Iron Rabbit Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Olympia

Decided to come here for a late lunch on a day when it had been snowing profusely. I called ahead to make sure they were open and they were. This place is not super easy to see from the street. It has two entrances, the main one being the door on the right. The left door goes to the bar area. I am not sure how busy they are on a non "storm" day, but when I went it was 2pm and it was just me and another table. The manager sat me and explained the new items on the menu in detail as well as pointed out the 18% gratuity that was an auto add to the checks. I already knew this from browsing the website, but appreciated her letting me know. My take on that is if you are mandating customers pay gratuity then your service better be ON POINT.

Menu- lunch consists of a variety of specialty burgers, sandwiches, some salads and a few entrees. It isn't overwhelming. For those who don't eat a lot of meat, they make their own veggie patties to substitute if needed on their burgers.

My meal:

Dungeness crab chowder- excellent. Flavor was savory, base was a mix between a cream and broth, with chunks of potatoes and other veggies that complimented it. I enjoyed it.

Rancher burger with veggie burger patty substituted with side of carrot slaw- ate the slaw first. Nice mix of flavors. The semi sweet carrot flavored with a tangy honey mustard type vinagarette. I really enjoyed it. Now for the burger...the presentation was great, fresh veggies with onion straws, melted cheese, the veggie patty looked like a mix of quinoa and other things...I was excited. I bit into it and...what a disappointment. The veggie patty was mush. It pretty much oozed out of the bun. What was left had no texture or flavor. I'm pretty sure the Costco bean patty burgers would have tasted better than what I just ate. Such a disappointment. Maybe they don't make them often. I'm not sure, but it needs to be re formulated and perfected. It shouldn't be mush or taste like nothing.

Cons- music was a weird selection and kind of loud. Expected better service for mandatory gratuity. Had to ask for more water and the server didn't offer any insight as to meal selections. Veggie burger patty was a fail, and if you are going to charge $17 for a burger, the veggie option should be just as good, otherwise charge less.

Pros- if you are a beef eater, this place is a really good choice. Food was fresh and the selections have chef creativity behind them. They have a good selection of local brews too.

Based on my experience 3 1/2 stars. I might have to come back and try something without the veggie burger Patty. Iron Rabbit chefs, if you change up your veggie Patty please let me know, I would definitely welcome a...

We’ve been to The Iron Rabbit many times over the past year—our first visit was actually by accident, but it turned out to be a hidden gem when it came to food. The service wasn’t great back then, but the flavor and quality of the meals more than made up for it. We ended up going back weekly when we lived nearby, and even brought large groups with us on several occasions. The food was consistently delicious—creative, bold, and bursting with flavor.

But unfortunately, our last couple of visits have been a major letdown. We moved about an hour away, so we don’t come as often anymore, but when we do make the trip back, it’s been disappointing. The menu seems to have changed, and some of our favorite go-to dishes just aren’t the same. They’ve lost the pop and creativity that used to make them stand out.

The service, sadly, has never been the strong suit here—but lately it’s felt worse. Not just inattentive, but almost like we were an inconvenience for showing up. That’s been a consistent theme, but we always tried to overlook it because we loved the food so much and always tipped 22–27%. We even recommended this place to so many friends and family.

To top it off, we were also told they’ve discontinued their rewards program—which was a small but appreciated touch that made us feel like repeat customers mattered.

After this last visit, I think we’ll be taking a break from The Iron Rabbit. It used to be a favorite, but something has shifted—and not in a great way. We’re hoping it gets back to what made it special in the...

Overall this is a place worth trying for the excellent food.

I really wanted to give this place 5 stars all-round, but there were a couple of things that could use some improvement.

Food: 4/5. I had the Sirloin Diablo which was cooked well, but flavors were not to my liking. The gravy of dish had savory middle eastern flavors like cummin and maybe a hint of turmeric, but also had a sweet American barbecue flavor to it and these flavors did not mix well for me, there was more sweetness than savory happening for me and that was unexpected from a dish with Diablo in the name.

My wife had fish and chips, which were excellent in presentation and flavors.

Unfortunately we arrived around 2:00pm and were kindly told we couldn't order from the dinner menu.

Ambiance: 2/5. The pictures seem a bit deceiving. The restaurant was not as vibrant as seen in the photos and there is a strong oder that I can only describe as an old library book mixed with old people and a questionable hint of vomit. That's was the worst part for me because the smell was throughout the restaurant and would not go away.

Customer Service 5/5. The staff are friendly and attentive.

I hyped this restaurant up to my wife for weeks because of the pictures of the food seen on google. She was not impressed with the interior and was really upset about the smell. Now I can't pick restaurants for a while... I Would eat from Iron Rabit again because the food was great, I'd just be sure to...