The Village Grill
Friday we had lunch at The Village Grill, the new restaurant/sports bar occupying the former Grove space, downtown. Quick summary: I liked it well enough, my wife didn’t much care for it.
Service was good, and quick; our lunches were out to the table quicker than we’re used to. I had the Reuben with fries, my wife had the Philly cheesesteak, with salad substituted for fries. The salad was huge—you actually get their dinner salad (for only $1.50 extra for the substitution) and it’s loaded—greens and extras like cheese, hardboiled egg and bacon.
My Reuben was good—moist, flavorful, filling. The cheesesteak looked good as well (I didn’t try any). My wife was lukewarm on the food, though; she forgot to have them hold the peppers and mushrooms on the cheesesteak and said it was too dry.
The only problem I myself had was with the prices; I thought they were 2 or 3 dollars more than they should be: the Reuben was $9, when I would expect $6 or $7. Other menu items were priced similarly high—although the beer I had was a very reasonable $3.75 for the pint. (And the salad deal I mentioned above was a good one, relatively.)
More details can be found in the Bulletin’s Small bites from Friday. It’s open 7 days a week from 11am on.
The Village Grill
1033 NW Bond St.
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 318-8578
Yeah, it’s the exact menu as the Village Bar and Grill in Sunriver (owned by the same people). In Sunriver, they can get away with those prices, because there is really no place to eat out there. But in Bend, it’s too expensive.
Everytime I go over to Deschutes Brewery, I think about trying out the Village Grill. But then I go to Deschutes instead. One day I’ll make it happen and I’ll get the big salad.
-BOR
I went and tried it out last night and I thought it was great. I found it odd that anyone would think that their prices are out of line. I thought the majority of items were actually cheaper than BBC, Deschutes or McMenamins. I will be suggesting it to all my friends – non smoking, no lottery, clean and good food all the things that I am looking for. Oh and their beer is cheaper than the aboved named breweries as well.
Beer at Deschutes is actually cheaper per ounce; a 20-ounce pint at Deschutes is $4, which is 20 cents per ounce. At Village Grill, the $3.75 for a standard pint (which you actually only get about 13-14 ounces from) works out to about 28 cents per ounce.
And, I actually think Deschutes’ food prices are high, too, since they rolled out their new menu.
I found the prices to be very competitive for Bend and low for Sunriver. Plus a great place to watch football games and play free trivia. The atmosphere is pleasant and clean.