This new pub brings extra gravy as a standard offering and makes a mean Cheesy British

I learned on my first visit to Oddfellas Pub & Eatery in Auburn that gravy is a priority at the pub.

By my first and second visits to the new Tacoma location, which opened in late February in the Westgate neighborhood, I understood gravy wasn’t just a priority, it’s practically a staff member.

Bonus tureens of gravy showed up with the cottage pie and the double-stacked crispy pork schnitzel, and a server asked if we’d like a side of gravy to go with our gravy-covered fries and cheese curds.

Poutine with extra gravy? Why, yes please.

The gravy is a lot like Oddfellas itself. It’s not trying to be something it’s not. It’s not fancy gravy gussied up with a duck demi-glace, 16 herbs and fancy wine. It’s a straight-up diner-ish brown gravy and fills a specific need for drowning crunchy-fried whatever in a river of beefy, salty liquid. It’s satisfying and exactly what you expect.

It’s also worth noting that this is a restaurant that still offers a freebie that is all but disappearing from restaurant — a basket of biscuits with entrees.

I’m really liking this restaurant for its unfussy approach but also because of its something-for-everyone sensibility. Your picky sister-in-law, your boss, your finicky preschooler, your husband who loves good beer? They’ll all find something to like on the Oddfellas menu.

Here’s a first-bite look at the new restaurant. It’s this paper’s policy to avoid criticism of a restaurant’s food and service in the first month.

The owners: The original Oddfellas opened in downtown Auburn in 2010. It’s the project of David Allen and Matt Altick. Allen’s family also operated Auburn’s Longhorn Barbecue, which recently switched to a catering outfit from a brick-and-mortar restaurant. They’ve run other restaurants, too.

Why Tacoma? Said Altick last year, “The more we looked and did our homework, the more comfortable we became in that location. The demographics, the traffic and visibility, all those things are good things. It doesn’t hurt to have everyone saying, ‘Tacoma, Tacoma, Tacoma is happening.’ The court of public opinion is positive in Tacoma for restaurants.”

Kids: Bring ‘em. The menu has a notation on items that can be made kid-sized for a reduced price, including pepperoni pizza, chicken wings and macaroni and cheese. Booster seats and high chairs available.

The space: Open pub concept with tables big and small and exactly what you’d expect built into a brand new strip mall. Oddfellas is in a new building next door to The Habit Burger Grill.

To the left of the entrance is the bar with an oversized table that seats 14 and plenty of other two- and four-seat tables. The large dining room is ringed with roomy wooden booths and four-top tables with custom (and comfortable) wooden chairs stamped with the distinctive Oddfellas logo. It’s a sharp-looking place built for group eating.

Noise buffer: It’s a big, open space with a tall ceiling, so it’s on the louder side at capacity, but I appreciate carpeting that dulls the roar some, rather than those trendy concrete floors. That’s a restaurant trend I wish would just go away already.

Menu: This restaurant fits a few different needs: Proper pub-style eats and a whole bunch of crowd friendly sandwiches, grinders, wraps, flatbreads and pizzas.

From the pub side of the menu, there’s cottage pie ($13.49), fish and chips ($13.99), poutine ($9.79), bangers and mash ($13.99), a pub steak ($27.99) and schnitzel ($16.49).

Beer friendly appetizers include tater tot nachos ($11.99), a spinach dip ($10.49) and chicken wings ($12.29). Five entree salads list a wedge ($11.49), a Reuben chop ($11.99) and Cobb ($11.99).

The list of 20 sandwiches, wraps and grinders includes a Cuban ($11.99), club ($12.99), Reuben ($11.99), French dip ($11.49) schnitzel sandwich ($12.99) and a pub burger ($10.29). Four grinder choices list a pastrami ($11.49) and one version with prosciutto, capicola and salami ($11.49), plus four wraps ($10.29 to 11.99). Sandwiches, wraps and grinders come with a choice of fries, tots, coleslaw or the house mashed potatoes. Onion rings are $2 more.

Eleven flatbreads and pizzas ($9.99 to $16.99).

Cheesy Brit: For those of us who grew up eating a Cheesy British in one hand while playing a standup Ms. Pac-Man in the back corner of our neighborhood Hoagie’s Corner, I’m happy to report Oddfellas makes a modernized take on that classic three-meat sandwich. The Oddfellas Cheesy Brit comes with ham, roast beef, turkey, plus cheddar and Swiss, pickles and a tangy sauce on grilled sourdough ($12.99). Ah, memories.

Freebie biscuits: Come with house entrees. A basket of warm dill-flecked cheddar biscuits showed up with strawberry jam, which I thought was a weird pairing with dill-cheddar biscuits until I tried it. Sweet, savory, warm, tasty.

On tap: 24 taps with plenty of craft brews (and a Locust Cider) in the rotation, including South Sound breweries such as 7 Seas, Pacific Brewing & Malting and Puyallup River Brewing. Broad styles represented — IPAs, stouts/porters, ambers, reds, blondes, wheats and a list of lagers. Full cocktail list, wine and more.

On a first visit: Dig into the pub-style eats first.

Double-stacked pork schnitzel cutlets were dressed in crunchy, clingy jackets and topped with a pool of brown gravy, plus a bonus side gravy ($16.49). Those schnitzel cutlets perched atop skins-on red mashers and a veggie medley of wax and green beans and still-crunchy carrots.

A side of gravy was another pour-your-own adventure for the cottage pie, a beefy base fortified with a little more of that brown gravy, peas and carrots and topped with skins-on mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese ($13.49). A big river of brown gravy coated hot-and-crispy fries loaded with real cheese curds for a delightful poutine ($9.79).

I spotted a second kind of gravy on the bangers and mash — this one tasted like the house brown gravy fortified with Guinness-braised onions — and I wanted to try it on everything ($13.99). Lean British-style sausage came with the same mashers and vegetables as the schnitzel.

Fish and chips were crispy panko-style breaded cod with straightforward fries and tartar ($13.99).

From the sandwich side of the menu: Don’t miss that Cheesy Brit ($12.99) or the pastrami grinder with thick-sliced pastrami, melted Swiss on a toasted French roll with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes and a double pucker of ‘kraut and pepperoncinis ($11.49).

Breakfast coming soon: When it starts, daily breakfast will have omelets ($11.29), chicken fried pork ($13.99), biscuits and gravy ($8.99), a Benedict ($10.99), breakfast hash ($12.99) breakfast nachos ($11.99), pancakes or French toast ($8.99) and more.

Oddfellas Pub & Eatery

Tacoma: 5741 N. 26th St., Tacoma

Info: 253-300-8966, facebook.com/OddfellasPubAndEateryTacoma or oddfellaspubtacoma.com

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. dailiy (with breakfast coming soon).

Auburn Oddfellas: 102 W. Main St., Auburn, 253-939-7278, oddfellas.net

This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 11:00 AM.