Lady Bird Cultural Society — Restaurant in Bend

I've been waiting for a night to get reservations to Bend's newest "it spot". The instagram worthy murals, crushed velvet seating, gold painted tropical birds hanging from the light fixtures - it's like a Miami hotel bar was dropped into a high-end strip mall - and I feel like that sums up the entire night.

For a Thursday evening, it was reservation only - the crowd was mixed between Bend's retired elite, the younger empty nesters at the bar, and a few tables of "girls nights". Once seated, our waitress was managing about half the main floor - while our service was one of the best parts of our experience, it was slow as it seems they had seated about 5 large parties at the exact same time. We ordered apps and drinks at the same time, our food came out about 10 mins before our drinks came from the bar - not ideal. We started with the "Birds Nest" a glorified garlic knot with a ball of burrata on top. The bread seemed to be a day old - was dry though when smothered with butter, garlic and burrata was undoubtedly still good. We had the roasted carrots next, which was one of my favorite dishes. Small, heirloom carrots roasted to sweet perfection. The whipped mascarpone almost was too rich to offset the sweetness and we ended up spreading it on the leftover bread instead of with the carrots. The Tuna crudo was the standout of the meal - perhaps because it wasn't laden with some sort of cheese like most the other dishes. The mild nuances of the citrus and salsa verde showed a more refined flavor that the other dishes were lacking. The Truffle stuffed camembert came out and was fine - again it's hard to disagree with a melted wheel of cheese stuffed with truffles and covered in honey - but for $26 I felt like this was a ridiculous price for the dish - I was expecting fresh shaved truffles on top at that price - I could taste the truffle but nothing was obvious of their existence when served. When moved on to the beet salad - nothing revolutionary - a mix of beets, radicchio arugula and herbs. It was good and a nice dish to break up the bread and cheese. For dessert we had seen the tiramisu come out in a martini glass and looked delicious! The mascarpone mix was incredible - perfectly creamy and just the right amount of sweet. However the ladyfingers were dry as if they had not been soaked at all and there was zero notes of espresso or coffee. I need to relook at the menu to see if this was some sort of adaptation. Nevertheless, we ate around the dry ladyfingers and enjoyed the mascarpone mixture. We also tried their off-menu mocha torte which was great and should make an appearance on their main dessert menu.

Overall - this place will do well because well, it's Bend. They still have some kinks to work out on the service, or at least reservations seatings. The food is still overpriced and the menu takes pretty uninventive approach to easy wins: cover it in cheese, fill it with truffle, fill up your belly with bread, etc. But at the end of the day, it's exactly what it's summed up to be - fine...

My wife has wanted to go here ever since it opened - she follows Lady Bird on all the socials and has been impressed with what she has seen. So last night (9/27/2023) we went there for her birthday dinner.

The ambiance is nice ... the decor is a bit different from what you might be used to in Bend. The background music is present but isn't so loud that you can't have an easy conversation at your table.

We were greeted at the door and seated by a very efficient and nice gentleman who appeared to be playing multiple roles at the restaurant. He was good. Our server, Alexis, was also good. Kind, efficient, attentive without being obtrusive, and knowledgeable about the menu. About the menus - at this price point a restaurant should have nicer menus. At Lady Bird the menus are flimsy cardboard with folds, stains, tears, etc. Please improve the quality of the menus.

We started with a glass of Rip Van Winkle bourbon - it is our favorite and very hard to find. At $70 it is pricey but this is a rare treat and it was my wife's birthday. Very tasty. The Rip was for my wife while I ordered the Negroni from the cocktail menu. I'd never had a Negroni and Lady Bird's version was good. Our server described the drink well before I ordered it.

We decided to skip appetizers and salads and started our dining with the sourdough bread and butter. I must say that I've never paid for bread at a restaurant. The sourdough bread/butter is listed at the bottom of the menu is small print but there is no price next to it. Well, it isn't complimentary and at $9 it is definitely not worth the price.

Our entrees were the chicken (wife) and ribeye (me). The ribeye is boneless and come to the table sliced. There is a dry age case right next to the kitchen and you can see the meat aging. My wife pronounced the chicken as very good and the rib eye was excellent. At $85 I had high expectations for the rib eye - it was very good but for $85 I'd like to see a bit more attention paid to the sides. The potato puree was delicious but only about two bites.

I'm not much of a dessert person and it seems that nobody serves the few deserts that I like (e.g., apple pie, peach cobbler, German chocolate cake, hot fudge sundae, root beer float) so I skipped dessert but my wife had the Lady Bird version of a sundae. Definitely not my thing but she really enjoyed it.

We enjoyed ourselves and would go back, especially in the summer for a concert. So why only four stars? When we got the check we noticed a surcharge. We hate surcharges and we had no idea that one was to be added to the bill. Perhaps it was noted on the menu somewhere (maybe next to the price of the bread?) but we...

Hate that I’m having to leave this review, but after a handful of visits to this restaurant, each time hoping for a better experience, nothing has changed. On Monday night my wife and I went in for dinner a little after 7:30. We asked for a table on the patio. The young host and busser were very kind and prompt, excellent service on their part.

We waited over 10 minutes for a server to check in. A woman brushed by our table at about the 10 minute mark saying “I’ll be right with you”. We’d been sitting so long the busser actually circled around and refilled our waters!! At this point we asked if he was our server and he apologetically exclaimed, “Your server hasn’t been over?” After a few more minutes and this not being the first time we’ve experienced poor service here, we’d had enough. I decided to go in and speak with a manger to give feedback about our experiences.

When I walked into the restaurant I saw one person sitting at the bar and less than 5 occupied tables inside. There were two occupied tables outside (in addition to ours). The chef/manager came over and listened to my concerns. He was sheepishly apologetic but it didn’t seem very genuine. He asked us if we’d had a reservation to which I wish I had replied, “Would it have mattered??”

We enjoy the food and the atmosphere here but the service is terribly poor. I said this to the manager and I will say it again here - I spent 15 years in restaurants and hospitality. I have a critical eye when it comes to dining out but I can also be very forgiving. I understand what servers go through and I can tell when someone is in the weeds. How they communicate with a table and check in means everything. Showing a sense of urgency and being honest/apologetic when you mess up (as a server) can right a lot of wrongs.

Of the handful of times we’ve dined here in the last year we had one excellent server and I wish I remembered her name. I’d also like to shout out the host on Monday night (7/8) as she was more apologetic than her manger when we asked her to speak with a manger and explained why. She knew exactly what to say and how to make us feel cared for in that moment. Give that girl a promotion!

The only reason we will be back is because we have a gift card and we do enjoy the food. Please, train your servers on table timing and hospitality. If they are in the weeds they should be able to ask a floor manger for help greeting tables and taking...