The Office Bar & Grill

Pretty solid mimosas, fish and chips… Exceeded my expectations quite a bit.
After our travel plans went all wrong, we found ourselves unexpectedly in the middle of Tacoma with big appetites and some time to spare.
We found our way to The Office Bar & Grill on a quiet Sunday downtown. The outdoor seating was serene in the early summer and a perfect spot for people watching while mimosa sipping.
This place has a great happy hour… the fish and chips are pretty good, and I’m even more fond of their macaroni and cheese balls. Each was a pleasant surprise.

I had heard this place was good, and it looked interesting when I was exploring downtown. The food was pretty tasty, the mac and cheese balls were great. I ordered the chicken fingers, I didn’t like how it was breaded like fish sticks. I did love the burger my husband ordered, we switched plates half way thru.
Our waitress didn’t get that great of a tip from us because she didn’t have that great of a personality. She hardly said 2 words to us and looked like she was bored the whole time while doing her job.
Kind of a loud establishment. I guess for a bar, that’s normal. I’ll come back.

So I’ve been here several times now. I visit on Thursday nights for trivia. If it weren’t for the trivia, pretty sure I wouldn’t come here.
First, there’s a waitress who always gets our table. Often times she’s rude and unpleasant. Second, there always seems to be an incredibly long wait for food. Their boneless chicken «wings» are weird and not worth it.
The waitress gave everyone in our group (about 15 ppl) their checks. I did not get one. So I waited awhile to see if she’d bring it later. Everyone was closed out and I still hadn’t received my bill. When I asked her about it she literally said nothing and gave me a glare. She then comes back 10 mins later and says she can’t find my bill due to system issues. My bill wasn’t high, so she said she’d cover it for me should it come up.
I appreciate her offering to pay, but her tone always rubs me the wrong way and she didn’t take a professional approach to the situation. It’s annoying that she gave me an attitude for trying to make sure my tab was covered! I could have left and not said a word.
Also, had to ask her about the beer I ordered twice before it showed up. We made it through 2 rounds of trivia before my drink showed up and 3 rounds before my food arrived. There are 4 rounds total. I was supposed to get a raffle ticket because I ordered a trivia beer. Definitely didn’t get a ticket.
There are so many bars in Tacoma. If you’re not into trivia, look for another place.
Update: 6÷2÷16
I’ve been back to The Office since my review, and I’ve decided to bump it up to 3 stars. The waitress mentioned above has waited on me since and she’s been very pleasant. Perhaps she was having some rough nights, and I probably should have realized that. Things can get annoying with the trivia crowd. Whether she read this review or not, she has definitely been more patient and nice. I’d go with more stars if this were a better bar overall. Food and drinks are still average, at best.

Went there last night because the forum was crazy packed. It wasn’t the best alternative but we were just looking to eat something before heading to dorkys. The general set up of the place makes it feel crowded. The bacon bleu burger was tasty. Just wish there was more creativity as far as the dish in general for the price. I also got the sweet potato fry appetizer with bleu cheese and bacon. I had to take some of my bacon strips on my burger and crumble it on my fries. The drinks weren’t worth mentioning. The server was not very attentive. I won’t be returning unless it’s a last resort. Probably not even then.

Fun place downtown. I vaguely remember some bacon wrapped tater tots that were delicious. I think we also got the mac n cheese balls. They also did not disappoint. We had flatbreads on occasion, and they were good too.
Craft beer selection was kind of weak. The offerings were the typical craft fare, and honestly a little boring in a region with a ton of amazing craft beer.
The ladies i was with enjoyed their cocktails.
The Office comes in solid third place after Matador, and The Forum of the downtown options in that area.

Great place to stop in for your traditional Pub food, beer & cocktails downtown Tacoma. Waitstaff & Bartenders are always friendly with fast attentive service. Nice sports bar atmosphere inside and always good tunes playing in the background.

Happy hour fish tacos are second to none in Tacoma, the grilled chicken basil kabob is also a great bang for your buck.

My frequent place with my friends for happy hour. Hands down, this place has the best happy hour in Tacoma. They have an extensive menu to choose from so you can get your money’s worth. Bar Trivia on Thursdays was so fun! I will definitely come by next time I am in town, for sure!

This place is okay! Nothing great, just a grungy bar to get drinks at when the Matador is too busy haha. I have never eaten here before, but the drinks are yummy and strong! Bartenders are pretty friendly and there is always interesting people watching.

Really like this spot. Service was fantastic. Was greeted as soon as I sat down. Every drink is cheaper on happy hour. I ordered the Mojave chicken Sandwich with clam chowder.

I’d heard that this place was a Buffalo Wild Wings-​style corporate bar & grill but my husband and I stopped by because sometimes you just want a place to watch sports, y’know? We were so wrong. This place is great!
Maybe it helped that we got the sweetest bartender ever (A.J.!) but the surprisingly vegetarian-​friendly menu didn’t hurt.

As far as Pacific Ave bars go, The Office is a great middle ground. They aren’t too fancy, but they have good deals, good atmosphere and most importantly, SHUFFLEBOARD!
I’m not sure why, but every night-​out in Tacoma ends with me and my friends at The Office, playing shuffleboard. Maybe its the decent crowds, maybe its the great happy hour, or maybe its my clear undying desire to play shuffleboard when I’m drunk. Who knows!

AJ is awesome! Who knew the happy hour menu was so great here? Generous pours of wine for $ 5, $ 3 daily IPA, nachos with meat for $ 5… I’m trying the green bean fries next time.

NEGATIVE 5 stars! I’m in my 30s and never in my life have I ever been treated so poorly at a bar establishment.
Note: The Office closes at 2am on Saturday.
We arrived at 12:30am The staff started closing down the dining area around 12:45am. They announce Last call at 1:00am so we order a drink. 1:10am the cocktail waitress comes to our table, «are you finished!?» well no, we just got it «well chug that shit or I’m taking it away from you!!» So you served us a drink and expect us to down it otherwise you will take it away? I’m not the type to chug cocktails. If i knew this was your policy i never wouldve ordered a drink in the first place.
She was extremely rude, disrespectful, and completely unprofessional. So we got up and left without finishing our drinks. I may have accidentally spilled mine on our way out oops. She wasn’t very happy about that so she ran out to the street and flipped us a double bird. Wow lol
If you start kicking people out around 1am then maybe you should change your hours and not advertise that you’re open until 2am. Also, I don’t think it’s wise under any circumstance to pressure your customers to chug a drink you just served them.
Visit here was 10÷17÷15

We came here around 7pm on a Friday so it was pretty busy when we arrived but they still had one more table available. We ordered our drinks, no problem with that. Ya can’t really screw up a beer. We ordered the Prime Rib sandwich and the House Steak plate. We also ordered some buffalo wings as an app.
Buffalo wings were great! Nice and crispy, good amount of sauce and the blue cheese and some nice big chunks!
Prime Rib Sandwich was on the menu with a little tab saying «may we recommend». Already since that’s on there I think it’s going to be pretty good, I was wrong. The meat had so much hard, tough fat it was gross. The sandwich was described as haves some creamy horseradish, I couldn’t taste any.
The House Steak was cooked to perfection. It was the correct temperature and juicy. Unfortunately there was no flavor to it. I had to add A1 to enjoy it. The mashed potatoes and carrots had the same problem– no salt.

My boyfriend and I had been here a few nights ago and we got great friendly service during a busy weekend night from a nice gentleman.
Come today, business was busy again but we found a table and weren’t bothered by the amount of people or the noise. UNTIL we went to the bar to order food and drinks and THREE EMPLOYEES denied us help. The best part was that one of the employees, a female with dark hair who kind of looked like Mila Kunis (which was disappointing because I love that actress but very much dislike this woman), told us she was off work so she passed its on to someone else. Yeah, cool, fine when I’m off work, I don’t want to help anyone either. So we leave due to the poor service, realise we forgot our umbrella and upon retrieval, see this lady behind the counter HELPING OTHER CUSTOMERS. Wish I would have taken a picture of her so I could talk to the manager and show him who it was but I also didn’t want to be creepy/​be in the stupid place anymore.
SUPER disappointed that our first trip was so great and we were taken care of so well but then great service isn’t provided every night.

We came on a Thursday night. We ordered some grapefruit vodka drink with soda and lime. It was served in a tall glass and tasted like club soda. I asked the bartender if he could add more vodka or fix it since it tasted like club soda. He said they have a heavy pour and insisted that it was fine. He asked if I’d ever had grapefruit vodka before. I told him I had. I was kind of embarrassed because the people next to us were watching so I told him nevermind. I couldn’t drink it and tried to get his attention again a few minutes later but he ignored me
A few patrons walked in and stood next to us at the bar. He walked past us to serve them and I said «excuse me». I told him that we couldn’t drink the drinks we ask that you just remake them in a shorter glass with less soda. The person that was with me choked down about ¹⁄₃ of hers as we were desperately waiting for the bartender to come back. I asked the bartender if he would just make the two drinks again in a short glass with a splash of soda. He looked at her drink and said «you can’t just drink your drink and expect a free one.» At this point, everyone near us was looking on. I was so embarrassed. I told him that I would buy her a new drink if he would remake two please. He had an attitude as he started to remake the drinks and he repeated that they had strong pours or something. At that point, I believe I told him he was a jackass and it wasn’t necessary. There is no reason to ever treat customers like that. We exchanged a few words and we left.
The Matador down the street had fantastic drinks, great bartenders and good food. Tacoma Cabana was awesome too. The owner was very personable. Census was that the staff at Library bar is typically rude unless you fit their specific stereotype.

Checked out this place! Very good specials, and a very nice selection of alcoholic drinks! Gonna have to comeback and have something to eat next time, but IMO, the service was fast and courteous, and the price’s are reasonable for the drinks and food.
The place itself is clean, and they have a lot of good specials going on! I think I will be back here, and I would recommend this place.

Happy hour = love.
The food options are pretty damn good and their portions are big for happy hour. Some of our food (mac & cheese balls/​bacon wrapped tots) were slightly burnt but nothing inedible. A great place for beers… unfortunately not much of a discount on liquor unless you like the well drinks. Overall, a great place to hang out at and enjoy a cheap meal.

Happy Hour kicks ass and takes names. If I’m down for a beer, shuffleboard and a cool hangout with friends in Tacoma it’s usually the Office. They have assorted microbrews and their own house beers. Trivia nights on Thursdays are fun also. Lots of TVs to watch sports and Sounders games.
Edit: Best hangout/​bar in Downtown Tacoma. Hopefully they’ll put my name up there!