McMenamins Pub at Elks Temple — Restaurant in Tacoma

Go for the atmosphere, and be prepared to pay for it.

My wife and I stayed in the hotel for a weekend and exclusively ate at the pubs here. First I'll talk about the rooms, and then about the food.

The rooms and bathrooms were spacious and clean, with tall ceilings. They were comfortable and well-lit, though lacking in some modern amenities (bathroom fan, mini fridge, way to stream to TV). But, you don't stay at a McMenamins for modern amenities! You go for the odd, the eclectic, and the atmosphere, all of which were stellar! Each room is uniquely dedicated to a different figure important to the elk lodge, which adds some nice color.

The door to our room didn't latch unless firmly pulled or pushed shut, but it was nicely furnished with an alarm clock with 2 USBs and 2 outlets. The staff was friendly, but not always very helpful. We had to defer to a (n offsite) manager twice at the front desk, but it's possible the staff is new. The biggest downside about the room was the noise! We were located right next to a public garage (I think) that let out an alarm whenever a car wanted to leave. MRRRH MRRRH was the song of the hour. Every hour. The first night in our room, one of the pubs below us was hosting an event and playing loud music until well after midnight, which made getting to sleep a challenge.

Breakfast was available from nearby pubs or (the option we chose), we could fill out a card and have food delivered to the room at a half-hour window of our choosing between 7 and 10 AM. This ran us a little more than $40 for 2 people (biscuits and gravy, eggs benedict, 1x coffee). The breakfast portions were substantial.

The lodge itself was always busy, but never crowded. The area around it is rather walkable, and we had no trouble finding street parking nearby. There are also lots of events in the temple, meaning you could spend your whole weekend there without leaving, especially if you like the food, which seems to be the same menu at each pub within the temple.

Cocktails run about $14 a pop, with a specialty burger going for $19. The food is good, but not stellar, and service ranged from excellent (attentive, friendly) to distracted and forgetful. Portions ranged from small (fish and chips) to large (nacho appetizer), with most landing on "perfectly appropriate".

The "secret" speakeasy was fun to search for, though the hint we got when checking in was closer to a map...

I use to love this place, but no longer.

Last Dec. we waited 2.5 hours for 2 garden burgers and fries, that arrived soggy and cold. I chalked it down to being an extra busy night and gave them the benefit of the doubt, and decided to try again when they were less busy.... boy was I wrong.

Went there this Sunday afternoon. Place was not busy, maybe 3 other tables. While the wait wasn't as long, it was a good 40 min, which I could have understood, if the food didn't, yet again, arrive cold with salted fries after ordering no salt.

Then after asking for a to-go box and a dessert to go, our waitress, Zoe, goes on break. Granted that is fine, she should go on a break if needed, but that doesn't mean your customers are on a break too, especially when you know they're ready to leave having asked for a box. That is on management, they should have taken over, got the dessert and cashed us out.... NOPE! We waited for 15 minutes until we finally went to the counter and asked the manager who rudely snapped "I had to send her on a break, what to you expect? We'll get to you, go back to your table." I expect you to still serve your customers and not talk to me like I'm your child you are berating in the grocerystore... not unreasonable IMO. So I go grab my stuff from my table and return to pay because I don't want to spend another minute in this place. The waitress is finally off her break so I flag her down to pay, and tell her to cancel the dessert, to which she replies "that's good because I was coming to tell you we're out of that, I just found out." So I order it, and you went on break before putting it in? Very poor service. A shame too because I have been enjoying McMenamins restaurants since the 1980s. Looks like they are no longer enjoyable, at least not this one. Save yourself time, money and hassle, there's better places in Tacoma, ones that actually care whether or not you have...

What a complete disappointment. Whomever (tall male) in charge Saturday 7/15 at 3:00pm should NOT be in the hospitality industry. The condescending attitude and the way he spoke to our group was so wrong it’s not even funny. Two different people in our group made a reservation for 10 people on OpenTable and asked for the table to be together once we arrived. Yes, we should have called first but this was a last minute funeral situation and didn’t call. The restaurant was slow being 3:00pm yet he literally said “so you just show up and think we can put a 20 top together for you” I followed it by saying I get that it’s last minute but we’d appreciate it and then he said AGAIN “so you just show up and think we can put a 20 top together” (in the MOST condescending tone) - again, I get that we inconvenienced them and threw them a curveball, but when you’re in the hospitality industry you have to do your best to accommodate. I didn’t even bother to mention that I’m a restauranteur that owns and operates 5 high volume restaurants for 30+ years and preaches the importance of guest satisfaction on a daily basis. I’m certain who ever the owner/boss is would be disappointed and honestly disgusted knowing this was the level of hospitality that was given. My managers deal with 20 top walk ins in a daily basis and yes, they scramble, but didn’t we sign up for this?! This guy should not be dealing with guests, he was epically inappropriate and wrong. The female server (short dark hair) was not happy about the request to be sat together but once seated she lightened up. I’ll also mention we tipped her 30% for the inconvenience. Not going to lie, this whole experience left me feeling like I had no choice but to write...