ʔálʔal Cafe - By Chief Seattle Club

Amazing findSo peaceful and the food is delicious. The Bisson tacos are excellent, lots of caffeine choices and the art work and design are transporting me.Love this place Glotal Stop in the name from Lushooted name is translates into for home in Coast Salish Language - feels like an amazing home here.

Had been meaning to try this place out and it didn't disappoint. Stellar, friendly service, delicious treats and a solid latte. Before I go any further though, I wanna lament that this spot is very hard to find on Yelp and doesn't seem to be given the visibility it deserves. Searching for coffee in pioneer square didn't pull it up quickly, and Yelp doesn't seem to register the Native characters in the name, álal Café. It's an impediment that I wish Yelp would address. Now onto the good stuff. After seeing their coffee cake was a must, I grabbed one with my latte, and it was so so good. The blend of textures was kind of sandy and soft and the flavor of the grains compared to your typical flour is almost kind of fruity. Really fun and I'll be back to try the other goodies. Latte was solid and hit the spot. I do wish they had a macchiato or cortado on the menu, being the coffee snob I am, but I bet if I'd asked, they'd have been happy to oblige. Which leads me to the service: so so so kind and engaged. Talk about welcoming, a spirit that is often dulled in Seattle's coffee scene. And they've got cool food items to pick up from reservations. Native made flours and corn meal, beans and cookbooks. And the little memory area was really sweet. It's a nice spot and I'm so happy they opened

I loved this place, and I can't wait to keep coming back. My friend and I ordered what felt like the entire menu. I had the blue corn mush and a spiced elderberry muffin and their house mocha. Everything tasted excellent. I loved the blue corn mush. It was smooth, comforting, and warm. The service was so friendly and outgoing. They have a restroom for customers. They have maybe 8 or so small tables - it's not a gigantic space but it also wasn't hard to find a table at 11:30am on a Friday. I need to come back because they change their menu seasonally, and I want to try their spring offerings. They were also sold out of their coffee cake, and it sounded so good I have to try it for myself. Parking is typical of Pioneer Square - street parking only. Somehow I got lucky and found a space right in front of the cafe.

I am so fortunate to have this cafe blocks away from my office. A week ago, I attended their soft opening and was blown away by the beautiful space. Beautiful artwork, beautiful music, and a beautiful marketplace to purchase books and goods from our local tribes. There are also plenty of tables and chairs - this would be a perfect meeting spot if you work or live near Pioneer Square. I had the blue corn mush with granola and I do recommend. It's a hearty breakfast with a unique taste. Please check this place out!

Have been able to visit a couple of time since they opened a few weeks ago what really stands their friendly customer service and all the indigenous items for sale in the merchandise area cookbooks, hot sauces, pancake mix many of which are used in the cafe. The first visit was to try a latte and pick up some breakfast items to share and enjoy. Really was just going to get the coffee cake but the yogurt was so pretty.Everything was delicious we we're bringing it back to the office which wasn't too far away. Second visit my friend wanted to buy the bison jerky as a gift and I noticed the hot sauces. Since they use them in the shop they let me try a few, ended up purchasing a couple bottles for holiday gifts. Love this addition to the Pioneer Neighborhood. Wishing them great success.

The positive vibes totally makes this place! The menu is small but focuses on indigenous ingredients and recipes. Bison tacos and blue corn mush are the permanent menu items and they have a rotating savory dish that changes every month or so. I really liked bison tacos and the blue corn mush is sort of like a breakfast oatmeal flavored with tart berry preserves. Makes for a nice light lunch. They also have Salish Grounds coffee that is locally roasted of course. Artwork from local artists and cookbooks with indigenous recipes are also available. You will feel good spending money here. A total gem in Pioneer Square!

Great new addition to the diversifying coffee scene in Seattle. This cafe (the ?'s are silent) is on the ground floor of the Chief Sealth Club, which the cafe website describes as an "urban housing complex, álal, a residence for urban Natives to call home, find stability through housing, and connect with our community."álal is Lushootseed for home, and from the warm welcome we received, it is clear that the cafe employees take that word to heart. The atmosphere further fosters that sense of community, with a lovely collage featuring Seattle's namesake, Chief Sealth, beautiful wood tables, and a counter area where stories from visitors are collected. One particularly poignant story detailed the surprise of a woman who found herself weeping at some long ago memory of eating blue mush at her mothers home that was called up by the cafe's featured dish. (Not your typical reaction to a bowl of Starbucks oatmeal.)Speaking of blue mush, the closest I can approximate the taste is a bowl of Cream of Wheat but made with blue cornmeal (and juniper ash!) and topped with Wojape (Dakóta berry sauce). Very tasty and hearty. Their pastries are also unique - we had the blue cornbread and a wild rice coffee cake that were both exceptionally good. Finally, our lattes were top notch, featuring Salish Grounds coffee. Most ingredients in the cafe are sourced from Native-owned businesses and farms, and many are sold in the cafe providing a deserved outlet for wider distribution to our community. They also serve lunch - the bison taco's seem like a good draw to secure my return visit. Overall we really enjoyed the álal Café, which we happily confirmed for one of the residents of the urban complex, who proudly pointed out as we left, "It's good coffee, isn't it?"

The coffee, tacos, and pastries are SO good here! The artwork was also absolutely breathtaking, I had to snag one to bring home! Thank you to the staff there for being so kind and welcoming and educating us

I learned about this cafe from Eater Seattle. I was pleasantly surprised that this part of Seattle downtown has been cleared up and felt safe. The art fixtures in the cafe was tasteful and attractive. The cafe was clean and comfortable. Staff was very pleasant. I sampled their bison tacos, 3 Sisters (rabbit) stew and Latte. My companion and I were happily satisfied with the entire experience. Besides supporting small businesses, expanding our knowledge about Native American culture is always valuable and wise for everyone. Will return.

I've been wanting to check out this place for the last 8 months but it has been an immense challenge due to their extremely limited opening hours - for someone with a 9-5 Monday-Friday, you basically need to bank on a company holiday to check this out. They're only open Tuesday to Friday 7am-3pm, and they offer a limited menu which is a good first impression since that means they will want to do a good job in all the dishes.My friend and I both got Leah's Latte which has honey and cinnamon, and even for the 8oz, it is a strong coffee. It pairs particularly well with maple wild rice coffee cake, which is just the right amount of sweetness and has good texture. I would recommend this for a nice dessert.We also got the 3 sisters rabbit stew, bison barbacoa tacos, and blue corn mush. The rabbit stew was fairly good, tasting a bit like chicken soup. The meat is a little tougher than chicken, but that is as expected of what rabbit is. Rabbit meat is meant to be lean. There are some rice and vegetables within the soup, but in itself is a fairly small portion for what you pay for. The bison tacos were excellent, just a bit on the expensive side - $10.99 for 2 small tacos, but they were very flavorful and packed with juice. Each bite is of quality, and I liked how the bison meat is also fairly lean. Last but not least; the blue corn mush is fairly unique and has Wojapi - Dákota berry sauce. I particularly loved that it is not too sweet, just a slight hint of sweetness. The server recommended to enjoy it as-is, but the other option is to pay $1.50 extra to add on granola for a heartier bowl. The texture is a little bit of getting used to for me, as I am not too big of a fan of mushy food, but I nonetheless enjoyed and appreciated the food. The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 stars was I felt like they skimped a bit on the rabbit soup, especially with the general theme of portions to be on the smaller side for the price. Other pictures showed a lot of rabbit meat, while we only got 2 small chunks and a little bit of meat here and there diffused into the soup. For $10.99, it wasn't a cheap bowl of soup, so I would've expected more than just a majority of liquid.