Harmon Restaurant & Brewery

snaotheus

Washington

3/5  rDev -21.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2 | $$

Atmosphere was very similar to mid size chain breweries like the Ram and Rock Bottom. It was fine, but it wasn't special. Relatively large place, which is nice. I imagine it gets pretty busy during happy hour.

Quality wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that great. Most of the beers were mediocre or boring; a couple were pretty (the porter and the IPA in particular).

Service was above average for the Northwest (where typical service is bad). They had a decent selection -- even the beer specialty places I go don't often have three different porters on tap.

Food wasn't great. Fish and chips was all we had -- the fish was dry and bland (although it looked really good), the fries were not bad, but they seemed like they were made from a bag of frozen fries.

Prices are reasonable, or on the high side of reasonable. Growler fill was $12, I think our pints were $4.75 or $5. All you can eat fish & chips at about $10 is a pretty good deal.

05-19-2010 02:39:24 | More by snaotheus

eballard

Washington

3.25/5  rDev -14.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 3.5 | $$

The Harmon is built out of an old furniture factory. The first floor is a restaurant and brewery and the upper floors are apartments. The décor of the restaurant revolves around winter sports. There are old pictures of skiing and vintage snow equipment. It’s the kind of décor that you would expect in the bar at a ski lodge. The staff is friendly and is always ready to talk about the beer they serve. They have a number of regular beers and a couple seasonal beers at any given time. They also serve at least one cask beer. The food was tasty and reasonably priced. Over all I would say if your looking for a beer and a bit in Tacoma this is a must.

08-02-2006 23:47:01 | More by eballard

Redrover

Illinois

3.4/5  rDev -10.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2.5 | $$

You will notice the silo as you walk-up. This is a nice location near Union Station, the University and the museums.

I like the outside community tables near the entrance. Unfortunately, it was only 57 in mid-June...

The bar is on your right as you enter. It seats about 20. they have a good selection of small and large tables in the bar area. The picnic table must seat about 12!

They offer 5 regular beers and 2 specials. The beers ran from ok (the ESB) to very good (the vanilla porter).

The menu is pretty standard with pizzas, burgers, fish and chips and that west coast favorite fish tacos.

The Food came very quickly and was no more than average (and that's generous). I wonder if they prepare a lot in advance as it was out less than 10 minutes after I ordered.

The soundtrack is a nice mix of modern and classic rock.

Bar Service is fine if a bit slow and they will give samples.

I liked the Rock Pizza place up the hill better.

06-20-2008 16:53:24 | More by Redrover

jdense

Oregon

3.5/5  rDev -8.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $$

Located on Pacific Avenue is downtown Tacoma near the historic art-deco train terminal, parking is on-street and a bit hard to access for the impatient. Brick walls, hard wood floors, 12 seat bar with numerous tables, room in back for gatherings, rowing dominated memorabilia, pleasant staff especially the statuesque bartender. The nachos seemed to be the big selling item, big plate, didn't see or try much other food, though the party in the back was having pizza, obviously undercooked. The brewery is visible behind the bar. 6-8 beers on tap, nothing that exceptional. They were having St. Patrick's day inspired trivia when I visited, that dude needed a personality transfusion, reminded me of a mohawked Ben Stein, anyone, anyone. Worth a visit, but I won't be going back, beers slightly above average, out of the Vanilla Porter, bottles to go. OK, but not that great.

03-18-2011 18:10:14 | More by jdense

hopburster

Washington

3.5/5  rDev -8.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 3.5 | $$

Stopped in on my way home from PDX.

A: Located in a neat old building in downtown Tacoma, the Harmon has a nice homey, old-school PNW tavern feel. Kid-friendly restaurant; nice bar area if you want to hang with adults.

Q: Appetizers were good, beer was OK...but after a weekend sampling the best PDX has to offer, less than impressed with the Harmon's brews. Don't get me wrong, nothing horrible...but I would tell friends to go out of the way to drink their beer.

S: Good service in the bar from attentive server.

S: Beer selection was rather pedestrian...amber, ipa, porter, etc. Nothing to write home about.

F: Had the wings...standard brewpub far done reasonably well.

V: It was Sunday afternoon so it was happy hour--the beer was cheap and the bar menu was very reasonable.

Overall: A decent place, with OK food and OK beers...but not worth going out of your way for.

03-22-2011 04:56:14 | More by hopburster

KBomb

Minnesota

3.55/5  rDev -6.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

On a weeknight or a drizzly Saturday afternoon this is a cozy spot. Clean, warm, and woodsy atmosphere. Friday and Saturday nights seem to bring out the polo shirts backward baseball caps. That's not really my crowd, but when its a little quieter this is a great place to sip a porter during the long months of cool Washington weather. The downtown Tacoma location is pretty good, save for parking challenge.

Food is a mixed bag: the wife liked her soup, but my Philly was pretty unremarkable. The price was right.

05-09-2008 18:20:32 | More by KBomb

trevorjn06

Washington

3.65/5  rDev -4.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

This place is a bit bland inside, though not terrible. The food is above average pub food, not impressive but certainly not bad.
The thing that bothers me about this place and the Hub (sister brewpub) is that the beer tastes young. It's the type of thing I only came to notice once I began homebrewing, but now every time I have a beer here it tastes as if it needs another week or two in the bright beer tank to clear and let the yeast clean up the diacetyl and acetaldehyde (green apple flavor). The beers are a bit nondescript to me as well, a bit underwhelming.
The good things are the food, the menu is good and everything I have eaten has been delicious. Their happy hour has some great deals as well, such as personal pizzas.

07-14-2010 00:38:35 | More by trevorjn06

86sportster883

New Jersey

3.68/5  rDev -3.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2.5 | $$

I visited the Harmon Brewery and Restaurant on the evening of the annual "Pray for Snow" party, and the place was mobbed. Harmon's is a big place, but the size of the crowd made it seem smaller than it really is. The ski themed decor, wooden plank floors, and Warren Miller films playing on every TV, reminded me of the more clamorous Après ski bars of Killington, VT.

The bar section was standing room only, and three deep when I walked in, so I wound up sitting at one of the smaller tables in the dining area, and was glad I did. Despite the crowd, my young waitress was right on top of things, keeping my beer full and always wearing a smile. I ordered the halibut fish and chips and a flight of beers. The sampler arrived on the top end of an old K2 ski, and the fish & chips came out lightning fast. The French fries were great, but the halibut was disappointing, at best.

The beer sampler included Harmon’s five standard beers. The Defiant IPA and MT Tacoma Blonde were decent, the pale ale and ESB were very good, and the Puget Sound Porter was excellent. I was there for a while, so I wound up having a few pints and joining in on the party.

Harmon’s is a fun and casual place that caters to a younger crowd, easily accommodates large groups, seemed family friendly and attracted a wide range of ages. I found it to be more of party bar then a true beer enthusiast’s destination, but that wouldn’t prevent me from going back.

11-10-2007 14:33:02 | More by 86sportster883

bundtcake

Washington

3.73/5  rDev -2.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

The service is always good at the bar. I've been there a lot of times. The regular selection is decent. They have solid beers. The seasonal styles are the most interesting. The food is pretty good stuff, but you can definitely end up walking out having spent more than you wanted. If you hit happy hour or Taco Tuesday then its not a problem; you can walk cheap. I like to sit at the bar and look at the brewing vats.

The Vanilla Porter and the Bigfoot Stout are my favorite beers here. The Steep and Deep I had for the first time this year, and at first it seemed just okay, but then I gradually started craving it. So I don't know. Maybe I can only recommend it if you go here on a regular basis. The first time or two you go its worth checking out their flagship beers but after awhile I'm sure you'll be sticking to the special stuff.

My two favorite things to do here are 1) get a couple seasonal beers and the clams, which are pretty good here and 2) get three tacos and a brew and end up spending like 10 or 12 bucks. Am I focusing too much on food, or money, or both? I have a too-much problem with food, and a too-little problem with money. I don't necessarily think the Harmon is a great beer destination that everyone must experience, but if you live in the area like I have it's a pretty good regular stop. The historic building is really cool looking. I think I'm going to have to pick up a growler of the Vanilla Porter before it rotates back out.

05-11-2013 20:56:06 | More by bundtcake

ccrida

Oregon

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I've only sat in the bar side, but there's not big difference, and overall, this place has a pretty airy, woody, generic brewpub atmosphere, but with lots of old school skiing memorabilia, including sample flights served on modified old skis. I especially dig the 50s era B&W photo on the ladies room door of the ski chicks in bikini tops. Fair amount of TVs for watching sports, which is a plus in a brewpub for me.

I've only ever had the nacho's, which the menu says were voted Tacoma's best. They're pretty good, and ridiculously huge.

The service has always been just fine. Although, for being right next to the college, they could use a hotter wait staff. Yeah, I'm a pig. Whatever. It's a man's world...

Their selection is not bad beer wise, all the classic brew-pub ales, with the NW seasonal standards. The last time I was there, they didn't have anything on the two cask engines, which was disappointing, and they were out of their most appealing seasonal, a smoked scotch ale.

Food wise, I've only had the nacho's and they're good. But they don't have any mexican hot sauce, just tabasco, which doesn't work as well...

The pints are $3.75, and the nacho's are 8(.99?), a dollar more for beef or chicken. The beer is good, and they have happy hour specials that I've never caught, 1/2 off appetizers I think, not sure about the beer price, but it is discounted...Bottom line is I enjoy hitting this place on my way between Seattle and Portland, or when local, for work.

07-06-2007 06:00:17 | More by ccrida