The Village Anchor — Restaurant in Anchorage

This is the original review of The Village Anchor 11507 Park Drive Anchorage, KY 06/08/2024

This was our first visit to Village Anchor. It really wasn’t very far from our house. The setting was the most precious looking 2 story old country house that had been converted into a restaurant in the heart of Anchorage. They had indoor seating, a very spacious covered patio area and outdoor seating where you could sit to eat if you had brought your dog(s) to eat with you. The restaurant is a welcoming place. We called and made reservations and went to dinner at 7:30. We were met and welcomed by Reggie. The inside of the restaurant was split into two sides. On the left was an old, elegant Mahogany bar. It was set up with bar chairs and 2 great big chandeliers. On the right half was the restaurant seating. Beautiful old chairs with velvet cushions, wooden tables and some velvet covered benches. There was enough tables and chairs for maybe 25+ people.Reggie took us to our table and gave us a menu. Our sever today was Jacob. He came by the table and introduced himself and asked what we would like to drink besides water? We choose Unsweet Iced Tea for 2! We looked over the menu which listed about 5 different types of salads, 2 soups and 12 different appetizers. Jacob was so patient answering all my questions from questions about the dishes to the interesting way he was dressed. He had his tie tucked into his shirt about 3 buttons down. He looked so regal, he explained that it was to keep his tie out of his customers’ food. We chose to just go with an entree. I decided to get The Hotter Brown. It was basically a Hot Brown but with white pulled roasted chicken instead of the traditional turkey. Instead of white toast Village Anchor uses house made dressing from French bread. My husband chose to have the Kevin’s Meatloaf Burger. It was like a half-pound hamburger but made with meatloaf instead. While we waited on our meals, we took pictures inside and outside. Our food came and Village Anchor also has large portions. My husband’s Meatloaf Burger was so big he could hardly get his hands around the burger to pick it up. He cut it in half and picked it up and the whole burger started to slide off the back of the bun. He decided that this was a “eat with a knife and fork” burger. My Hotter Brown was so good. I loved the pulled chicken for a change. I ate as much as I could, which was about 1/3 of the dish. Jacob boxed up my leftovers. Jacob was very nice and friendly, and was very pleased to have been our server. He was a great server, The food was delicious and the atmosphere of the restaurant was tremendous! The paneling, the elegance of the bar and the pictures on the ceiling were copies of classic paintings. Reggie came by to check on us, he was such an interesting man. He told us about their Sea Hag Bar below the level of the restaurant where we were sitting. I think it’s a bit more of a relaxed setting. No reservations are needed. We’ll go soon to the Sea Hag and let you know what it’s like. Both restaurants are on Facebook and you can see their specials there. After we left the restaurant we drove around to the other side of the Village Anchor and saw the Sea Hag and the most interesting Anchor out front. This restaurant was...

My wife and I visited on June 29th, 2022.

Things I liked:

-The décor inside the restaurant: the picture frames were very cool to see on the ceiling, the tables and chairs were very nice and comfortable.

-We were seated quickly upon arrival

Jenna (the server) was very nice, attentive, and knowledgeable

-The food was reasonably priced, the menu very short

They present your bill inside of a book

Things I didn't like:

-Inside the tables are packed very close together in front of where the bar sits, this makes talking to the person in front of you very difficult and unpleasant as I couldn't hear my wife most of the time. It also made me quite uncomfortable to be a foot and a half away from the table next to us, we were so close I could clearly hear other people's conversations when the rest of the room wasn't so loud.

When we first sat down the server was not quick to come to the table, maybe around 10 minutes. We arrived at 7:15 and understand its busy even on a Wednesday during summer but we honestly thought at first that no one was going to come to the table at all.

-All of the hostess staff (4) and some of the wait staff were sitting at the bar when my wife and I left, there were no customers seated there. MY wife and I wanted to take a picture in front of it without any obstruction and were unable to do so. ---Dining experience: We ordered the hotter brown, fish and chips, meatloaf burger, sweet tea, pink lady cocktail, the crème Brule, and the nutty Irishmen desert coffee. I have to say the sweet tea didn't taste sweet which was a big let down. My wife enjoyed the hotter brown but I thought the chicken didn't taste right, I'm unsure of what exactly but it tasted low quality. The fish and chips tasted very good although the coleslaw tasted of very heavy use of vinegar and left a sour aftertaste. The meatloaf burger was good but nothing about it impressed me. The sweet potato fries were good and my wife enjoyed the marshmallow dip so much that she took some home with us.

The pink lady cocktail was very good, my wife really enjoys sweet drinks (although she doesn't drink often) and it really hit the spot for her. The crème Brule was good (I've never had many so I can't compare it to anything else). The nutty Irishmen was also good.

----Final thoughts: My wife and I had been looking forward to coming to the Village anchor for several months but we felt that between the cramped tables, loud atmosphere, a little above average food, and staff that didn't stay busy was enough for us to give Le Moo and Grassa Gramma higher marks than the village anchor with Grassa Gramma being much higher than the other two. I have a good feeling we won't be coming back for a...

Up until recently, I have enjoyed and personally raved about all three of Kevin Grangier's local restaurants (Le Moo, Grassa Gramma & Village Anchor). It wasn't until the last few months when I started to experience a constant decay at Village Anchor. And what was shocking to me was that this decay was not only with regards to the quality of the food served, but also the service provided.

Along with its sister restuarnats, Village Anchor has always had a high standard for offering locals a quality and delicious meal in an intimate setting. While I am happy the atmosphere itself still holds true, the quality of food served is no where near the caliber that was being served to its patrons years ago. On each of my three recent vists, not just one but several components in the dishes ordered were off. Example - the salmon and mushroom rissotto - what was once a dish that I would never attempt to make at home but thoroughly enjoyed has turned into a dish I avoid at all costs. The salmon fillet is now unseasoned and seared in a pound of butter, while the mushroom rissotto is mushroom-less and tastes of pure cream. If I wanted to taste nothing but butter/fat, I would have gone to a drive-thru. Another example would be the Power Salad Bowl - it has now become wiser to order it without the homemade dressings than with for the flavors implied in the titles of each are no longer an accurate representation of what they taste like.

While not great, the service at Village Anchor stands well below the caliber of its two sister restuarants. Even with its casual setting, the service at Village Anchor historically was always top notch, the service were professional and kind, and customers were never felt as though they were an inconvience to the staff - and this is no longer the case now. The efforts put forth by servers has dramitically shifted. Servers are extremely casual to the point where typically on a slow day they are the ones dining at the table next to yours. In the current state you are simply happy just to recieve the food you ordered. While on take-out orders, it is quicker to leave your car parked and run upstairs to grab your food than wait for 20+ minutes after the designatied arrival time - getting in contact with the front desk due to them only having one phone line in a complete headache.

It is hard to say if these are impacts from the pandemic, but it is definitely unfortunate for this to have happened...