Rhythm & Rye

Great all around atmosphere great vibes and very friendly staff love this place live music is always epic

Nice bar, incredible stock, knowledgeable and capable bartenders. Always as at least one cider on tap. Bands are talented and interesting — and occasionally has jazz.

Thank goodness there is a live music venue that sometimes welcomes bluegrass to olympia! The Rooster band that opened for arts walk night doesn’t practice together much apparently. But, Cascade Crescendo from Portland was excellent. Can’t wait for the Oly Mountain Boys to start! Decent beer selection. Nice Two Towns cider options. Service is seriously rude though. I was given a chipped glass on which I cut my lip. I get that happens; I’ve worked service, but these folks treated me horribly for asking for a new glass. And then, (warning to others) they didn’t let me put it in the garbage by the bar, instead putting the lip-​cutter on the bar to put back in circulation. And I got rude nasty glances from then on. Truly nasty folks. Too bad. My first visit, and I’ve been so excited to check this place out.

I came in to see Grace Love and The True Loves (if you’ve not seen them you are seriously missing out) and had a blast here. There’s nothing fancy or pretentious about this place. There is some interesting artwork displayed throughout the establishment, including art from locals which is for sale. I love the variety of light fixtures in this place. So eclectic. They’ve got ping pong and pool in the back and some basic, but comfortable, seating up front. My friend was drinking tequila and she was impressed by the heavy pour. Local beers on tap and a variety of specialty cocktails to choose from. Bring your own food! The table next to us had a ginormous pizza that looked amazing. The vibe in the place is great… Everyone is happy and friendly and the majority of folks, young and old, were on their feet dancing. Such a fun place to hang out with friends!

This spot has the best live music in town bar none. There is nothing even close. You largely have to order drinks yourself, and cover charges are unfortunately inescapable. That being said, this is my favorite spot downtown aside from Oly Underground. Good drink selection and reasonable prices. Andy the owner is a fantastic dude and I wish him the best. Just don’t go expecting to get food without ordering in.

Cocktail Review:
Never been here for live music but every time I’ve had a different bartender that knows their sh** when it comes to cocktails. I go to lots of bars (don’t judge) and this is uncommon. Well done!

Open, relaxed atmosphere. Looks like it used to be a warehouse. Poured concrete floor, garage style door in the back. Soundstage at one end, seating arrangements all facing in that direction.
Pool tables off to one side. Bar is near the stage.
The only downside is this arrangement means everyone entering the bar has to walk between the stage and the people watching the show, obstructing their view. There’s no way to make a discrete entry.
Staff are mostly older hippies. The entertainment appeals to NPR fans.

Down-​to-​earth, unpretentious staff… which is becoming increasingly rare in Olympia! Great selection of rotating taps, solid mixed drinks and relaxed atmosphere. Lots of live shows and a pool table in the back. Andy is an attentive bartender and stand-​up guy. Skip all the hipster posturing and clickiness, come to R&R for an enjoyable experience with real people.

Finally a damn place to go see live and local music groups in Oly. Here are the true hard facts about this place:
1. It’s a dump/​dive. Seating is terrible. The front check in door is a joke. I personally watched 6 people walk in without paying. Cover charge was cash only.
2. Sound system is great. Bangs hard.
3. Owner is a douche and has zero customer service skills. He must be running this place by the seat of his pants.
4. Beer is good and the food, when available is tasty as f*ck. Jumbalia was very good with some nice spice. Collard greens and peas was straight up dope. Biggest problem, no tables to eat at!
5. Bar was a joke. Lines of people and they had 2 workers.
Overall, this place is new but come on folks, you really really need someone that has run a music venue/​bar before to fix your issues. 1 table in the middle, really? Reserved seating that nobody posted was reserved. Countless people with angry faces from the lack of structure here. I hope they fix their shit, or this thing will close down like so many others.
From the outside, it actually looks like a closed down Business or condemned wherehouse.
Seriously. Go to my town, Seattle for some quality jamming and organized structure.
Will we come back? Maybe… only if a dope band is playing. Eat before you come and grab a drink or two asap… Lines will piss you off and lack of seating.
Your welcome peeps

Came here twice for Jazz concerts. This is a great musical venue which I am very grateful for providing such environment to the community. This could be a cool place to chill and relax.
They DO NOT have food menu so make sure you belly up before coming here. They only have DRINKS. I wish there were more beer selections and extra bartender though.
But once again, this place is a great music venue with drinks.

This place has been open long enough that one would think they would have refined their format by now. NOT. The format, to which I refer, is live music. I attended the ‘Burt Lives’ show. Management had no concept of how many folks this would attract or how to accommodate them! There was inadequate seating so that folks had to stand in front of people seated in order to see the show (after paying admission at the door, sure ‘contribution’). One bar tender and no table service, resulting in the usual congregation at service area, making it even more difficult to get a drink. If you are putting on this kind of entertainment, the idea is to make customers comfortable and sell them as many drinks as they want. There is plenty of space inside but it is poorly utilized. To start with, there is an elevated stage for the band. However, the band set up in front of the stage, wasting about 20% of the available floor space (not to mention making it harder to see! like what is the idea of a stage to begin with?). That point aside, there was plenty of floor space but it was poorly utilized for providing seating. Since the décor appears to be restaurant/​bar salvage, one would think that they could come up with a few more $ to acquire chairs and tables (of various heights) to comfortably accommodate a much larger audience, make them comfortable and make them want to stay. R&R is trying to present a valuable music venue but they are totally missing how to pull off their idea.

Rhythm and Rye is a class place. Not pretentious, not hipster… just good music, good people, and great local music. Great atmosphere. Me and the wife love a variety of music from classical to metal. Jazz night is great here… its always a must drop in for us.

among the best places downtown. service is great and atmosphere is most desirable among the dingy filth that you can find down here

A great place with a great selection of whiskeys and beers. Trends toward Washington locals. Can typically count on some form of music happening here any given night. I always recommend to folks from out of town on business to check this spot out.

Olympia has been missing a live music venue since the The Spahr was sold to a chain almost a decade ago.
It’s a dive, but they got a dozen tap beers and a full bar with lots of whiskey.
I was impressed that a band was playing in a Sunday night. Usually, nothing is happening on a Sunday night in this Capital City — until now. It just so happens that the Olympian newspaper featured the bar today, but I missed reading the article until the fabulously friendly bar tender Erin shared her photo in the paper.
Try it you will like it.

On a given night, Rhythm and Rye is probably your best bet for quality live music in Olympia. They get a variety of rock, jam, roots, Americana, jazz, bluegrass, and a lot more. This is what happens when someone who has previously won awards for live music booking gets his own bar. Yes I know it sounds like they are paying me to write this, but the music there really is good!
They have a selection of approximately a dozen beers on tap, with some nice choices like Georgetown’s Lucille and Green Flash’s West Coast IPA. There is also a good selection of liquor (Rye is a specialty, obviously), and I recall they have some wine choices too.
The venue itself is in a pretty cool space with good potential. It is going to be further improved at some point in the future. I understand that plans include a wooden dance floor and improvements to the stage. These will help the overall vibe, I’m sure. It there is one aspect with room for improvement, it would be giving the venue a more intimate, comfortable atmosphere, but I know it’s early on and there are plans in the works.
One other thing I noticed, the sound is very good, even when standing way off to one side of the stage.