Art House Cafe — Restaurant in Tacoma

In an attempt to maintain brevity, this review has actually become rather verbose. There are just far too many wonderful things to say about this place. From the delicacy of micro-green garnishing by all three of the incredibly talented chefs, to the warm hospitality of the servers, incredibly friendly and amicable owners, this has become a staple of Washington life for me as a (fairly) recent transplant. Huge thank you to all the faculty, staff, and all applicable members of the art house family for always making me feel like I finally found a home.

Attached are some photographs taken over the past few months it's taken me to fall completely in love with this nook. There's a chef's special savory oatmeal; the only critiques I can offer would be using maple/brown in place of caramel, and pairing either ham and apple or bacon and strawberries.

There's the seasonal butternut squash base pizza. Amazing. I'm not a fan of musky/musty/strong cheeses, but I don't think the profile of this pizza would shine as beautifully as it does without the utilization of such a robust cheese.

a run of the mill ham, tomato, spinach, jack, crushed peppy flake omelet with their signature rosemary potatoes. Simple, refined, classic.

a custom cinnamon roll with macerated strawbs, laid on a dark/white chocolate drizzle, set in a shallow pool of the leftover syrup from the strawberries. Definitely recommend asking for this one once the summer menu comes back! The fresh macerated strawberries are the most blissful indulgence with a lil sunrise mimosa on a breezy summer day. Love it.

a chicken breast, proscuitto, and brie sandwich paired with a spiced pear jam that will knock your darned socks off on sourdough. I tried a variation of this on the honey wheat...mind boggling.

my first ever eggs benedict with a secret beneath the ham. Leading into the experience with the flavor profile of the house salad: it sets the tastebuds aflame with a subtle, yet, spectacular infusion of all the flavors that make up what a staple salad should be. The textural complexity that the cashews add with the pang of blue cheese leaves me without words. And then, to further amplify the experience, a masterfully crafted eggs benedict. All the classic items; shaped, formed, melded into a rendition unique to the art house cafe gives me new hope for my breakfast yearnings. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and these are the folks to see if you're looking to start your day with one of the best meals available for purchase.

The creativity that comes out of this kitchen never ceases to leave me awestruck. Sitting at the bar counter and seeing the flawless communication and teamwork between the two chefs is almost meditative in a way. To see two people existing in such excellent synergy, providing artistic renditions of classic forms of human energy conversion supplementation. I'm at a loss for words. My eloquent vernacular of yesteryear tends to bare it's fangs once i run out of useable words from my day to day verbiage.

Art House Cafe in Tacoma, must have breakfast/brunch/lunch spot for any and all persons existing in Washington; be it for a layover or that you were born here, you'll never forget the magic that brings art...

I wanted to try this restaurant last week, after discovering it, following PT. I had another doctor appointment that same day and was short on time. There was no available parking, so I tabled it for another day.

Today, following PT, my husband and I headed back over and landed the only available parking space. The restaurant is small, cozy, but not overcrowded with tables. Every one of them was taken. We were offered a seat at the back counter or to be added to the waiting list. Looking around, it appeared most diners had just arrived, so we reluctantly took a seat in the back. That turned out to be the best decision ever!!! I highly recommend that option, even if the restaurant isn’t full. I will definitely choose it for future visits!!!

The counter seating was spacious with a very large, deep counter, and free entertainment!!! The head chef worked directly in front of us, and it was fascinating to watch the meals being prepared, plated, and garnished!! The kitchen is immaculately clean, and the chef, and his sous chefs, change out their gloves frequently.

I took a lot of pictures of the meals being prepared, so I don’t know all of them. I didn’t think to take a picture of the menu to match the menu items to the dishes. Sorry. It just means you will have to go there yourselves.

I had the breakfast croissant with Rosemary potatoes. The aioli sauce was perfect and tasted divine! Ray had one of the breakfast biscuits with gravy, also with the rosemary potatoes, which is a staple of their breakfasts. He raved about how tasty his breakfast was too.

The people sitting around us were kind enough to allow me to take pictures of their breakfasts. We were all eating here for the first time and we all agreed our meals were excellent!!!

I asked permission of Chef Isiah to take his picture. I jokingly told him I had planned on giving him some of my cooking tips, but after watching him in action, I had none. He did share a couple of his tricks with me. I can’t wait to put them to the test in my own kitchen!!

Our server Marie was exceptional. She was friendly, and attentive without being intrusive. She made sure we had coffee and water refills, and kept me in sugar and cream for my coffee.

The only downside, for me, was needing the restroom and seeing there was a flight of stairs to climb, and a handrail only on one side. I am recovering from an extensive shoulder reconstruction surgery and can’t grip a handrail on my left side until I am healed.

I expressed my dilemma to Marie, when I explained to her why I could not take the stairs. Without hesitation, she took me next door to the art studio, explained my dilemma to the receptionist, who graciously allowed me the use of their restroom.

This was such a great find!!! The service was exceptional, the food was delicious, and we enjoyed our entire dining experience from start to finish, We will definitely be back for...

Art House Cafe, Stadium District Tacoma, WA.

I'm sure that this is old news to many, but this establishment is definitely one that could be added to a weekly routine as a must have. The space is small, whereby COVID restrictions have made it smaller with limiting inside dining not to mention reduced daily operating hours of 8am to 2pm, but check online for updates. The current operating hours scenario may often result in having to be added to a waiting list, but you can order ahead and takeout service is available (but I'm going to lean on putting your name on the waitlist and enjoy the in person table service experience!).

Currently Art House Cafe is offering a Breakfast/Lunch menu along with a limited bar/cocktail menu, which for the current size of the establishment I found to be rather extensive if not unique in offerings. Between the two of us we settled on egg dipped Brioche French Toast with Applewood smoked bacon (brioche becomes hearty with the egg and the bacon a perfect crisp,(not crumbly), the Prosciutto Pressed Egg sandwich, which along with the prosciutto and eggs was thick with ingredients including a melty rich white cheddar, tomato, arugula and a creamy horseradish sauce that just fired up the flavor and richness without flaming out one's taste buds and senses. The sandwich was accompanied by fingerling potatoes that had been grilled with rosemary (just a bowl of those could have been more than satisfactory!) along with a cup of artistically (and perfectly sliced) apple, strawberry and blueberries. In addition we ordered a side of their hash, which we were advised was not the familiar kind which is most associated with meat of some type, but a vegetarian hash. To be honest, under most circumstances this would have been an ‘okay, no thanks’, but the use and mention of herbs throughout the menu and the servers description of this dish in particular spiked the curiosity….. IT WAS AMAZING! The key to the menu and resulting flavorful dishes is that (in my opinion) the perfect knowledge, use and combination of all ingredients. Herbs and spices are expertly utilized complimenting each dish and not confronting each other which many times confuses the final dish. In addition, all of the menu ingredients used throughout are top shelf, as well as locally and responsibly sourced to the maximum extent possible which includes many vegan options. The coffee poured is rich and european in flavor, the hot chocolate creamy and silk-like, as well as the in person service being smooth, attentive and genuinely friendly. We left with boxed up leftovers for later as the portions were also more than ample. Again, that could be partly because I may have had a few too many refills of coffee, but with local COVID restrictions, I felt like I was in a cafe in Europe and it was the...