Like Stormin' says The Mark is posh yet stuffy. The drinks are nothing to write home about and neither is the food. I was also sorely disappointed when we were there for my friends birthday and they cut him off after 2 drinks. This was the first place we had visited and he wasn't drunk at all. When we asked the bartender why he was cut off their only explanation was "your friend is obviously intoxicated." Which he was not. Needless to say after that little incident I won't be back. read more

12/2016: it's been some time... they've redeemed themselves. In love again! I'm torn because I love the cocktails and bites in this place. I came here last night on a date around 9:30 pm. There were a few people around, too, so I assumed that it would be a nice place to sit and have a couple drinks. Right when we sat down, the server tells us that they *might* be closing early depending on the traffic flow. Understandable. What's NOT understandable, though, is howde our check was placed on the table after one set of drinks were ordered (around 9:45) with the comment of "This is just here in case you want to close out... But there's no rush! You can order more if you want." Even though we were a little annoyed, we ordered one more set. They bring them to us and as we are sipping, a couple more people come in so we assumed that they would be open for at least a little while longer. But then the bartender comes up to us and says "Yeah soooo... We're going to have to kick you guys out soon." They close at 1:30 am (or so they say)... How come the all of the customers are being pushed out so early?! read more

This is a drink/atmosphere review as I have not eaten here. The gist: I will never patronize The Mark again. I do not say this lightly, as Oly is a small town and a girl needs a classy place to swill her classy cocktails. However, I was recently there as part of a large group in their larger special events room. First problem - someone at the Mark wrote our event down on the wrong date, forcing our organizer to move the date of the event on very short notice. I don't know what effort if any was made by the management to rectify the screwup on their part, but the outcome was less than satisfactory. Then they had ONE waitress serving a room of nearly 50 people, so drink service was glacially slow. They do have good mojitos but I've found all the other drinks I've had there to be weak and nothing to write home about. But the final straw for me was the owner of the Mark badmouthing other local businesses to a fellow customer. Everybody's allowed a bad day once in a while and has the right to their opinion, but that crosses the line. I'll be spending my money at someone else's establishment from now on and will recommend all my friends do the same. read more

I went to the Mark on a Saturday night to celebrate teaching my ladyfriend how to drive a manual transmission. I finally had a chance to try the food and hot damn was it awesome! We had the butternut ravioli along with the baked goat cheese salad. Both were melt in your mouth good and totally filling. For drinks we had the Monkey Trouble and the Hustle, both fairly good (the Monkey Trouble was labeled "Kool-aid for adults" by my partner-in-crime). Most importantly was the pairing of the Season's Pass (a one-upped version of a White Russian) with the chocolate ice cream. I'm pretty sure the Winter Olympics just won gold--IN MY MOUTH. read more

The Mark is an amazing lil spot hidden in Olympia, from the elegant decor to the farm raised beef, you know you're in a classy spot. I even had an issue with my steak, it was after hours, and the chef insisted he turn the burners back on and cook me a brand new Ribeye... I seriously could have kissed him for that! Lol Take a date and grab some cocktails the next time you feel like going out, you won't regret it! read more

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First of all, there's a great price range on the menu. You can get a huge dish of basic pasta and red sauce for about $6 or splurge for a roast chicken for two. Second, I love the ambiance. Inside is spacious and moody and cozy and jazzy. I love love love the back patio in the summer. It feels like a wonderful, wonderful secret. I wish that smoking wasn't allowed, but what can you do? Third, the food is solid. I think everything I've had, to me, is good, but not exactly there 100%. I think the pesto/potato pasta is too oily. They recently changed the pasta with black pepper (my favorite!!), and frankly I like the original version better. The deserts are all pretty divine, as are the olives, the bread (Essential Bakery), and the drinks. My secret dream is to splurge on all of the fabulous drinks they have. I love the Mojitos. Fourth, I love the organic/ sustainable viewpoint. There's also good vegan and vegetarian options. Fifth, the service. If you want to order right away, ask for the food menu. They tend to only give you the drink menu at first and come back 10 minutes later. You decide you don't want to drink. This is never frowned upon, so they bring you the food menu and give you another 10 minutes. You order and wait for another 10 or 20 or 30 minutes. But the food is so hot and so delicious, you kind of forget, but don't come here starving. I've had some absentminded servers, but I think they no longer work there. Sixth, the owner, Lisa. She is really friendly and personable.She likes to explain the food, which is kind of fun. She explains like you've never been in before, though, and I just want to be like, hey! I know this already. I think just asking "Are you familiar with XYZ?" or "have you been in before?" would be totally great. Went once for my birthday and she took group photos for us and gave me free desert. One time when my group's order got lost, she sent over cheese and champagne. read more

I love locally owned restaurants and the Mark is one of my favorites--it is a great example of, "What's cool about Olympia." The Mark is fluid--it can be romantic for dates, fun for group or family dinners, works reallly well (with back-rooms) for business events, and is super fun for a happy hour (GREAT drinks!) It's swanky and a little retro. It's healthy and decadent. It's adults only and family friendly. It has a dark, sophisticated atmosphere, but an outdoor patio for lighter, outside dining, too. Lisa, the owner is fantastic; she's lovely to talk to and checks in to see if you are actually enjoying the food, she cares deeply about the type of food she serves, the way the food is presented and the overall 'vibe' of the restaurant. It is one of the very few 'certified organic' restaurants and has vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, low-fat low-carb options. And if you don't see what you need on the menu, she'll take care of you! I love the gluten-free pasta and breads. The menu is simple, tasteful and delicious. http://www.themarkolympia.com/menu-dinner.php My favorite is a simple pasta with pesto. If you are in Olympia and looking for a good meal, I highly recommend The Mark. read more

I love this place! The food is always wonderful and I love that the meat is 100% grass fed! They use all organic ingredients! The owner is super sweet and accommodating! read more

From the outside, the mark is a posh mystery. Closed four days of the week, it seems almost impossible that it even exists. But alas! The mark is a sophisticated yet far from snobby dimly lit treasure. I haven't eaten dinner here but the cheese plates are delicious. Manchego is my all time favorite and they have it at my beck and call! There aren't too many lads or lasses I can get to accompany me here but when my convincing weighs in, no one ever leaves here unimpressed and excited to return. Their dirty martinis are perfect. Gin and tonics are a mere 2.75! They actually have a drink list which is something so helpful that not many places take advantage of. I believe they only have two wines, a red and a white but a fully stocked bar is enough to make anyone happy. If you want to feel like you're out of Olympia, c'mere! This is your urban haven away from home. read more

As a former Berkeley resident to The Mark owner, once a Berkeley resident: This place comes close to Alice Water's legendary Chez Panisse - in Olympia, WA, of all places! January 9 was our first visit to The Mark, which my husband had heard such good things about, but we never had the time to stop as we went through Olympia on our way to Tacoma. What a hip little place with such fresh, original, simple yet elegant dishes. Definitely not Chez Panisse high price tags - rather, the dishes were very reasonably priced. The fettucini carbanara was perfect, with refined, not-too-saucy sauce. My fettucini with prosciutto and fresh basil begged for a little more flavor, but was enjoyable, nonetheless. The Spanish cheese with amazing bread was served with the finest olive oil we've had in awhile. The simple salad was perfectly dressed. I didn't give it 5 stars because of the service. A bit spotty. The very nice waiter who finally arrived explained that they were short on wait staff. These things happen. We'll return, probably ordering the special chicken ahead of time (as required) - we can't wait. Oh, did I tell you that this is one of those rare and successful spots committed to local growers? We met Lisa, the owner - she's as cool as the place is! read more

Friendly service and interesting drinks, but overall, the exterior of this place far surpasses the experience inside. Granted I am a picky kid when it comes to lighting, table spacing, and food (in this case pasta) - so I was kind of 0 for 3 with these three making for an experience with much to be desired. Love the drink menu - no problems there except one drink ordered at our table had a paper umbrella and monkey in it which seemed too party-class for this type of higher-class joint. I like dim lighting for dinner - which it seems like other people complained about here - but my issue is it feels like you have a big spotlight on you at the booths. Not a relaxing environment for a date. The feng shui in the place just seems off. I can't put my finger on it although I feel like there should be bar stools to make some use of the front bar, more tables, and something to break the flow of energy in the main dining room. It just feels a little blah in there for such a rad exterior. We came in a group (9 people) and had to order from a limited menu which I thought was weird. I'm mostly vegeterian so that left me with one option besides soup/salad. I had the pesto pasta - it was okay but overpriced for not being homemade pasta etc. also way too much oil. Keep trying, I will come back if I see some changes made! I think I met the owner and she was really really nice so that's worth a lot in my book! read more

Food: Amazing, organic, and refreshingly creative. My favorite dish there is the whole chicken and rosemary potatoes. Always perfectly cooked. The bread that comes with the appetizers is to die for. I love citrus/sour drinks so the Detox is a perfect compliment for me. They also have a great selection of beers as well. Ambience: The Mark knows how to keep things cool and cozy, not only with the artwork on the walls and the subtle lighting, but the music playing in the background definitely makes it a great venue for a date or get together with friends. The Mark definitely captures all of the great things you want a restaurant to be, and more. The owner, Lisa, is usually there to make sure customers are having a pleasant experience. Can it get any better than that? Location: Downtown Olympia. You won't be disappointed. read more

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary at "The Mark" and it was fabulous. Lisa, the owner treated us like we were the only ones there. The choices of cheeses, specialty meals, wine made us feel like we were in Italy. Everything was fresh, delicious and priced just right! We will be back again and again. Thank you for making our special life the best! read more

Visited The Mark for happy hour with a few co-workers last week. Arrived a little before 6 pm and ordered a variety of drinks, as well as an appetizer to share and a few entrees. The Mark has a nice atmosphere, with indoor and outdoor seating, booths and tables (picnic tables outdoors), and even a private seating area for parties. Really liked everything about the place upon entering. There was almost no one there when we arrived (maybe 2-3 other people), but by the time we left the inside was almost full and there were about 3-4 other parties outside. Noticed families eating dinner with young kids, which personally seemed a little out of place right next to the bar but so be it. We opted to sit outside, as the inside was fairly dark and it was a nice day. There is no service outside, so you have to come in and order the food/ drinks and wait to receive them. The day we were there it wasn't super busy so they brought us our food, which was a nice touch. Could have done without the sea gull sitting on a nearby telephone pole pooping visibly and audibly all over the plants and shrubs lining the inside of the fence around the outdoor area- definitely a bit of a mood dampener. Drinks were pretty good, but there was a hair on the appetizer and hairs on each of the entrees. The server (I believe it was the owner) noticed the hair on the app right away and brought a new one, which was great, but the fact that there were also hairs in the entrees signals an issue in the kitchen. So overall, really liked the atmosphere, as well as the drinks and food... this would be a four or five star spot if not for so many hairy mistakes. read more

Came here for drinks during a girls night out on a Saturday. I was worried that our group of 8 would be a problem. But the staff welcomed us right away, rushed to push tables together and was super-understanding that we were all paying separately.... for like one drink each. We were a pain! We were loud and spilled things and they were so so nice. The drinks were great, and a few people got the cheese plates and desserts and they seemed to really like those as well. I liked that they had one called the "Detox" that was non-alcoholic but sounded way better than the club soda I often get at bars. Although I ended up getting whiskey and a cigarette and beer, so... read more

The Mark Olympia - The Local - Lounges Near Me - Olympia, Washington

It's cute.. that's about all. The food is good but not worth the price. I went her recently for ''cocktail' hour and had the worst drinks I have EVER had in my life. My toilet makes a better lemon drop. I decided to try some other drink, a special, and it was just as horrible. I just don't understand what all the hype is about. read more

Save your money. Another example of faux fine dining, Olympia style. The good - Cocktails. Pasta (pretty hard to mess up). Friendly/fun waitress. The bad - Steak (cut and served as hot dog sized pieces). Steak tasted like a hot dog. Overpriced cocktails. Mildly overpriced entrees. Inside of restaurant looks like an old mobile home. Tables and tableware from Goodwill. Slow service. Chocolate torte was horrible. Tasted like a bad protein bar. All natural, organic cooking strikes again. Recommendation - Come here for an expensive trendy cocktail, then move along. read more

Came here for a GF's bridal shower dinner. We had a private banquet room. The ambiance was nice and the soft animal print added a nice touch to the room. The service was great! The owner was super nice and even took pictures for our group. They had a nice herb garden in the back where we'd took some pics. As far as the food goes, it was ok. Not great, but not the worst either. I am glad that I'd got to try this place just once. I don't think I would come back because I live too far. I'm sure I can find a place closer to home with good tasting pastas. read more

Great high quality local food! Really enjoyed my meal and the atmosphere. Great gluten free options. Lived in Oly for years and never new about it, I have been missing out. read more

We rented out The Mark for our wedding reception and it was the perfect venue! The space already has beautiful decor so we only had to do minimal decorating. We also appreciated that there was enough space for all of our guests. We used the Red Room for the DJ, dancing, and cake cutting, and had the rest of the restaurant and back patio available for our guests to mingle. In fact, we were even able to utilize the Board Room as a photo booth area which was a blast! Lisa made the planning simple and flexible--we were able to set a budget and work our food and drink menu around it. We couldn't have asked for a better experience! read more

Amazing fresh, organic food. The chicken Sofia was delicious. The cocktails were superb. The service was exemplary. Lovely ambiance. Highly recommend!!!!!!! read more

The food is delicious. The ingredients are very high quality, locally sourced and organic. The decor is vintage 1940s which I really like. The atmosphere is comfortable and on the quiet side which I love, conducive to conversation. The bill might be slightly higher than other nearby restaurants but for the quality and craftsmanship the prices are a bargain. I highly recommend a visit. read more

Found The Mark using Yelp and It did not disappoint. The cocktails are great and the food was fresh and delicious. We ate on the patio and had a nice relaxing dinner. My husband got the butternut squash ravioli, the portion was pretty large which was a nice surprise, most places skimp on stuffed pasta. I got hand cut fettucini with prociutto and basil in a light oil sauce. All of the ingredients were local and everything tasted so fresh. Dessert was small but hit the spot. It was a vanilla custard I think, very creamy, good crust. Our waitress was good but took a little while to get back to us after we finished dinner to order dessert and get the check. She was very friendly and definitely knew the menu well. If we are ever back in Olympia I would definitely go back, especially for the Hustler, great cocktail. read more

I've become increasingly bored with the food and drink offerings. Service is just plain strange. No one seems happy to be there. Me either.

Loved the atmosphere and the creative menu of drinks. We didn't have a full meal here - we just noshed on the smoked salmon, the olives and the salumi plate. All of these were high quality tapas and could make for a filling meal on their own. Would definitely return for drinks and snacks. read more

My four stars are for the food. I'll get to the service in a minute. Don't worry, it wasn't unpleasant, just.. kind of uncomfortable. The food was lovely. They do a great job of detailing which ingredients are organic (most of them), which dishes can be made gluten-free (most of them), and where their meat and cheese comes from (all locally sourced). For their gluten-free pasta dishes they use the Bionaturae brand of pasta, which is the most expensive, best-tasting, and best-textured GF pasta on the market. Any GF customers will appreciate the extra money spent for quality- I know I do. I had the calabrese salad with mozzarella and my man had their porterhouse steak special (topped with the same calabrese tomatoes). Their food is presented simply, no fancy sauce drizzles here. I like that. They let the food do the talking, and it does talk. The calabrese tomatoes were marinated in a good-quality balsamic and had just the right amount of herbs and flavor. The mozzarella was light and almost fluffy, as it should be. The salad also had just the right amount of acidity to be paired with the porterhouse, which was seared perfectly over the wood fire. My guy was elated to see a massive, medium-rare 16 OZ steak with some marinated tomatoes tossed on there- and nothin' else. As I said, no fancy presentation needed. The only complaint I had about my ragu was that it could have been a little meatier. Other than that, the pasta didn't taste GF at all; the sauce went perfectly with it, delicious. All the food was fresh and organic and well-prepared. I don't drink, but the drinks look as organic and awesome as everything else. Unique, too. If I could drink/eat sugar, I would come here for drinks and dessert as well as dinner. All the desserts were GF, so when I can eat sugar again I'll be visiting for those alone. As for the service: It is not bad. However, Lisa, the owner, is a bit of a hoverer. Frankly, her demeanor is somewhat nerve-wracking. Don't get me wrong, she is incredibly sweet and earnest. I understand the desire to make sure each customer is having an ideal meal, but she takes it to another level. She seems very nervous and unsure- she is constantly running over to explain a dish or justify something she did or to talk about something you did to your food that she noticed while she was watching from behind the bar. I put some salt on my pasta (I have low blood pressure, my doctor always tells me to eat more salt) and she ran over, saying "I noticed you salted your food, we don't put salt on it so you can put as much salt as you want- well, we do salt it, but not that much, just a little bit, hah, heh.." There were several occasions like this, making me feel like I was doing something wrong. Then I realized she was just worried about her product, which shouldn't be the case, as she knows what kind of quality goes into it. Your food is awesome girl, have some swagger! Put a little confidence in that talk, you know it's good! Overall, very good. A wonderful option for gluten-free Olympians especially, but not exclusively. read more

Great service and delicious food. They were able to accommodate a large party without a hitch. The vegan choices were reported to be very good and the salmon was outstanding. read more

Cool joint that does not feel like it would be in Olympia, no offense. The room is paneled, old school, with a rich maybe teak panelling. And the bar has no stools, which I dig. I only stopped in for a Negroni, but the menu looked good... maybe next time. read more

The Mark? Well short of it, I would say. I am not sure I have ever seen less care or thought put into dishes by a restaurant holding itself out as a sophisticated, upscale restaurant. Let's take the smoked salmon appetizer ($19): a slab of smoked salmon on a large plain white plate with 4 slices of tepid bread (the gluten free variety for my dinner companion, which felt like it may have been placed in the vicinity of an oven for perhaps 30 seconds -- they also brought a few slices of their normal bread, which was somewhat warmer and entirely unremarkable). Really? No accompaniments, no garnish, nothing to make it look even remotely like a restaurant dish. I wouldn't serve such an ugly dish to guests at home; I certainly expect more out of a "fine dining" establishment. And the salmon just tasted and looked like run-of-the-mill grocery store smoked fish. Dry smoked salmon with dry bread -- I actually had to take sips of wine or water just to get the mixture down my throat. On to the main course: a porterhouse steak, which I would describe as "Bland Slab of Meat on Plate." It was advertised as one of their nightly specials -- I can't recall the description of the preparation, but I thought I could detect perhaps a hint of salt. It arrived at the table on a white plate -- again, sans garnish, sauce, sides or any other indication that the kitchen cares how its dishes look or taste. It was edible, and that's about the best thing I can say about it. The service was uneven at best. The choices of wines by the glass were very limited. The food was overpriced, ugly and insultingly plain. The lack of effort and/or caring was painfully obvious. Honestly, the entire meal was just pathetic. read more

This is a no messing around review y'all, because it's about my wedding. I keep on saying I want to get the marriage annulled so that we can do it all over again next weekend, it was that much fun! I live in San Francisco, all my friends live in San Francisco, many of them own restaurants or are restaurant consultants, we are serious food industry hipster-snobs (I know... gross, but I'm just calling a spade a spade). But I have family in Olympia, and I had always known that I wanted to have my wedding reception at The Mark. The reception was beautiful and a blast, the food was delicious and hearty, the atmosphere was perfect, everything went off without a hitch, I was able to let down my hair (it kinda fell actually...) and enjoy myself even as the bride, and my foodie friends were all impressed and totally "got" why I insisted on having the reception at The Mark. I found Lisa, the owner very easy to work with. We had a few phone meetings and I came up once to do some final tastings, meet with the photographer in the space, etc. She emailed me a few outlines from other brides that had held their receptions at The Mark which made it much easier to plan out the evening and think of ideas of how to use the space. Our reception went from 6pm until 1am, that is a lot of time to keep people entertained, with a drink in their hand and satiated with good food, I think with Lisa and her staff's hard work this all went off seamlessly! I gave Lisa my budget, and rounded down assuming that we would ultimately go over budget. She worked really hard to help me craft a food and bar menu that was decadent and hearty as well as economical. And to my absolute surprise when all was said and done we actually came in under the budget I had given her! We had cocktails and passed appetizers on the back patio while DJ Sweet Elite and her man played old skool R&B love songs. Which was followed by an absolutely delicious buffet dinner of Stokesbery Farms chicken, penne with sun dried tomato and absolutely unbeatable salad greens from Bremerton Mt. Farms (one restaurant owner friend tried to buy up the entire crop on the spot). We ate dinner on the patio under the newly added string lights, it was seriously magical. Later we moved into the Red Room for dancing, toasts and cake cutting. I was worried about the transitions, but somehow Lisa and her staff wordlessly encouraged the crowd in the right directions and I didn't even have to think about it. A quick note about the food. I absolutely love the clean simple flavors that really let the true quality of the ingredients they are using shine through. Every week in San Francisco a new hipster restaurant opens - and I know there are a truck load of these types of restaurants in Portland - offering trendy locavore fare. The Mark is a real pioneer in the Northwest and has been offering this locally sourced, unbeatable quality, organic food for almost ten years. And even so, every time I eat here I am shocked at the crazy low prices. There is a gorgeous organic pasta on the menu for $6.75, you can't get half an american cheese sandwich on white bread in SF for $6.75! And most of the sublime, hand juiced, premium cocktails The Mark offers are under $7, which is less than half the price of an equivalent cocktail in San Francisco. The food at The Mark is an unbelievable treat in so many ways, I'm excited every time I have an opportunity to eat there. I could go on and on, ad nauseum, etc., etc. I love eating at The Mark, I love drinking at The Mark, I love chatting with the bartenders and servers at The Mark, I love the decor and ambiance at The Mark, I love what a good value The Mark is especially compared with the decadence you feel when you are there. But most of all I am so glad that I chose The Mark as my wedding reception venue, it was the perfect place for my husband and I to share the most important day of our lives with our friends and family. read more

i came here for a drug dinner, continuing education credits for my profession. i probably won't be coming back.. this place was kinda really terrible. on the menu: 1. tossed spring salad with sliced rustic bread: salad was pretty good i mean it wasn't anything insanely amazing. it was just fresh and lightly tossed which was nice. the bread didn't come with any butter but it did come with pretty good olive oil. i put some pepper and salt on my bread. 2. chicken + garlic infused olive oiled tossed pasta: pasta too DRY and pasta too HARD. not a good combination. chicken didn't have any flavor and there was NO sauce accompanied with it. FAIL. pasta was too tough too eat and it made it real difficult because i felt like i was chewing forever.. same goes for the chicken. chewing forever. i had to keep drinking water and wine to make all that shiiiiiiz go down. 3. we had a dark chocolate dense moussed cake/pie. it was definitely dense and sweet for the most part. it was weird though because the bottom part of the cake had a very cheese like taste.. it was not the business. the whipped cream was good though. they offered us cappuccinos with our desserts which was greatly appreciated.. but that's about it. major FAIL this dinner. i will never ever eat here ever again. read more

It is a great place to go. The Staff is really nice and the drinks are really good. It is a little expensive but it is worth it.

One of my favorite restaurants ever. Am a serious foodie from Los Angeles with the good fortune to get to Olympia a couple times a year and I am always astonished at how ridiculously good the food at The Mark is. Simple, fresh ingredients, exquisitely prepared. There are many many restaurants in Los Angeles that strive for this, but only a few of them are as good as The Mark (and they cost about 2-3 times more money). A visit to Olympia is not complete without a visit to The Mark for me. read more

Waitress complained we didn't have a reservation and acted like they couldn't accommodate a party of four, then sat us in an area with at least 10 empty tables.. Restaurant claims to have an "extensive full bar" yet they have no beer on tap. The bottled beers they have are all available at gas stations. It's clean at least, so that's something different for downtown. read more

Expectations were not met. Food was standard, service was disappointing. Our server gave our appetizers to the wrong table and thereafter essentially forgot about us. And so, as a result, we sat with nothing but our drinks and salads for nearly an hour and a half. Felt totally ignored and eventually had to flag someone down. The owner (or so I believe) caught wind of the situation and, to her credit, tried to make things right by giving us a free dessert. That kindness prevents this from being a one-star experience. A couple other things to mention: No hostess stand--had to ask a bartender for a table (c'mon). Also, weird decor for an Italian restaurant--wood paneling, leopard-print chairs, and Asian caligraphy posters on the walls. Overall, not recommended. read more

Worst place ever. Literally if I had the choice to go the mark and get an overpriced, bland tasting, plate of cold noodles delivered by a waitress who's attitude is as if her cat just died brought out to me an hour after being ordered when they aren't even busy, OR buy a first class ticket to thailand, go to a zoo, and die by suffocation from an elephant shitting on me I would choose the latter. Seriously, the place is so uninviting and there food is so shitty you are much better off going to McDonald's. Bye felicia read more

Always feel welcomed. After a hard week its nice to get a drink in front of me fast and begin to take the edge off. We usually start with an appetizer and end up with a nice pasta dinner and a salad that is simple yet perfect. We have tried many of the items on the menu have never been disappointed. The ambiance and artwork set a tone that is welcome to Olympia and more establishments need to strive for. Finally, on a nice day, the outdoor area is an urban oasis. read more

Every time I've eaten here, everything has been perfect. I don't know if I can say that about anywhere else in Oly. Extra impressive that so much food here is local/organic. If you like eggplant, try the pasta Norma. read more

The food was amazing. Drinks were great. The issues, our reservation was at 630. Saw the close time was 12am. We came in for a celebration and planned to have a night out. We had cocktails, salads, dinner, bottle of wine, dessert, and bottle of champagne. The issue was when it was 8:45. We checked in, as we were the last table, and were told that we were the last table and made to feel like we were holding things up. If your close time is listed it is a bit ridiculous to think people are inconveniencing you at 9pm. Also, watched the owner "scold" the server for issues with another table. As a service employee this really rubs me the wrong way. I love seeing an owner work their restaurant and be apart of it. But to break down the person you have in your employment is awful. We were there for a special occasion and it was definitely felt like we were in the way at the end of the night. I totally understand that Olympia is a sleepy town at the end of the evening but don't list your hours if they will not be followed. Will probably not be back, which is a bummer because the food and what this place stands for is amazing but your a business. Act like one. read more

Overall, really disappointing. The good: -Our drinks - great coconut mojito and blueberry drink! -Bread and olive oil -The side salad -The olive platter, minus the nicoise olives (they weren't good) -Friendly service (although a bit slow - our drinks were empty longer than they should have been) The BAD: -Our entrees (ie - the most expensive part) -The salmon arrived skin down (thus, totally soggy with olive oil), 4+ bones, with a huge amount of bitter, overly oily zucchini - for $23, unacceptable... -The pesto had zero flavor - no chance it was made with fresh herbs and the pasta was a bit past al dente. I added a ton of salt, some pepper, and even then, it was only mediocre. Again, for $13, not good enough. When we mentioned to the waitress our disappointments, she didn't seem surprised. Not good. No idea about dessert b/c we were so disappointed, we ended our night at Swing with great red wine and fondue. If we go back, it will only be for drinks - unlikely, since there are other places to go for good drinks and better food. read more