Tacoma’s Victorian-style cafe, tea room to close permanently

A decade’s worth of Victorian-style tea parties, birthdays and showers, get-togethers and lunch dates will end Dec. 31 as Olive Branch Cafe and Tea Room at Freighthouse Square closes for good.

Natural Allah and Christine Hernandez, the owners since 2023, shared the news on the cafe’s website and Instagram on Sunday, Dec. 21.

“This space has been far more than a cafe. It has been a gathering place, a refuge, a meeting spot for friends, neighbors, and strangers who quickly became family,” they wrote. “Whether you joined us for a quiet cup of tea, a lively conversation, or a moment of peace in a busy day, you made Olive Branch what it was.”

Comments poured in, dotted with memories of Mother’s Day celebrations, Sweet 16’s, baby showers and just afternoon teas for the fun of it. At least one person wondered what might come of the collection of vintage furniture — the tables, chairs, tablecloths and dishware harkened to another era.

Allah and Hernandez did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. They previously had other restaurants in the area, including Essence Lounge on Sixth Avenue, Vinum Lounge in the South End and Soul Restaurant in the Proctor District.

Brian Borgelt, the owner of Freighthouse Square, told The News Tribune in a phone call that he and his building management team had been aware of the cafe’s struggles for some time.

“The business wasn’t getting the support from the community that it needed to be profitable,” he said, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic seemed to have marked a turning point for Olive Branch. “It’s unfortunate because it was a beautiful business.”

Olive Branch Tea Room closing

Olive Branch has anchored Freighthouse Square near downtown Tacoma since 2015. Its founder, Terry Waller, had opened a cafe under the same name in 2012 at the now-defunct Hidden Treasures antique store in Central Tacoma before moving briefly to Commerce Street. In moving to the spacious west-end space at Freighthouse, Waller anticipated a wine bar and dinner destination by night, according to The News Tribune’s archives, but it’s unclear if evening service ever came to fruition.

Inspired by tea rooms around the world and across the U.S., Waller envisioned “a high-end tea culture,” where guests could sip hot tea out of pretty teacups while sitting in tufted parlor chairs. The room was enveloped in mahogany-toned wood and lit by chandeliers. Tablecloths were lace and multi-tiered towers presented chicken-salad sandwiches, petite cupcakes and fresh scones with jam and clotted cream. Photos show customers dressed for the occasion, sometimes sporting wide-brimmed hats and poofy dresses.

The tone was often set by pianist Brian Ingoldsby, who played on an 1890 Davis & Co. grand piano, according to the website. Ingoldsby had also serenaded Tacomans at the beloved Pizza & Pipes, a unique restaurant in University Place that burned down in 1999, as well as Steve’s Gay ‘90s, a cabaret and live-music venue and tavern on South Tacoma Way, also no more.

Not long after the move, Olive Branch had to navigate construction of the Amtrak station, which separated the cafe from the rest of Freighthouse Square. In recent years, Freighthouse Square has been embroiled in the possibility of demolition to make way for a new Sound Transit station — a final step of the Light Rail extension project that seems all but inevitable, as The News Tribune previously reported.

In July, Allah told The News Tribune that the ambiguous future left the tea room and other small businesses on the other side of the station feeling increasingly uneasy.

“Many of the businesses here, it’s their livelihood, and you’re basically saying, ‘Well, we’re gonna give you something, you know, but we’re not gonna tell you what it is. You’re going to have to move, but we’re not gonna say exactly when.’ How does that play out, you know, in the scheme of things?” he said.

On Tuesday, Borgelt surmised that news this year of Freighthouse Square’s likely ruin also scared customers off.

“From years of experience, we know that that sort of chatter seems to drive people away,” he said. “They hear something perhaps different, like, ‘It’s closed.’ They don’t equate that to, ‘OK, we still have some time here.”

Olive Branch will continue honoring reservations and accepting walk-in customers through the end of service on Dec. 31.

Olive Branch Cafe & Tea Room

• 2501 E D St., Tacoma, 253-961-7600
• Final Days: Dec. 26-28 and Dec. 30-31 — call to reserve, walk-ins welcome

The News Tribune archives contributed to this report.

This story was originally published December 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM.