BITS Cafe — Restaurant in Olympia

I visited this spot for their Sunday brunch and bottomless mimosas as part of a group of 8 to celebrate a friend’s job promotion and to catch up with one another. We met the owner who was nice and offered to take our mimosa order while we waited for our table. We waited for 45 minutes to be seated which was no issue for us.

The owner was also our server! She was very helpful in suggestions and transparent on practices, & an overall pleasure to converse with. The food was great! The potatoes were crisp and not greasy. The omelet special I had was flavorful, the egg was fluffy, and the creative pairing of the ingredients was filling. We had a great time reconnecting and celebrating our friend.

Until we were informed by the owner about a customer and a server complaint about the volume of our table. We promptly quieted down. The owner stayed and talked a little bit within our ongoing convo and gave us our checks. I asked for my last mimosa & was informed the table was needed. I was told I could finish my drink in the waiting area, which I agreed to.

After a period of time I spoke to the owner and informed her that I hadn’t received my drink & asked if I could enjoy the drink outside. She informed me I could.

I waited outside a bit. But the drink never came.

I cut my losses and left.

Overall, the food and building are nice, it’s a cute spot. Clean bathroom and clean table setting. It is street parking, so may have to park and walk. There isn’t a number listed to make a reservation so exercise patience when waiting to be seated.

I would not recommend this as a space to commune with a large group especially if you all are expressive. If the request to quiet down was never made and had I received my last mimosa, this place would have definitely received 4 or 5 stars.

From a wider perspective, to businesses and the community alike when you deem spaces “safe” spaces for people of marginalized communities to come and be, understand that those expressions are vast and infinite, and can make those used to the confines of dominant culture uncomfortable. The complaint and compliance of asking a table of free Black women to shrink rubbed me the wrong way and was quite distasteful.

Black joy in its free and safe state is loud & expansive. This can be aggravating to those who have little to no experience witnessing it.

In these situations, question your discomfort first before questioning the natural expression of others.

F/U TO OWNER REPLY

Hi Tora,

I planned to personally thank you for your response and acknowledgment of the situation. However, your reply has been edited to remove your onus in missing the mark and have ladled in a passive aggressive statement about convo topics and censoring. Which truly saddens me.

Your original response read with a sense of care for my experience and ownership in your mistake. You were correct in your original assessment that has since been deleted: You should not have said anything at all, as we were wrapping up to leave.

The concern about the topics discussed are unwarranted and is gaslighting. Nothing that was discussed was derogatory or inappropriate in a free space.

Truth is if the patrons who had the issue had been minding their own business and their own conversation, they wouldn’t have created a narrative of what they THOUGHT was being discussed at our table. You actually introduced their specific subject matter into our chat and talked with us about it.

In the end their discomfort was prioritized and shifted onto to us, and you were used as the vehicle of transport.

I stand on what I said in my original review, if anyone is going to deem a space a safe space or commune there, walk the talk. Sharing that you have awareness and lived experience of being in proximity to marginalized communities is the reflective language but what is the reflective action?

That’s the actual work, and it was not exhibited at the end of my visit nor in your revised statement.

Ironically, this online interaction has been reflective of my visit; a great start and middle,...

My husband and I were in the area after dropping our car off at the dealership and decided we wanted to try this cute little breakfast place. I’m so so glad we decided to come here because it did not disappoint. Elizabeth (sp?) was our waitress and she was so so so kind and attentive to us. I was sad they were out of the lemon aid tea, but she offered a different selection that was similar that she thought I would like and boy was she right. I believe I got the Marion berry tea? Anyways the tea I got regardless was absolutely incredible. I’m such a tea snob so it’s hard for me to find any I truly like but the one I had with breakfast was delicious and it came in a cute little pot so I could refill my cup as needed. Overall Elizabeth made our visit so wonderful, I can’t rave about her enough. My husband got coffee and he was even blown away by that, he said he’s never had such tasty, fresh coffee before! My husband got the breakfast sandwich with eggs on the side and he devoured his food, me however, not so much, don’t get me wrong, the French toast was sooo yummy! Baby just did not like it :(. I was still starving though and ordered eggs and potatoes and that was very yummy, so fresh and they got it to me so quickly after I ordered, I was very very impressed. The ambiance of the place is so relaxing and cute, I love all their little decoration they had everywhere, it made the place feel more cozy! Overall I can’t rave enough about how incredible this place is. Awesome staff, awesome service and FRESH HOT food!!! 10000000/10 recommend! Just know though that parking can be a little tricky as it’s limited and you’re not allowed to park in the food co-op next to the restaurant, but despite the parking situation, it was well worth it...

WE UPDATE OUR REVIEW /ANSWER BELOW. My husband and I waited for 20 min to be seated to eat breakfast this morning. We were even willing to sit at the counter...When it was our turn to be seated, the waitress gave the next table to some people that had just come in instead of seating us even after we confirmed we would be seated next. We also think they sat a couple at the counter that came in after us. We felt very disrespected, the waitress even looked back over at us and smirked after seating the other party, so we left. The food looked really good but we'll never go back to try them because we were so disappointed with how we were treated. There was at least one other party before us that left too before being seated, we don't know how long they waited or if they also got passed over to be seated.

UPDATE TO REVIEW BASED ON OWNER'S RESPONSE BELOW:

"WE DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING AT YOUR RESTAURANT TO EAT OR DRINK, YOU SHOULD NOT ACCUSE SOMEONE OF LEAVING WITHOUT PAYING BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THE REVIEW."

When we were there, no one had mimosas in the couch seating area...there were some games out but that was all.

Pretty lame excuse for not seating me and my husband, we confirmed we would be seated next from the lady behind the front counter and another employee sat the other group. The other lady looked back and smirked at us directly. No one else was even close to getting...