Mint Enumclaw menu: 10 things to know before you order

The Historic Mint Restaurant & Alehouse, which calls itself the Mint on its menu, is an alehouse and family restaurant at 1608 Cole Street in downtown Enumclaw, open from 11 a.m. every day but Thanksgiving and Christmas as of October 2026. Its menu runs from starters and salads to half-pound burgers, sandwiches and entrees, and the one thing it calls famous is its bacon jam. On the menu posted on the Mint's website, burgers cost $19.49 to $23.99, sandwiches $17.99 to $24.99 and entrees $17.99 to $36.99. Prices are as listed on the Mint's menu page on October 6, 2026, and change.

The loudest line on that menu is not about a burger. Printed under the logo, above the first starter, it reads "All Tallow Fries!" Tallow is rendered animal fat, from cattle and sheep in Merriam-Webster's definition, and the menu's burger and sandwich sections say every plate comes with beer battered fries unless you pay to change them: $2.99 for tater tots, soup or salad, $4.99 for sweet potato fries. That matters to anyone ordering the garden burger, which the menu offers on every burger, to keep a meal meat-free.

The Mint dates itself to 1906; how a fire moved it into its brick building on Cole Street, and how new owners reopened it in 2013, are told in the Cole Street dining guide.

1. The bacon jam burger

At $23.99 it is the highest priced of the five half-pound burgers: smoked tomato mayo, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato and onion (LTO, in the menu's shorthand) and what the menu calls "the Mint's famous bacon jam." Bacon jam, in the usual recipe, is chopped bacon cooked down slowly with onions, vinegar and brown sugar into a relish; the menu does not give the Mint's recipe. The same jam turns up again on the poutine.

2. Poutine

Poutine is the Quebec dish of French fries under brown gravy and cheese curds, and Merriam-Webster's definition stops there. The Mint's version, $18.99 among the starters, uses house-made brown gravy and adds chives and the bacon jam. It is the one starter in which the fries are the main ingredient.

3. Reuben egg rolls

A Reuben sandwich made into a starter: pastrami, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut, wrapped and fried, with Thousand Island dressing for dipping, $14.99. Merriam-Webster's Reuben is corned beef, Swiss and sauerkraut, usually on rye, so the Mint has swapped the corned beef for pastrami and the rye for the wrapper.

4. Maria's street tacos

A pair of carne asada tacos, carne asada being marinated grilled steak, with onion, cilantro, lime and Maria's salsa, $12.99; chicken or a vegetarian filling can replace the steak. That makes them the lowest priced of the menu's ten starters. Who Maria is, the menu does not say.

5. The Mint's French dip

The dip is roast beef sliced thin on a French baguette with Swiss cheese and sautéed onions and mushrooms, plus horseradish sauce on the side, $19.99. On the Mint's story page, the family that signs it writes that before they had the chance to own the place, back when it was a bar, they used to come in "for the Tide Flat Sub or a French dip." The sub is not on the current menu; the dip is.

6. Beecher's mac & cheese

Pasta shells in a cream sauce of sharp white cheddar, finished with melted cheese and breadcrumbs, $22.99, with chicken for $6.99 more or pork for $7.99. Beecher's is the Seattle cheesemaker that opened in Pike Place Market, and the menu names it twice: here, and on the cheeseburger sliders, two small burgers on pretzel buns with smoked tomato mayo for $15.49.

7. Local smoked pork chop

The chop comes from Olson's Meats, the butcher and smokehouse on Southeast 436th Street in Enumclaw: smoked, glazed with apple, and served alongside a potato cake and a medley of local vegetables, $29.99, marked GF. Olson's and Beecher's are the only suppliers the menu names, and this connection goes back at least to December 2014, when Olson's Meats, four miles away by that page's count, led the list of local businesses the Mint published on its website.

8. Vermicelli bowl with grilled chicken

Rice noodles in a bowl with peanuts, house-made pickles, cucumber, carrots and lettuce, with two sauces on the side: peanut sauce, and nuoc cham, the sweet, sour and salty Vietnamese dipping sauce. It costs $22.99 with the chicken and $19.99 vegetarian, one of two dishes for which the menu uses the word vegetarian; the other is Maria's street tacos.

9. The kids menu

Five plates for children 12 and under, each with fruit or fries and a kids drink: grilled cheese, mac & cheese or chicken strips at $12.99, a small salad with chicken at $9.99, or two cheeseburger sliders at $13.99, with tap root beer listed at $2.99. The menu puts the age limit plainly: "12 and under only please." For many years, the Mint's story page says, the place was a bar for those 21 and older.

10. The taps, and the draft root beer

The Mint's website says it keeps 28 beers on tap, the count the Courier-Herald also printed in January 2014, and its beer page carries a live tap sheet. On October 4, 2026, the sheet listed 27 beers and ciders, among them Rainier, Sierra Nevada's 2026 Oktoberfest, three ciders, two stouts poured on nitrogen, and an IPA from Silver City Brewery that carries the Mint's name. Beer prices are not on the menu. The beer page says the Mint fills growlers, jugs for draft beer to take home. For anyone not drinking, the menu lists draft root beer at $6.99, refills $3.99. Hops were a plateau crop once, during the hop boom of the 1880s.

Is there a happy hour at the Mint in Enumclaw?

The happy hour card on the Mint's menu page, as of October 2026, gives Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. and all day Sunday, with $2 off all appetizers and $1 off beer, well drinks and house wine. The card's file dates from May 2023. A specials card from the same month also gives Sunday to happy hour and names a dish for Tuesday through Friday, from street tacos and tortilla soup on Tuesday to the Mint's bacon meatloaf with clam chowder on Friday, leaving Monday and Saturday to the chef's choice. Call before planning an evening around either card.

What are the Mint's hours?

As of October 2026, the Mint's website gives 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with Friday and Saturday running to 11 p.m. in July and August. It closes only on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Visit Rainier's listing, last updated in 2023, says 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day; go by the Mint's site, or call (360) 284-2517.

Is there a lunch special at the Mint?

The express menu card on the Mint's menu page, as of October 2026, offers five lunch combinations at $12.99 each, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Among them are a cup of soup with a house or Caesar salad and half a grilled turkey sandwich with soup or salad. The card says it is "available at all hours for our golden agers," without giving an age. That card's file also dates from May 2023, so ask before counting on the price.

Does the Mint have gluten-free food?

The menu marks six dishes GF: the chili-garlic glazed brussels sprouts, the hot wings, the grilled chicken caesar salad, the 12-ounce New York steak, the wild salmon and the local smoked pork chop. It also lists a gluten free bun for $3.49 and a lettuce wrap for any burger. The menu describes the fries as beer battered, so ask the kitchen about ingredients and the fryer before ordering.

Before you go

Check the day's hours on the Mint's website or by phone, and the tap sheet if one beer is the reason for the trip. The dish prices above come from the menu the Mint posted in August 2026, the lunch price and happy hour discounts from cards dated 2023, and the menu at the table is the one that counts. Rainier Bar and Grill, across Cole Street, lists 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily on its website as of October 2026, and this site has a guide to its menu too. Anyone eating on the way to the ski area will find the road in the Enumclaw to Crystal Mountain drive guide.