Coyote's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Hillsboro

Third time was not a charm.

Yesterday was my third visit to Coyote's and wow...but not in a good way.

My first visit, a Sunday afternoon, was great: attentive service and great food. The brisket nachos and brisket dip I shared with my dining companion were tasty, hot and the portion sizes were impressive.

My second visit was a busy weekend evening. The band was setting up...this involved them wheeling their equipment by my table, requiring my dining companion to move a number of times...an annoyance but not a huge deal. It is cool that they offer live music on the weekends. We waited quite awhile for service and our order. The appetizer (cheese curds) arrived before our entrees did and was decent and hot. Our entrees, the bourbon bacon burger and the pulled brisket sandwich were hot and tasty. Portions were plentiful.

Yesterday afternoon was my 3rd visit...sadly, the experience was super disappointing. It was a bit busy, but no more so than the prior visits. We noticed a number of booths available but they were dirty and needing to be bussed.

We (myself and one) made our way to the patio (it's a seat yourself set up) only to be told by the wait person that she couldn't serve us if we sat there. We returned to one of the dirty booths and wiped it down ourselves.

The wait person came over and collected the trash and the check from the prior patrons and said she'd return with menus. Eventually we received menus and she took our drink order. We were slow to receive our drinks and only received a portion of our beverage order - no wine. We ordered our entrees and an appetizer - brisket nachos, loaded baked potato with chili and an order of cheese curds.

No wine...yet. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Finally, wine. Hallelujah.

After what seemed like eternity...at least 30 minutes, maybe more...my dining companion received his nachos. We had yet receive our appetizer, which we cancelled. No entree for me...it had been given to another patron in error and another was being reprepared for me. Okie dokie. I have my warm wine, I'll live.

The nachos, which had been so good on our first visit, were beyond disappointing yesterday. The cheese congealed and there was very little brisket, which was cold. Clearly these nachos had been sitting and dying a slow, miserable death before being presented to my friend.

The server eventually arrived with my $10 dollar "Jumbo Potato with all the fixins" which appeared to be a day-old potato that had been reheated in the microwave and slathered in dog food. No cheese, no sour cream, no fixins and definitely not appetizing. Check please.

After waiting so long only to receive an incomplete and inedible order, we were done. I asked for the beverage check.

The wait staff was kind enough to offer me a "to go" box for the potato, which I declined. She also comped my wine, which I do appreciate.

I'm not sure what the issue was yesterday and despite the complimentary glass of warm house chardonnay, I...

SATURDAY NIGHT: So I’ve been twice within a week recently… so I’ll combine my experiences into one.

First time ever was two Saturdays ago, I always pass by going to Insomnia coffee and my optometrist for years, but don’t know why I’ve never been. That changed when I was craving prime rib, and said I wanted to try Coyotes. They only serve prime rib on Friday & Sat.

The Saturday we went, it was BUSY, the NBA playoffs were going and there was a live band in between sets. You seat yourself, and from what I could tell, there were only two servers that night, and we didn’t help by sitting outdoors (but it was a nice day and every other outdoor spot was taken).

Our server apologized for the wait after about 10-15 minutes of waiting for even the menus, then he left and came back after another 10mins to take our order and brought the beers out pretty quickly after that.

We got the prime rib ($27 and includes a potato and salad) and a sampler plate (pictured, $19). I got it medium, but would have gotten medium rare as I was afraid it would still be too chewy, it wasn’t, I could probably even have gone rare. Salad came out first after 15-20ish minutes, then the prime rib, and last the sampler shortly after all that. Sampler was great, delicious onion rings and potato skins. Prime rib came out a little tough, which is why I wish I got it earlier… I think for the price, it wasn’t as flavorful as I’d hope, so I would debate about getting it again…. I also understand to not have expectations high, but it did meet the minimum…

TUESDAY: …Enough so that I came back a few day later because they sell 24 wings for $25. Imo, a deal. I tried to call in to pick up and go, but on their phone menu, it didn’t sound like there were any options to do that. So I just went in to order at the bar, get a beer, and watch the game. Bartender was extremely kind and helpful and kept conversation going. The wings came out about 20 minutes after and I added fries for $3. Total was $34 with the beer.

Brought it home in excitement to eat, but unfortunately the wings weren’t flavorful, even sauced up. Garlic parm is parm broiled melted on, and the buffalo wings are just that. The meat was a bit on the tougher side but edible, but don’t expect it to be juicy. My comparison bar is wingstop where the skin and wings are fried and crispy… whereas these wings were soggier on the skin. It came with blue cheese, ranch, and carrot/celery.

Overall… a great local spot, would definitely come back and try other items on the menu.

Also with the free parking lot, there’s also...

When I first visited, I ordered the beef stroganoff and mac and cheese (add brisket) without any expectations, thinking that since it was a pub, they wouldn't put that much effort into the quality of the food, but they were very delicious. The brisket was tender and tasted as good as Matt's BBQ. So this time we had New York Strip to try another dish. We had the New York Strip and the Dinner Salad. We were seated on the patio, but there weren't too many cars passing by at that time6 , so the noise wasn't that bad. I will try different dishes again.　(9/12/2022)

I have one complaint. We came on Saturday because it said that Prime Rib was served on Fridays and Saturdays. However, the server said, "Prime Rib will be served at 4:30 PM." We were looking forward to it. If there is a start time for serving, it should be stated.😢 We had the Brisket Platter and Cobb Salad instead. It was hidden under the sweet potato fries, but the Brisket was so big and I was surprised. The Brisket itself was a bit dry on its own, but the original sauce made it very juicy and delicious. The salad was also surprisingly generous portion and I couldn't finish it.🤤　(9/24/2022)

We enjoyed the Brisket Stew, Mac & Cheese Dinner, and Potato Skins with beers🍺 (Boneyard RPM IPA, Range West IPA, HH Topcutter IPA) and a cocktail 🍸(Sweet Melon Coyote's Tea). For dessert, we had the Lemon Lush with coffee.　(7/25/2024)

12/13/2024 (Fri) We had the Brisket Stew ($12), Coyotes Fajitas with Salsa, Beans, and Rice ($14), Top Sirloin with Caesar Salad ($24), Rip City IPA ($7.75), and a Hazelnut Martini ($9.50). The fajitas came with tortillas, beans, and rice, making it a hearty and filling meal on its own. Everything was delicious, and we were completely satisfied with...