Catkin Cafe

I had the Yogurt and granola and my friend had the baked eggs, both of which were delicious. They also had a selection of really good looking pastries including homemade graham crackers. Most importantly, good coffee.

Unlike a lot of the staff we encountered on the Island the servers at Catkin were very kind, attentive and even smiled at us. The food was also quite delicious. I had the yellow curry pea soup which came with home made bread and butter, it was fantastic! My husband had the fritatta which was also good, but not as good as the soup. Very good hot tea was served as well, a whole pot of it. The atmosphere is cozy and bright with beautiful artwork and the prices are very reasonable for the island.

Four of us looked forward to the first visit back to Artworks café, after it being closed due to fire. We stopped in for breakfast. We almost didn’t stop in because arts side was closed and no sign was out to say the café was open. We let our server know, and clearly she isn’t an owner since she didn’t seemed to care at all. In her defense she did acknowledge they put the sign up (10 min later).
The space is great, a nice improvement over the last café. The menu was very limited, and nothing jumped out at the four of us, so we settled into a couple of items that were sorta breakfast items (3 frittatas and 1 focaccia bread). Regardless, though the items had creative recipes, 3 of 4 of us weren’t impressed with the dry, somewhat flavorless dishes, while one person liked the frittata.
What really stood out though is the lack of a smile, friendly conversation, or enthusiasm by the entire staff. We live in Portland (self professed foodies) and own a house in Olga. We love Orcas for many things, including the food and the people. We love Artworks, and support the local Orcas businesses. I really want to give the Catkin Café a higher score, but can’t. Please put a little more variety on your menu, and/​or add a few more accessible menu items (maybe drop a few creative items), add a couple of familiar breakfast items, create a menu for everyone, not just the creative foodie. Also if Catkin can’t hire people that represent the friendly nature of Orcas, then the menu won’t matter because people won’t come back. We’ll come back, since we’re locals, but we’ll let a few months pass first, to give the owners time to find their mojo, then hopefully we’ll be happy to take future guests to this café, and upgrade the ratings.

I had brunch here with my 14 year old daughter and 11 year old niece last week. The food was great and service very good as well. The girls had home made biscuits and jam that they kept raving about. My niece is finicky about food and at one point during the meal she said «let’s come back here soon.» I had a chicken salad sandwich on home made sourdough bread and I could eat that about every day. The menu is very limited but that’s perfectly fine with me as I like a lot of different kinds of food. Our server (s) smiled so it’s unfortunate a reviewer below didn’t experience the same thing. The owner and the chef were there. I did try to compliment the chef on the sandwich as I left but she didn’t look up (absorbed in her work I guess). It’s the thought that counts I guess; at least I tried to recognize her! The art gallery attached to the café is well worth a visit too.

food was average. none of staff smiled the whole time we were there. waitress was awful. we wanted separate checks (2 couples). she wouldn’t do it because ‘food wouldn’t come out at same time’. we had to figure out $ total of what we each ordered because ‘our register is old and I don’t have time to do it’. true story! menu too limited. won’t be back.

New restaurant in Olga artworks after arson fire June 2013. Beautiful remodel. Staff very responsive. Main course — chicken sandwich was good but bun was burned. Chocolate peanut butter cookie was dried out and tasteless. Shortbread cookie for my spouse was good. Prices are reasonable but on the high side. I think they need more volume plus espresso. I hope they stay for a while.

We’ve eaten both lunch and brunch here and have been impressed with the ingenuity of the offerings and the increased speed of service. There are tables both inside and outdoors on a covered porch. Sevice is friendly and knowledgeable.
Sometimes the presentations can be hard to eat (so how about cutting sandwiches in half?) or the advertised item does not live up to its name. In the latter category is the chicken salad sandwich in which the chicken flavor is lost in a sea of other things. Overall the food is inventive, tasty and interesting.
This place is definitely worth a stop if you come to see the art in the coop gallery that shares the building or if you find yourself in Olga and are hungry. a