Reno Reviews: Toggle's Bottleshop

In the heart of downtown Everett there are plenty of little wonderful spots to enjoy, all locally owned and operated. The greatest part of it all is that its all pretty much within walking distance for those who live in the North Everett area. From kitschy vintage secondhand stores, to pubs, and hole in the wall restaurants with wonderful atmospheres, downtown Everett is becoming a sort of mini-Seattle, and with the growth that’s expected in the city within the next five years it’s certain to become just that and even more.

In these blogs I’m going to take some time away from the maddening political realm and focus on some of the wonder and beauty of this ever-growing city and review it’s top, middle and awful establishments. I’ll be reviewing based on several criteria; however, I won’t be giving a rating or a grade, you’ll just have to read what I have to say, you lazy bastards. The criteria will be as follows: Location, Libations, Food, Atmosphere, Service, Clientele and Price.

I’d like to introduce you all to Toggle’s Bottle Shop.

Location: Toggle’s is located at 1420 Hewitt Ave, off Hoyt Ave in downtown Everett, and unfortunately, it’s in that area that’s been subjected to the street renovations. However, those renovations haven’t seemed to hinder their ability to draw in a crowd and make money. I’d chalk that up to the fact that you can still park on parts of the street, plus there is a parking garage just catty-corner from the pub which doesn’t charge you for parking after a certain time of day. The pub is also located right next to several other downtown Everett favorites such as Sol Food, The New Mexicans, and Abbott’s. There is also a mini-mart right next store which could cater to the casual cigarette smoker who found themselves lacking in their cancer-stick department. Overall, it’s a great location, however once the street renovations are completed it should be even better to access.

Libations: Toggle’s offers some great, locally brewed beers, many of which you can’t find anywhere else. They pretty much have whatever you fancy, except Bud or Coors or any of those other cheap, shitty beers. They have plenty of micro-brews to chose from, and their menu seems to change every now and then with some new additions coming across their menu, which is great. I’m not a micro-brew aficionado, but I do like to try new beers, and if trying new beers is your thing than you should go to the bar and check out the menu.

Toggle’s does something else though, and I’ve never seen this before in my time of pub crawling. You have the bar, like every other pub in in the world, but you also have a back room that is filled with mini-mart like refrigerators that are filled with all kinds of beer bottles. You can find anything from ciders to lagers to ales and other specialty bottled brews that you can’t find at your typical corner store or mini-mart.

Food: Now, this is where Toggle’s takes a dive in my appreciation. Toggle’s does not have a menu for food. However, they do offer what I like to call “Stay Sober Snacks”, which is cool, but no substitution for food.

There are two dog food-like contains with dials on them which you turn to release treats. The two treats are peanut butter filled pretzels, which I love, and a sort of Chex mix pretzel combination that are free to patrons of the establishment. This is the extent of their food offerings. No kitchen at all, which is understandable considering the great lengths they took to give us every alcoholic beverage they possibly could.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere is atypical from any other pub I’ve been to. There is limited seating, but there are board games provided. There is light music played over the speakers, but nothing I recognized, just stuff that plays in the background so as not to have a completely dead atmosphere. The bar is clean, and smells clean, probably the best looking or smelling pub I’ve ever visited. It’s not a clinical smell by any means, it just smells and feels very natural. It’s kind of a blank slate for those of us who wish to enter a pub and make our own experiences, instead of being guided to whatever theme the bar has. It’s more of a “choose your own adventure” pub, and I have to say, I really like that idea. It’s very well lighted, and the two front windows roll up for the summer months, almost like an auto shop garage.

Service: All I can say on this criterion is that the service is great. The folks that work there are not rude, and they engage in conversation. They’re also knowledgeable when it comes to the micro-brews they serve on tap and can give you their firsthand experiences with them. Overall, they’re courteous, informative and great to talk with.

Clientele: The people that come into Toggle’s are pretty low-key. They all kind of do their own thing, which is typical in a pub, but there is never some crazy outburst or drama from what I’ve seen. It’s a younger, professional crowd that I’ve come to admire, having been the patron of many rowdy, unhinged pub scenes. All I can say is that from what I’ve seen, the clientele behaves themselves and treat the place like their own home.

Price: This is where I have a problem. When you walk up to the bar to get something on tap, the prices seem a bit high, and the glasses seem a bit short. They’re are not pint glasses at all. They fall short of what I would pay $6.50 per glass for at a typical pub. If you go to the back room and grab a bottle and have it served for you there in the pub you pay for the bottle and a serving fee, which is pretty steep if you ask me, especially since all the guy or gal is doing is pouring the beer into a goddamn glass and handing it to you. Plus, you don’t even get the full beer right away. If you buy a 22-ounce beer bottle the staff will pour the beer into a short glass, the same size they serve their taps in, and then they cap the rest of the beer and hold it behind the bar for you, making you return to the bar when you want the rest. I’ve been there a few times where they’ve offered to pour a full 22-ounce beer into two different glasses for me so that I could have the whole beer all at once, but they don’t seem to do this all the time. I figured that this is a method they use to keep the alcoholics at bay, but still, there is some inconvenience here.

Overall: I like this pub. It’s a pretty cool place to meet up with friends and have some pretty obscure brews that you have maybe never heard of. It’s an eclectic establishment when it comes to that, and I like that characteristic in the pubs I go to. You can find stuff here that no other pub serves in the city and that’s what keeps me coming back. On top of that the people that patronize the pub are always cool, and the employees are cool, and the overall atmosphere is great. I especially like the fact that they have board-games and card games available for people to play. It’s not like other pubs that have a theme as I said before. It’s a sort of “choose your own adventure” pub, and I like that.

If you live in Everett, I would highly suggest giving this pub a try.