Catacombs Pub

Come here for the beer, but I don’t recommend eating dinner. The dinner is way overpriced, but the atmosphere is very cool and the beer is quite good.

If I could give zero stars, I would. This place is awful! The décor is cool, but the service was probably the worst I’ve ever had in my entire life. My husband and I only ordered drinks because we were in disbelief at how rude and terrible the service was.
Also, not to mention… I ordered wine and the glass was completey dirty and covered in caked on food on the outside of it. Gross!

Disappointment all because of the FOH manager! Get a grip! Will possibly be back another day to try it!

Baked Artichoke Dip! YUMMMM!
SITREP
It’s funny. Some item will grab you and become the ICON of a region for you. For me, when traveling around the State of Washington (my sometime home of many different years in Seattle, Spokane and Walla Walla), I am no longer surprised at the variety of establishes that now serve some form of Artichoke Dip!
SETUP
I actually first fell in love with Artichoke Dip at Chandler’s on Lake Washington in Seattle, and since then no matter where I have gone in Washington State, the restaurants I seem to patronize have… Artichoke Dip.
ARTICHOKE DIP
Well, now I almost always ASK for Artichoke Dip because it has become an item I am addicted to (or at least it’s more pronounced when I am in Washington State (suddenly struck by a thought: «Do artichokes even GROW in Washington State?» — must google quickly… Oh okay. Apparently Google is telling me that they are a «Hardy Plant» and grow well in Washington State. I guess that answers why I do see an ABUNDANCE of artichoke dip in WA State… well, anyways…)
Catacombs make a delightful BAKED ARTICHOKE DIP that will knock your socks off. Only the aforementioned Chandlers, and the Hogs Breath Inn in Carmel, CA are probably in the same neighborhood of arti-​goodness.
STONE OVEN PIZZA
I would be TOTALLY REMISS if I didn’t give some great kudos to Tuscany Pizza that was enjoyed on this stop through Spokane. Delighting in the melted mozzarella and gouda, and tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach was just an overhwhelming WOW.
THE LOWDOWN
Definitely will be stopping by here for more pizza and artichoke dip when I hit Spokane again!

This is such an awesome bar. It reminds me of the bar at an old hotel I worked at in Boulder, Colorado, but only in name and the fact that it is subterrenean. This is a wide open space, with rich interiors. It used to be Boiler Room for the hotel. Now they have a beautiful pizza oven make great, quirky, delicious pizzas, with a REALLY awesome underground bar experience. It’s got beautiful wooden interiors, and it’s an incredibly warm, masculine experience — it feels solid and safe. It’s a place to warm up when it’s chilly… for sure.

The first thing I noticed about nearly every restaurant in Spokane is that every interior is just so darn charming. The restaurants seem to have first dibs on every old and quaint building. Catacombs is no exception. In the basement of a hotel, it is cozy with exposed brick walls and a great fireplace.
The food was decent. I had the GF pizza with spinach and artichokes and pesto. It was my first experience with a GF crust so I did not know what to expect. It kind of reminded me of pie crust.
Hubs had a calzone and that dough looked quite delish. It was huge.
We split the salad with feta, tomatoes, and olives… no lettuce-​a bit disappointing. I love feta but there was A LOT of feta. They also charged us $ 3 extra dollars for splitting the salad which I thought was kind of ridiculous. Otherwise, a pretty decent meal all around.

Happy Hour!
Late Night Happy Hour!
Excellent Pizza and drinks. Bartender willing to mix to our specs and clear on expectations for pricing.
Great Service

We arrived in the early evening at the Montvale for a weekend in Spokane. Not wanted to venture far, we dined at Catacombs.
Cool use of the old boiler room in the building. They did a nice job of transforming it into an inviting pub space. The pizza there was very impressive. Crust, sauce and toppings were superb. Our server was excellent, as was the hostess and other staff.
Nice overall experience.

Visiting from Honolulu and looking for something other than my usual Asian– Fusion. Found it here. Came specifically for Hungarian Goulosh advertised on website. Just my luck, the menu just changed and they no longer served Goulosh… dang! Had a Summer Fruit Salad which was good. Had the Austrian Meatballs instead. Heavy but okay. Probably better if ya just come for flat bread pizza and drinks. Really love the old world charm to the place and the neighborhood. Resteraunt is in the cellar or basement of former boiler room for an old hotel. Loved the stone and red brick walls. Would love to chill out here in the winter with the huge fireplace roaring away. Oh yea, service was excellent. The manager came and sat down with me and we talked briefly about his plan for the place for, the future. I’d be a regular here if I lived here.

Horrible service, took over an hour to get our food only to have my calzone come burnt, my friends came with tomatoes after asking specifically for none. The waitress didn’t write anything down. We were there for a total of two hours all together, we did get free dessert which would be the only time I would order four s’mores for $ 8 dollars…
The food wasn’t good, the service was bad, and it was so cold in there I needed to eat with a jacket on.

Stopped in for dinner 2 Saturdays ago. Told it would be about a 10 minute wait. Woman there asked for my phone number and said she’d call when our table was ready. 4 other people were waiting too. Stood near an empty table for 20 minutes. Never got a seat. Lots more people came after us. None were ever seated, even one group with a reservation. The nearby table sat empty the whole time. 1.25 hours later we got a call but we’d given up long before that. Enjoyed a great meal at Mizuna instead. Total chaos at Catacombs. Great atmosphere there so I was sad to see the disorganization. Hope they figure it out.

I really like this place. Sure it’s a little on the pricey side, but the food is great, the bar knows how to make good cocktails, and the atmosphere is dark, yet upscale like the dining hall inside of some old German castle.
I’ve popped in there several times to have a drink or two before a show at the Knitting Factory and have always been satisfied. One night I got there right before they where about to close up, and they let me and my friend take a seat and order drinks, just as long as we didn’t mind the off duty empolyees and their friends as they smoked cigarettes inside. I didn’t mind at all, in fact I really liked that.

The much-​touted pizza doesn’t disappoint – excellent, and fun to watch them prepare it from the bar.
The service was pretty weak. Not the most helpful servers. The experience could have been improved with better service.

Fabulous drinks, incredible food and knowledgable help. Five Stars for sure! We started a Jack Daniels Manhattan and an Orange-​pesto mojito with an appetizer of Prava Tapa, a platter of Spanish olives, feta, sausage, roasted vegetables & almonds, served with bread. Main course was a small Quattro Formaggio pizza consisting of mozzarella, gorgonzola, brie & fontina cheeses each on their own quarter but we swapped out the traditional red sauce for a fresh pesto sauce. For desert we shared a delightful Catacombs Nutella Calzone with apple. The name of this establishment adequately describes the location — a subterranean boiler room — old bricks, quarried rocks and large timbers. Enjoy!

I’ve been here twice. The first time we arrived, ate some pizzas, called it «pretty good» and left. Totally a 3 star kind of experience.
Then there was the 2^nd time:
Me and a friend arrived to watch a jazz performer. We approach the bar and order our drinks, but the girl at the bar informs us that there’s nowhere to sit, and starts trying to talk us out of staying (??). I inform her that no, we are fine standing, and she looks at me like I’m utterly insane. It IS a pub… right? When we do finally find somewhere to sit, another waitress comes over and informs us that we need to be on «the list» and demands to know «exactly how much alcohol [we’ve] had.» I thanked her for the «service» and took my group elsewhere.
Their staff was flustered and futzy. It was like they didn’t even want our business — I was happy to oblige them in that.

The word ‘Pub’ is very misleading– this is a restaurant more than a pub. We went for drinks and it was a mostly dinner crowd, the bar is 3 (maybe 4) seats long and in front of the kitchen, not the actual bar.
However, two things ROCKED about our visit.
1. We were rowdy, and loud and they treated us very politely for all the trouble we caused, even allowing us to sit in the little foyer behind the kitchen passway by the elevator to the hotel. Our poor waitress Rachel said it was her first week. Boy were we trial by fire for her.
2. I tasted some of the most well crafted cocktails of my life at this place, for $ 8 each. Seriously, that drink around Seattle would have been $ 14. One was a Rose something, with a rose petal liqueur, St. Germaine and perhaps Vodka, topped with two actual petals. The second was their Birthday Cake, with a vanilla liqueur, whipped cream vodka, another vodka and ‘candied confetti’ which were round multi-​colored non-​pariels.
Next time I’m in town, we’ll try the food, it looked and smelled delicious but we were there to drink… last call there is before 11, so if you want to party on, dude, move it to the Baby Bar.

Summary
The food was grand and the service was OK. Parking was validated if needed. Very close to downtown.
Prices
It seemed to me the prices were a tiny tiny bit high by only a dollar or two. I am not trying to split hairs but it was. I did like the way they listed the entrée prices as a whole dollar amount instead of the average .99/.95 price found elsewhere. 4 of us, 2 drinks each 2 app. and 2 entrées was about $ 94 without tip.
Food
I ordered the Cheese platter and was very impressed with the selection of about 8 or 9 different chesses. I have had a lot of platters in my time but this one was really good. There were even apples on the fancy cutting board (that I wanted to take home) used to serve it. I must admit, the Cashew Chicken Calzone was likely the best I have ever eaten. I am not usually a fan of Feta but it sure made a good addition to the calzone. Asian Skewers were pretty good. Margherita Pizza was fine too but a bit boring for my taste.
Venue
The super old and interesting place is awesome. There must be 25 steep stairs to climb down to get to the lobby. I did not see a single window so no natural light was to be had but there was plenty of lamps, lights and candles. There was a ton of oldish looking things hanging all around and on the walls. Very cool stuff to see. The place was clean and mostly well lit, its great to see the wall oven where the pies are cooked. Love that feature anywhere.
Staff
A little slow with drink requests and a touch of attitude upon arrival. Over time, it all worked out OK. After engaging our server, she was quick to lighten up and have some light conversation. Our waitress was also cooking so I don’t know what happened there but it has to be done sometimes I imagine.
Return
I will definitely get my Calzone on next time I head East. Man, it’s a long drive.

Why do I go here: It is a great place when family comes to town. My family usually stays at the Montvale so it is a convenient location for them. I have gone three times and my family loved it every time.
Atmosphere/​Décor: Very intimate and great for semi-​large groups. I think it is the coolest looking restaurant in town with the stone walls.
Pizza: Best thin crust pizza in Spokane I would say.
Advice: Make reservations! If everyone is over 21, there is more options for seating.

I have to admit, my review is limited to the pizza… because I CAN’T STOP ORDERING IT!
I have had the chocolate chip cookie dessert as well, where they bake a cookie in an iron skillet and top it with ice cream. Let me tell ya, that doesn’t suck… mmmm
Really it comes down to thin crust, stone fired 650 degree oven baked, and European style pizza.
Happy Hour you can get them for $ 6 bucks!
Even though I don’t drink, I see they have some cool stuff. Chimay beer, rumor is that’s good stuff. Absinthe presentations; its fun to watch them do those.
Cool dungeon atmosphere! I think it was an old coal cellar.

Yes definitely a «trendy little basement».
I love the Catacombs, and I try to make it there at least once whenever i’m in Spokane. The food there is delicious, especially the Pizzas. Good food prices, good beer prices. Not exactly cheap, but given the environment that you’re in, the beer and food prices are very fair, or at least seem cheap.
If you have young ones with you though, i’d go earlier in the day as there are only two tables for people 20 and under. This place is a great place to hang with some friends with some good food and beer, or even great for a date. I highly recommend stoppin at Catacombs.
~G