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Address and Contact Information
Address: 2936 E Olympic Ave, Spokane, WA 99217
Phone: (509) 822-7439
Website: http://www.badseedinhillyard.com/
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The Bad Seed – Restaurant and bar in the historic Hillyard Library …
2936 E Olympic Avenue, Spokane, WA 99217. The Bad Seed in Hillyard.
The Bad Seed | Spokane WA – Facebook
The Bad Seed, Spokane. 4224 likes · 11 talking about this · 1128 were here. Restaurant and bar in the historic Hillyard Library building.
The Bad Seed (@badseedinhillyard) · Spokane, WA – Instagram
We’re a Tex-Mex joint in a haunted gothic library. We’re open 4-10 pm, Tuesday-Sunday! Photo by The Bad Seed in Hillyard. May be an image of hallway, door …
Reviews
Jen Noble
The bad seed is a spooky and eclectic restaurant! I love the warmth of the candelabras they light for you on your dining table. The dining areas are small which are perfect for intimate conversations and gatherings. Definitely a fun date night experience for my husband and I. From where we were seated, I noticed the old, original movie the bad seed was playing on their tv while we were there. They really curate the vibe. The old world, dark, moody vibe is fun and relaxing. I know it’s haunted, right?! So you might have an extra guest or spirit with you… haha. I love the grand, sensual pictures you can’t miss of the ladies! Hooray for celebrating the beauty, softness and femininity of the female body!
I have to say the smashed potatoes are my favorite item on their menu! I even ordered an extra side of them to take home. 🙂 The street corn and Birria tacos were good- but their potatoes are memorable! The palate remembers what it likes. I have been here twice (September 2024 and November 2025). I’ll be back for the potatoes!
… moreI have to say the smashed potatoes are my favorite item on their menu! I even ordered an extra side of them to take home. 🙂 The street corn and Birria tacos were good- but their potatoes are memorable! The palate remembers what it likes. I have been here twice (September 2024 and November 2025). I’ll be back for the potatoes!
Spokane Food
A haunted library vibe where tacos are the main character.
The Bad Seed
2936 E Olympic Ave
Spokane, WA
What We Ordered at The Bad Seed:
• Texas Size Taco Platter
• Grilled Chicken Tacos
• Smoked Brisket Tacos
• Crispy Tofu Taco
• Green Salad with Nopales & Pepitas
• Red Rice & Black Beans
• Chips & Ranchero Salsa
A little extra salt could be just what it needs, but overall, the flavors are really coming together. Sadly, no guacamole this time 🙁
The service was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and the bartender was fantastic I’d definitely come back just to see him again
… moreThe Bad Seed
2936 E Olympic Ave
Spokane, WA
What We Ordered at The Bad Seed:
• Texas Size Taco Platter
• Grilled Chicken Tacos
• Smoked Brisket Tacos
• Crispy Tofu Taco
• Green Salad with Nopales & Pepitas
• Red Rice & Black Beans
• Chips & Ranchero Salsa
A little extra salt could be just what it needs, but overall, the flavors are really coming together. Sadly, no guacamole this time 🙁
The service was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and the bartender was fantastic I’d definitely come back just to see him again
JC Aranda
Food quality is really good. Atmosphere is a 10 out of 10 – they really leaned into the historic charm. My main complaint was the single piece of brisket on the taco that is barely an ounce. They charge a $1 surcharge for it. My recommendation to management is to serve a decent portion of brisket and adjust the surcharge accordingly. I would not have noticed a $2-3 surcharge like I noticed the skimpy piece of meat. People understand brisket is a more expensive meat. Cutting the portion looks worse than just charging more.
… moreTimber
Alright we all know the saying, “All beauty, no brains”… Well that unfortunately came to my mind while each part of my experience at The Bad Seed was consistently more disappointing than the next.
I passed The Bad Seed a few times while driving through Spokane and the unique, curious-looking building caught my eye; upon learning that this establishment is a former library, I was stoked to check it out! I scoped out the Instagram, website, and tagged photos — many aglow with the eye-catching red “OPEN” letters and beautiful arched entryway.
When I entered for the first time this evening, I was excited! Immediately to my left were two gorgeous and tasteful paintings of nude women. I was thinking to myself, “This in Spokane?! Now this is a vibe I can get behind.” My date and I were encouraged to seat ourselves, and we chose a cozy corner facing the bar. After bringing us menus, our server brusquely flopped a wet bleach rag on the table and disappeared without introducing himself or really much of a greeting at all. I brushed this off; I’ve worked many customer service jobs. I get it.
I appreciated that there were both vegetarian and non-alcoholic options on the menu; I also appreciated that the Shirley Temple I ordered came with four bright red maraschino cherries.
The queso we ordered arrived lukewarm and with a filmy layer, our chips were roughly plopped into a paper-lined basket and almost entirely broken and crushed. Again, I brushed this off and we excitedly dove in. Who doesn’t love queso?! Sad to say, neither my date nor I loved this queso. Aside from being lukewarm with a weird film and scraggly chips, the queso was bland and had what I can only describe as an unpleasant mouthfeel. Specific, I know.
When our food arrived, I dug into my red rice. I’d be lying if I said that this wasn’t my favorite part of the meal. The rice was cooked well: not too firm and dry but not overly moist, or well, red. A pleasant, almost-vibrant vermillion. Although I did order both the tofu tacos (topped with nopales) and the salad (also topped with nopales)– I was still shocked with how many briny, soggy, floppy, and slimy wet nopales were plopped on my tacos and salad. The nopales were so wet and briny that the cotija on my salad was not crumbly, but in a saucy brine puddle. My corn tortillas quickly became saturated as well. The tofu was decent; it was coated nicely but still very soft and squishy. The pickled red onions were bland as well, yet a pretty pink color. The salsa was generic and likely not house-made. Lame.
Ready to go home and eat literally anything other than the drippy green blobs on my plate, I wandered around the restaurant to take in the decor, as it was something I’d originally been excited about. That’s when I saw him. The cigar store “Indian”. A caricature of not only my family’s history, but a dreadful reminder on days-gone-by (that myself and other Indigenous folks don’t think of fondly). Upon further inspection, it became clear to me that what initially seemed like funky, eclectic, and moody decor was a sloppily thrown together mismatched mess of decor. The music this evening matched this strange and cheesy vibe, too: not quite right for the setting and off-putting. I will admit I was charmed by the real candles on some tables, but the obnoxiously flickering and flashing bulbs in all the other lights were distracting and also cheesy.
Long story short: lots of room for improvement here. It’s cool that they offer vegetarian options, but they’re not good. The place is beautiful on a surface level… if you’re squinting and spinning rapidly in a circle. The brains, or the real nuts and bolts of the cuisine, were bland, soggy, and sad. I think there’s so much potential for this place. With love, get it together people.
I’ve attached photos of the heinous ‘cigar store’ wooden figure (offensive, outdated, and in need of a home in a bonfire), and the misleadingly beautiful outside of the building.
… moreI passed The Bad Seed a few times while driving through Spokane and the unique, curious-looking building caught my eye; upon learning that this establishment is a former library, I was stoked to check it out! I scoped out the Instagram, website, and tagged photos — many aglow with the eye-catching red “OPEN” letters and beautiful arched entryway.
When I entered for the first time this evening, I was excited! Immediately to my left were two gorgeous and tasteful paintings of nude women. I was thinking to myself, “This in Spokane?! Now this is a vibe I can get behind.” My date and I were encouraged to seat ourselves, and we chose a cozy corner facing the bar. After bringing us menus, our server brusquely flopped a wet bleach rag on the table and disappeared without introducing himself or really much of a greeting at all. I brushed this off; I’ve worked many customer service jobs. I get it.
I appreciated that there were both vegetarian and non-alcoholic options on the menu; I also appreciated that the Shirley Temple I ordered came with four bright red maraschino cherries.
The queso we ordered arrived lukewarm and with a filmy layer, our chips were roughly plopped into a paper-lined basket and almost entirely broken and crushed. Again, I brushed this off and we excitedly dove in. Who doesn’t love queso?! Sad to say, neither my date nor I loved this queso. Aside from being lukewarm with a weird film and scraggly chips, the queso was bland and had what I can only describe as an unpleasant mouthfeel. Specific, I know.
When our food arrived, I dug into my red rice. I’d be lying if I said that this wasn’t my favorite part of the meal. The rice was cooked well: not too firm and dry but not overly moist, or well, red. A pleasant, almost-vibrant vermillion. Although I did order both the tofu tacos (topped with nopales) and the salad (also topped with nopales)– I was still shocked with how many briny, soggy, floppy, and slimy wet nopales were plopped on my tacos and salad. The nopales were so wet and briny that the cotija on my salad was not crumbly, but in a saucy brine puddle. My corn tortillas quickly became saturated as well. The tofu was decent; it was coated nicely but still very soft and squishy. The pickled red onions were bland as well, yet a pretty pink color. The salsa was generic and likely not house-made. Lame.
Ready to go home and eat literally anything other than the drippy green blobs on my plate, I wandered around the restaurant to take in the decor, as it was something I’d originally been excited about. That’s when I saw him. The cigar store “Indian”. A caricature of not only my family’s history, but a dreadful reminder on days-gone-by (that myself and other Indigenous folks don’t think of fondly). Upon further inspection, it became clear to me that what initially seemed like funky, eclectic, and moody decor was a sloppily thrown together mismatched mess of decor. The music this evening matched this strange and cheesy vibe, too: not quite right for the setting and off-putting. I will admit I was charmed by the real candles on some tables, but the obnoxiously flickering and flashing bulbs in all the other lights were distracting and also cheesy.
Long story short: lots of room for improvement here. It’s cool that they offer vegetarian options, but they’re not good. The place is beautiful on a surface level… if you’re squinting and spinning rapidly in a circle. The brains, or the real nuts and bolts of the cuisine, were bland, soggy, and sad. I think there’s so much potential for this place. With love, get it together people.
I’ve attached photos of the heinous ‘cigar store’ wooden figure (offensive, outdated, and in need of a home in a bonfire), and the misleadingly beautiful outside of the building.
Kylie Powell
If could rate 10 stars I would.
My roomate and I decided to make the trip out to visit the Bad Seed when she saw a Tiktok video about the “texmex haunted library bar hidden gem in spokane.” We are both big fans of all things spooky, and we love a unique dining experience. All of our expectations were exceeded.
The food was so. Good. They don’t have a huge menu, but what they do offer has customization options, including different meats as well as the option to make things vegetarian on request.
We started with the queso and chips appetizer and it was soooo good! A huge serving with smokey cheesy wonderful queso wuth feta crumbles and lime juice on top. Our server Brandon was awesome. We are not drinkers, so he recommended this house made mocktail of Lemon Almond soda. It was excellent, like drinking a refreshing lemon poppyseed muffin.
For the main course we each got the two tacos platter that came with two sides. I got the Brisket taco with peppers and red enchilada sauce, and the shredded pork carnita taco with cabbage and Chipotle sauce. My roomate got the grilled chicken with Mexican street corn and ribeye with potato and feta. We each sampled all four flavors and looooved them. The chicken and carnitas were especially good, but the brisket was really close. The meat was so melt in your mouth good.
Our sides were Mexican street corn and black beans, and Rice and Potatoes. We split these as well and agreed HANDS DOWN that the Mexican street corn was the best. It. Was. So. Good. Next time we go, I’ll probably just ask for two servings of the corn lol. The rice and beans were fancy and cool, and the potatoes were really good.
By the end of our meal we were both stuffed, but we ordered the flour-less chocolate torte with berry compote to go and drove the 3.5 hours home. By the time we dug in, it was still delicious despite the time. It was so rich and gooey and chocolate heavy. If you like chocolate and are gluten free, then you will loooooove this.
The atmosphere. This is such a fun place with interesting decorations and a sick vibe, especially as the sun goes down and they light up the candelabras and the red lamps and stuff. There is a bar section where nobody under 21 is allowed, and general seating. A big party with kids came in towards the end of our visit and they seemed like they were having a good time (but beware, the decor is super awesome and cool and spooky and the bar section includes 3 huge beautiful vintage paintings that include nude ladies so if you don’t want your kids seeing that, sit in the side room if you can, but come early cuz this is a bar;)
All of that food, and our total was:
$67!!! Awesome price for the service and food we got! We tipped big so it came close to 90 but it was so worth it because of how accommodating and quick our server was.
My one and only complaint was parking was a bit weird. They don’t have a parking lot and are in the middle of a residential area, but this is not their fault. There’s nowhere to put a lot, and having to park down the block is a fine price to pay for the chance to eat in this cool old building.
All in all, 100% recommend visiting this place. Everything we ate was fire, the servers were awesome, and the atmosphere was so unique and fun. 10/10 experience.
… moreMy roomate and I decided to make the trip out to visit the Bad Seed when she saw a Tiktok video about the “texmex haunted library bar hidden gem in spokane.” We are both big fans of all things spooky, and we love a unique dining experience. All of our expectations were exceeded.
The food was so. Good. They don’t have a huge menu, but what they do offer has customization options, including different meats as well as the option to make things vegetarian on request.
We started with the queso and chips appetizer and it was soooo good! A huge serving with smokey cheesy wonderful queso wuth feta crumbles and lime juice on top. Our server Brandon was awesome. We are not drinkers, so he recommended this house made mocktail of Lemon Almond soda. It was excellent, like drinking a refreshing lemon poppyseed muffin.
For the main course we each got the two tacos platter that came with two sides. I got the Brisket taco with peppers and red enchilada sauce, and the shredded pork carnita taco with cabbage and Chipotle sauce. My roomate got the grilled chicken with Mexican street corn and ribeye with potato and feta. We each sampled all four flavors and looooved them. The chicken and carnitas were especially good, but the brisket was really close. The meat was so melt in your mouth good.
Our sides were Mexican street corn and black beans, and Rice and Potatoes. We split these as well and agreed HANDS DOWN that the Mexican street corn was the best. It. Was. So. Good. Next time we go, I’ll probably just ask for two servings of the corn lol. The rice and beans were fancy and cool, and the potatoes were really good.
By the end of our meal we were both stuffed, but we ordered the flour-less chocolate torte with berry compote to go and drove the 3.5 hours home. By the time we dug in, it was still delicious despite the time. It was so rich and gooey and chocolate heavy. If you like chocolate and are gluten free, then you will loooooove this.
The atmosphere. This is such a fun place with interesting decorations and a sick vibe, especially as the sun goes down and they light up the candelabras and the red lamps and stuff. There is a bar section where nobody under 21 is allowed, and general seating. A big party with kids came in towards the end of our visit and they seemed like they were having a good time (but beware, the decor is super awesome and cool and spooky and the bar section includes 3 huge beautiful vintage paintings that include nude ladies so if you don’t want your kids seeing that, sit in the side room if you can, but come early cuz this is a bar;)
All of that food, and our total was:
$67!!! Awesome price for the service and food we got! We tipped big so it came close to 90 but it was so worth it because of how accommodating and quick our server was.
My one and only complaint was parking was a bit weird. They don’t have a parking lot and are in the middle of a residential area, but this is not their fault. There’s nowhere to put a lot, and having to park down the block is a fine price to pay for the chance to eat in this cool old building.
All in all, 100% recommend visiting this place. Everything we ate was fire, the servers were awesome, and the atmosphere was so unique and fun. 10/10 experience.
Serena
I wanted to try this place for a while, and finally had the opportunity to go with a few friends. The atmosphere is amazing. Very cozy and eclectic.
The staff was also very nice.
The menu is small, so I assumed everything would be amazing. That is where things things went wrong, unfortunately. The food was incredibly bland. I expect my Mexican food to have flavor, and this just wasn’t that. It was a bummer because I really wanted to like this place. Like I said, the staff and atmosphere were lovely.
Maybe the kitchen staff was having an off night. Idk. But the food definitely made me feel like I was better off making dinner at home.
… moreThe staff was also very nice.
The menu is small, so I assumed everything would be amazing. That is where things things went wrong, unfortunately. The food was incredibly bland. I expect my Mexican food to have flavor, and this just wasn’t that. It was a bummer because I really wanted to like this place. Like I said, the staff and atmosphere were lovely.
Maybe the kitchen staff was having an off night. Idk. But the food definitely made me feel like I was better off making dinner at home.
Gabe Nguyen
A San Francisco style eccentricity that is rare to be found. Great atmosphere for a date night and a small library to chill and read. This place is one of the most unique and right in your neighborhood.
… moreJen B
The place looks much larger from the outside. It’s quite cozy on the inside. Our server was great and the food delicious! We’re definitely coming back on a Thursday to try their Prime Rib special!
Last night though, my friend and I had their Braised Beef Short Ribs – served with red rice (we were able to substitute this for their salad) and smashed gratin potatoes. It was really tasty.
… moreLast night though, my friend and I had their Braised Beef Short Ribs – served with red rice (we were able to substitute this for their salad) and smashed gratin potatoes. It was really tasty.
Angie Swan
Food here is incredibly flavorful and delicious! We tried the Texas caviar appetizer, and for dinner the smoked brisket burrito and tacos with smoked brisket and tofu. Be sure to try the mac & queso! For drinks, the margaritas and San Antonio sour were on point. We were thoroughly impressed with the taste and price of the food, the quality of the service, and the atmosphere. We will be back!
… moreBeyond Vision Foundation
Food was good a different type of fajitas the taco was good it had a dip to dip it in which was spicy. The margarita was a nice sour one. The service was slow this day and not real attentive
… more