South Bend Public House — Restaurant in South Bend

A CAN’T MISS spot in South Bend!! 🤩 At the last minute my husband, 4.5yo daughter and I decided to visit SB, IN for Memorial Day Weekend. We saw this place in the same lot as the Dino museum and decided to check it out.

SO GLAD WE DID!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 We had a late lunch so my husband and I split the Truffle Mushroom Swiss burger and it was PHENOMENAL!! Actually he was so sad we split he ordered a second one and ate half and took the other half to go! 😅 The house made ranch we got with the fries was perfection.

The 3 Floyd’s seasonal lager we got was GREAT. Light, crisp but plenty of flavor!

The atmosphere was amazing!! 😍😍 The reclaimed metal, picnic benches, and little ‘houses’ for outdoor dining with the twinkle lights and surrounded by greenery were too perfect. 😍

The service was SO friendly (ask for Mike! ☺️)

The burger took a little longer to come than we might have thought but it was not crazy long and it was SO WORTH IT! (Plus, I think we all could slow down a little these days, agree?? 😉)

100% 5 stars absolutely recommend!!! We will definitely be back!! ☺️

Also, you may be wondering if you watched my video, why does it look so empty if it’s so good? A few reasons:

1– they had live music from 3-5 and it was pretty packed but we didn’t arrive til after 6 and it was a Sunday so they closed at 8. So the crowds had kinda cleared from the event and it wasn’t too long before close.

2- they are NEW!! Just opened in September 2024 so clearly the word needs to get out about this place!!

3- it’s in the same lot as the Dino museum and chocolate museum/tours but there isn’t much else nearby (even though it’s extremely easy to get to and plenty of parking!) so I’m sure people just haven’t ‘found’ it yet!

Make sure to stop in before the word gets out and the wait...

Went for lunch on Saturday at 1. Place wasn't busy but was told there was a 20 min wait. Told the host to make it 30 so we could walk the trail. Didn't get a text but came back after 30 min. Host sat us and brought water after about 5 min. Watched a few workers bus tables and stand around just looking. It gave me the impression they had servers and bussers and our server must be busy, but I was incorrect. After 10 minutes one of the people bussing and standing around came up to take our drink order, but we took the opportunity to order our food. While waiting 35-40 min for our burgers to come out I watched the food line where orders were left undelivered for 10+ minutes. I'm pretty sure one of our burgers was one of them. Again, they were not busy.

Food was meh. It seemed the burger meat lacked seasoning. The dense style buns may have contributed to that. The fries and tots were cooked nice and crisp but were hard and just warm by the time we got them. The avocado in my daughter's salad wasn't ripe, so it was hard and like rubber. She said the salad had too cheese.

So it came time to go and had to ask for a check at the host stand. The server was apologetic but lied saying she was given a large table outside just before we arrived. I explained that group came after we placed our food order we had watched her bussing tables and wandering about gazing at things before she even approached us. I told her and the host that it was a disappointing experience. Actually, is seemed "experience" was something that crew lacked that day.

I'll go back to the museum with my son someday, but won't return to this restaurant (which I'm pretty sure is not affiliated with...

I recently went to South Bend Public House with my coworkers for lunch. Although the restaurant didn’t seem busy, we were told we couldn’t sit inside because a party of 90 people had rented the space. We had initially chosen to sit inside to avoid the outdoor elements, but we were seated outside instead. The setup was beautiful, but we were concerned about the pine needles falling and the bees that were buzzing around the area, which is exactly why we preferred to dine indoors.

To add to the disappointment, the presumed manager, Kristen, informed us that burgers—which make up about 30% of the menu—weren’t available that day due to the large party. Apparently all 90 people were getting a burger. Since they are known for their burgers, this was a real letdown. However, to our surprise, we saw other outdoor tables being served burgers during our meal, which left us confused and frustrated. We waited over an hour for our food while they prepared burgers for a party of 90 that had not even arrived.

On a positive note, our waitress Veronica was fantastic and very attentive, making the best out of an unfortunate situation. However, a couple of things further detracted from the experience: the menu listed the Philly as "New" for $18, but when we got the check, each of us was charged $20. Also, it felt odd that the manager, Kristen, had posted a 5-star review of the restaurant on Google herself.

Since this is a new restaurant, I’m hopeful they can address some of these issues moving forward. While the service was great, the overall experience definitely left us feeling disappointed, especially considering the...