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annie0226

Joined 2 years ago

Amazing Venue in Ballard. We recently held a birthday bash at this establishment and the management was so helpful in accomodating our large party. The atmosphere was really fun and the staff was wonderful in making sure everyone was taken care of all night long. I will highly recommend this venue to all of my friends and plan on returning soon!

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Orna Locker

Joined 3 years ago

Sophisticated and Neighborhoody rolled in one. Our organization just had our volunteer appreciation party at Balmar. We loved the atmosphere, cool lighting and decor, the excellent, friendly and helpful service, before and during our event. They worked with us ahead of time to make the whole thing smooth and easy. Our group of about 15 loved having our own corner with comfy seating, right across from the bar, which was reserved for us. Everyone had a great time. The atmosphere and overall feel at BalMar added to the fun and excitement of the event, and was the perfect way to treat our deserving volunteers! We'll definitely look for other special occasions to celebrate at Balmar.

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Ang B

Joined 3 years ago

Great dance floor at this Ballard bar!. 5 stars for the venue: Great dance floor, fab & fun music to hang or dance to, nice comfy couches, loads of fun people, it's packed!!!

3 stars for the service and price. I ordered a well drink (cheapest rum you can get) and it cost me $6 plus tip. A fancy drink (such as cosmos, martinis, etc) runs around $10. The service is almost non-existant. Bartenders are either too busy or if they are not too busy seem a little stuck up.

But since I typically go to bars for the people and the dancing, I would definitely definitely definitely come back! I might even plan a dance party here myself as I'm already wanting to go back

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xseeyah

Joined 3 years ago

Great spot. My experience is for the Private party room (birthday):

I had an amazing time. I asked my friends what they thought about the decor, environment and if they had a good time, they all said great things. Most of my friends didn't know about the BalMar until my event. It was very convenient having the restrooms close by as well as the upstairs bar and dance floor. There were some occasions were people had to go to the bar for drinks, but other then that service was excellent and speedy. The busser was constantly coming through and taking away empty glasses and plates which was great.

The music was great, at one point I was dancing and there was a circle around me, ha, that was a first!

Susan was very friendly, helpful and amazing. I called last minute to reserve and she helped me out and accommodated my needs. When we arrived, we had the whole area to ourselves with 9:30 reservation signs all over.

I would definitely recommend this place to my friends as well as have another event here.

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janna

Joined 3 years ago

Great party spot. I had my birthday party in the Halverson room at BalMar and it was great! The owner, Susan, was great to work with the schedule to reserve the space and our server, Randy, was fabulous! Our big group was very well taken care of!

It is an amazing space and although it's a little different than it used to be (there is a dance floor where the pool tables used to be) it has a fun, upbeat vibe perfect for large groups.

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maria1980

Joined 4 years ago

great party place. Hosted a surpise birthday party here. Our server was great. We had to meet a $500 minimum and pay a room fee of $50. Pretty easy to do if you have around 35-50 guests. Bal Mar is really easy to work with and will accomodate to your party.

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BritDolan

Joined 4 years ago

Good for Private PArties, but not that great normally. I have been to BalMar a couple of times now, twice for birthday parties, and once just to stop in for a drink. For the private parties it was great because we supplied the crowd, and they took care of the drinks and atmosphere. But when we went for a random night out the crowd was not the best. Nothing against the actual bar/lounge, just the people who happened to walk in that particular night. It was like a 30 year old group of over-aged frat boys. Not sure what was up, but BalMar is great as long as you aren't trying to meet people there.

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benwitz

Joined 4 years ago

Good private party location. The BalMar is a good private party location. They have a good sized back room that is private enough to only have your people there, but still feel like you are part of the bar/lounge atmosphere.

They were helpful in organizing, flexible with working out how the bar tab was going to work and everything went without a hitch. The only downside was only one server for 30+ people, so service was slow.

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seadunny

Joined 5 years ago

great times in ballard. chill place with great staff. food is awesome as well. the perfect end to a long evening.

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newash10

Joined 5 years ago

Great for holiday party. We had our holiday party at the Bal/Mar and it was great! The food was good and the spacing was perfect. It was perfect for a crowd of about 85 people. I would say it would work for any group 70-100 but not much more than that because it would be too crowded. The facility was nice but still casual enough that people did not feel like they had to dress up too much. Everyone enjoyed the pool tables and all of the areas to "hang out". I would strongly recommend this for any sort of party. Susan, the party planner, was very helpful, keeping our party within budget and making sure that we had enough food for everyone. She pulled together a great assortment of food that had enough variety for a large group of people. Overall, our party was very successful, appealing to the whole range of ages in our office.