Food was good but overpriced. Breakfast waffle has two VERY thin pieces of bacon, barely noticeable. I had to look for them. Like other reviews, my guess is that it's microwaved. Live piano was a nice touch. NonGF-free friend said she wouldn't know the waffle was GF. Service was fair at best. Not very friendly or observant about coffee refills. Disappointing for the cost. I wish Olympia could execute on these upscale dining efforts. read more

The ambience was nice with the piano playing in the background. We were seated quickly, the menu was short and succinct. My son love the waffle breakfast sandwich, my daughter had the dragon fruit bowl, the enjoyed it. I had the peanut butter/jelly waffle, if you have a super sweet tooth, this is the one. What was bad was our waitress, not sure if she was new or what, but we had to constantly ask her for simple read more

Waffles were delicious but the bacon was clearly microwave & it was almost $100 dollars for 2 waffles and 2 mimosas which is absurd

My friend and I came here last week and waited over an hour just for drinks. We noticed that other tables who arrived after us were served much faster. As the only people of color in the room, it was hard not to notice the difference in treatment. This was disappointing and unacceptable, and I hope management addresses it. read more

I had the tropical waffle and it was good. My mom got the berry one and liked, aunt got the lox one and liked it. My dad got the breakfast waffle and it never showed, we just sat their eating our waffles while he sat with nothing. We ended up getting a full refund since we wanted that written off, same with the tip. So they gave us it all ‍. Lots of other people looked they were wondering where their food was. They are new, so they just got to smooth out some wrinkles in their set up. read more

My daughter and I went for breakfast and the food and atmosphere was as good as the reviews I'd read. It was easy to make our orders vegetarian and the food was delicious. It was so nice to eat and listen to the piano player. read more

Wow... simply wow... If you like waffles, you'll like this new DT Olympia eatery. And best of all... 100% GF... but no sacrifice in flavor... one would be hard-pressed to guess GF if not known ahead of time. DT parking is always a challenge. There is free weekend parking in the parking lot at the corner of 4th and Washington (across the street from the Transit Center). Dont let parking be an obstacle... great food and beverages and our server Maddox provided exclnt service. read more

See all

First time here - Stopped in Sunday morning while Charlie Saibel was playing piano, such a great brunch atmosphere. My waffle w/ assorted fruit was tasty. Bought a bottle of Whistle Pig Barrel Aged Maple Syrup to take home - can't wait to try it & already looking forward to trying another waffle. read more

The atmosphere was lovely, so cute so cozy. However, that is the only good thing I can say about the leaning maple. The food was just fine, nothing exceptional. It's the staff I have a problem with. Which I hate to say because I understand how hard it is being a server/general wait staff position. Came in for lunch with a friend, despite only about 2 small parties sitting in the entire restaurant, we waited 15 minutes just to have our order taken. Strange no one was helping us considering there was a pretty sizable amount of employees all kind of not really doing anything (aside from kitchen staff); plus the one server who seated us frequently walking past us to help one of the only other parties here. Perhaps we were not in her section but did she not notice amoungst the 2 other tables in this whole establishment she was helping we had not yet been helped? Finally another "server"? stopped by after just walking around, asked us "Have you been helped?" I appreciate her well meaning question but it's the inattentiveness that really added salt in the wound. Out of the 2 other tables, how could no one tell that we had not gotten our orders taken? We make our orders and I asked for the soup as a side to my sandwich only for the server to exclaim "We are not serving soup today." Okay fine. So then I asked for one of the other sides, a bag of chips. Only for her to say "We don't have any chips right now either." They only had the salad, maybe start with that? Despite the discrepancy I tried to not be too upset, after all it's not the servers fault that there weren't any other sides today. However, in between our orders being taken and being served, my friend noticed the patron behind me get a side of soup with her meal (it was pretty easy to notice since there was no one in the restaurant). Before asking if there was in fact soup, (since I just saw it). Because it's not even the fact that, what I saw go to another table could've been the last bowl of soup of the day, which would be fine by me its the fact that our server said "We are not serving soup today." that bothers me. The other server from earlier who was taking literally everyone else's order except for us, stopped past after sitting an additional party asking "Have y'all been helped?" I'm just going to ignore the fact that she kept walking past us all afternoon and didn't even notice if we had or had not been helped, she was the one who seated us! We had been sitting there for 30 minutes at that point, how could you not know if we had been helped or not?? In any case we said yes but asked about the soup. She stated she'd ask the kitchen. Some time goes by and our sandwiches come out with a bowl of soup, our server very kindly apologized for the confusion. Again, it's not personal, I thought everyone who worked here were very kind people, however, there's just a huge lack of either communication or initiative or both. Maybe a management/training issue? I feel like the leaning maple is a good idea in concept and would perhaps work more as a cafe where patrons could come up, order, pickup, and dine in if they choose. Because this sit down be served restaurant style does not work with such inattentive staff. Seems like a management issue because the people were kind in gesture, just were objectively not good at their jobs. Not worth the $50 we spent for 2 just-fine sandwiches, small sides and unfortunately mediocre service. read more

Came back at second time to see if we maybe had only gotten a bad day the first time around and I have to say that it was very good. Now you get a number and they bring the food to your table which happened in a fairly timely manner, no more listening for your name to be called, the waffle was again delicious, the fruit fresh and tasty. Definitely great waffle place. read more

Large venue w/a live piano player is an interesting idea. The wait to be seated was not long on a Sunday morning, however the wait to get 2 waffles was over an hour, this is absolutely unacceptable considering the restaurant was nowhere being at capacity. Paying $18 & $22 for 2 mediocre heavy waffles and an extra $4 for 3 slices of the worst microwaved bacon was disappointing, to say the least. If the owners are going to have a large venue, their kitchen staff desperately needs to work on expediting and communicating to the customer. Also, I feel The Leaning Maple needs to rethink what they're actually selling/providing. Is it a breakfast/lunch place, a piano bar, a home decor place or a clothes/jewelry business? read more

I've been at the Leaning Maple for lunch 2 times now and it was great both times. I had pulled pork waffle sandwich the first time and oh it was so wonderful. Yesterday I had a turkey with pesto waffle sandwich which was served very attractively and tasted out of this world. The service was very good everyone was so pleasant and quick. The coffee I ordered was superb, fresh, hot and black just how I like it. I like the way the restaurant looks too, the decor is very attractive, full of light and greenery and art. I will come again for the music on Fri and Sat that sounds like a good time. read more

Food was great. Service was good. Ambiance was outstanding with the piano player. Nice cozy place

Arrived at 10AM to meet with a party of 8. The place was not busy and there were lots of tables open, but instead of pushing 2 of the 4 tops together they decided to squeeze our group into a 6 top. It was cramped. When the first of our group arrived three of us ordered coffee... it didn't arrive for 25 minutes. Again, the place was not busy, not even half full. When the rest of our party arrived the waitress came back and we again ordered coffee when we made our breakfast order. As we waited we noticed 5 employees just milling around behind the counter... Coffee arrived for 5 of the 6 who ordered it, along with cream in another coffee cup, not sugar, no spoons or other silverware. Upon attempting to pour cream into our coffee it of course poured down the side of the cup and onto the table. We finally had to ask for a small paper cup to pour the cream into so we could use it without making a mess. We asked for sugar and when it arrived it was course brown sugar (the slightly sticky kind) in a pour bottle. Which it of course could not pour out of, so we took off the lid and attempted to shake a bit into our coffee, getting far too much sugar. As there was no spoons yet i attempted to stir my coffee with my finger - not fun. Person who didn't get their coffee had to finally go to the counter and request it. Waitress later said they had to brew more. Brew more coffee? On a Saturday morning when its not busy? How did they run out? Are they using an 8 cup Mr. Coffee in back? Coffee is a staple of breakfast - should be at the table hot, fresh and FAST. Food finally arrived, I had ordered a simple waffle with a side of bacon (4 slices) and the poached eggs (you are supposed to get 2) . Only received one poached egg to start and when i mentioned this to the waitress she took the one egg away. Upon returning with the 2 eggs the first one was already cold, and the second egg was over-poached and hard. Bacon was small, thin and over cooked- four slices for $4 - and cold. Most of the items were cold as the plates were cold. Note to kitchen - If you put hot food on a cold plate the food gets cold very quickly. The waitress did her best but explained they recently changed their service method. Clearly management had not trained staff to do table service and it made for a very unpleasant and frustrating breakfast experience. When we went to pay we wanted separate bills (which we mentioned on ordering). One of our table had to help the waitress sort out the bill as she had no idea how to. Waffle - nothing special (especially when cold) and there is no place on the planet where a single waffle this size is worth $10. Bacon - thin, cold, also overpriced. Poached eggs - one was cold and hard. "Fried" tomatoes - looked like stewed tomato mush and my friend who had them reported they tasted fishy. The person with us who had the apple waffle was happy with it. Service - slow and undertrained (but friendly and doing their best) Had to ask for silverware, napkins, and ordered coffee 2x to get it. I was really hopeful for someone taking over this space downtown, but it was one of the worst dining experiences with unremarkable and poor quality food I've had in years. For now I have to recommend you avoid this place until they get their stuff together. Ambiance - the piano player was good, played TV themes and jingles - it was fun. I give him 5 stars. read more

Food was alright, service took a very long time, they charged $4 for 4 slices of precooked microwaved bacon though, that is despicable behavior for a breakfast restaurant, if someone's coming and paying for a place to cook breakfast for them, have the decency to at least cook the breakfast. It takes so little effort to do the bare minimum and not serve what's essentially an overpriced TV meal. The live music was very good and the man playing the piano was nice and personable. read more

My daughter and I happened onto this nice lil oasis by happenstance due to our original choice having "maintenance issues" and couldn't sit anymore people. The environment when you walk in was inviting, and we came in on a late Sunday morning to the sound of a gentleman pleasantly playing on a grand piano, which helped enrich the ambiance (please tip him). Our selection of food was delicious. I had the one scoop acai bowl, the breakfast waffle, and cookie dough macchiato. My daughter had the banana nut waffle and London fog tea. Food may have been on the pricier side, BUT it was well worth it. The staff was so friendly, it felt like home. It was our first time to this place, and if given the opportunity, we will be back for more (maybe tomorrow...lol). read more

So I don't know what changed since the last time I was there but I am now updating my previous review. So I was there last week and the customer service was so terrible. I was sat at a dirty table and it took 25 minutes for the waitress to come to my table. This was very frustrating because there was a lot of staff there but they were to busy talking to each other to ask if I was ready. As I sat there I could see into the kitchen and the cooking staff had gloves on but was actively touching the trash bin then going back to preparing food! I finally sat my menu down loudly to hopefully get someone's attention and that worked. I ordered a latte and it was terrible. Too much syrup and the milk wasn't even steamed properly. After seeing the kitchen staffs way of handling the food I decided not to order anything from them. I went up front to pay as I did not want to wait another 25 minutes for my check and the amount of fruit flys was alarming. I will not be going back again as the quality and care that was there before is no longer. Not sure if ownership or management changed but the staff seemed to give absolute no care to their jobs. read more

I'm giving this a solid 3 stars because there were positives. The atmosphere was lovely, the food was really tasty, and some of the staff was nice. However, I'm reading another review that was also left today and I have to guess we had the same waitress. I've never been treated so rudely by someone at a restaurant. She seemed irritated that we were there period. Or maybe it's because we had young (very well behaved) children with us. Whatever it was, it was clear she was annoyed. She got our drink order wrong and it was as if it was our fault for her mistake. She was defensive and approached our every request with hostility. After two frosty interactions (before food had even come out) I complained to the host, which I've literally never done in my life. But it was worth it because he and another waiter took over our table and made sure we had a lovely time. But while leaving the restaurant I witnessed the first waitress shoot my mom two very nasty looks. I would be willing to try this restaurant again but I truly hope their customer service gets ironed out before I return. read more

What a great new restaurant in downtown Olympia! The restaurant is warm and welcoming and the grand piano in the corner means they are planning for evening events in the future. It seems. The staff is so friendly and helpful when deciding which waffle to order. We decided on the savory waffle menu and ordered the Lox waffle on our first visit here. Delicious . The coffee was excellent too. We'll be back for a sweet waffle next time. read more

The food is fantastic, and the acoustics in the room are great for conversation. Word is their menu is gluten free.

So the food is good. Breakfast waffle is good breakfast for the price. Coffee is good. They make great bacon. There has been some complaints about staff and waiters, and wait time, but I think they are just getting situated. Figuring out what kind of load they can handle, and how to handle it. If you're in a hurry go on a weekday instead of weekend. I'm sure in another month or two they will have the service situation perfected. I don't hold anything against them there, they are getting used to it still. However I rate 3 stars because I feel the menu is really more so what I'd expect from a food cart or a coffee shop, not a restaurant that presents itself as a fancy sit down place, with fancy portions, and fancy prices. What I mean by this is, take the acai bowl. Instead of using blenders and blending pure acai with other fresh ingredients to make a healthy breakfast offering, they use acai sorbet. Basically the desert version of acai. So their 'acai bowl' is really an acai sorbet desert. At most smoothie shops you pay $10 and expect to get a good sized, healthy, acai smoothie blended with lots of healthy ingredients, and it's a good breakfast. Whereas here your like $16 gets you a small-portioned acai desert which is not a good breakfast at all. It's good, but it's not a good breakfast, it's a desert. Which I presume they do that because scooping premade acai sorbet is easier than blending real acai with other ingredients. But that's kind of what I mean. They have a full size restaurant, a full size kitchen, making people sit down and wait, pay restaurant prices. They shouldn't be cutting corners on this. If I go to a sit down restaurant and order a $16 acai bowl, and I wait 20 minutes, I want something far better than what a smoothie shop whips me up in 5 minutes for $10. I feel this kind of mentality goes off to their waffle offerings too. Which they aren't bad. Breakfast waffle is quite a good breakfast. But if I am going to a waffle place to sit down and wait for a waffle, I want something extra special. Their gluten free waffle batter really isn't anything more special than what you'd get with Bob's Red Mill gluten free waffle mix. Which is good. But again feel like they've chose this because it's just easier to do. If you have the full restaurant, and full kitchen, then get a couple dozen different waffle makers. Have several different batters to choose from that someone couldn't whip up themselves in 5 minutes at home. You could still keep it gluten free if you wanted. Come up with a buckwheat waffle batter. Almond flour waffle batter. 'Exotic Grains' with millet, amaranth. Some hearty flax flour waffle. I don't know. You have a whole restaurant, without blenders, scooping pre-made acai sorbet, with only one type of waffle batter that is nothing special. That's kind of what I mean. It seems like they designed their menu to be made in the constraints of a food cart, or at a coffee shop, but then decided to switch to a full sit down restaurant at the last minute. I can also tell the waffle batter is heavy on refined starches. So it's really not a healthy waffle at all. It is a desert too, just like their acai desert sorbet. They really load the waffles up with the sweets too if you want sweet one. Like I feel it is a really bad breakfast place for this reason. Sugarey acai sorbet, overly sugary starchy waffle. If the breakfast waffle was instead served on a whole wheat or buckwheat waffle, that'd be an amazing breakfast, but instead it's on their super starchy waffle. Which IS NOT BAD. It's good. It's just not a healthy breakfast. I feel maybe this issue would be solved if they just changed to be a cafe style coffee shop instead. Get rid of the waiters. Have people order at the counter. Wait for their food standing. Bus their own table. All staff just work on pumping out waffles and coffee faster and cheaper. Just present themselves as a coffee, lunch and desert place. However their current presentation of being a fancy, long-wait, sit-in breakfast place does not match what they serve. If they got some more variation to the menu. Some actually healthy waffle batters. Made a real breakfast acai bowl. Took advantage of all the extra space and extra time from being a real sit-down restaurant. I would definitely go sit down and wait 20-30 mins, and pay $20 for a waffle or acai bowl. But in all seriousness, walk down the street to the farmer's market and get the french toast breakfast from the place that serves sausages. it's like $12 total you get a pile of bacon, pile of eggs, and french toast made with good hearty cinnamon bread. It's a healthier, better, cheaper, faster breakfast. If you are going to make me sit down and pay more you need to at least outdo that. It's worth going to, and I may still go like once a month. I just wish it was bit better. A bit healthier. If it were I'd go like twice a week. read more

Good food. Açaí bowls were especially good. Friendly and efficient staff. Will definitely be back !

This place is not for you if you can't eat dairy. I hope they figure that part out. They felt bad after a comedy of errors and comped my meal. The waitress was the best, but I left hungry. read more

Food was okay, but service was horrible. They messed up our drink order and the workers all just seemed confused and didn't know what they were doing. Took forever to get waters at the table. Used to love this place but it's changing. read more

the first red flag should have been that the water was serviced without ice. the food was not great. the bacon is clearly the precooked microwaveable sandwhich bacon. the syrup served with the classic waffle (which was burnt btw) was the equivalent of Mrs buttersworth. should not have cost upwards of $24 per plate. don't waste your time or money here. only redeemable thing about this place is that the staff is kind. read more

Waited 45 minutes after ordering and then had to go check to find out they had forgotten about our order. When they finally brought our meal the waffle charcuterie board only had 8 small slices of waffle which equals only 1 waffle. We had to alert them that the item comes with 2 waffles worth of food for 20.00. . Staff were standing around leisurely and slowly making salads behind the counter with lots of people looking around as if they were waiting a long time for their food and becoming impatient. read more