If you’ve ever strayed off of the main drag of Burlington Boulevard, home of Costco and Fred Meyer, you might know that Burlington has a very cute little downtown with some thriving small businesses and restaurants. The Office Tavern, located at a funny triangular intersection near the railroad tracks, is a great addition to this area.
The Office sits in the same spot as the old Varsity Inn, a longstanding dive bar that was a fun place to watch sports but was a little uneven in the food department. While the location is the same, the new owners completely remodeled the building in 2020, opening in 2021, and the new space is totally unrecognizable as the Varsity.
The main room is filled with a long bar and plenty of large TV screens (although the bar is not otherwise sports-themed), plus well-spaced tables along the wall. In the back are more tables under a neon sign that proclaims “Making Pour Decisions.” Around the bar is access to a large covered and heated deck and a patio. We’ve come during the day to find a very quiet pub, and had the outdoor seating area entirely to ourselves, but a recent visit on a Friday night found the place stuffed to the gills with people having a good time.
There is, as you would hope, a full bar. I find many of their house cocktails to be on the sweet side, so I usually go for a beer from their rotating tap list, but if you love fun, colorful drinks, there are lots to choose from. One of their specialties is the “personal pitcher,” such as The Manager, made with Coconut Rum, Blue Curacao, lemon and lime juice and soda, topped with a Red Bull ($15). They do have some non-alcoholic cocktails, according to their enthusiastic social media accounts, but along with some of the food specials, I haven’t seen any mention of these in the actual pub — I guess you need to ask.
The menu is full of pub classics like burgers, salads, excellent fish and chips, and tacos, all of which are quite good (except for a very oddly textured crispy chicken sandwich we had recently, which I’m hoping was an isolated experience). Shrimp tacos ($17.50) were delicious, perfectly cooked and tossed with pineapple pico de gallo and crema, but were served in tiny, street-style tortillas, which was very cute but meant that trying to take a bite resulted in shrimp going literally everywhere.
My favorite menu item in recent visits has probably been the prime rib dip, which is served on a deeply toasted squishy bun with piles of tender prime rib, cheese, horseradish mayo and a richly flavorful jus ($21). There’s also a well-sauced teriyaki rice bowl with chicken and vegetables ($16.50), a great option if you’re looking for something a little lighter.
Side note: When we first started going to the Office, the food was served on very classy black dishes, but over the last couple of years, they’ve switched to fast food-style paper liners and stainless steel bowls, which two separate people have told me made them feel like they were eating out of dog food bowls. It doesn’t bother me, but seems a little out of place with the food prices.
There are some great deals during happy hour (charmingly called Office Hour, which runs from 1–6 p.m. Tuesday–Friday, and all day Monday.) We enjoyed the street corn tacos ($9), which were well stuffed and flavorful, but the absolute best deal I’ve had at Office Hour has been the BBQ pork sliders for $12, which gave us three buns very generously piled with sweet pulled pork and coleslaw, practically a dinner in themselves.
If it’s not Office Hour, I can recommend the huge pile of cauliflower wings for $16, tossed with your choice of sauce. We decided to try the mango habanero, despite our server’s warning that it was seriously spicy. It didn’t quite blow our faces off but definitely had a kick. Our only complaint about the wings is that they weren’t even remotely crispy after being tossed with the sauce but that didn’t keep us from eating far too many.
Breakfast, offered on weekends from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., is really good. Get a Bloody Mary ($10) or a round of bottomless mimosas ($20), and fill up on their well-executed diner-style breakfasts. I tried the ricotta scrambled eggs with dill, piled on a thick piece of sourdough toast with avocado and accompanied by a fat wedge of crispy hash browns ($12). My dining companion, an aficionado of biscuits and gravy, highly approved of the Office version, which came with a sausage patty and two eggs, along with a generous but not excessive pour of rich gravy over the perfectly tender biscuits ($17).
The staff can be a little preoccupied during busy times, but when it’s quieter they’re friendly and attentive, and sitting at the bar during a slow period gets you a good chat with the bartender. I suspect this would be a good place to be a regular. And if you’ve ever wanted to claim, truthfully, that you’re “at the office” when in fact you’re sitting comfortably at a bar with a beer and a plate of fried cheese curds, this is your chance.
The Office Tavern is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday–Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday at 112 N. Cherry St. in Burlington. The restaurant is 21-plus only. Info: theofficetavern.com.
Jessamyn Tuttle is a freelance writer and photographer based in the Skagit Valley.
