This place is always so good. We were pleasantly surprised that there was no wait this morning (New Years Day 2017). It was busy, but we didn't have to wait for a table. I hope they're getting enough business! This was our first time eating breakfast at Cooks Tavern. I'm a huge fan of their Seattle restaurants (especially Endolynne Joe's). This morning, I had the desayuno enchilada for breakfast and my husband had the bayou benedict. Both were 100% yummy. Our bloody marys and coffees were great too. I wished the bloody mary's had had some pickled garnish, they just had celery. The service was friendly, but slow at times. Slow to get and process the check. The food here is awesome and I love the changing, themed-menu. If you're not a fan of this place yet, you're missing out! read more

We've eaten here before, and loved it. Tonight is just for dessert after a celebratory dinner out. A great ambience, a great menu, relaxing, great drinks. Ian, at the bar, serves up a no-stress environment. Can't help but recommend this place strongly! read more

Ok...first thing I'm going to clear up right now is that Cooks Tavern does NOT take reservations. If you look at the details in the Yelp info it says they take them as well as a few other reviews you may read about the restaurant. That is something that I tried to do when there was a long line going out the door (because Cooks Tavern is new and naturally everyone in the surrounding area wants to try it) and I was informed that they were only a first come, first serve establishment. So what I did to avoid a long wait (which there always seems to be one here most of the time...we made two attempts to go here) was get an order to go. I was looking at their website at the lunch menu and saw that they had a Peppered BLT which looked very promising. The sandwiches are a la carte so if you want fries or anything like that you need to order them in addition. The BLT was not bad. It wasn't the best one I had but solid. The bacon seemed a bit undercooked and not crispy however so eating the sandwich got a bit chewy with some of the fatty parts of the bacon. The fries were pretty good, light and fluffy on the inside while crisp on the outside. To wash it down I had some very fine fresh squeezed lemonade! Very good! I will consider going back to Cooks but probably not until the newness wears off since it is a feat to get in and have eats...perhaps another "to go" order would work. I would like to investigate their breakfast and dinner menu more as well. read more

What a delightful place. I've heard about Cooks through clients, and read all the positive reviews, so just checked it out for the first time this morning. Had the regular Eggs Benny. They use shaved Eaton-Ham which has a perfect smoky flavor. The Hollandaise is buttery and succulent with a well balanced spicy kick. The potatoes were perfectly crispy. My only challenge here was trying to decide what to order because it all looked so good. Staff is awesome. Another great local Tacoma bar that raises the food bar quite high. Thank you for a great experience. Look forward to coming back for more. read more

Fantastic place! I ordered the quail dinner, and love the entire dish. My wife ordered the enchilada dish. Both were very good. They have a good beer selection. For dessert we ordered the BIG EASY BEIGNETS. They were awesome. I totally recommend this to anyone. Our waiter was good. Brought a beer and drinks quickly. I cannot wait to come back and try something new. read more

Food, tasty, well presented. Wait staff doing double duty at bar were spotty on attentiveness. Manager on duty rarely walked the room and ignored tables needing a check rung or other easy fix. Brand new for breakfasts, so I am hoping this nice place gets better daily on the floor mgmt and gives servers the back up they need. Ball was dropped service-wise on several occasions in this place we have high hopes for return visits. Timing in kitchen was off. Was about 15 minutes for breakfasts to come out and all ta ales were not filled. Details - Doing an all day restaurant with a late evening bar business is hard on all the shifts/long hours, unless owners are vigilant keeping staff and training. read more

Delicious corned beef hash for brunch. The salad that came with it really lightened it up, and the corned beef was very lean. I look forward to trying this place again for lunch/dinner and as the menu changes! I'm only holding five stars because I have only been once so far. Updated to five stars after eating here twice for dinner as well. Delicious food for all three meals I've had. Service has been nice as well. Looking forward to trying the changing menu! read more

We have now been here for our second time. I must day, the first time we came was a very pleasant experience, enough so that we went a second time. Our server made this breakfast almost unbearable. She was rude and inattentive. She cut us off while we were ordering. Scoffed when I asked her to make the latte a mocha (which was what I ordered, who ever made it the first time had forgotten the syrup) and we had to ask for water. Our food came out on the colder side and overall it was a really poor display of hospitality. If you want to pretend you are a fancy establishment and charge higher end prices, please come through with decent service and warm food. Thanks to Peggy we will not be returning to cooks tavern. Bummer. read more

After a brutally cold stretch of winter, we decided to celebrate the return of our usual warmer darkness and torrential rains with a dinner at Cook's. (My previous review covers our lunch experience.) We arrived on a Tuesday around 5:45, which was advantageous on two counts: My passengers got out at the curb and were immediately seated in the bar area, and I turned left from 26th on to Alder and found a parking place. WOW! I knew I should have bought that lottery ticket! The focus of the dinner menu changes monthly. This month has a New Orleans flavor, with a raft of specials from Cajunland. We liked sitting in the bar area. We could observe the cooks of Cook's hard at work, we were personally waited on hand and foot by the bartender, and the tables are spaced nicely so that your neighbors don't knock over your beer when trying to cut their steak. Cook's has a nice selection of local beers on draft, a broader-than-usual variety of house wines, and speciality cocktails for every taste. My faithful companions smiled as they sipped their Malbec and Merlot, and I tried Pacific Brewing and Malting's new lager. My companions invaded New Orleans. One raved about the Gris Gris Gumbo, one of the "small plates" which was plenty filling enough for an entire meal, and the other was busily digging into his Gasa Gasa Pasta Pasta, which with doggy bag will stretch into two meals. Being a contrarian, I turned down Louisiana for Mexico and sampled a skillet of their enchiladas. What a surprise! Almost all filling (pork carnitas), tasty sauce, a touch of tortilla, topped off by two fried eggs, sunny-side up. And the potato-side consisted of chunks, perfectly crisp, skins on, with ketchup for dipping. Cheerful atmosphere, good service, excellent food. The only blot on a most pleasant evening: being forced to wait for the bartender to take our credit card. But we weren't bitter. The ambiance and the food defanged even this hypercritical viper. I slithered home, content. read more

Had brunch there this morning. I am sad tp say it, but brunch as a meal is now ruined for me. Why? As F Scott Fitzgerald once said "Because this is the most beautiful moment in my life, and everything else will taste like McDonald's in comparison. " Ok, maybe I am changing around F Scott's words, but if he had been dining with us, he would have said "Great Gatsby!" as soon as he tasted the potatoes. But wait! I am getting ahead of myself. (Or maybe that was culinary foreshadowing...) Cooks Tavern has it all. There are lots of options for brunch in Tacoma - Shakabrah, DOA, Marcias Silver Spoon, Art House - but Cooks Tavern takes the best element of each and makes it better. Nice surroundings of Art House Cafe? Better at Cooks Tavern. Hipster creativity at Shakabrah? Let me remind you of the potatoes in the above paragraph. Whatever people like about Marcias...? Well, whatever it is, Cooks Tavern does it better. We had pancakes, the desayuno enchiladas, and a side biscuit for our baby to eat. The pancakes were huge and fluffy. They were flavorful and light, with an etherial and airy quality. The enchiladas were amazing. The guajillo sauce was so fantastic, it deserves its own review. Spoiler - it gets 5 stars. The biscuit was so delicious, I stole pieces away from my own child to enjoy them. Not even gonna lie, but don't judge me until you try one for yourself. They're so good, you will willingly steal them from a child and not even regret it. Oh, and the service was the best brinch service in Tacoma. Everyone was nice. Our waitress, Wendy, was kind and attentive. She probably saw me maul my kid's biscuit but just smiled politely. If you go to Cooks Tavern, it will be the best of times; elsewhere, the worst of times. read more

Waiter said food was not ready after 40 minutes. Then came out cold, a hamburger. Was not that busy. The lamb burger was tasty but overdone and overpriced. This is the first poor review I have ever written. Nice atmosphere though. read more

Went on Sunday morning for breakfast. The staff was uninviting and not friendly. Ordered two kids meals (pancakes, bacon, and eggs), I had the Desayuno Enchilada and my wife had the Clean up on isle 12. The pancakes and bacon on both kids meals were overcooked. The enchilada plate looked terrible, a bunch of brown mush in a skillet with overcooked potatoes on the side and it was as tasteless as it was visually unappetizing. I could not eat it. The Clean up on isle 12 my wife ordered was edible but also significantly lacking in flavor. Overall a very unsatisfying experience. We will not return. read more

4 mins after 3pm and we were denied lunch... And we weren't informed of any cut off time before we were seated..... Plus the bald bartender was kinda a dick about the whole thing even if they have a strict cut off time his demeanor was shitty at best..... I've been there before and the food was great .... Shame I had to leave and take my business elsewhere read more

We've been going to Cooks Tavern for a while and have always enjoyed the food and the service has always been good. It had been a couple of months since we last went and decided to try it tonight. We had to order to-go because of the quarantine. I realize that food to-go isn't usually as good as food eaten in the restaurant, but the food we got tonight was terrible. Nothing was seasoned at all. We got two orders of the chicken and it was flavorless. The mashed potatoes and carrots had zero seasoning. The apple pie was the worst I've ever had in my life. I don't think they used any sugar in the pie and I kept pulling apple skin out of my mouth. We forced ourselves to eat the chicken and threw the rest of our dinners (and the pie) away tonight. Maybe they've recently hired new cooks? Like I said, the service has always been good, but the quality of the food we received tonight needs major improvement. I hate to say it, but we'll probably think twice about going to Cooks again. read more

Great new place in sleepy North Tacoma. Fresh food. The windows open up to a great breeze. Casual but upscale. read more

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Quick service. Food was good and great price. It was Greek themed when we went. We split the kebab and lamb burger. Both were good, but the lamb burger was very good. Very moist and delicious flavor. Will definitely go again when they change the menu to see what's next! read more

Lunch menu was very limited and what we or was not very good. I've eaten here in the past and was happy with the menu and food. But both have changed and I no longer recommend this restaurant for food. read more

I only went once but there were 5 of us so got to try lots of different things and I would not waste my money again. Me and one other person got the spaghetti carbonara we both took a few bites and pushed our plates away not good. The waitress wasn't even phased two of us didn't eat our food and turned down to go boxes. Someone got the cod with a cauliflower patty. The fish and sauce over it had no flavor. The cauliflower patty was disgusting. The lemon chicken was good. The clams had no flavor. The Indian bread with smoked salmon and goat cheese was such a rip off. Tiny bit of salmon, that had no flavor, and tiny bit of goat cheese. It was basically a pile of arugula on bread. The tuna ceviche was great. The service was good. read more

I ordered and picked up a Pulled Pork sandwich from this place last night as they have Partnered up with G&H BBQ.! The Sandwich was Most Displeasing as it Had NO Flavor Meat Wise the Sauce was about it..!!! Then a few hours later i Got Sick throwing up and awful stomach ache..!!! To TOP it All Off,I stopped by there Today to merely tell them what i had experienced and the Girl that Took my order Last Night when i picked it up said she hoped i enjoyed the sandwich when i told her what had happened,Reacted to My telling her what the sandwich did Like I had told Her it was fixing to Rain...! She said; Oh OK do you want to talk to my Boss..? That,To Me,Was Her Job..! When a Customer of Mine has a Problem with My Service,Especially if they got SICK, I would Be Concerned and want to Know if there was ANYTHING I could Do to Make it Up or AT LEAST Assure that My Company would Resolve the Issue so it NOT Happen to ANYONE ELSE..!!! I Have had Take Out from there since this Pandemic began a couple of Times But That Has Come To An ABRUBT HALT..!! They are 3 Blks. from my House and I'll NOT RETURN...! POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE read more

First time visiting this week and we loved it. Great space, great food, great service! Loved the music too. It was different than most restaurants and it was at a good level so that we could still talk. Only unpleasantness was that there is nothing stopping cold air from hitting you over and over as people enter and exit the restaurant. A partition would be great. Definitely will be back! read more

This was a terrible experience! We only saw our waitress once, and the food was terrible and then she told us after she already scanned credit cards that gratuity was already figured into our bill. She didn't check on how we like our plates, I had 1/2 smoke and it had way too much mustard slaw, biscuits n gravy was definitely NOT sausage gravy as advertised. Waitress smirked when told that a box was not needed. There is no way this food was worth the price. We should have visited the taco truck across the street. At least that food is good and well worth the price! Definitely NOT returning here. read more

This neighborhood needed a restaurant! Decor had various paintings, simple tables, and a beautiful bar. Kitchen was open for patrons to see the cooks prepare your food. Menu selection had starters, sandwiches, and main courses. For a Tuesday casual dinner our bill was a bit steep but definitely worth the price. There was a kids menu offering more than your usual nuggets and fries. My son had broccolini, grilled chicken, and cheesy polenta. I had the carbonara which was good but I wish it came with a soup or salad. Husband had a burger with fries; their sauce for the fries was delicious and had a kick of tanginess. Dress up or dress down the place is yours to decide the occasion. Romantic and family friendly. Will be coming back for sure! read more

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Four of us had dinner at Cook's last night. The food was fantastic, four plates cleaned with happy customers. The menu is quite varied, from small plates to generous full sized portions. Want breakfast for dinner (as I did), there are two interesting options. Duck made it to our table in two different ways, a full duck dinner and a small plate of fried rice with duck. Maybe the star was the half chicken which looked like the ultimate in comfort food. No comment on the desert menu, we were all so satisfied we didn't even look at it. Next time we will check that out first. The restaurant was slammed when we arrived early (to beat the rush?) and we had a bit of a wait. Once seated things went smoothly which was amazing considering Cook's had only been open about a week. This is a great addition to the neighborhood, we will be back! read more

Food was pretty yummy today. I would not say that this is a lot of food for the price, but what we had was very tasty. You'll note that you need to purchase fries separately from the burger or sandwich, but the quality of everything was great. read more

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Very good breakfast. Eggs Benedict off the charts. Whatever is in the hollandaise is a game changer. It's savory and has a reddish tinge. Corned beef hash is damn good. The biscuit... one of the best and softest I've ever eaten, yet appropriately crunchy-on-the-outside. Life altering. If there was fresh butter or apple butter or anything else like that bet this place could make a killing on biscuits alone. read more

My beautiful daughter and I were the first people to experience the new Barcelona menu. We had the blistered broccolini, the croquettes, and the chorizo chickpea stew. Absolutely fabulous. read more

My best friend brought me here for a surprise for a birthday dinner back in December 2016. The decor was cute; New Orleans vibe with a twist of hipster plaid-wearing staff. NW stamp I kind of I dig it. I've been to Baton Rouge, Kenner/ New Orleans many many times and appreciate that Tacoma is bring a bit of Louisiana here. They now have a Argentina themed menu and love how they change it up. I had a grits meal which was fine. We ordered their big easy beignets and unlike the classic beignets in NOLA they include a hazelnut chocolate to dip them in which was kind of exciting. The batter had a beer/like flavor that my friend and I noticed in it. Not bad but def not my favorite. I'm gonna come back and try the Argentina menu and breakfast. read more

Ate here today and was very impressed! First, our server Kathleen (or Katherine), I'm not quite sure of her name was super helpful and sweet. It was our first time eating here and had no idea what most of the ingredients were and she was so happy to explain to us. We took a really long time to order bc we were so indecisive. Our food came promptly and was super delicious! I ordered the desayuno enchilada & it was soooo good. Glad i picked it. We came to a unanimous decision that we will definitely come back!!! read more

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My mom, sister and I went to Cooks Tavern for the first time, on a Saturday at 4:30pm before a concert we were going to at the Tacoma Dome. We had the best food and service. We loved that they do a different theme every few months and change up the decor and the menu to match! Their fries are TO DIE FOR. So fresh tasting and some of the best I've had. I will highly recommend this restaurant to anyone! read more

Welcome to the neighborhood, Cooks Tavern! We ate there last night (a busy Saturday night) and the service and food was wonderful. Duck fried rice - oh yes please. Tuna Ceviche - delicious. Fry bread - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Mac and Cheese - good, but not good at the same level as the rest. Oysters - SO yummy We also had a salad, and friends had the lamb burger (they said it was spectacular) and a fish and chips thing that was incredible. The whole time, my picky parents kept repeating "Next time we need to try the _____", already planning their next visit to Cooks. The service was great, too. Waitress (Gavyn, I think?) was warm and funny and well-timed. Also, Cooks Tavern is beautiful and airy and we didn't feel packed in there. It is comfortable and they did a marvelous job of designing it. I'm a tough critic, and I can say this is a fantastic addition to Proctor. read more

I have been here only once, and it shall be my only visit. When we arrived, it was pre-lunch crowd and yet the service was meh. Once the lunch crowd arrived and the place filled up, no service at all. We could not get our water glasses refilled, we could not get the server's attention to point out the lack of dressing on my salad or to request water. The food presentation was abominable. My brother's hamburger showed up on a white plate, sitting in the middle. No garnish, nothing but a hamburger in the middle of an otherwise empty plate. My mom's BLAT would have arrived in similar fashion, but she requested one of the sides on offer with a sandwich, and the two items were crowded onto a similar white plate. No garnish. My salad was attractive, albeit rather expensive, but arrived without dressing. Unable to get either of the 2 servers' attention, I walked over to where they were standing and asked if it was dressed. Our server said yes, but offered additional dressing. I accepted, and when she arrived with the dressing, she agreed, they had forgotten to dress my salad. By now the place was filled with the lunch crowd and we decided to just eat and go, never to return. save your money. read more

Food super delish!! I had the Tutto Calabria Lamb Burger off the Mid-Day menu! Flavor outstanding, cooked perfectly with a salad and house made Chim Churi dressing, so good! Service was great, constantly filling my water in a hot summer day! Glad to see they support local, especially with ice cream! Love this place! I will definitely be back! read more

Cooks Tavern - Tutto Calabria Lamb Burger and a side salad with Chim Churi house made dressing! Super delish! - New American Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

After a date night my wife and I decide to grab a night cap. Much to our surprise we found it to be a Cuban influenced place! To our disappointment the sangria was not good and there was no flan on the desert menu, maybe we will come back for the sandwich, maybe. The people were awesome though! read more

Cooks Tavern - New American Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

I don't review places often, but I had to with this one. We sat down and looked over the menu and we just weren't really sure how to feel about it. I preferred the lunch plate and a kids Mac and cheese for my son. Their food. Was. Amazing!!! Best jasmine rice I've EVER had. The temperature for the kids Mac and cheese was perfect for my son to be able to eat right away without being too cold. The service was so friendly and prompt, and we just couldn't have been happier with our decision to try something new. It was so good. I highly recommend this place. HIGHLY. read more

Talk about a great waitstaff! My husband and I plus our 1-year-old son came here for lunch yesterday for the first time. The staff was so inviting and couldn't have been nicer to us, especially to our son. Right now they have a Carribean theme going on so my husband tried their special plate and I had the clean up on aisle 12. Both were really good! I tried their sweet Lalani drink and it tasted amazing! I'm really happy with our experience and cant say enough good things about how nice the entire waitstaff was. read more

Our family of 4 loves this restaurant! The menu is great and super family friendly. We love the themes menu changes as well as the atmosphere. read more

Excellent service pretty much every time, though the drinks can be quite slow sometimes. We have been here 10+ times and it was always consistent and delicious and I really like the seasonal portion of the menu. However the past two times the food has just been garbage, the kitchen staff changed and you can tell. We had a bad experience with both food and service one morning but decided to give it another shot since it's usually so good. Unfortunately the eggs benedict was greasy and the eggs were grossly undercooked, I'm talking snot almost raw undercooked. We like to not be difficult and my boyfriend didn't want to say anything but also wasn't going to eat it. When the server came back over we told and showed him the gross eggs and he said he would be right back with a plate so he could put the eggs on it and they could cook him new ones. That would have been fine I guess except it took him well over 3 minutes to even come back with a plate and at that point why would I want a cold bottom half of a benedict with two new hot eggs without hollandaise on it?? Not only that the potatoes came out cold and looked burnt and the chicken and waffles on the new menu has the grossest syrup you will ever taste with raw bourbon a huge amount of cayenne and no sweetness. I told the server I didn't like it because he could tell when I only took like three bites of the food. He didn't charge us for that but did charge us for the Benedict that didn't even have one bite taken out of. Can't believe one of my favorite places lost a great kitchen and very very sad that you have to act like a Karen to not get robbed out of 60$. read more

I wanted to love this place. Great ambiance sweet hostess lovely waitress......but wait! Nothing edible! The waitress informed us that every single thing on the menu is cooked in CANOLA OIL!!! Disgusting health-destroying inflammatory canola oil. Just another restaurant taking care of their bottom line at the expense of the public's health. So sad. Cheap canola oil. We don't notice. We wonder why American society has so much inflammatory disease. Restaurants could lead the way out of this mess but they are too profit-driven and no one calls them out. read more

First time visiting there for myself. My cousin and I went there today, he had been there before he requested for me to try the enchilada skillet for brunch. Delish. Also the bartender made a really really good Spanish coffee. Great food and Spirits read more

Been several times. Usually, go for the regular change in the menu - this time French. Nothing tickled my fancy so I ordered the Prime rib special for the night. A big piece of meat. Lines out the door all evening (Thursday night.) And all the screeching kids! Made the place even louder than normal. Parking sucks. Will return for the next change in the menu. read more