Indigenous brunch in Tacoma begins at Tibbitts @ Fern Hill, a reservation-only, chef-operated restaurant serving scratch-built food through four scheduled seating times every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Community-Backed • Executive Chef, Founder & Owner • Chef-Operated • Chef-Present
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill was built from a mother’s dream for her boys to do the very best they could with their lives. She passed one month before the restaurant opened, and after Chef Shawn Tibbitts later lost his brother to a fentanyl overdose in 2025, this website was created in their honor — to carry forward what has been built, carry their names and legacy, and keep moving through grief with strength, resilience, and love.
Chef to Guest
Multi-Award-Winning Indigenous Brunch in Tacoma
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill is a reservation-only Indigenous brunch restaurant in Tacoma, Washington, led by Chef Shawn Tibbitts, serving scratch-built, chef-presented food shaped by Indigenous storytelling, Pacific Northwest ingredients, and community.
Open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday by phone reservation only. As a zero-waste restaurant, we prep based on the day’s reservations, which means we run out of food every day by design. Controlled chaos, with purpose. View our Tacoma brunch menu before calling to reserve.
Grateful for documented local, regional, national, and global recognition and awards spanning 2017–2026.
Zero-waste and no-plastic in its front-of-house service model, Tibbitts @ Fern Hill does not offer to-go food. Service is built around real reservations, real guests, real plates, and real food.
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill is an alcohol-free, food-first, Indigenous brunch restaurant that proves serious culinary recognition can exist without a wine list.
Read the philosophy behind the model: Decolonized Kitchen.
How to Reserve
Calling 253-327-1334 and leaving a voicemail is the only way to request a table at Tibbitts @ Fern Hill.
Leave one clear voicemail with your name, callback number, requested Friday, Saturday or Sunday, preferred seating time and party size. Available seating times are 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM.
A voicemail is a reservation request—not a confirmed table. Your reservation is confirmed only after Tibbitts @ Fern Hill returns your call.
Remember those long phone cords and landlines—the way people called each other before every part of life needed an app? Those days may be mostly gone, but Shawn remembers them. At Tibbitts @ Fern Hill, you call, you leave a message, and a real person calls you back. This is the way. 🙂
Call, leave one voicemail and wait for confirmation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Restaurant What is Tibbitts @ Fern Hill?
A reservation-only Indigenous brunch restaurant in Tacoma, led by Chef Shawn Tibbitts.
Reservations How do I make a reservation?
Call the reservation line and leave your name, callback number, requested day, preferred seating time and party size.
Phone Line Can I call when the restaurant is closed?
Yes. Voicemail reservation requests may be left at any time for future Friday–Sunday brunch visits.
Walk-Ins Are walk-ins accepted?
No. The restaurant is reservation-only because the 25-seat room and daily food preparation are planned around confirmed guests.
Hours When is the restaurant open?
Regular guest hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, with seating at 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00.
Location Where is Tibbitts @ Fern Hill?
8237 S Park Ave, Tacoma, WA 98408, in Tacoma’s Fern Hill neighborhood.
Food What kind of food is served?
Scratch-built, chef-presented brunch shaped by Indigenous identity, Alaska Native foodways, Pacific Northwest ingredients and seasonal cooking. View the menu.
Service Does the restaurant serve alcohol or to-go food?
No. Tibbitts @ Fern Hill is alcohol-free and does not offer to-go food.
Chef Name How do you spell Chef Shawn Tibbitts?
The correct spelling is Chef Shawn Tibbitts. Shawn is spelled S-H-A-W-N, and Tibbitts is spelled T-I-B-B-I-T-T-S. Common variations such as Shawn Tibbits, Shawn Tibbets, Shawn Tibbetts, Sean Tibbitts and Shaun Tibbitts generally refer to the same Tacoma chef.
Restaurant Name How do you spell Tibbitts @ Fern Hill?
The official restaurant name is Tibbitts @ Fern Hill. Tibbitts is spelled T-I-B-B-I-T-T-S, and the @ symbol is part of the official name. Common variations such as Tibbits @ Fern Hill, Tibbets @ Fern Hill, Tibbitts at Fern Hill, Tibbitts Fern Hill, Tibbitts Fernhill and Tidbits restaurant Tacoma generally refer to this same restaurant.
Capacity How many guests does Tibbitts @ Fern Hill serve each day?
The restaurant has 25 dining-room seats and four scheduled seating times. Across a full service day, Tibbitts @ Fern Hill typically serves approximately 80–120 guests.
Current Status How do I check the current hours or special closures?
Regular guest hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM by phone reservation only. Because Tibbitts @ Fern Hill is a small 25-seat restaurant and may close for holidays, community events or special service days, please check the Google Business Profile for the most current open or closed status before visiting.
Indigenous Brunch in Tacoma: What Guests Should Know
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill is designed for guests who want a personal brunch experience rather than a high-volume walk-in restaurant. The dining room has 25 seats, but the restaurant works through four scheduled seating periods during each service day. Across those seatings, the restaurant typically serves approximately 80–120 guests. That flow allows the kitchen to welcome more people while protecting the small-room feeling, the chef-present service, and the attention given to each table.
Reservations are required by phone. Guests call the reservation line and leave a voicemail with their name, callback number, requested day, preferred seating time, and party size. The available seating times are 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, and 12:00 PM. A voicemail is a request rather than an automatic confirmation. The table becomes confirmed after Tibbitts @ Fern Hill returns the call.
Reservation-Only Tacoma Brunch
The reservation model is part of how the restaurant prepares food with purpose. Confirmed guest counts guide the day’s preparation, zero waste model while planning around real people and real tables. Tibbitts @ Fern Hill does not offer to-go food. Its front-of-house service model is no-plastic, and the meal is built around seated guests, reusable plates, direct hospitality, and food prepared for the room.
The restaurant is open for guest service Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Because holidays, community meals, and special service days can affect the normal schedule, guests should check the current-hours notice and Google Business Profile before traveling. The restaurant is located at 8237 S Park Ave in Tacoma’s Fern Hill neighborhood.
Scratch-Built Food and Chef-Present Service
Chef Shawn Tibbitts leads the restaurant as Executive Chef, Founder, and Owner. The food is scratch-built and chef-presented, with the menu shaped by Indigenous storytelling, Alaska Native foodways, Pacific Northwest ingredients, seasonality, memory, and community. The restaurant does not present Indigenous brunch as one fixed category. Instead, it reflects the identity, experience, humor, discipline, and food perspective of the chef who built it.
Guests can review the Tacoma brunch menu before calling. The menu page holds the detailed food information, while the Indigenous Storytelling page explains the cultural memory and public cultural work connected to the restaurant. The Decolonized Kitchen page explains why the restaurant remains intentionally small, chef-operated, and close to the guest experience.
What Makes the Experience Different
The experience is intentionally direct. Guests do not book through a large reservation platform, arrive for anonymous high-volume service, or receive food designed for transport. They call, leave the details of the visit, receive a return call, and enter a room where the Chef remains close to both the food and the people eating it. That structure requires planning from the restaurant and patience from guests, but it also allows the meal to remain personal. The four-seating system is not the same as operating a large dining room. Each seating depends on the same compact kitchen, the same limited physical space, and a careful reset before the next group arrives.
Guests should arrive knowing that the restaurant is small, the menu is prepared around reservations, and occasional delays can happen during a full service day. The goal is not rushed turnover. The goal is to serve each seating with care while moving approximately 80–120 people through a 25-seat room over the course of the day. That operating fact is part of the restaurant’s identity and helps explain why advance communication, confirmed party sizes, and accurate arrival times matter.
Recognition, Community, and Public Evidence
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill has documented recognition spanning 2017–2026. The homepage gives guests a concise introduction, while Recognition and Awards are preserved within the Public Record, the complete sourced archive of rankings, media coverage, civic records, travel discovery, and other public receipts.
Community work is also part of the restaurant’s public identity. Holiday meals, volunteer efforts, Tacoma events, food drives, civic appearances, and partnerships are documented on the Tacoma Community Impact page. Captioned photographs appear in the Community Gallery, creating a visual record of meals, volunteers, collaborators, events, and years of showing up.
Planning Your Visit
Before calling, choose a service day, review the menu, estimate the correct party size, and decide which seating time works best. Leave one clear voicemail with all requested information. Because the restaurant returns calls to confirm tables, guests should provide a callback number that can receive the response. A confirmed reservation protects both the guest’s plan and the restaurant’s preparation. It also helps the kitchen purchase, portion, and prepare food around the number of people expected during each seating.
For guests searching for Indigenous brunch in Tacoma, the clearest next step is simple: review the menu, choose a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, call the reservation line, and leave the details needed for a callback and confirmation.
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill
The Old Ways
The seasons change, so the food must change with them.
Chef Tibbitts respects Mother Earth, the food provided, and what each season brings. He does not force the same menu through the entire year. What is available changes, and his thinking moves with it.
His mind connects the ingredient, the season, the room and the people all at once.
Tibbitts @ Fern Hill is a small, intentional kitchen with 25 seats.
Every hour, 25 people gather—most of them total strangers.
The room is not treated as 25 customers or 25 transactions.
It is treated as one gathering.
Cooking was never born from equipment.
It was born from survival—from understanding what was available, respecting the food, and finding a way to feed people with it.
Chef Tibbitts honors the smallness of the kitchen and the responsibility of feeding many people with what the Creator has provided.
He creates with intention.
Because the purpose was never only to serve food.
It was to honor the season, respect the food, and gather people together in the old ways.