Alfred's Cafe — Restaurant in Tacoma

Super friendly folks. I feel so welcomed here!! From the first step through the door we were welcomed by a waitress walking by, the bartender shouted hello as he poured drinks, another waiter smiled as said hi as he bused a table and another as we got sat. Overwhelmed by the friendliness and struck with hunger - we quickly sat and looked over the menu. Pretty typical Cafe/Diner style menu/foods - we were so hungry though that everything sounded delicious. After serious debate and coin flipping - and a little help from the waitress we ended up with the following:

Meatloaf - I cannot say I'm a fan. It was a bit dry and overly herb'd for my liking. I like mine moist and slathered in bbq sauce. It wasn't horrible per say - but definitely not my cup of tea.

French Dip w/ fries - my buddy ordered this and loved the dip. great au jus and perfectly toasted bread was what he told me (i don't like it) but the FRIES. They were so good they could have been magical. It's McDonald's sized and just the perfect amount of salt and crispiness. We doused it in ranch and ketchup and grinded away - when they were all gone we ordered another order to go so we can eat at home but they never made it home cuz we finished it on the spot.

Monte Cristo - yummmmm.... it's always hard to find a good one. but when you do... piled high with flavors, perfect cooked. There are some foods you simple cannot put into words - you just got to put it in your mouth and let the food do the talking. And let me tell you that this sandwich was speakin to me!

Crab omelette - I was a bit skeptical when I ordered this as crab and a diner/cafe is usually a no no. for reasons of freshness and/or reasons of lack of crab. But this omelette did NOT disappoint. It blew me away. Huge chunks of dungeness crab throughout every bite. The hollandaise sauce on top was perfectly poured to balance out the rest of the flavors and the potato bites finished off the dish nicely adding great texture.

I love this place. Never knew it existed - but you bet i'll be...

My husband and I like to explore when we go out to eat. So, after my PT appointment I did a search and found Alfred’s.

The building is in an older part of Tacoma. As a lifelong resident it was rather embarrassing to learn the restaurant had been around about 50 years. It is a part of town my parents ts rarely went.

Anyway, we took the plunge and went inside where we immediately found a table. The restaurant is larger than it appears. Even though the building is old, everything was clean and well appointed. Our server was also the manager who was filling in as they were short staffed. It did not slow them down. They were moderately busy but our meal was still served quickly!

I had the chicken fried steak with chorizo gravy, O’Brien potatoes, scrambled eggs and sourdough toast. WOW!!! Everything was hot, the eggs were light and fluffy, and the gravy was perfection!!! It had just a hint of heat, with great flavor. The bread was either homemade or artisan. It was not typical restaurant bread.

My husband had the California omelette with O’Brien potatoes and wheat toast. The omelette was huge and he said it was very good. The wheat bread was also homemade or artisan.

It was nice to be in a place where the music wasn’t blasting so loud that you could not carry on a conversation. It was nice to see other restaurant patrons talking to one another instead of looking at their phones.

There is a free shared parking lot on the east side of the building. It isn’t huge but we had no trouble locating a parking space.

I watched some of the other meals being served. They looked as tasty as our meals. My husband and I will...

Alfred's Cafe is a good little cafe that serves up some delicious comfort food. My wife and I are part of a "breakfast club" that includes good friends and is convened by my wife's oldest brother. We like to try out breakfast cuisine from South King County down through North Pierce County... I ordered a chicken fried steak topped with chorizo gravy and a couple of eggs of my choice. The chicken fried steak was cooked to tender succulence which I was able to cut about 2/3'rds of it using just my fork...the taste was very flavorful with the chorizo gravy adding zest to each bite...mmmmmmm! Each bite offered a slight crunchy texture from the coating that enrobed the steak. No one flavor/spice overwhelmed the balanced overall flavor of the dish. The chorizo was not overwhelmingly spicy, the fried coating that encompassed the tender steak did not have an overwhelming fried greasy flavor and the gravy was thick with chorizo and was not runny but rather held on to the top part of the chicken fried steak. Each piece of the steak was covered thickly with the gravy and held on to the piece without dripping off as each of the tender morsels made their way into my mouth. The chew combined each flavor just right... Overall, my latest trip to Alfred's Cafe was not a disappointment to anyone in our little breakfast group...even the coffee was brewed to perfection, no bitter or watery taste...

You all who read this review have my express permission to enjoy your meal here, whether it be breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner... You gotta try it over and over again - you won't be...