Top of Tacoma

We visit McKinley hill for a taste of the top at Top of Tacoma.

“Man, top of tacoma is really great. I mean, seriously guys, it’s fantastic.” ~Adam

When Adam uploads the photos for an entry, he sometimes leaves little messages to me. The quote above was his last such message. He never expected it to see the light of day, but there it is. It could be Adam being hyperbolic, or him sarcastically doing his best Derrick impression, but I think it’s genuine. Adam really friggin’ likes Top of Tacoma. Never mind the super attractive bartender/waitress who seemed incapable of comprehending my petty pleas for service (a running joke all night), or the hipster cook who looked at me like I was from Mars when I introduced myself as Derrick from GCF. ToT has good beer and excellent food, including some of the best sandwiches you’ll ever eat. I’m fairly certain it would be in Adam’s top five of restaurants he’d take with him to a deserted island. Although the logistics of that seem a bit complicated.

The Food

The Top of Tacoma achieved a quasi-tie for best reuben in Tacoma in our first Gritty City Showdown last year. It ranked so highly in part because of the amazing quality of the ingredients, particularly the bread, which is delivered fresh each day from Essential Baking company. For something that essentially makes up 2/3 of the meal, bread seems all too often overlooked by sandwich makers. Kudos to Top for seeing the elephant in the room. For my sandwich however, the bread only constituted about 1/5 of the meal. The bread-to-filling ratio on the T-Town Grinder is ridiculous. Here’s the description:

“Dutch crunch roll, turkey, Black Forest ham, salami, Swiss and cheddar cheeses. Baked and topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion, pepperoncinis and our housemade sub sauce “

The menu certainly makes no effort to hide the enormity of this sandwich, yet I was somehow surprised nonetheless.It was tasty and fresh, the most important aspects in a good sandwich, but it wasn’t really special…there was no discerning character to the sandwich, no magic, no je ne sais quoi… just size. A good option for the hungry big guy, but not the discerning sandwich snob.

Dometop Dip

Some other sandwiches being lauded at our table included the Dometop Dip, the Barrel 51 BBQ Chicken, and of course the Reuben. A complete menu is available online for your salivating enjoyment.

The apps at ToT are solid. The hummus and Caprese platters are nice veggie options, and the cheesy bread and quesadillas should help ward off the T Town hangover, but the nachos are the thing to get here. Served on a baking sheet, the nachos are huge and littered with goodness.

The surprise of the evening. The homemade macaroni was bomb. I’m a big fan of some local homemade macaronis – The Rosewood and The Hub come to mind – but this had them beat. So good. So cheesy. Could have used some toasted breadcrumbs on top, but let’s not get carried away. Comfort food to the max.

Drink

Top’s drink selection is decent. Not a ton of taps, but always a few good micros to choose from. The bar is full. I can’t attest to the quality of drinks however.

The Wrap

An extremely solid place that can make any Friday night reveler content. The food is strangely good, so make sure you go hungry, just don’t feel bad if the waitress doesn’t always recognize your needs. She’s too hot to hear you .