With apologies to a certain Italian chain, when you're at Poole's Public House, you're actually family.
When the husband-and-wife team of Scott and Lisa Poole started the sports bar in a strip mall on East Hastings Road back in 2013, they weren't experienced restaurateurs trying to reinvent the wheel.
Poole's motto is simple: "We don't serve fast food, we serve great food as fast as we can."
"We give value to people and make them feel at home when they're here," says Scott.
And that sense of community is palpable when you enter one of the two Poole's locations: a newer, flagship location built on the same block as their strip mall starter in North Spokane and a second spot on the South Hill. While the bar's often packed during Big Sky football games, (the Poole family has a long line of University of Montana alumni, so it's a Griz game hotspot), Gonzaga hoops games and NFL Sundays, even the weekday lunch scene, have a good vibe.
Part of that is the quality of the food and drinks. With 18 beers on tap (many local) and a menu of elevated sports pub fare, there's something satisfying for most any taste. The half-pound burgers are tasty stomach-stuffers, and other items have been tweaked for classic preparation to maximize flavor. Scott even goes so far as to taste the chili and clam chowder every time he visits the restaurant to make sure consistency is maintained.
The other key element to Poole's success is the neighborhood gathering spot the family has fostered. All three of the Poole's sons have worked at the restaurants and more recently have taken on most ownership duties: North Spokane (Trevor), South Hill (Tyler), and the family's newly opened Mossuto's Italian restaurant (Tony).
"It feels like a Cheers kind of place," says Lisa. "Our kids know everybody, they know what everybody drinks — half the time they have it on the table before they sit down, you know?"
That loyal clientele helped Poole's through the rough spots of the pandemic. And now that their kids have taken the reins, Scott and Lisa can soak in that vibe as patrons.
"Now we get to be guests when we come in," says Scott. "I'll still go into the kitchen and try the chowder, though."
2nd PLACE: Epic at Northern Quest
3rd PLACE: 24 Taps Burgers & Brews
NORTH IDAHO'S BEST: Capone's Pub & Grill; Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Post Falls
