Love this place. Homey and cozy! Reasonably priced drinks and good food. Check it out.

We happened upon this place, wanted a place that was away from downtown Seattle, and Boxcar Alehouse did not disappoint us! Our bartender Nick was top notch, 15 years at this establishment. we ordered happy hour well drinks and a pitcher of beer (yep there still are places that sell pitchers of beer)! The food was flying out of the kitchen! the BLT sandwich was so good, as well as l, the French Dip! Parking is available, for free! We will be back! read more

Boxcar Ale House - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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I shocked myself and found to love this place! I've made some buddies with regulars and while I've come in the past (pre-pandemic), I forgot how enjoyable it is to come here. I've seen the typical magnolia-ite b*taches and just regulars. It's a great time every time, with decent pours and friendly staff that chill and even come hang after their shift. I dig it! For food, I've only had the burger and wings but need to revisit the wings as naked with sauce options on the side per a friend recommendation. The burger is good! And the fries are those Kringle kind, so FYI as everyone likes/dislikes fries a certain way lol As of Jan 2022 (my bday month!!), karaoke is only on Saturday's. read more

Boxcar Ale House - a pool table in a bar - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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The Boxcar is what it is. It's a great local spot, especially for sports, karaoking, or catching up with friends. It's not a "modern dive", it's just a dive. But if that's what you're into (like I am) I'd say give it a shot. Bartenders are cranky but they grow on you. Or you on them... Either way. read more

Such sweet servers. Very accommodating and kind. I'm gluten free and they're really nice about it. 10/10

The boxcar is a decent neighborhood dive bar that is convenient and consistently filled with customers. They have karaoke, but I forget which nights. They will let u bring your dog as long as u sit outside and they have a covered back patio section where u can watch football and get a bit of fresh air in rain or shine. The chili here is really good and I've also tried a chicken sandwich and the French dip. Food is really good value for the price, which is very important to me. Nothing worse than paying a ton of money and leaving hungry and dissatisfied. That won't happen to you at the Boxcar. Stop by and check em out if you're ever in my neighborhood. read more

Cute dive! Very chill, relaxed dive bar. Lots of seating, and games to play if you want. Standard bar prices, nothing special but it did seem like they have a lot of specials during the week that were worth checking out! I will def be back read more

Boxcar Ale House - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Karaoke with Easton, live bands, covered smoking outdoor dining area with tv's, good food, affordable booze, & friendly bartenders. Get the tater tots! I wish they had TouchTunes jukebox instead of old school cd's. Takes too long to find a song. I call this the Magnolia Targy's. Great local beloved dive with a lot of fishing industry folks. I leave Queen Anne for this place. read more

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One of the last of the amazing old school Seattle dive bars here in Magnolia... Real people, good strong drinks, no gastropub infusion nonsense just a solid bar w/ Great bartenders and deep fried eats and you can even sing REO Speedwagon or Nickelback or Biggie on a karaoke nite! read more

It good place. You must go to there. Drink fun people good. I like to come here. Look! It Ted! Drink good. People fun It's painted red The decor is exquisite. read more

Fun place to go to watch live music! Friendly staff. We had a great time there last Friday.

The quintessential "dive bar". Nothing fancy, great beer selection, friendly people and staff. And the food is what makes it for me, great sandwiches, fish and chips and THE best tots in the city. Occasional live music on Fridays and Trivia midweek. Come see me on the drums with The Ranken File band on the first Friday of the month. read more

If only they allowed dogs Great neighborhood bar. Can get a bit smokey on the patio, but is lovely outside when the air is fresh. Please consider allow dogs on the patio. Well behaved dogs, of course. read more

A good bar in Magnolia. Not too fancy. Lots of street parking out front. There is a great happy hour menu. Cheap food that we missed out on. There was also Karaoke when we went. Phoenix even went up to sing :) I like this place because it's not too loud so you could talk to your friends while drinking. Also to pass the time, they had a few games you could play. . . we played a few rounds of Jenga. Would come back. read more

Boxcar Ale House - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

The best dive bar food ever. Great staff, cheap beer, and awesome food! The burgers are great

Hands down worst experience i've ever had. Lady behind the counter either has no idea what she's doing or is purposefully over charging customers. I ordered 1 pitcher of beer and woke up this morning with over 80 dollars worth of charges on my card. Will not be coming back and please avoid this bar. Would be a good spot if ownership had any sense whatsoever. read more

This place gets 4 stars instead of 3 based on the karaoke and the beer selection alone. Come here for a great dive bar in Magnolia with decent enough food and great beers! Pros: Vitamin R & PBR + tons of "good" beer selections as well Karaoke! Great dive bar vibe Cons: Its a little off the beaten path read more

Boxcar Ale House - Salad was HUGE! - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

My favorite bar in the area. Perfect for anyone who loves a no thrills dive bar with delicious food.

Great neighborhood bar, friendly atmosphere and the bartender is really nice! Takes the time to explain the games that Boxcar offers, and a good drink selection! read more

If you're looking for Jukebox action on a Friday night, this is your place. The selection may overwhelm you, but a great ice breaker if conversation is going nowhere. If that doesn't suit your fancy, the people watching will! Fridays around 9, they have a lv e band though, so get your jukebox selections in early! Food was decent.. my brother dug the Luau burger. Bartender especially nice and informative. MUST TRY: Jukebox, game of Jenga... there are some interesting questions on those cubes! read more

Boxcar Ale House - No way! My little bro and I. Two for 2! Checking out the juke box my local "dive bar" - the Boxcar Ale House! - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

This is, hand down, the best drive bar in Seattle. It's not for sensitive people, but if you like an eclectic crowd, good pub fare and entertainment nights like karaoke and trivia this is the place. There is a solid regular crowd, but they are mostly welcoming and down for some dirty jokes and profanity. Come in for a stiff drink and meet some people. You can't go wrong! read more

This is a hideaway bar and I like it. Not an eye-popper when you walk in but the people are down-to-earth and the wings are amazing! I love it. Saw a guy who was either super drunk or crazy cause he was just mumbling jibberish. Me and my gf had a craving for wings and this place didn't disappoint. Meeeeoooow read more

Boxcar Ale House - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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I love karaoke at the Boxcar! They have the best selection. Totally obscure recent stuff plus all the classics, and some stuff you don't see anywhere else. I love it. The atmosphere at karaoke night is really nice, friendly, and fun. I drank Red Bull Vodka all night and my bill was less than $20. Good times. read more

Boxcar Ale House - a group of people singing on stage - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I have been to Boxcar a couple of times. Never tried the food, and the drinks are "Meh- I've experienced better" but its close to my boyfriends house. When we need to drown our sorrows or feel too lazy to travel further out, we end up here. read more

I love the boxcar for its character. In this case, character includes cheap drinks, fried food, TV's, karaoke, pool, ping pong, and an outdoor seating area that's covered in the winter and awesome and sunny during the summer. It isn't pretentious, and yes it has dirty floors and dirty jokes. It's a real, actual local dive bar and that's what makes it great. If you're into dive bars that aren't actually divey, this isn't for you. Come to relax, have drinks, watch sports or sing your butt off, and you'll fit right in. You keep being you Boxcar, and I'll keep coming back. read more

Boxcar Ale House - One of the greatest neighborhood bars left in Seattle. - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Out with the gal, needed a good spot to watch America's best pastime. Took in the Mariners over a few cold drinks. Was after a Schlitz but a Miller would do. The place had all of the characteristics of a dive and it was a gem of a dive. We had free pool and good service, a fine patio, and regulars were out enjoying their Sunday. It's obvious that this place pulls a community and is an asset to Magnolia. Bob don't care. read more

Boxcar Ale House - Bob don't care. - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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If your rexpectations are callabrated correctly, then the boxcar will not dissappoint, but exceed your expectations. If you are looking for refined, don't go here, if you are looking for that bit of respect you feel your not getting at work you won't find that here either. This is a bar, and a fun one and the menu, while not expansive, offers food that goes well with a beer. What you will find at the boxcar: The best trivia night I have been to ever. Sometimes there are only a handful of teams, sometimes it is standing room only. The competition is friendly, a free beer is given out every round, money for the winners, beers for the second place team. House matches the pot if there are ten teams, and the dumbest team gets to pick a round for the next week! Karaoke night i(Thursday) is lively and fun with no worries about sucking. Like every karaoke night, there are regulars, and some people find a way to sing more than everyone else, but you find that everywhere. What you don't find is the cheap drinks and GIANT book of songs. The boxcar rewards loyalty, come here once and you'll have an okay time, come here another time, it's a little better, and keep coming and soon you'll wonder why you bother with other more expensive showy bars? I don't even live in Seattle anymore, been gone for two years, but was up there on business and went in for a trivia night, then again on a trip a karaoke night, and the bars facilities have been improved, the porch added, with a tent and a heat lamp, new tables and the karaoke area is jazzed up a little. This bar tries hard for the people it serves. It's like that movie you watch and don't know what to think, then watch it again, and again, and suddenly you can quote the whole thing. Wrapping things up, the bar is open to suggestions from its customers; ask them to sponsor an indoor soccer team for five straight seasons and they just might, they have pictures and jerseys to show they did. Suggest they hold a "whatever" night for a party, they probably will, they like their customers. Go here expecting a bar, get everything a bar has to offer. Go here expecting marble counters in the bathroom and you will be horribly terrified. If you want to drink cheap alone, go on the slow nights (not tue/thurs). I don't play pool, I can't comment on that scene, but they have a table, so yeah. Final thoughts: Go to the boxcar, then go again, get a $2 PBR, or drink the one of the real beers on tap. read more

Boxcar Ale House - Trivia Night - Dive Bars Near Me - Seattle, Washington

A good friend of mine works in Magnolia. When he has free time for lunch, I'll swing by his office and we stop here for food. Each time we've visited, we have enjoyed burgers that are well-made, tater tots that easily rival the Tin Hat's and superb service. It's never been super-crowded between noon and two so I imagine the bulk of their business is at night. And I've never been here at nighttime so I cannot review the service or the patrons. read more

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This is as close as you can get to "Cheers". Thursday & Saturday night karaoke is taken very seriously, I sometimes forget I'm in a bar and think I'm at a Colosseum. When I first moved to Magnolia & saw this place I thought "what a dump, I'll never go in there"... Well of course I ended up going in & meeting many friends who lived in the neighborhood. It's so close I go anytime I feel like, months, years can pass & the same people still work there & Sing it with me... Everybody knows my name.... Never had a bad time. Friendly staff & patrons. The food is what it is, I don't eat there. It's all about draft PBR, pool, Karaoke & the outdoor deck. read more

I went to Boxcar Sunday evening for a burger and ordered the Cali Burger and the Mac and Cheese Triangles. The first table we were sitting at had ants crawling on it, so we moved to the table behind us which had not been cleared off yet. We cleared the table and someone came by to wipe it down. When I opened up the Ketchup to put some on my fries, the bottle was full of ants and I almost dropped it because it came as such a surprise. I also wasn't sure if I had the stomach to finish my burger but I did because I was starving... If I hadn't been I might have left. It was mediocre, not great but not bad. The mac and cheese triangles were the typical fried ones you can get at any restaurant. We moved to a table outside and listened to a patron telling stories about how he knocked out three cops and the hospital was out to get him which was kind of hard to hold my own conversation with the patio shenanigans. Definitely a rowdier crowd on the patio. I love a good dive bar but the dirty sticky tables and bugs all over the place were a huge turn off. The bartender seemed nice but I won't be back again. read more

Dont bother. There is no one working, a lot of friends hanging out it seemed. No one offered us food or drinks. Disappeared when they seen us looking for someone to serve us. A block away is a Irish bar, Maleadys I think. Great food! read more

An excellent must if you are visiting Seattle for the first time. The bartenders get straight to the point, meaning, if you need a good stiff drink after a long day of travel they will adhere to your wishes. Also, very empathetic to different people's needs and wants during this pandemic. Get to know the regulars; they are very knowledgeable. And they have more than one TV; so every sports fan is satiated. And a good tip, will get you a channel change. read more

The boxcar bar is for tougher people. Outside quite a few interesting pot smells. No one cares. This one guy was so drunk but they kept servivg him. In fact the outside was a pretty scarey place if ur alone. cluckish and they dont invite people into their conversation. If u havent been going there for over a year then u pretty much get ignored..knives and too many fights.. .. read more

Would've gave more except for the bitch of a bar tender. I loved the vibe of this place, so if you can handle an older lady complaining about her poor life while you're trying to have a beer than this is your place. I have never had someone speak so rudely. She took my brothers I'd who is 24, mind you and told him because he was smiling and looked to happy that it was fake, showed the whole bar and made fun of him in front of everyone. Not sure if she's new now but I will not go back read more

"Dude, I know a good dive bar!" says my wing man. OK, wing woman, but you get the idea. 2 single people, out and about, looking for a good place to get cozy, kick back a few inexpensive drinks and have a good time. "What could possibly mess this up," you ask? The Boxcar Ale House, that's what. Seriously, this place just isn't. Exactly. See how that sentence ended and left you wanting more? It just kinda left you hanging? Yea, it's about like that. My problem is very simple. Apparently this place is known for Karaoke, and puts on a pretty good spread on those nights. However, you're a bar, an Ale House to be exact, so I should be able to have a good ole beer time at your place irregardless of karaoke night or not. That's just not the case here. I made the mistake of going on a non karaoke night. The place was dead, which is OK, can't fault them for that. However, the patrons were all huddled together at the main bar and when my friend and I walked in, you could have heard a pin drop. Very, very eerie. We decided to cop a squat at one of the tables facing the stage in the back which was OK I guess. The drinks weren't as cheap as I'd suspected they should have been, but my copilot paid, so I can't complain. I could go on and on about how we FROZE in the back, or how the food smell in the place was odd, but I'll save you the details. I'll just say if it's not a night they're doing Karaoke, or the weekend, stay home. read more

Karaoke has the ability to raise the general publics opinion of even the most mundane establishment... tired places like the Rickshaw are raised to the status of legend. The Boxcar is not one of those places... in a nutshell... The Boxcar missed the train to the ever fun, Divetown and rode way too far into the begrimed end of Grossville. The last time I was in the Boxcar there was a faint smell of water-rot in the air and I was served my drink with a lemon in it. Which normally, would be a pretty uneventful event... on occasion it has even been a notably pleasant experience... This particular lemon however had rotted and turned to Grey powder. I ran out the door, hooked my arm onto a passing train, pulled myself up with all of my strength and shot my shotgun at the fuel canister outside the bar! The concussion of the scorching explosion blew me onto my back and as I raised my head looking back onto the raging fire, it's hot glow entering through my iris, shooting deep into my dark memories... I vowed never to return. read more

Check it out! My first one-star review. (Maybe I'll upgrade to 1.5--more on that later) Normally I'm a fan of dive bars. Especially when they have karaoke. But this was just...sad. a) It stunk like pee-pee and cleaning solution and grease. b) The bartender was a jerk, first rolling his eyes when we said we wanted food, then grouchily telling us that "Just so you know, there's only one guy cooking and you're about the 12th order in line, so, ya know, you'll have to be patient." c) Was fine with waiting, but not for the icky food that showed up. At least 5 potatoes-worth of fries, which could have been awesome except they were cold and too-salty. The hawaiian chicken sandwich had some funky-tasting teriyaki sauce that made me cringe. Plus, they didn't advertise it as blackened chicken, but it sure was. d) Too-loud jukebox music. e) FRIGHTFUL bathroom. +.5 star for the mishap with payment at the end of the evening. I may still owe them a few bucks. If I ever thought I'd go back, I'd for sure settle the score. read more

The first couple of times that I came to the Boxcar I hated it. The tables aren't clean, some of the servers will intentionally ignore you, and their back room is so depressing you should have prescription meds handy before entering. The day drunks present there are downright scary (I have seen fights nearly started between the guys for no good reason, and skin flashed by the girls that no one needs to see). But then I wondered why so many people actually came to the Boxcar. The reason is, that in comparison to many other bars/restaurants in Magnolia, it doesn't feel fake. It in fact feels very real, with real people; some of whom have real drug problems and real regrettable tattoos. Three stars. read more

Yep, love it. The Boxcar gets the Rick and Neil Karaoke Heaven Stamp of Approval! (ie: highest honor from me and Lindsey S.) This is the new best karaoke spot as far as I'm concerned, edging out Bush Gardens, and it's way closer to home and a million times easier to park at. They had every single song I could think of to look up, including new stuff. My friend Daniel did the most killer "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse, complete with drink-brandishing and spillage on his shirt. The stage even has enough room to throw a couple of dance moves in during the music-only parts of your song. Well drinks were a mere $3.75, High Lifes were $2, and both the bartenders were smiley and cool. There's a great big deck and a pool table. I can't wait to come watch football here, too! Watch for Rick and Neil performing our new and improved "Shoop" - coming as soon as possible to the Boxcar's Saturday Night Karaoke! Update: so, you know how when you leave your card at a bar, and you go back to get it the next day and the bartenders are all Douchey McMassengill on you? The Boxcar bartenders are not like that in any way. read more

This review is purely from the perspective of a musician playing in a loud rock band. Everyone else, I recommend you check out the other reviews on the Boxcar, as you're going to be having a much different experience. One of these days I'll return as a normal patron and write an update. We got about 5 days notice that we were going to be playing the Boxcar; I'm not sure what the deal was as I didn't set it up, I'm guessing a regular act canceled and we were filling in. The stage in this place is small, though we still were able to fit all of our gear on it. As usual, I got squeezed into a corner to make way for Phil E. and his monstrous amounts of keyboards and keytars. Yes, you read that right, we have a keytar. There was a single monitor, and as far as I could tell, it wasn't doing anything. We spent a long time with the sound guy early on trying to get some volume out of it, but no go. It basically just served as another object to trip over on the stairs up to the stage. And the sound guy left almost immediately after we were set up. This was too bad, because apparently Phil's mike wasn't working quite right, and unbeknownst to us several of our songs were done as psuedo instrumentals, with my backup vocals suddenly appearing out of nowhere. This would have been awesome if the audience was totally tripping on acid. Alas, they were not. That is the primary reason for dropping stars, I wish we could have at least gotten a run-through on how the sound board worked so we could have monkeyed with it ourselves. Speaking of the audience, we drove out everyone but our friends due to my band mates' inability to play any quieter than super-loud-volume. What can I say, we're a loud rock band. The last time we tried to play 'quiet' we didn't do too well because Stu and Phil couldn't hear each other. Weird, because I could hear both just fine. Anyway, the Boxcar's stage is in a smaller room, and we just blasted. Apparently there was a big crowd of people hanging out in the front of the bar listening, where they were also not going deaf. The Boxcar has an outside deck as well that looked nice, but I didn't get much of a chance to head out there. Oh, and just for the sake of those of you who searched for 'Boxcar Alehouse' (no space) I'm adding this sentence in so the Yelp search function picks it up. Aren't I nice? read more