I don’t know about the drinking part much but i liked their Big Al on tap, and no that’s not a euphemism

Stop #8 on the E Olive Way Crawl.
Pool, darts, so many stairs, and jello shots! This bar is fun. Definitely one of my favorites on our crawl. Seriously… I love this place. The Elite does it right.
If you are looking for a fun place to hang that plays great music but isn’t a dance club this is it. The bartenders are super attentive and the best thing for me is that there is never a line at the ladies room :)
Oh, and I almost forgot, just by looking at it from the street you would think it was a tiny place like The Buck. but it is huge! The crawl was our first visit, but we’ve been back a few more times since and have always had a blast. One of my new favs on the hill.

This is one of my favorite gay bars on Capital Hill. They make super strong drinks, and the ambiance is great. The clientele is hit or miss. Sometimes people are rude & stuck up, and eye’ing you like «Why are the straight people in our bar?». Other times they are super nice & strike up a conversation with you & invite you to play pool.
The women’s bathroom is well… unique. Can’t really describe it well, you’ll have to check it out for yourself. You do need a key to get in the bathroom which is kind of a pain especially when the bartenders are busy and my bladder is small after drinking their strong drinks.
There are a lot of stairs here, which can get a bit tricky after you’ve had a couple drinks (or sometimes only one). Don’t recommend wearing high heels here.

The. Elite. Rocks.
There are few bars (especially gay bars) where I always have a great experience and Elite has never failed in serving up a fabulous cocktail with a side of sass that makes me feel right at home!
The management and staff have done an incredible job of creating a fun environment where anyone can make new friends, watch the game or just lounge and enjoy a night out.
The Elite has also been an avid supporter of many local community organizations and groups. This is a prime example of a good business with an altruistic spirit that cares for the community in which they serve.
See you there!

A refreshing gay establishment. The staff is always fair, courteous, prompt to serve you and overall fun. Its the perfect little neighborhood bar that welcomes all. Occasionally a crude soul will walk through the door — but no worries — the staff handles the situation with professionalism and ease. The staff deserves every dollar that they are tipped and then some.
Some tend to criticize the décor, or the service or staff — get over yourself. I feel sorry for you. It is unwarranted. Its who you surround yourself with, not the aesthetics of a place that makes the experience great.
I have never had a bad experience since i started coming here. Bring a friend or few…

Lately a few trolls on the Talk threads have me thinking about rude patrons who allegedly deserve poor service or have no right to complain about bad service if they’re not a great patron.
The staff of The Elite makes both of those arguments complete BS. Both bartenders were so happy, friendly, funny, with great banter and even greater patience. They were having so much fun that it’s impossible for you not to crack a smile or at least let go of your CrankyPants and not be such a grump about whatever it is crapped in your Cheerios that morning.
My drinks were hit and miss, with the stoli vanil and coke slightly weak but white russian pitch perfect. And they were saints when I spent 15 minutes deciding between 6 beers on tap. Love the jukebox, and while the front room layout is a bit strange in a crowd — it’s all a part of making new friends. The other patrons were smiling, approachable, and having a great time singing along with the jukebox (that played pretty much every track from the Glee Soundtrack).
Also, lots of eye candy here, if you’re into that sort of thing!

The paint job here gives me a stomach ache when I walk in. I wish I could just go to the other room to get away from it but I CAN’T. That freaky salmon orange is EVERYWHERE. And the gallery of beer ads ALL over…
I wish they had just talked it over with someone who was a little into design. Its a unique space with the rooms and stairs etc. It could have been… but its not. I have accepted that and I swing by maybe once a week.
It’s great to see my buds playing pool but going here alone is not too exciting. Its like Manray was. People go in little groups and don’t talk to anyone else much. The staff is always nice and the beer is cold. It’s also consistently pretty busy, which is not true for lots of bars on the hill.

The Elite is a great little place to check out, drinks are poured strong and are fairly affordable. Its a pretty popular place for the locals to just go check out and have a few drinks.
Weekend nights tend to be busy and can fill up quickly. However, the bartenders (usually anyway) are pretty quick about keeping the line moving.
Pros: Affordable drinks, no cover
Cons: Crowded at times and chicky feel.

This bar was our 7^th or 8^th stop of the day the first time I went. I decided that it would be unfair to judge a bar that far into oblivion. Of course the drinks are going to seem strong when you have already had 55,000 drinks prior to your arrival. Of course you are going to have a good time dog piling with your friends in the loft upstairs (where the bartender can’t see you) when you are three sheets to the wind at 2PM. Of course your bartender is going to seem funny when he tells you all about the strange statue of an animal beside the staircase to the loft. Of course the fireplace is going to seem cozy — wait was there a fireplace???
So, I went back when I was sober and realized that the place was sort of dead and I didn’t have an urge to dry hump my friends that time around and the drinks were average but not all that strong and they served some sort of crapola TV dinners, which would be AWESOME in San Francisco but since every bar in Seattle serves some sort of meal, seemed sub-​par here.
I don’t know what all of this means. Perhaps what I am trying to say is just be really drunk, all of the time. This place will rock!

I dropped my pants here twice* and I’m not even gay. That’s how awesome this bar is!
Two DYLs were held here and everything hits the spot. The drinks here are awesome. They aren’t the sissy watered down drinks you’ll find in Belltown. These are pours that will make you wish that you had a glass of water beforehand. Drinks are not cheap but after you consider you’re getting a real man’s drink you’re not going to mind the money falling out of your wallet (or your pants falling to the ground).
John the Bartender is the best bartender since Isaac from «The Love Boat». I still can’t believe he spent a half hour telling Betsy K. and I dirty jokes that I wouldn’t dare repeat even at the Power Exchange. He’s also nice and down to earth and makes you feel at home. At another get together he saw that we were hungry and gave us the menu for the pizza joint down the street and let us use the phone to order it. He’s the reason I keep going back and he’s the reason why the DYLs always rock here.
Another nice thing for you annoying germophobes is that everything is new and clean. They have multiple flat screen tvs, a pool table, pinball machine and they have electronic darts upstairs. Plenty of space for big groups. The décor is unique with a huge statue of a lion, a unique sitting room facing towards Pine St. and the infamous Statue of David
.
And I won’t forget the people. No pretentious jerkstores here. Just straight (figuratively) people who are rock stars (literally)
I highly recommend the Elite with or without pants on.
* I dropped my pants in the presence of females and males twice at the Elite, and both sexes were disgusted.

Here I go revealing how very elderly I am again. Ahem…
Back in the day this place was on Broadway across the street from the Deluxe, a place where I did a lot of my early drinking because the Pops was a regular and he vouched for me at 19 or so. Woot. $ 2 Kamikazes on Thursdays yo.
One night my friends and I ran out of smokes and I ran across the street to get more at the Elite. I stood there for about 15 minutes trying to get the attention of the bartender. My vagina and I were completely ignored — by EVERYONE IN THE BAR. I hung my head and walked back across the street in shame. My OG gay and his penis had to go and take care of our needs. I had failed.
Fast forward to 2008 — new location on Olive. Bigger, better and a new day for the gay and the twat. Did you know my name is Honey? Or it could be Gorgeous… or Sugar Buns? Not sure.
At any rate, I felt no shame for my naughty lady parts last night.

Mariner Margarita! I just salivated on myself.
The drinks here are strong and even stronger (of course) if you have a Man Stick vs. a Vagoopagoop. Just sayin’. Standard, right?
This was my first *sober* gay bar experience and it was lovely! Of course, I didn’t stay sober for too long… I had to destroy my liver! The upstairs loft was the perfect place for privacy and wild times. Not an exaggeration. Where else would we see illegal uses of pants dropping? (Dan «Dfens» and Will L.?)…or how bout’s bewbie body shots? (Riss J. popped my body shots cherry). And where the heck else would I get such an extreme introduction to Betsy K.‘s mad balancing skills? Kerrie L. was giving two thumbs up the whole night, so you know we were doing well. Michelle B. with her dart throwing skills… well, let’s just say I’m glad we were in the loft. My momma always said, «less injury in a close proximity». It was great finally meeting Alyson L. who is actually a real life rockstar! Oh-​and Janeane S. who is sassy to the fullest and I love it!
The bar was great, service was off the hook and the times had were excellent. Thanks all!

You know the night is going to be awesome when you have good parking karma at the beginning. Much like getting a space right in front of Babeland for DYKL, parking the closest one could possibly get to the Elite was a sign of good things to come.
The Elite was a great place to have DYL goes National (thank you *again* Dfens!)…the drinks were generous, the place was homey, and the upstairs was spacious and inviting — the perfect place to get to know ever more Unilocalers in person (and the perfect, private place to pull your pants down, if the need arises)! This time we were all thrown together and could move around, instead of having to sit at separate tables way across the bar from each other.
Even using the bathroom was a good experience — I happened to announce to Dfens at the bar that I had to pee (as I am wont to do, and not just with him… I think I announce it a bit too much, but really, what’s the harm in letting people know?)…so some of the men sitting nearby lovingly told me to get the key attached to the orange thing back there behind the bar… and they cheered when I found it! I so love gay men, and I love gay bars!
And the bathroom itself was so clean I wouldn’t have felt icky if I somehow hadn’t been able to use a seat cover (but *of course* they were available).
The Elite also has various activities to entertain oneself — namely a pool table, two dartboards upstairs (
), and strategically placed video monitors with naughty naked-​women games. I could have used a few more wieners, but the boobies were entertaining nonetheless.
(And speaking of boobies… Riss, Betsy, and Lindi — thank you for letting me inappropriately look, grab, and rest my weary head. Aw, so comfy…)
So good to see you guys again… and to meet some of you for the first time (here’s to you, Nadja, Delilah, Will, Jessica, and Alyson!). And because of a misunderstanding, and Dfens’s ingenuity and luck at getting appropriate screenshots (
), this event became kind of an elite event… complete with free shots, buttons, Unilocalstick, and shot glasses! Thanks Michelle (
) — I’ve never felt so ELITE!

A gay sports bar that’s welcoming to all and has a gay boy for everyone, it appeared all types stopped in for a quick drink or two; someone for everyone just not me.
Great bartenders, unfortunately they are forced to wear a curry baby poop colored t-​shirt that are fugly as hell, sorry! Black would have been a better color and matched the statues above the front door, if you haven’t noticed them look up and check them out next time you head in.
They have a pool table, pinball machine, darts and a fireplace but be warned if you play darts up in the loft area it’s hot at F*&K up there, it’s «Gonna make you sweat til you bleed» and nobody wants to see Mitzie sweat or bleed especially Mitzie so she won’t be playing darts anytime soon.
They had a very clean ladies room that was fully stocked with soap, toilet paper and paper towels so lovely for any bar on the hill be sure to grab the key behind the bar because they keep the ladies room locked.
Just a note they do not have cocktail servers so you must get you drink at the bar from one of the super friendly bartenders, who pour a good Stella and make a great cocktail, and you’ll either need to keep your own tab or pay cash as you go.
The music is so random I loved it we had Depeche Mode, The Cure, Barry Manilow, Cher, Erasure it was awesome, great jukebox selection.