Alma Mater is an amazing hub and supporter of the arts in the Tacoma community. Honey at Alma Mater also has some of the best coffee and food in town. Highly recommended for breakfast and brunch! Plus, dont miss any opportunity to attend the art and holiday sales/markets that they host!

I honestly have mixed feeling about “The Patio.” My first experience was great, as well as the service. However the last two times not so much.The second time I went, they had admitted to giving our order to another order while we had waited an hour until actually receiving our food. They didn’t notice we hadn’t received our two main dishes, so I asked them myself about it after waiting about 40 minutes.I was willing to give them another chance and my third (and last time) I went to Alma Mater, I had ordered our food but we were not given any water and utensils to begin with. On top of that, they had packed our entire order to go when I asked for only one item to be packed to go. Don’t get me wrong, the food tastes amazing but the customer service isn’t. The food they packed to go isn’t anywhere near the serving size they typically plate if you were to “dine in.” The veggie hash (pictures of both below) I ordered both my first and last time and it was not the same serving size.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Alma Mater welcomes their new “Patio”. Please get the veggie hash it’s filled with flavors that I can’t even describe. Bloody mary’s were good but their coffee is ALWAYS A-1. I always enjoy the food at Alma Mater. They have veggie and seafood options which are always a plus for us when we dine out. Happy to have this gem in Tacoma. I made sure to take photos of their menu so you all could check them out. Go now! They do check your temperature upon arrival.

This place has done a great job opening up safely with appropriate anti-covid measures in place. The menu is limited, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. I very much enjoyed the BLT, a grapefruit mimosa, and some coffee. The menu is digital, and you have to scan a QR code upon entry. It would be helpful if the code would also be available at the tables. My only gripe I guess.

This place is a hidden gem. My wife and I checked it out for a casual date night. The food and drinks were amazing. The fries are really good. We are planning on going back soon.

Loved the Patio brunch experience. The heat lamps worked great to take the chill out of the air.

Went here for the first time for Alma Maters hosting of The Tacoma Night Market. Not sure if they always host the event but it was a cool time to go and the venue was large enough to hold around 20-30 vendors plus the public. Its an artsy spot and attracts a younger, stylish crowd. Id like to go back on a regular night to get a better picture of Alma Mater as a business.

This is actually Alma Mater, an artist cooperative housing two performance spaces, two restaurants, a recording studio, and art office space. As more and more areas open I get more and more excited. They serve heart coffee which is in my top 3. At the “Honey” cafe try out the Vegan scramble. So much flavor and so cheap and satisfying! The cafe is not a bad place to work remotely either.

Alma Mater is an amazing venue and is doing so much to add new life and revitalise the arts scene in Downtown Tacoma! Catch a show or event here and make sure you stop in at Honey, Matriarch, or both! Get in on this venue and make your soul happy.

This venue is amazing! I love that its close to home, rather than trekking up to Seattle. The inside is very clean and modern, and the sound was great! Drinks are very reasonable priced, and youre able to exit to smoke and then re-enter (with a hand stamp). Id love to see more artists here.

Went to see the gritty city sirens for New Years! Great show, and a really cool venue! Definitely would like to check it out again!

The night market here is amazing. The vendors rotate, the food is awesome and the atmosphere is very cool. I love coming here for the night market. My kids enjoy it too.

This place is so neat.... I love the rooftop experience and quaint bar.

Relaxed atmosphere and healthy food

I love this place and their commitment to the arts/music/writing community.

This was a really nice venue for the comedy show I went and saw. Every seat had a great view and the place was clean.

Had a macchiato here on a Sunday afternoon. They were out of the bagel sandwich I was looking forward to trying. Busy, popular place especially for the millennial/gen z crowd. Hand-crafted drinks made expertly. The barista making drinks wasn’t happy with the shot for mine and explained he was redoing it. Nice to be considered. Can be busy. Worth a stop if you’re looking for a good cuppa

Nice little club to see a concert. Sound is very good. Id rate much higher if they had chairs to sit on. I have arthritis, very uncomfortable to stand for a concert.

Really cool venue. Good sound. A bar in back and even a few tables with stools. Less claustrophobic than other venues its size.

Great place to see a band, great place to perform. Incredible sound, spacious stage, easy load-in and good amenities.

Fantastic venue, great coffee bar and wonderful lounge. We had the cheeseburger which had some delightful bread and butter pickels that had a bit of spice and then Beechers cheese.

Lives up to its name. A good place for an artist to return and hone some stage skills.

Really great atmosphere. As Tacoma grows, venues like this will become more and more important for our community! Clean, friendly staff. Good for hanging out at the Cafe, even if theres no show to see!

The price of the food was a little crazy. But this is a pretty hip place so its kind of understandable. The music hall is great though. I would love to go see another show there.

This venue is pretty sweet, several different areas to enjoy. Food, drinks, and entertainment all in one spot. Check it out, its relaxed and groovy.

We had dinner and saw Wolf Parade here. Venue - its beautiful with great sound. Easily competes with the best concert venues in Seattle. Have tickets to see another band here soon and am excited for that. Large open space for the audience, big stage for the band. Drinks are available at 21+ shows, plus restaurant and coffee shop and other space for artists.

Amazing venue for live entertainment. Great customer service at the bar, amazing decor/ambiance, awesome shows.

They were packed! All of the food looked to good to be true! And service with a smile.

10/10 excellent sea cucumberedit: yes! thank you so much i was curious as to what it was

Was here for the Feed253 event. Nice space for events. Always something interesting going at Alma Mater

The parking here is absolutely awful. Not sure who is responsible but the residents on this street are at their wit’s end with the lack of clear parking boundaries and endless violations. Who in the heck signed off on the permits for this project without requiring a revised parking plan?? The green space used to be a much-needed parking lot!! So what, now there’s MORE people and LESS spots?! This problem is a persistent symptom of gentrification and it’s not ok. Full stop. This needs to be addressed. Last time I visited this venue, I narrowly avoided being towed for improper parking, which is sort of a necessity if, like me, you cannot safely walk alone in the dark at night, yet still would like to attend anything during the evening hours. The lack of parking is so stressful for me AND the residents on this street. I won’t be back.I’ll allow one star because this venue supports the work of many wonderful artists, myself included, but I won’t be pursuing booking until the above situation is resolved.

My wife and I went to Alma Mater for the Tacoma Night Market. We have been to the Gig Harbor version and wanted to see how this compared. We were pleasantly surprised with the venue! Large spaces so no crowding, clean, well staffed. The indoor/outdoor feel was nice. Would definitely return.

Really nice little venue! Good acoustics and perfectly sized room to see a band play. Hardly anyone showed up to the concert I went to which is a shame because the music was good and the awesome room is begging for a good crowd. Also beers were priced pretty normally, they had a selection of 5-6 taps, I got an IPA pint for $6 which isnt a steal but its certainly not the $10-$12 beer you might be stuck with at another venue.

Great place. This is my first time here. The Night Market was pretty cool, bar was great. I will definately be returning. A variety of goods and vendors here. Everyone was very friendly. I love the outdoor park area too.

Yes please! Killing it. Great diversity of shows. I find Im spending a lot of time here ;-)

A little bit crowded, a little bit too hard to find people, but the outside area was fantastic and I ate many cookies.

Fantastic venue! I attended for a highly curated wedding with very specific health restrictions on all accommodations to support attendees with various severe medical conditions, and they pulled it off flawlessly.

The Monte Cristo was incredible!

Literally loved this place. Maybe it was because my favorite artist was preforming but I didnt really care

This was a nice smaller venue thats very modern and has multiple areas that are in door, as well as outdoor. We even played basketball after the concert!

Excellent venue. Its smaller in size, but the acoustics are excellent. Weve seen two shows here and both sounded great. If you live close by and the artist you want to see cant pack Key Arena, perhaps they could come here

I had the vegan burrito which was really good. The space is nice with a nice outdoor seating area. They also have a night market on the weekend.

Really great performance venue. Clean, well ventilated and good drinks. Ill be back. Bravo!!

Taught upstairs RIBBON CLASS #HART4HART #YEHAW WE ALL LEARNED SOMETHING

I liked it very much. Had a great time with friends

Saw Lorpan here. Great sound!!

Great comedy show tonight. 5 stars to all the acts tonight

This is such a nice venue! And its such a hidden gem you wouldnt expect this from where its located. They have a small little cafe inside everything is just designed and decorated so well. I would definitely come here again for any event.

Ita beautiful. I wish they would open up for more music. Seems like the space is wasted often. Tacoma needs more dance and this would be a great place for it

What a fantastic community orientated spot.

Matriarch is always serving up delicious and unique food and beverage options, the decor is lush and service is usually quite good. They change up their menu several times a year and usually have several vegetarian options!

Intimate venue with solid sound and good staff

Great place with a few different spaces. Good coffee place, great dinner place, outdoor area, and concert venue.

Great place for a show!! The one bad thing is it got very hot in there. Otherwise, I liked it a lot.

Really fun venue! Good sound, cool atmosphere.

Great spot all around for a drink, a spot of tea or sammiches.

Visited Fawcett Hall for a concert, great venue. Only complaint was the mens room urinals are very close together, Ive got wide shoulders and was literally bumping into the men standing next to me. Restroom was very clean, so its a minor complaint.

Cool place. Chill vibes

Great place for drinks, date night or girls night. I love the low key vibe.

Had a great time watching the Tacoma FD premier, excellent bar service. Head next door to honey for a phenomenal brunch as well.

The venue itself is quite nice, great sound and views. The secondary offerings are lacking, however. The bars carry a poor selection of beers, and given the proximity of excellent local breweries Id like to see better variety and quality. If you enjoy rum, dont get your hopes up; the selection is even worse. Theres a lot of smoking and vaping in the courtyard; not sure if this is allowed (there are no smoking signs, but Ive only seen them closer to the building), but whether or not its permitted theres definitely nothing being done to control it. Inside the space its much the same: nothing is being done about smoking and vaping (which is flat out illegal inside bar in Washington state). As a person with asthma, this extra distressing: I paid for tickets and I dont think its unreasonable to want to be able to breathe.Finally, a nice to have feature would be upgrade seating, as weve often purchased at similar venues. There is bar seating available, but it appears to be first-come, first-served; Id love the option to pay more for a guaranteed table.

I was pretty impressed by this place the sound is fantastic its clean the lighting was great on the stage overall I enjoyed it the little restaurants connected to this building are also very nice we need more establishments like these more places to hear live music and eat that have a little bit of class something thats lacking in Seattle lacking in the music industry

Went to the annual Spaceworks Neon event here, super fun time. The building has a consistent aesthetic and was easy to navigate. Decent bathrooms, interesting outdoor area between this and the neighbor business. Staff was really friendly, very helpful and all service was prompt and courteous. Overall a great venue, fun event, hope to attend more events here.

Lots of space good atmosphere great location

Saw Trevor Gordon Hall in concert great little venue.

The Night Market at Alma Mater is phenomenal!

Alma Mater helped host our fundraising event for Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center. We had great experience with staff and wonderful space

Awesome vibe and cool venue

Nice lounge called the Matriarch! Great service! Waiter attentive and food, drinks and dessert were delicous!

I love this place! Great restaurant (Matriarch), great coffee chill spot (Honey), and great music venue (Fawcett Hall).

Insanely great acoustics, fantastic food. Awesome architecture. Yay Tacoma!

Love their events and Honeys macchiato espresso. The cocktails at The Matriarch are delish and change every once in a while.

AMAZING local treasure!

This venue is super cool!! The show staff are super nice and a pleasure to work with!

Great venue! Went for the 2019 Louder Than a Bomb poetry slam finals.

LOVE THE SUPPORT TOWARDS ARTISTS OF COLOR

Nice modern venue. Good crowd

What a great venue for our auction!

The acoustics in there are weird. Otherwise cool place.

Excellent food great honors very friendly Kitchen and Bar staff

Cool venue!

Tacoma night market was fun!

Awesome art space and concert venue

Alma Mater, previously the Carpenters Building, is home to Honey, the best cafe around, and Fawcett Hall, an awesome music venue, as well as several artists spaces, including an amazing recording studio.

Love Yoga with Be Yoga Wild

Heckin beautiful. The sound is amazing and the set up is great.

I visited the cafe. Clean. Food was good. Still working on becoming a performing art center.

Great newly refurbished venue for entertainment. We saw a punk rock marching band, a burlesque troupe, and Lucha Libre Wrestling all on the same night in the same location. It was a blast!

Something for every art lover

Awesome Venue.. Perfect for Tacoma!

Amazing venue for food, drinks, and music!

The security is really mean to a point where it’s unreasonable, but the venue is pretty.

Small venue with class and charm!

Great sound.

Great place for viewing films

Great venue for sound

Alma Mater is doing amazing things in this space. Restaurants, artist spaces, event spaces recording studio, friendly people making it happen in Tacoma.

Love this place!

So cool

Modern food, energetic environment, great concept