Knapp's Restaurant — Restaurant in Tacoma

I hate to leave a review this negative about an establishment, but my experience today warrants a warning to others. I've been eating at Knapp's for over 15 years and will never be returning. I came in today around 11:45 in a party of 7, and we were told it would be a 30-45 minute wait for a table. That is perfectly reasonable for a large-ish party on Sunday. Our orders were taken rather quickly and our waitress was very nice (at this point). The problem began with our wait time. It took over 1hr (close to 1.5) for our food to arrive to our table. By this point, multiple tables around us had been turned over and the restaurant was not busy. During this wait we were not notified by staff about why it was taking so long, checked in on, etc. We did get water refills. When our food finally did arrive, multiple of our dishes were cold or room temp, my boyfriend's potatoes were served close to raw (he believes he has food poisoning from this, as he has been very ill since we left), and my friend who ordered Oatmeal had a film over top of her bowl from it sitting out. An hour+ wait for this is absolutely unacceptable. None of us are ones to complain about bad food or service, I have paid my tab and tipped 20% at an establishment plenty of times even when I was unhappy, but we have to make our peace in reviews. One of my friends did speak up and tell the waitress that her food was cold, only to have the dish snatched away without a word and have it returned 5-ish minutes later having been microwaved. Our waitress told her openly that it had been microwaved, and my friend was asked to "make sure it was hot this time". After this interaction, our waitress delivered our checks unprompted and noticed my friend with microwaved food was visibly upset, so she rather annoyingly offered to take it off the bill. Others of us would have made complaints, but we were all so flustered and still hungry that we just wanted to get out of there asap. I am disappointed that I walked out having paid my full tab and tipped when we had this type of experience, but I did not want to walk away having a waitress think that I was the type of person to not tip or complain about my food. I DO NOT do this... this will be the last time I return to Knapps unless my family (whom have been coming here for 15+ years, again) really wants to give it another shot. I won't be giving them my own money. One last thing, I would like to point out that my group did feel very singled out by the staff. We are all in our early 20's and felt like we were being judged by the staff members for some odd reason. We noticed we were receiving weird looks throughout our time there but didn't think anything of it until after our food was served. We did not do anything to warrant judgement, as we were having very tame and respectful conversation. There were children in the room that we were sitting in so of course we were mindful not to discuss politics or anything little ears shouldn't hear. We all work customer service or retail jobs, so we know how to be respectful to service workers and behave in a restaurant. Did they think we were the group of "kids" to dine&dash or something? I hope whoever ends up reading this review takes something good from it. Whether you read it as a warning not to eat at Knapps, or you feel validated in your experience if you had a bad time too. If you are the waitress who served me & my friends reading this, please know that I am the type of person who still gave you a 20% tip despite all of this. I sincerely hope that we didn't put a damper in your day, but you did put a damper in ours. I know whatever the kitchen does isn't your fault, but we should've been notified about the wait for the food or compensated more properly for waiting over an hour for cold food, REGARDLESS of it was "your...

With respect to Knapp's Lounge (as I cannot speak of the restaurant, having not eaten there but once in fifteen years), while it retains its throwback ambiance to an era as distant from today as the lives of those older patrons who then gave it life, the variability of the quality of the hard liquor is troubling.

Though likely not all of the bartenders are responsible, at least one is. For what? Doctoring diminishing bottles with substances other than what the label advertises.

Why? Likely to lengthen shelf life in an effort to make more from less.

It is a cheap trick, one disrespectful to knowing customers, dishonorable in practice, and dishonest as a serving gesture within a commercial enterprise.

Specifically, in two separate instances, two months apart, with two different whiskies, it was clear that what was poured was not entirely what it should have been; what was placed "neat" in a clean glass was not exclusively the booze - the booze that should have been the only thing in that particular bottle.

Whether the additive is methanol or formaldehyde or something worse, what is evident - to this experienced and well-traveled whiskey drinker - is that the shelf life of select bottles is being artifically lengthened. Evidence is not merely the color or taste, but also, the result of having enjoyed a sample of the same kind of bottle and brand elsewhere a short time prior to acquiring a serving at Knapp's Lounge, thus affording a comparison that was as close as that of placing glasses side by side as might practicably be done.

Ninety years after the end of the prohibition era, a customer should never encounter "bad hooch" practices like those being deployed at Knapp's Lounge. Doing so is irresponsible, petty, disappointing, and - to be blunt - illegal.

Should anyone involved with the oversight of Knapp's Lounge ever read this post (if that someone is not the one personally responsible for the practice), then this patron appeals to that individual to investigate, to correct what is being done, and to hold the responsible agent of the practice to account, including termination.

As one who enjoys the personnel at Knapp's Lounge and the general good company of patrons that often may be found within it, instances of doctored booze are beyond mere betrayal.

Despite my affection for the lounge, it is likely going to be a while before I brave a return. And if I do, whatever I order, sadly, will not be whiskey, but rather something self-contained, like a bottled beer. Doing so, though, will only remind me that the trust and affection held for this landmark is...

Following PT, after a 2 week hiatus because my PT was out of town, and I needed to see the orthopedic surgeon for another follow up, it was off to breakfast.

I grew up in the north end of Tacoma and spent a lot of time in what is now called The Proctor District. It was time to give Knapp’s a visit.

As you can see, Knapp’s has been in business since 1938. The restaurant is huge with a full lounge, 2 dining and a large banquet area. It has been updated since the last time I ate there, and the tables, chairs and booths have been updated as well.

There was only person working. While not full, she had enough to keep her busy, so she wasn’t able to get to us right away. Our coffee arrived at the table and was cold. It took a few minutes to track her down to request hot coffee. She made a fresh pot and brought the hot coffee to us as soon as it had finished brewing.

We had to wait for water, but as I said she was working alone and I could tell she was hustling and doing the best she could to keep up and being a business owner I know how hard it is to find help.

I ordered the chicken fried steak, scrambled eggs, upgraded to the country potatoes, and sourdough toast. Ray ordered The Monster and stayed with hash browns thinking they only came in his omelette, and an English muffin.

Our breakfast arrived fairly quickly and was hot. I thought the $3 up charge for chunked up deep fried potatoes a bit much. They were OK but nothing to write home about. My chicken fried steak was good. The gravy was bland with a fair amount of pepper. The scrambled eggs were light and fluffy.

Ray’s omelette was gigantic and loaded!!! Had I seen how crispy the hash browns were I would have ordered them instead. I am not a fan of soggy undercooked hash browns. Typically when I request crispy, they arrive burned. These were just the way I like them.

Breakfast was good but there was nothing outstanding about the flavors. This is your basic older type restaurant with decent sized servings but no flare to the flavor.

We may come back to sample some of the other menu items. The food was good. It just...