Which door to open: where to eat in downtown Enumclaw

The Historic Mint Restaurant and Alehouse, 1608 Cole Street, is where downtown Enumclaw eats when it has not decided where to eat, so that is where this walk starts. It sits two doors up from the corner of Cole Street and Griffin Avenue, the intersection everything downtown is measured from, and every place below is inside a ten minute walk of that corner.

One rule first. Hours here are what each business states on its own website or listing as of mid September 2026. Restaurants change their minds, and this town does most of its closing on Sundays and Mondays. Call before you drive.

The Mint, and the fire that moved it

The Mint has the word "historic" in its name, which is the sort of claim that usually deserves an eyebrow. This one holds up. The Mint dates itself to 1906 and tells its own origin story on its website: the original was a stick built building across the street on the corner of Cole and Griffin, a fire took it, and the business moved into the brick building it occupies now. For a stretch it was called The Lemon Tree. New owners reopened it in August 2013 after months dark, per the Courier-Herald, and the Megargle family, who run it, say that was when the alehouse got a full restaurant.

What it is now is the town's default. Twenty-eight taps and a Friday prime rib dinner the listing advertises to anyone who will read it. The Bacon Jam Burger tops the popular list; burgers and sandwiches sit in the mid-teens. Happy hour runs all day Sunday. Stated hours: 11 in the morning to 9 at night Sunday through Thursday, until 10 on Friday and Saturday, and an hour later in July and August. Closed only Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The corner it measures from has a story of its own. The building at 1602 Cole went up in 1923 for $20,600 to house the Enumclaw National Bank, which had been People's State Bank until a rename the year before. The bank lasted nine years. It failed in 1932, and the building spent the rest of the century as a cobbler's shop, a floor of lawyers and doctors, and, from the late 1960s, small apartments upstairs. King County made it a landmark in 2016. You cannot eat there.

Rainier Bar and Grill, across the street

Rainier Bar and Grill, 1623 Cole Street, is the other side of the same argument. Family owned and operated, by its own description, and pitched at steaks, seafood, and what it calls gourmet burgers. Its listing photographs give the game away: clam chowder, fish and chips, prime rib, a Kobe burger, curried steamer clams, and a sizzling brownie with ice cream that the listing photographs cannot stop showing. Stated hours: 11 to 9, seven days.

Trapper's Sushi, in the Jensen Building

Walk south past Initial Avenue and you reach two brick buildings side by side. The one at 1537 Cole is the Jensen Building, dated 1915 by one listing, which Wikipedia's entry on its neighbor calls Enumclaw's first modern office building. Next door at 1523 to 1525 is the Trommald Building, finished in 1920 and put up by Erick G. Trommald, a Tacoma dry goods merchant, for $30,000, with the Tacoma architects Heath and Gove drawing the plans. It shows Chicago School influence and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since August 24, 2000. Today it houses a hair salon. Enumclaw is not sentimental about its landmarks; it uses them.

The Jensen Building's street level is Trapper's Sushi Co., a small Washington chain with a full bar. Trapper's runs an all you can eat sushi bar all day, lunch from 11 to 2, and a happy hour from 2 to 6 Sunday through Thursday and 8 to 9 on Friday and Saturday, per its own site. The rolls carry names like Vader, Mariner, Puyallup and Mountain. Stated hours: 11 to 9 daily. Jackson's, the steakhouse that used to occupy this address, is listed as closed.

Roaring Underground, if you know the word

Cross the street to 1528 Cole and you find what looks like a gift and barware boutique. It is one. Behind it, through a door that is not obviously a door, is Roaring Underground, a Prohibition themed cocktail bar for the 21 and over crowd. Visit Rainier explains the mechanism: a daily password, posted on the bar's social channels or written on a chalkboard near the front. The menu covers classic and seasonal cocktails, tasting flights, small bites and charcuterie. Stated speakeasy hours on the bar's own site: 1 to 9 Tuesday through Thursday, 11 to 11 Friday and Saturday, noon to 5 Sunday, closed Monday. Other listings disagree, so here the confirm before you go rule is not optional.

Around the corner on Griffin

Turn west on Griffin Avenue and the tone changes from evening to any time at all. Tim's Kitchen, 1110 Griffin, is one of four locations (Orting, Puyallup, Tacoma, Enumclaw) and makes no secret of what it is for: hand breaded fried chicken, hand breaded chicken fried steak, a salad bar, burgers, and all beef hot dogs. It opens at 7 and runs to 9 on weekdays by its own account; listings disagree about Sunday, so ask.

Further along, inside the GuestHouse Inn at 1000 Griffin, is El Ranchito, which Visit Rainier credits with jumbo margaritas, enchiladas suizas, and a chip dip made, improbably, with coleslaw. Stated hours: noon to 9 daily. Mazatlan, the other Mexican option, is out on Roosevelt Avenue East and does not open until 3, which makes it a dinner house, not a walk.

Breakfast, which is where this town is serious

Two rooms open at 6, and the town has opinions about which.

The Kettle, 1666 Garrett Street, is one block west of Cole and family owned and operated by its own description. It is known, in its own words, for Kettle Muffins and seasoned hash browns, and it serves breakfast until 2 every day. The listing's popular items include chicken fried steak and eggs and a Buckley Scramble, which is either a tribute or a provocation depending on which side of the White River you live on. Stated hours: 6 to 2 Monday through Thursday, 6 to 4 Friday through Sunday.

Charlie's Cafe, 1335 Roosevelt Avenue East, is three blocks north on the highway, a walk you will forgive once you understand the name. John and Charlotte opened it in August 1976, and Charlotte was the Charlie. Their son and daughter in law run it now, the cafe says, with a third generation behind the counter. It is known for country fried steak, plate sized pancakes and bacon it is not modest about, plus a lunch sandwich named the Mt. Rainier Reuben. Stated hours: 6 to 2, daily.

The coffee stands, briefly

You will pass at least one drive through espresso hut on the way to any of these. We have already written about why they matter more than the coffee, in Twenty seconds of being known, and will not repeat ourselves except to say: tip.

Parking

Curbside parking downtown is free with a three hour limit. In March 2024 the city council tripled the general parking fine from $20 to $60 and raised the penalty for overstaying to $100, per the Courier-Herald, which also reported that the police have no dedicated parking unit and enforce mostly on complaint. The Courier-Herald has also described two city lots, one on Cole between Initial and Stevenson and one on Railroad Street between Griffin and Stevenson, for the nights Cole is full.

What we left out, and why

Jackson's on Cole, Cole Street Brewery on the north end, and Kelly's at 1444 Cole are all marked closed on their listings this year. Griffin Corner Thai and Bangkok Thai, which shared 1240 Griffin at different times, are closed too, so downtown has no Thai kitchen we can confirm. Ranch House BBQ is in Olympia, whatever the search results say. This is the street as it actually is on a Tuesday in September.