The Park Side Cafe — Restaurant in Olympia

Stumbled into this place after a bike ride and was delighted to find another plant-based eatery in Oly, especially one with breakfast! I raised an eyebrow at carrot lox, given my East Coast heritage, but they were pretty good! I'm sworn to honesty by my holy oath to the Google Local Guide program, so I must admit I missed the fishy flavor of the lox a bit when I started eating. Perhaps they could add some seaweed flakes to Bring the Brine? The green onions, however, quickly took over. By the end of the bagel I had stopped caring if I was eating carrot or coho, it just tasted good! Definitely a West Coast take on the concept.

The espresso shot was admittedly a low point of my breakfast. Bitter to a fault, though that may have been my fault. I had decided on this option in the strange middle space between walking in and realizing that all of the offerings here were plant based. An espresso tinged with my own misplaced defeat. Draw Your Own Conclusions about the drinks here, and I hope to update my thoughts when I can order in earnest.

Torn between the bagel and the espresso to describe the quality (and impressed that it was only $11 for both), I decided a tiebreaker was in order. Enter the cinnamon white chocolate cream pie. I am not a fan of cream pie, but the novelty of getting to eat a cream pie that wouldn't put me through The Consequences was too intriguing to resist. It was not as sweet as I was expecting going in, the cream had a slightly underwhelming flavor on the first bite, but the flavors quickly came together in the second bite when I reached the cream pie proper. A wonderfully savorable piece of pie that I have been nibbling on through writing this whole review. The melding of the pie crust and the icing is wonderful.

A solid breakfast destination that avoids the extreme wait of nearby...

EDIT: Very different to go here after the pandemic. They don't serve decaf coffee at all, and they only offer these little cups. While you can get refills on regular coffee - if you want decaf you have to get an Americano and they only serve espresso drinks in a quite small cup and refuse to refill. ($33 for breakfast including a 20% tip, and they refuse to offer the sizes everyone else in town offers, and they refuse refill my little coffee cup?!?!?!) . Also, we used to enjoy the rooftop deck, but the new rule now is that they refuse to give us a tray with food on a plate. You get your order in a takeout bag (they do not warn you about this before you pay). Upon taking our food out, everything was upside-down and jumbled so the cream pie that was so pretty in the case was an upside-down mushed mess when we got upstairs. I started to take a to-go container to use as a plate when I saw that our order was in a takeout bag, and the clerk told me "you don't have to take that, all those things are upstairs." Of course, those containers are not upstairs. When I went back down to ask if I was looking in the wrong place, the same clerk explained "oh, those takeout containers are only down here, not upstairs. Sorry." . The bottom line is that we like to support vegan businesses and to feel like we are helping build a community. That is not the spirit at Parkside at all anymore. So disappointing, and a real loss to the area. . ORIG: What a special place! Food was delicious and the folks who work there are very nice. It is a pretty spot, but plan on...

I feel terrible that I didn’t do a review of this place when I went here! So my father and his wife were driving through and wanted to take us out for lunch “somewhere with real food” he says. So I scour Google maps and find this place. I call and ask about their selection. Mentioning my fathers request and that his comment comes after me taking him to an overly healthy kind of place that I won’t name. She laughed and said that their food tastes “real” and I said fantastic so away we went. Parking is tough as there was construction on the street but that was months ago and you can park across the street easily at the grocery outlet lot! I ordered a chai and a breakfast sandwich and the carrot cheesecake. All vegan and gf. My family ordered the pizza pocket thing and some other items I don’t recall but every single person, including my non gf or vegan dad and wife, were fat and happy when we left. We ate in and the ambiance is amazing. The bathroom clean and tidy. The reusable plates, cups and silverware made my green little heart go pitter pat! We will absolutely be back and I’m actually glad our regular places were closed that day so we found this place!

Oh and the woman at the counter was so patient with us and had the...