Washoe Public House — Restaurant in Reno

UPDATE: the story below was the first time we went here. We went back about a month and a half later to try it again. A new owner has taken over this restaurant. When I went, he was present. The food was good, and only took about 30-40 minutes from order to the table. We both ordered dessert, but only the gluten free cake was edible. I ordered creme Brulee, but it was undercooked, unfortunately. The food was good, though small portions for the sides that came with the bison. I will attach photos. The restaurant is pricy, but does deliver good food. I may try it again in the future, though I haven't decided. If a dinner for two costs over 100 without drinks or a tip, it should be perfect.

Let me tell you the story of our attempt to eat at this restaurant.

I chose yesterday at 430pm to take my wife out for a nice date after hearing about your restaurant from a friend of mine. We dressed to the hilt, her in a dess and me in a 3 piece suit.

The hostess greeted us, seating us promptly. We were the fourth table seated inside, two tables occupied outside. The hostess brought us waters within 90 seconds of seating us, and told us the server would be with us soon.

We waited a solid 15 minutes before the server, a young lady named Nicole, arrived at our table. We promptly ordered our drinks and first appetizer, a long Island, a margarita, and the fried prawns, and began to ask about the other appetizers on the happy hour menu before moving to questions about entrees. She began to be very abrupt with us, telling us that she would return after we had more time to look at the menu.

My wife and I spent the next 5-7 minutes talking about options, and making our tentative choices, as we still didn't know what the specials were, nor about what a double elk chop was (despite it sounding delightful in my imagination).

We continued to wait for another 15 minutes, ignored by the server, Nicole, despite having made solid eye contact with her 5-6 times. During thud tome, another table of 4 was sat behind us, and recieved its drinks.

However, our drinks never arrived. The prawns were never delivered. So, I decided to walk up to the bar to see if the drinks were just waiting to be delivered. The bartender was wiping down the already clean and vacant bar, and no drinks could be seen anywhere.

So, I went back to the table, and informed my wife about the situation. We had been seeted in your restaurant for close to 45 minutes by this point and decided that if that was the type of service we would be getting, perhaps we should eat elsewhere. So we left.

The part that amazes me is that, as we left, the hostess was so focused on her phone that she didn't even look up; furthermore, the bartender and Nicole were standing at the bar having a conversation and laughing with each other. Nicole even looked right at us as I opened the door for my wife, and she said nothing.

All that is to say, this was the worst service I have received at this class of...

So we showed up after some glowing personal recommendations from friends, and even still, we were blown out of the water.

Edgar, our server, was absolutely exceptional and seamless in his environment. Did not disappoint for even a second.

Brent, the new owner, was kind enough to sit with us and provided us with some down to earth conversation and recommendations, including a few tequilas I've never heard of. Currently, he's batting 1.000 for food suggestions, and he was a pleasure to have around, as he gave us a lot of history and insight into the location for the establishment.

We didn't have anything short of amazing on the food front, including the venison carpaccio, the rock candy poutine, the wild boar schnitzel, and some salad which I forgot the name of because I was too busy scarfing the rest of the options. The poutine was so good that I am still convinced that possession of it is a felony in most states.

Sanchez, a fantastic chef and the resident tequila expert, took me on a journey from which I will not soon recover, and not because of any hangover. This gentlemen has likely forgotten more about tequila and mezcal than I will ever learn throughout my life, and I will be forever grateful for his insights. I would consider him to be the absolute arbiter for all things agave related and will plan to consult him on any major tequila investments from this day forward.

Please do yourself a favor and check this place out, and take the staff recommendations as gospel. You'll be doing yourself an enormous favor and supporting some very lovely and passionate folks in...

I have been wanting to check this place out months before covid hit and finally went with the family. Unfortunately, we were not impressed. The entry is not well marked, but the door that seems like it should be the entry does have a sign that you can see once you get up to it that says "main entrance --" so go to the side that seems like its... well the side. The food... We got 3 of the Washoe Burgers and each one was different. One was too salty on half the patty and the other 2 hardly had any seasoning to the meat at all and tasted bland. The tomatoes were not very fresh and had that mealy texture, we took them off. The fries on two of our orders had no salt at all and the 3rd order had way, way too much salt... all of the fries were over cooked or had been sitting out for some time. Some very limp and some very dry. Not what I would expect for a $16 burger... In the service area things were not much better. The waitress that took our order was nice enough up front but had to be asked multiple times for this such as straws, condiments and to refill water. The server that brought our food and helped clear plates was also in an up tight mood and it showed. She was very short and seemed put off when we asked for boxes and a container to take ranch home in. Eventually we had to ask again for boxes. This is a loud venue when it's populated so if you don't like to speak loud or have quiet people this is not the venue for you at peak times. The chairs and tables are tall pub seating, not our favorite. Overall would not recommend, many ither good options. I won't...