Renaissance Cafe

We come here often. Limited menu, but what they have is good! Love the breakfast choices-​good size portions, nicely presented & tastes great! If you’re lucky, they may have scratch-​made brownies! They are simply delicious, but not always available. They could box them & sell them by the dozens… they’re that good! We are loyal customers

Vibe is nice for working on their laptops or hanging with friends I got the sandwich Mediterranean with fruits it was yummy but a little small but overall it was greaT

The omelette was dry, hair was in my food, person in the galley area was wearing flip flops. Worst breakfast I’ve ever had.

Great coffee and even better breakfast. Right next to Starbucks and holding strong. My new favorite place anytime I am downtown.

Cute place, and open early which is great if you’re trying to get a bite before work/​class and don’t want to go to Starbucks. I had their French toast and it was so good. Crispy and thick and soft on the inside. It came with maple syrup and some kind of homemade blackberry jam/​compote which was just perfect for a 9 am kickstart. Service was good. My food arrived relatively quickly and I didn’t have to wait for somebody to come by and get me the menu and my drink.

Finally tried this place for breakfast and loved it! Their menu says they have the best French Toast in Tacoma, and I concur. The homemade berry syrup was amazing! I also loved the raspberry mocha. Kids had omelets and husband had bacon and eggs and everything was perfect. A wonderful restaurant!

I love love love this place. It’s by far my favorite breakfast/​brunch/​lunch place.
My favorite menu item is the egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on an everything bagel (they also have wheat and white). Pro tip: You can ask them to add mushrooms, onions, avocado, spinach, and/​or peppers to it for no extra charge. Mmmmm.

Love this place. Breakfast was great and the servers were very friendly. Self serve morning tea & coffee woke me up to get ready for our museum adventure.

Homemade… but not in the good way.
This is a seemingly cute place neighboring the UWT Starbucks on Pac-​ave.
It has a grandma’s house kinda feel/​décor.
The menu is minimal.
I was not impressed by the food whatsoever.
Came here with a group of 3 and food mimicked the kind of food you made for yourself when you got home from high school classes. Super homemade. Small portions. Lacked any wow factor or flavor.
Drink are «get it yourself», pay at the counter.
I was excited to see breakfast items are served all day. Who doesn’t want waffles for lunch? But to my dismay, the waffle or french toast order are both really plain and do not come with anything at all. (aka no eggs or bacon and the portions are tiny!)
Friendly staff but a pretty boring place.
Will likely not be coming back.

This place has nice curb appeal, friendly staff and a cozy space inside, but unfortunately their food is lacking.
I had a hard time deciding what to order because all of the sandwiches looked delicious. I the food to overpriced and fairly low quality. The coffee was from a carafe brewed who knows when. Not upset I tried it once but won’t go back anytime soon.
I’ve had better and I’ve also had worse.

Delicious food, very sweet staff, and a nice, laid-​back vibe. Loved our experience here!

Just stopped in for a quick lunch before touring the UW campus. Simple, nothing fancy. Sandwich was good.

Nice, little place in the heart of Tacoma’s UW campus. Friendly staff willing to provide great service. I found a spot by a window looking out onto busy Downtown Pacific Ave. I ordered the salmon sandwich with fruit. The sandwich was not bad, but was a little small for my liking and the price. I think I will have to try their breakfast next time.

I come here once a year for breakfast for four days straight while I’m at a convention. The location is convenient to the convention center and hotel Murano.
The new owner totally changed the vibe of the place, took the artwork off the walls to put up kitschy stuff, and got rid of the espresso wand to cook the eggs.
Overall not a bad experience, service was a little on the slow side, one of our three orders was wrong, but the food tasted pretty normal.
I’ll still be back as there is really nothing else around for breakfast, but this place is not what it used to be.

My first experience was not as good as I would have liked it to be, but I tried again due to an acquaintance’s request. I went again and got much better customer service. Can’t complain. I liked the restaurant vibe. Just me, my book, and a good omelet.

I’m going to change my rating, even though I haven’t yet been here since they’ve changed the menu/​new ownership, etc., because I hear it’s improved greatly. My daughter’s coworkers and fellow students go here now and said the sandwiches are «addictive», so clearly they have changed! Anyway, I will head back her some time again soon and try for myself… I just don’t think it’s fair to the new owner’s to leave my old one star rating up, possibly persuading Unilocalers to not try them.

Walking towards Starbucks then I saw this cute little café. Had to decide and it was a no-​brainer. I had no regrets, eatting local & organic, plus freshly brewed tea. It could not have been a better morning with Renaissance Café. Thanks!

I really like this place! Aside from it being a great place to plop down and get in some study time, the food and price here is pretty good! I have had their avocado club sandwich more than once now and it’s always gooooood. I need to try the other items they have but I’m hooked on this sandwich haha. So if you’re in the area and is looking for a simple but delicious avocado sandwich, try it here!

Delicious, friendly and very accommodating. Our large group was in town for business for over two weeks. We needed fast, tasty, take out lunches nearly every day. This place was perfect.

It is under new ownership and they have some work to do. Service was good and they have updated the décor but the food was mediocre at best. :(
Breakfasts were cold, eggs were overdone, biscuits and gravy were nasty.
Much better under previous owner… bring back the espresso machine steamed eggs! Those were perfect!

Very happy we found this place while here for a weekend to attend a wedding. First, food and drinks were great. First day I had a veggie omelet which was superb. My husband had the special (pancake, 2 eggs and bacon). They served his with special pancake toppings they had made along with traditional maple syrup. My husband shared ½ of his pancake with me so I could try the 2 toppings. The first was a Marion berry one and it was superb — think raspberry like. The second was an apple cinnamon which I would have liked with a bit more cinnamon but also very good. My omelet was cooked perfectly and veggies were very tasty throughout. Portion size was very good. It came with toast (I chose sourdough but wheat is also an option). I had 1 piece and it was good. My husband did not care for the bacon as he would have liked it crispier but others may like it served that way.
Drinks are self serve which we liked and affordable. Choices of hot or cold tea, water and coffee — reg and decaf. Coffee and iced tea very good. We loved the casual feel to the place. Nice to enjoy a leisurely breakfast.
2^nd day I chose the breakfast sandwich and since I do not eat much meat (sausage or bacon were the choices) they were happy to add veggies on it for me. Husband had salmon omelet and said it was very good. The salmon looked very fresh. I loved my breakfast sandwich.
Service was very good. We found the waitresses to be friendly and nice. If we ever return to the area again, we would definitely return.
Have to add that we purchased a raspberry scone to go and ate it a day later. Oh my gosh it was one of the best scones I have ever had. I chose one without frosting and it was perfect — not too sweet and just the perfect consistency to go with coffee. Honestly it was like being in Europe and eating one of the scones there. Perfection!

I was disappointed with their french toast
They said it was ranked the best in tacoma and I beg to differ.
They were soggy pieces of white bread, honestly my 12 year old sister could probably make it better. No offense
The latte did not taste like a normal latte, I have a feeling they just dumped the milk in

I came here for brunch and it had a very good charm when we first walked in. It’s very laid back and eclectic. I ordered the Salmon and pesto panini… it felt tasted like a very weird combo. Maybe I shouldn’t have ordered it and seen it coming, but I didn’t enjoy the flavour profiles very much.

Laid back, relaxed atmosphere and generally pretty friendly staff. One of my favorite between-​class stops.
The self-​serve coffee is good, and they serve breakfast all day which is fantastic.
There’s been a time or two when I was disappointed in the food, but that was a while back and I haven’t had any issues here since. Needless to say, I really like this place and will keep coming back.

Very clean, nice café’ with a good variety on the menu. Very fair prices too. I had the lovely pear and chicken salad. It was to live for!
The wait-​staff was attentive, knowledgeable, and courteous.
I recommend it!

Peaceful ambiance and a convient spot if you’re walking downtown. Enjoy the food and the smoothies here.

*UPDATE*
There has been a tremendous change in the Renaissance Café’s food over the past few weeks. It is genuinely delicious! The quality of ingredients has sky rocketed, the food preparation is noticeably thoughtful, and the fresh scones are a nice touch. Their reconstructed menu is a breath of fresh air and the work of new owners (and new employees?) is definitely paying off.
Not long ago, I wrote a pretty negative review of this place. But the new avocado club sandwich I just ate has me humming a different tune and amending my review. What has taken place here is indeed a café renaissance. Go try this place, it’s now worth it.

Absolutely nothing special about the food here. Breakfast is passable but incredibly overpriced. Lunch is worse — sandwiches are made with thinly slice white bread (think wonder bread), soups are bland, and the salads leave a lot to be desired. They serve tortilla chips and salsa as a side with the sandwiches — which is sort of confusing combination, and to top it off the salsa is bland. If you want a sandwich, save yourself 3 dollars and visit the Jimmy Johns or Subway just down the street.
Atmosphere wise, this place is always nearly empty, even at lunch time… even as it’s located next UWT, a museum, and a transit stop. All great signs, right? Random old movie posters line the wall. Jazz music usually playing in the background. All in all, pretty non-​offensive.
My main problem and the reason I won’t be returning, is the management/​service. Because this is a local business I kept giving it a chance — and really sometimes you just want to park next to a window at lunch and enjoy a good book or people watch. One thing this place had going for it was its location. Well, as much as I enjoyed that window it wasn’t worth getting insulted directly to my face. The last time I went to pay for my meal at the register, the owner (same guy who always took my order) was talking to some poor woman/​student who clearly was trying to end the conversation. Not being in any rush, I patiently waited and popped my earbuds in to listen to music. The woman noticed me a couple of moments later, and after sharing a knowing smile with her she used me as an excuse to politely interrupt/​end her conversation with the man.
What happen next I couldn’t believe. He told the woman to stay, to not worry about me, that I wasn’t important since I don’t talk to him when I come in. WTF. I figured that since my earbuds were in, he must have thought I couldn’t hear him? Or at least that’s what I hoped? Nevertheless, it was my last time eating there. Snarky or not, what this guy did was totally unacceptable.
This place gets 1 star because I can’t give it any less. It should go without saying… If you’re going to serve overpriced mediocre food, it makes sense to treat anyone stupid enough to keep returning to your business with some respect.

There’s no wifi. The walls are covered with posters that run the gamut from psychedelia to punk, tongue in cheek homages to b-​movies. If Dr Frank N Furter ran a café, this would be it. Its a pop culture train wreck with caffeine.

This place is not worth the money. Wow. I spent almost $ 14 on some basic bland scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast, and a small bowl of oatmeal. There was absolutely nothing special about anything I ate. When I got my eggs, some parts were cold and the rest was barely luke warm. The guy was friendly, but that’s the only thing good I can say about this restaurant. When I first walked in the owner and one of the staff were sitting at a table talking. There was no «welcome to» greeting. I had no idea they even worked there. I was so lost because I didn’t know if I was supposed to order at the counter or sit down and be waited on. After wandering around for a little while I spotted a handwritten note by the front that said «grab a menu and have a seat» Why they didn’t tell me that when I walked in instead of letting me wander around lost I do not know.
The atmosphere is bland. The food is bland and mediocre. It’s just not worth it, trust me. I gave this place a chance even though it had a 3 star rating because I have been pleasantly surprised in the past with other places. So I gave this spot the benefit of the doubt despite the poor reviews. I’m so upset that I was charged that much for almost nothing in return. Stay away unless you don’t mind spending a lot of money for a small amount of bland, cold, poorly seasoned food.