Matriarch Lounge Tacoma

First time dining Matriarch at Alma Mater today. My drink was the Oracle, my friend and I split two apps, fried halloumi and skewered beef heart, both got the halibut cheeks and split dessert of lemon creme de pot with elderberry. Pros: 1. 5 star service 2. wonderful decor and ambience 3. halloumi delicious but recommend it be eaten quickly, once it cools down not as good. 4. Beef heart skewer amazing, great char on the outside, still tender, and well flavored. 5. Not an adventurous mixed cocktail drinker and server guided me to the perfect drink, Oracle was a great combo of sweet and sour. Cons 1. The halibut cheeks were well flavored and the accompanying sauce for it was so good that we were dipping everything in it. The cheeks were on the dry side. 2. Didn’t like dessert but that was a personal thing, turns out we don’t like elderberry, it has an off-putting musky flavor not to our liking. 3. Music a bit loud but I’m a bit hard of hearing but it WAS Prince so... Pros 1. Remember the five star service above? I told the amazing server, (name not on receipt) why I did not like the cheeks. She offered to get us something else which I declined. I also told her that I wasn’t a fan of dessert because of the elderberry and again she offered something else which we declined. Then we got our checks and they would not charge us for the two halibut cheek orders even though my friend ate all of hers and I ate most of mine! We told her we did not mind paying and she said “we stand by our food.” We left a very generous tip to thank them for their graciousness.! Looking forward to returning!

Delicious food and extra delicious dranks:) by talented bartenders. I also love the swanky vibe here.