Review and photos by Ted Broussard
Over the Moon Café is located at 709 Opera Alley
Not Quite All the Way Over
Here’s what was on my checklist recently when we invited a
close friend to go out to dinner to celebrate her birthday: 1) A place in
downtown Tacoma that felt like it was a “special occasion kind of place”
without being overly fancy. 2) An intimate, charming vibe where we could talk,
laugh and linger over dinner, and 3) Food had to be delicious enough to create
a birthday memory. Found it! Over the Moon Café took us all the way to the moon,
but just missed taking us all the way over and back.
Charm is the operative word at this Opera Alley location. With
old brick walls, an upper and lower dining area and warm lighting from dim
candles, eclectic lamps and beaded chandeliers, we did indeed feel that we had
arrived in a place over the moon. It’s a small space with only six or so tables
in the street level dining area and each one has a different combination of
chairs to create a shabby chic kind of look. The downstairs portion has a few
more tables and surrounds the busy kitchen. Several of the tables have a little
fun surprise to amuse the guests with humor, or to start a conversation while
reading a treasure box of love letters, or checking out the big birthday book
to find out the strengths and weaknesses of those born on a certain day. It was
a nice touch and added to the charm.
Our server had a great smile and was very welcoming and
friendly. Service tended to be on the slow side especially as other diners
arrived and it looked like there was only one server for all the tables upstairs.
Our party was not in a particular hurry on this visit but by the end of the
evening, we were ready for the service to pick up a bit. 
For those of us who want delicious food in addition to charm
and ambiance, Over the Moon rises to the occasion. I was impressed by how many
good choices there were on the menu and each description sounded better than
the one before. It’s all about big flavor here. We’re talking fresh herbs,
vine-ripened tomatoes and rich creamy sauces. The menu has a Northwest sensibility
but also focuses on Italian and French cuisines. We started our meal with
Croutes de Fromage, small squares of grilled sourdough bread with beautifully
melted Gruyere cheese served with a side of apricot marmalade. It looked like
it was right off a Panini press but it was delicious. The house mixed green
salad with grapes, mushrooms, sweetened pecans and blue cheese tossed in
balsamic and extra-virgin olive oil arrived without the blue cheese but our
server brought it out as a side about five minutes later. It was good; not
remarkable. Over the Moon Café is known for their crab bisque with tarragon and
I’d recommend trying it. It’s very rich and creamy with great crab and herb
flavor. My cup portion was served in a larger soup bowl and it looked a little
skimpy coming in just under the halfway mark of the bowl. While the taste was
great, I was disappointed to find that it was barely warm when served. The
rustic bread served with butter was good but I have a thing about serving cold
bread. It seems like an easy way to elevate a dinner experience from good to
great.
As for entrees, we each chose something different. Our
birthday guest chose the very popular bourbon glazed wild salmon filet, pan
seared and then glazed in a sauce of bourbon, lime, soy and garlic. It was a
big hit with her and the bite I had was sweet and delicious. Easy to see why
this is a customer favorite. We also tried the bone-in 10 oz. pork chop,
stuffed with Italian sausage and house-made artichoke heart and spinach
chimichurri, with Italian parsley, oregano, garlic, and scallions. The chop was
perfectly seared and the stuffing flavors blended beautifully. It tasted great,
it looked great, and boy, did it smell great as it was served. We rounded out
our choices with the jumbo shrimp sautéed in a creamy sauce of white wine, vine
ripened tomato and shallots served over linguine with fresh basil. As much of a
fan of big flavors as I am, this one was almost too much. The heavy cream,
white wine and lemon was just bordering on being overpowering but the fresh
basil made it sing. The shrimp was jumbo as promised and perfectly tender. I
ate about half of the plate and then took the rest of it home because I didn’t
want to risk my arteries clogging in public. 
We shared the warm cinnamon roll “cake” with cream cheese
topping for dessert and enjoyed the white cake and cinnamon flavor in the gooey
sweet topping. They get extra points for remembering to add a candle for our
friend but I promptly removed them when I noticed that they didn’t comp the
birthday dessert.
Over the Moon Café is a charmer with delicious food. The
service is a bit slow as they get full, and there were a couple of missteps,
but overall I’d still keep it on the list for those special occasions or
romantic date nights. Price point is on the high moderate end and the dinner
bill quickly gets spendy even without wine or beer. They also serve lunch featuring
soups, salads, sandwiches and a couple of macaroni and cheese dishes.
Over the Moon Café ticks the boxes that many other downtown
options can’t: special occasion feel---CHECK; charm---CHECK; delicious food to
remember for a while--- CHECK. All things considered, I’d say going TO the moon
is close enough for me.
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