Coming next year to Stadium neighborhood: Rhein Haus, a beer hall from Seattle restaurant owners

The restaurant owners behind the Rhein Haus beer hall in Seattle are duplicating their Bavarian-themed restaurant and bocce emporium in Tacoma’s Stadium neighborhood.

Construction has not yet started on Rhein Haus Tacoma, but the restaurant will be at 633 Division Ave., in a triangle-shaped building that will soon undergo extensive retrofitting that is expected to take until at least January 2016. The opening of Rhein Haus Tacoma is at least a year away, most likely in the summer of 2016.

The 13,000 square feet space will include many of the amenities of the Seattle location, including bocce ball courts, and a spacious area for beer and dining.

Co-owner Deming Maclise said by phone, “It’s going to be just like our original Rhein Haus. We’re going to make all the sausages in house, bake the pretzels and buns in house. We’ll have five bocce courts, a couple big parking places, two big bars, and of course, the full kitchen with full menu. And a big mezzanine for private parties. On top of that, we’ll be doing a small brewery.”

So what will that brewery look like? It’ll be small, said Maclise. “The beers will be lager and pilsner focused,” he said. But they also have plans to feature Tacoma brewers on tap. “We’re going to still have a focus on local breweries and the other half of our taps will be from Germany and Austria. That’s basically what we do at Rhein Haus in Seattle.”

Said Maclise, “I love it because it’s right across from Wright Park and we’re going to have a big patio out there, you’ll be able to feel like you’re next to the park right there. We looked at a couple of buildings in Tacoma, but this building kept calling us back. There’s no shortage of great old buildings in Tacoma.”

He added, “It feels like Tacoma is ready to blow up and when you see the beautiful bones of those old buildings in downtown Tacoma, it just seems ready. The more time I spend down there, the more I find to like about it.”

Maclise is opening the restaurant with business partner James Weimann. Together, the duo own Seattle’s Rhein Haus, the French cafe Bastille in Ballard, the Capitol Hill Mexican restaurant Poquitos, Macleod’s Scottish pub in Ballard and the Ballard brunch and dinner restaurant, Stoneburner. They’re also partners in Tavern Hall in Bellevue and expect to open a fish and chips restaurant in Ballard this year, as well as another Rhein Haus in Denver this year.

In the Tacoma Rhein Haus, they’ll have two operating partners, Rich Fox and Dustin Watson. The executive chef of Rhein Haus Seattle, Pete Fjosne, will also serve as Tacoma’s executive chef. Matt Fundingsland also will assist with daily operations of Rhein Haus Tacoma.

Here’s a bit more news from other Seattle restaurant owners:

Chow Foods: Opening in Proctor in 2016 is a restaurant from Peter Levy, the owner of Chow Foods, which owns popular neighborhood eateries, the Hi-Life, 5-Spot, Endolyne Joe’s and TNT Taqueria in Seattle. Read more about the restaurant that will open at North 26th and North Alder streets in Tacoma here.

Vostok Dumpling House: Opening this summer in downtown Tacoma, Vostok Dumpling House will be a duplication of the casual Russian dumpling restaurant in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Tacoma restaurant will be near Mad Hat Tea on Commerce Street. Read more about the opening here.

This story was originally published June 5, 2015 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Coming next year to Stadium neighborhood: Rhein Haus, a beer hall from Seattle restaurant owners ."