Why You Need to Visit AFK Tavern

Posted by terraolsen on February 25, 2013 in Around Town, Food | 4 Comments

Why You Need to Visit AFK Tavern

By: Marla Eizik

Let me tell you real quick about this wonderful, magical haven of nerdom.

When my friend first mentioned this bar to me, I was confused for a moment. “AFK? What does that stand for?” He just laughed and said, “Away From Keyboard. It’s gamer lingo.” That’s when I knew this place would be different from any bar I’ve experienced.

And I was right! When you walk into the lobby, the first thing you’ll notice is several wide-screens ready to go for old-school Nintendo gamers. Walk through the diner area and every space is full of nerdy folks, some with laptops up and headphones on, WOWing away. Retro-looking posters cover the wall, and on closer inspection you’ll notice that they’re travel posters advertising exotic locations like Alderaan and Hoth. One in particular caught my eye; a propaganda piece showing a row of Cylons warning us to “Never forget who the enemy is!” (It took some major convincing from my friends to get me to leave it on the wall instead of smuggling it out.)

Then came my favorite part of the night: ordering the drinks. I’m not a huge drinker by any means, but I enjoy a good cocktail, and I love discovering unusual drinks I normally wouldn’t order. Man, is this the bar for unusual drinks! The menu has page after page of tasty drinks that all have some kind of nerd reference: I started with a drink called “Previously on Battlestar Galactica” (check out this description: “Starbuck was a whiny little b****, and everyone’s a cylon.”). Even better was the Lon Lon MIlk (“Fill up your hearts so you can shoot your
sword with power!”) and, my personal favorite, the Sereni-tea, which was kind of like an Old-Fashioned, with Firefly vodka of course. I think it took us a half hour just to order our drinks because we were too busy nerding out, giggling over the awesome names and descriptions.

And the food is just as wonderful as the drinks! I got the U.L.T. which is a B.L.T. with unicorn meat (because unicorns), although it was a tough choice between that and the Orc Burger, or Toadstool’s Revenge, which had a big portobello mushroom cap on top of a patty. Ah! GENIUS. This place seriously knows what it’s doing.

AND if you just relinquish your ID, you can order whatever board games and tabletop RPGs you could possibly want, or help yourself to video games that are scattered throughout the bar area. If you get tired of gaming and feel confident after a few drinks, there’s a decently sized dance area, and the dj takes requests. I finally got to show off my Tetris dance moves to a remix of the Tetris song (that kind of thing doesn’t always fly in the other clubs I go to in Seattle). My friend mentioned that the last time he was at AFK, someone came in and danced in full-on Deadpool garb, from head to boots. Everyone there LOVED it. I honestly can’t think of another bar that would appreciate cosplay, let alone let them through the door!

If you can appreciate this kind of nerd humor, and like good food and drinks, then congrats, you’re a wonderful human being, and you should reward yourself by going to AFK. It is totally worth the drive to Everett. I am 100% sure I will go again, bringing my Liz Lemon dance this time around.

Has anyone gone here before and loved it as much as we did? What other nerdy bars have you been to? Comment below!

Here’s a link for their upcoming event honoring Phillip K Dick, which is happening on Saturday, March 2nd. 

About the Author:  Marla was first introduced to the world of nerdom through Friday night Star Trek sessions with her family. As a child, she used Star Wars as a comforting tool and was known to sneak out of class to hang out in the library. Currently she lives in the great city of Seattle and is saving money to attend the University of Washington. Marla’s dream is to travel the world in search of the best books and food.