“The Antique Sandwich Co. is a meeting place for people who love good food, music and pie,” says the info card at the cash register.
This 40-year-old restaurant is filled with delicious house-made baked goods, lasagnas, quiches, granola, soups, sandwiches, pies and so much more. Expect to find quality food made from organic ingredients at low prices, popular open-mic nights, and a store filled with fair-trade knick-knacks.
A beautiful mural is painted on the outside of the restaurant, a piece created by Mary Mann with two Native American mermaids enjoying the nature around them. Mann is responsible for the most of the major murals in Tacoma, including Stadium District and outside Tacoma Little Theatre.
You can eat outside on a nice day in the “Garden of Eatin’,” or mosey your way inside, where you can find a wide variety of handmade items, books, art pieces and fair-trade products on every shelf and in every corner. There’s also a long panel filled with posters of local and upcoming events if you are interested in local entertainment. It’s almost like an art gallery, so take a moment to walk around and explore.
A lot of the knick knacks on the shelves are for sale. Dick Meyer, husband of owner Tamie Meyer, runs a fair-trade store called Traditions out of Olympia, so they share products and food between the two stores.
The food at Antique is definitely unique to most sandwich shops. Everything is house-made except for their sandwich bread. The only flour they use is an organic wheat pastry flour and everything is sweetened with honey—no white sugar allowed! Most ingredients are organic as well, so you can not only enjoy the flavors more, but also feel good about it too. Breakfast ranges from eggs and wheat waffles to organic granola and fresh-made scones and jams. They also have cappuccinos, espressos, lattes and bottomless self-serve coffee.
Lunch and dinner hosts a large selection of sandwiches (of course), a daily quiche, soups, salads with house-made dressings, spinach lasagna, and a black bean burrito for vegetarians. Pair your meal with a fresh apple cider (try it with raspberry!), honey-sweetened lemonade, milkshakes, house-made chai, a large selection of tea and more.
Definitely save room for dessert. They’ve got pies to die for, cheesecakes, cookies and cakes. The marionberry pie is the house special if you can’t decide! Get it warmed with a scoop of ice cream for a winter treat.
The other exciting part of Antique is the open-mic night on Tuesdays, 7-10 p.m. This is one of the more popular open-mic spots for locals, seen also in the “Ancient Victory” concerts of favorite open-mic stars across the 40 years the store’s been around! Those happen every three months on a Thursday. The store is delightful, you can get quality food for cheap, and the service is excellent.