McMenamins Anderson School (Bothell, Washington, U.S.A.)

McMenamins Anderson School 18607 Bothell Way NE, Bothell, Washington, U.S.A.  www.mcmenamins.com  This placed is amazing and sooo cool!  I have never been to a McMenamins experience before.  A friend once recommended one in Portland to me but I never made it there. Mike and Brian McMemamin opened their first location in 1974 in Portland, Oregon.  This used to be the Bothell high school and was built in 1931 it ceased as a school in 2009. This is a 5 acre complex with the old school as the starting point.  The school is the 72 room hotel, all the rooms are named after past teachers.  When you go to the 3 rd floor in the middle is the first bar called the Principal's Office.

 This is a neat tiny bar that seats about 8 people.  You can take your drinks with you and walk virtually all over the complex except in the parking lot.  There are nice chairs and table in the hall way  and also on one of the stairway landings where you can sit and enjoy our drink. A great place to have an intimate drink!  There are 3 other large buildings that form a large court yard.  In the courtyard is the Shed pub.

The Shed Pub is in the courtyard and seats about 20 people.  There is a beautiful curved brick wood burning fireplace and is used.  They have a wonderful selection of Whiskey here.  I tried the Knappogue Castle 16 Irish Whiskey which was pretty good!  We met a local couple who come here at least once a week.  The courtyard has lots of tables and chairs and I am told it is packed in the summer time. In one of the other buildings is the Woodshop Pub .

The Woodshop Pub was actually the schools wood shop back in the day.  There is a beautiful long 16 person sit-up bar, the wood in this is stunning.  There are several quaint small booths running across from the bar.  There are 2 full sized shuffleboards and 4 pool tables.  They serve 13 types of their own beer that is brewed on premise.  They also have a few guest taps to try.  With a very large selection of Whiskey, Rum and Tequila you can find something you will like.  The area in the picture above is adults only.  Children can come in the other areas of the bar.  Out side the front doors they have a covered wood burning fire pit complete with warm blankets if you need to cozy up.  On one side of the pub is the Tavern on the Square and the Theatre which has a bar too is on the other side.  We did not try these out, maybe next time.  across one of the parking lots is the South Seas Pub in the building called the North Shore Lagoon.

When you enter the North Shore Lagoon they use what was the school swimming pool and have given it a Polynesian theme to it.  Up stairs and over looking the pool is the South Seas Pub.  Once again very well done, beautiful wood sip-up bar that holds 14 people. The tables again all have the beautiful wood tops.  There are 5 booths running along facing the bar.  Kids not allowed n this part.  They do have an area for kids. Lots of bamboo is uses and gives it a great Polynesian feel.  They have a killer Mai Tai!!

What a great complex, I look forward to coming in the summer and sitting in the court yard!  Definite two thumbs up for this place!!

The Tavern on the Square, another great place.  All of the booths are 4 person church pews.  The bar is a rounded rectangle that seats 40 people.  There is a nice fireplace at on end with nice comfortable chairs in front of it.  For lunch most of us had the: Tavern Boilermaker, which is a toasted hoagie roll with garlic butter, hogshead onions, roast beef & Gruyere cheese served with a house made Terminator stout onion jus.  This was a great sandwich, the bun, the beef the jus all awesome! The beer/ wine etc. is the same through out the complex.  There is the shop which is attached to the Tavern and has a huge selection of items, \i got a double walled stainless steel 64 ounce growler painted in orange.  They say it can keep beer for 7 days. That was a great gift to receive! Thanks!!!