Jaybird Tavern — Restaurant in Roanoke

A great new and locally-owned staple, with food and drink options for anything from casual cocktail dates to family hangouts with kids! We came here for a late Sunday lunch and tried two build-your-own pizzas and the clam strips.

Service 5/5: The friendly staff are helpful, especially Kendra who was awesome and gave great recommendations! There was a good balance of checking in if we needed anything without hovering, and while it was pretty busy, no one was rushed and everyone was in good spirits.

Food 5/5: The clam strips were very fresh, perfectly seasoned, exactly what we wanted! And the pizza was crisp, thin, and so, so tasty. Each ingredient is clearly considered to the extra step, like how the mushrooms are sauteed in advance for taste and texture. We saw meatballs for another table that looked lovely, too. Portions are substantial and shareable!

Ambiance 4/5: It's a beautiful and well-laid-out space with a great vibe; the music is pretty loud below the speakers, and the space overall amplifies noise. The booths and tables are arranged very smartly for a good look and ease of moving through the space. So if you're comfortable with somewhat high noise levels, it's a very nice arts-influenced approach to an open/modern/industrial (lofted exposed ceiling etc.) aesthetic.

Dietary Considerations 4/5 (for the area): Vegetarian (pizza/side) options are quite good, vegan cheese and/or gluten-free crust alternatives for an upcharge. Lack of clarity on menu for any specific dietary restrictions or measures that can be taken to ensure safety with allergens.

Other considerations: We were a bit confused by the bill as the build-your-own pizza menu says it includes a cheese blend in the base price and we had specified "just the normal base blend of cheese," but both of our pizzas came with a +2 cheese charge. Not a complaint, just a note to keep in mind when you order if the menus aren't changed to clarify by then. :) If driving, be prepared to spend several minutes blocking around to find parking or to pay 7$/hour for the private lot across the street.

Conclusion: 5/5, it's great to have a place that both vegetarians and meat-eaters in our family are happy to eat! We enjoyed everything and had leftovers, and we look forward to coming back! Highly recommend ordering the clam strips and particularly the peruvian drop pepper, mushroom, red onion, and sausage...

Very happy to have this spot in town. Reviewing this early in their days so take that with a grain of salt.

Vibe isn’t immaculate but it’s pretty good. The entry is awkward with the host station, but the rest is chill, with an excellent aesthetic. It is loud - even for a bar. They need some dampening stuff in there to help when it is full (and it was very full when we were there).

Staff was really great, very helpful, the host was excellent. She moved things along very well and we saw a dude make a terrible joke to her and she was super chill. Very demure of her.

Prices were fine, not too spendy and a good situ for Roanoke.

Now the food… the fried Brussels were excellent. Truly. Hot honey is a perfect addition to them. The Cobb salad… eh. Wouldn’t order again. We didn’t see garbanzo beans on it so that’s our bad but seriously, garbanzos on a Cobb? And the tomatoes were almost sun dried, they were a little odd. Rest of it was as expected.

Now the pizza… we are desperate for good consistent pizza in Roanoke. It’s why we went. Oh man, not good. The sauce was ok (for some unknown reason they call it “cali red sauce” and uh, no one calls it Cali, guys). We had the Kevin McCallister - an excellent name. But man, that crust is no bueno. It’s chewy and not in a good way. The crust along the edges was slightly burned and that was crisp and good. However the rest of it was chewy and weird. The pizza also didn’t have a ton of flavor. We didn’t even finish half of the pizza and didn’t take it home. Trader Joe’s has better frozen cheese pizza. So this was a bummer.

The drinks were … I couldn’t finish mine and I even upgraded from Deep Eddy (I lived in Texas, that’s not good vodka). Both drinks were CRAZY sweet - like college drinks when you’re stuffing it full of sugar to add flavor. They weren’t sophisticated drinks. We had the blood orange marg and the iced vodka coffee drink (can’t remember the name).

We did love the vibe - super chill with gorgeous lighting. And it’s worth going there for the Brussels alone. Overall 7 out of 10, mainly on staff, aesthetic...

When visiting Roanoke for the first time I used my Yelp app quite a bit. One of the greatest finds in the city was JayBird Tavern hands down.

Parking is off street, or pay lot. I utilized the lot and it was easy to pay on the app.

Once inside a hostess said they could seat in their last booth or the bar was available for two. I decided to do the bar and let a larger party possibly use the booth.

The bartender got my son and I waters. She was kinda lukewarm to start, however she was getting slammed and no bar back. She came on strong later. I noticed they had a small, but strong bourbon selection. We enjoyed the TV’s with sports on.

We knew early on a pizza which they are known for their thin crispy pies. We put in an order of BBQ wings to come out first. For our main the Yippe Ki Yay which is like a meat lovers type with a variety of meats.

The wings hit in less than 10 and wow!!! Very meaty, juicy and scrumptious! The sauce was not hot and hit just perfect. The pizza hit around 10 minutes later. The pie is thin, but loaded with toppings. It's cut in squares which I liked. My son and I were speechless, it was that good! The waitress did a few checks and we did decide to split a baklava cheesecake desert which proved to be tasty.

Overall it adds up to a strong 5 on food, service, ambiance and value. Obviously others agree as they currently have a 5 star...