Axe Handle Cafe

This experience was a miss for us.
Parking is super easy… There is plenty in the large parking lot. Walking in, we were greeted from across the room, and told we could sit wherever we’d like.
There is a limited menu for breakfast. Not too many choices, but they offer the standards.
The service? Although very friendly, was slower than molasses in winter. Their young waitstaff and kitchen help didn’t seem to work with any sense of urgency.
The biscuit and gravy was pretty standard. Nothing bad, the gravy seemed a little uninspired. The lady got eggs and sausage which came with «southern style» hash browns. The lady has been to the south many, many times, and has never been presented with this type of hash brown. To me, it looks as if they buy frozen French fries and chop them into smaller chunks, and then cook them on the flat top. What we got was a plate that combined overcooked, crunchy bits combined with undercooked gummy, greasy chunks, all of which were under seasoned, and just a little over room temperature.
They also have a bottleneck in the or payment system. They have 1 «Square» terminal everyone uses to bill customers. So, if one server has the terminal, everyone else waits. And waits. And waits.

My son and I love this place.
It’s a local favorite. And if you drive through Kingston and have time to stop in for breakfast, lunch, or a quick mid-​day snack… You don’t be disappointed.
Their pastries are housemade and always delicious. I have no complaints to any items I’ve had here… And I think I may have tried just about everything on their breakfast menu. My favorite lunch item is their portobello sandwich. Delightful and filling.
My son and I enjoy quality time here. Besides the great fresh food and attentive service, we enjoy the board game options they offer on their shelves for customers to play.

I have enjoyed biscuits and gravy, once in my life, even homemade ones. Upon reading the menu I was really drawn to trying the biscuits and gravy. Even the couple my friend asked at the table next to us said these were the best biscuits she’s ever had. They were right.
The white sausage gravy was delicious with a slight peppery taste and perfect biscuits (not too dry and not mushy). SO GOOD. The eggs, sausage, and potatoes were also a hit. It’s worth the $ 23 ferry ride one way to go eat there.

Went to Axe Handle for breakfast this morning. I had a waffle with strawberries and whip cream, egg whites, and hash browns! The food was all amazing! My bill was only 12.50 for everything so I think very reasonable! I’ve had lunch here before and enjoyed that, but I will for sure be coming back for those waffles!!!

Great place! Great food, Great service, and friendly servers! Nice job!

Arguably the best coffee in Kitsap County. Serving Batdorf & Bronson. Service is awesome. Breakfast is enjoyable.

The Axe Handle offers excellent food, service and community! The owners and staff are warm and attentive. The baked fries are killer good!

Great food, small menu but what they do serve is delicious. I’ve tried the eggs Benny, the handle, the beat, and the morning glory muffin. All good! The handle is s bit small on portion size so pair with a bagel. Why not five stars? The service. They aren’t particularly rude but inattentive every time I’ve been here. Can’t get the basics down like serving coffee with the first 15 minutes of us ordering it or refilling water. The servers consistently seem inexperienced. From the Unilocal reviews the restaurant owner or manager haven’t seemed to try to improve it. I hope they get a clue soon because this place has potential!

Really cool atmosphere paired with excellent food. It took awhile for the food to come out– but to be fair we came at a pretty busy time. Cute bakery, it was a good find!

As a local, I don’t recommend this place at all. Food looks fake, doesn’t look refresh, and it looks like the food is precook. So, if you’re looking for food, don’t go, but for coffee? Highly recommended.

I want to give this place more stars, with the loss of the Oak Table Kingston needs a good breakfast place. They have the potential; but need to step up the food service pace and increase the menu selection. A couple house specialty items would be a perfect start, frittata maybe and some great pancakes; would be just what they need.

This first visit started out very bad but ended a 5 star treat! Entered sat ourself, had to get up after waiting 10 min. to get menu’s noone offered coffee, etc, asked one girl for asssistance who said sorry, I am not working at the moment??? other staff scurring around like chickens with their heads cut off and never looking up to see what was going on in the room or who needed help? Tables remained piled with dirty dishes.
Finally after 15 min and almost walked out a very pleasant young lady came over apoligized and took our order, had to wait some time for the food to arrive, BUT… well worth the wait, the breakfast was spectacular, very well prepared and the potatoes were outstanding, as was the coffee served in huge mugs (which was good as they never came around to ask on re fills) Should they ever get the staff working properly they will have a home run as the kitchen sure knows what they are doing, I will go back many times even if i have to endure chaos!

Overall, pretty good. The steak was over cooked on one half and perfect the other half. Asparagus was under cooked and crunchy but the mashed potatoes and salad were great. Not to mention, the staff was great and despite the steak and asparagus, they make me want to return to try other menu items.

Update: the last dozen times I’ve eaten here have been increasingly disappointing. The food has been ill prepared and the service slow. I’m downgrading my review until things improve.
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Opened by the owner of the superb Cup and Muffin across the street, this is exactly what I’d hoped: a sit-​down version of the quality food there. The menu is devised by someone who cares about the tastiness of the dishes, as opposed to simply covering bases. The service is friendly, the atmosphere casual and warm. For the menu, see their Facebook site.

I’ve been to the Axe Handle Café a few times now and I’m never impressed with their options, the food is decent and the menu is very limited. The staff is friendly and service is quick, but the food rarely tastes fresh.

This place is the best kept secret in kitsap county. Homestyle food, reasonable prices, family friendly environment. I strongly recommend the chicken pot pie.

As usual another wonderful meal. The garlic spinach lasagna was piping hot and ever so flavorful. I hesitate in ordering Italian food in a non Italian restaurant but this was delish. It can also be served with 3 meatballs. I opted for 1. Excellent texture and flavor. Im planning on bringing visiting family over the holidays. Wonderful place Wonderful people Hats off to the chef

I typically only write reviews for places that are either remarkably good or horribly bad, and this café, I’m sorry to say, was horribly bad. I stopped in for a quick lunch last week and ordered one of their grilled cheese sandwiches to go. I was already turned off by the fact that their sandwiches were $ 9+ each but hoped that taste and quality would make up for it. I ordered the brie, apple, almond sandwich. What I received was a joke — basically a piece of dry bread (See photo for proof).
The sandwich was smaller than my hand. As I bit into the bread (was it grilled without fat or was it just really old bread?), I first noticed that it tasted of… nothing! So I opened it up and saw that the reason it tasted of nothing was because there really wasn’t anything inside. Two pieces of very thin apple, a few soggy slivers of almond and… wasn’t there supposed to be cheese on there? I could neither see nor taste the brie on my sandwich. Who put this together and thought it was acceptable? A 5 year old could have made a better sandwich. And for $ 10.00? I could have purchased an entire loaf of fresh bread, an apple and a hunk of brie and had a more satisfying meal. And I promise you I started eating this sandwich as soon as they gave it to me, so there is no excuse for the lack of freshness. I won’t be returning to this café.

Our new favorite place in Kingston when taking the ferry (admittedly there is not a lot of competition there).
The food was quite good although the pulled pork in the tacos could have a little more moisture and seasoning in them. The Portebella sandwich was loved by my wife.
The service was quick, attentive, and not overbearing.

I’ve been to this café a couple of times to eat, and I’d like to offer my two cents.
I remember as soon as the AHC announced their «soft-​opening» the place was packed, I’m guessing because their other Kingston food place, The Cup and Muffin is so successful, and I’ll agree, I love the cup and muffin. I also love the Kingston history aspect of the place, it’s very cool.
As for my first visit, it’s exactly what I would’ve expected out of a soft opening. No complaints, it was a soft opening, no one should’ve expected anything too dazzling.
Fast forward to beginning of September, it’s still the same there (except the new menus, the sticker on the door, and maybe some new art). The service was disorganized, the water came back to us repeatedly with black flecks of something in it, the drunk options were just as limited, and isn’t there a health code violation for those flies buzzing around the pastries that just sit open atop the counter?
I did like the bread though, that was tasty bread.