The Burke Museum Cafe

My favorite spot on campus. I love the fact that they play King FM lightly in the background. The interior is covered in carved wood and they are all different. Support The Burke Café!

lovely interior, and delightful pastries.

I always stop here before leaving The Burke. It’s a long drive to Olympia and the coffee here is pretty good quality. They don’t judge that I have two huge coffees for myself or that, if I remembered to bring extra cash, I would buy all of the biscotti. This isn’t the greatest place for my 5 year old. The layout of the café makes her antsy. She is calm in booths, but I hate booths and appreciate there are tables and chairs here. There isn’t much here she likes to eat aside from biscotti.
I am thankful this Café is part of The Burke. If I was a student there, I would go to the café to study. It has a quiet, mellow atmosphere.

I’ve been visiting the Burke since the ‘80s and its still the warm and cozy place I remember. The coffee and snacks aren’t the draw, it’s the atmosphere. Beautiful paneling and students and professors milling about. A great quiet place to get some reading or writing done. Don’t rely on your laptop — no wifi or power plugs. Just relax and go analog.

I like the Burke Museum Café but I dont really come here that often.
It is always loud and hard to concentrate and actually study. It is probably a decent place to just chat with some friends but otherwise this café is just as expensive as other on-​campus cafes.

What a little secret treasure in the museum.
They dont have a huge selection, but they have enough to give you a little drink as you reread you r program and look out ointo the beautiful UW campus.
People coem and go. Who are they students? Professors? Teachers planning field trips? One never knows/​/​
Linger, wonder.
oops! If you paid by the hour to park. GET OUT
GET OUT Quick! UW parking rates are horrible.
Best. tak ethe bus/​. or take advantage of the UW Bookstore parking lot and their customer validation plan. Buy something from them.

If I hadn’t worked and gone to class in the same building as the café for two years, I would not have gone there as often. The coffee and pastries are average, the sandwiches and salads in the refrigerated case are mediocre at best as well as pricey, and there is no internet (at least, there was none as of June 2007, but that may have changed). But the soup is good, no one minds if you sit there for hours at a time, whether to study or to gossip with a large group of students, Mercy is lovely, they give you free hot water if you bring your own tea, and the wood paneling on the walls is pretty and museologically significant.

Good atmosphere, walls are interesting to look at, quiet conversations, plenty of seats available typically… basically, what I ask for in coffee shop. There are also some outdoor seats and tables around the museum.
One thing to avoid like the plague: when the tour buses show up…50 foreigners trying to order food, coffee, handle strange money, etc… RUN AWAY or you will lose an hour of your life waiting to be served. Just walk down the University Avenue to Café Solstice for better coffee.
Geoff’s review is spot on regarding the Tully’s, food, and cash only. Bad food… although the cookies are pretty good.

The Burke Café makes up for what it lacks in selection and quality with history and good ambiance.
The Café features antique wood paneling that dates back to the 18^th century. All the paneling in the room was originally acquired by the museum as part of its collection. Before the space was converted into a café, the Burke used it to display works of classical art. The artwork has all been put back into storage or transferred to more appropriate venues, but the period panels remain. While deterioration due to the stress of being a café wall is apparent to those who look carefully, the ambiance generated by their presence is quite nice.
Unfortunately, the Burke contracted the space to Tully’s, so the coffee quality is sub-​par as is the food selection. Also, they don’t take cards, so remember to bring cash, or if you are a UW undergrad, you can use your UW money-​for-​eating-​card-​thing too. Still, when dragging your way to a two and a half hour lecture on museum law at 8:30am, the café is a welcome source of caffeinated goodness.