The Daring Gourmet Dines Out: Katie Downs Tavern & Eatery, Tacoma

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Today we’re featuring Katie Downs Tavern & Eatery in Tacoma, Washington.

Katie Downs is beautifully located in Tacoma’s waterfront district on Ruston Way.  Literally hovering over the water, Katie Downs offers views of the Olympic and Cascade mountains as well as Puget Sound.  If you catch dinner during daylight hours you can enjoy watching sailboats, parasailers, and even seals swimming by while you eat.  Katie Downs allows you to take in gorgeous views while enjoying a casual, laid-back restaurant setting.

The place to come if you want to be re-energized, Katie Downs is always lively.  It’s been noted, “it’s always noisy, so if you want quiet go somewhere else.”  Well, after a long week Todd and I needed to unwind as well as enjoy a little energy boost, so we chose Katie Downs.  Something that really struck us was the huge diversity in age of the patrons.  We saw young adults in their early 20’s, several people who appeared to be well into their 80’s, and everything in between.  We really loved that about Katie Downs.  People of all ages and backgrounds coming to enjoy something in common:  A fun atmosphere and good food.  Let’s take a peek inside.

Not your average bar food, Katie Downs offers a nice selection – everything from its award-winning pizza to gourmet burgers and sandwiches, beer-battered fish and chips, grilled steaks, fresh calamari and salmon, a wide range of appetizers, and a variety of healthy salads.  And their famous clam chowder, approaching it’s 20th anniversary, was a contestant in Tacoma Weekly’s recent 1st Annual Chowder Challenge wherein the public sampled chowder at all the participating restaurants and then voted.  The winner:  Katie Downs!  And speaking of award-winning, let’s get back to the pizza.  Their pizza has won several awards, including coming out the victor of the South Sound’s Tournament of Pizza as well as having been voted “Best Pizza in Western Washington.”  And for very good reason.  More on that below.

We were starving when we arrived at Katie Downs.  And we were really craving some good “comfort food.”  We skipped the appetizers and dove straight into the entrees.  Todd ordered Fish & Chips, which has been a favorite of his ever since living in England for 2 years as a young adult.  Beer-battered and accompanied with steak fries and malt vinegar, Todd gave it a thumbs up.  He’s super picky about his fish and chips and really enjoyed these.  I ordered the French Dip which was everything a good French dip should be and we both inhaled our comfort dishes while waiting for the final entree.  I know what you’re thinking, but we couldn’t leave without sampling their award-winning pizza!  Plus, we had a hungry babysitter at home (aka, my brother) who we wanted to reward for his generosity.  You can either order a custom-made pizza with all the toppings and combinations of your choice, or you can select from some Katie Downs’ classics.  We chose the one called “Fearless”!  Complete with red sauce, smoked bacon, white onion, fresh garlic, provolone cheese (and lots of it!), pepperoncini peppers, and a fabulous crust.  This deep dish pizza was incredible and we loved the flavor combination.   After sampling some we packed it up in a take-home box and brought it home to my babysitting brother who, after eating a couple of slices, declared “now that’s a gooood pizza!”  We even had a couple of slices leftover which we thoroughly enjoyed the next day.

Having boxed up the pizza to take home with us, we still had just enough room to split a piece of delicious New York Style Cheesecake topped with berries.  Our evening was now complete and we left happy.

Katie Downs is all about casual fun.  Kick back, grab a drink, watch some TV on one of several of their big screens, laugh a lot, eat a lot.  And just be yourself.  No show, no pretenses, no worries…just good food and fun.

Katie Downs hosted us as their guests, as always all opinions are entirely my own.