Good Life Brewing Company, Bend, OR

5/29/14

Nachos

I liked the setting of this bar with the big, open windows and fresh air, but the experience overall wasn't outstanding.  This was my least favorite spot/bar of all the places our friends in Bend took us too last weekend. There were tons of great spots where we enjoyed food and drinks, and then this one which was just "ok".

They didn't have enough chairs. This was totally shocking. What kind of business doesn't have chairs for all the customers? We weren't cramming people into our table, there were open spots, just no seats. Finally we spotted a couple leaving across the room, and the two people in our group left standing finally sat down with us.

"Baked" Brie

Salad with blue cheese crumbles

My big complaints were that the food seemed a little pricier than the other places for the quality. We ordered a TON of food! Nachos ($10) were hard to eat. Lack of cheese on most of the bottom chips, but the pepperoncinis were a nice touch. Had to ask for more bread for the cheesey bread plate. The beer bread ($6) was good though. Baked Brie  ($10) was NOT baked completely, nor even warmed all the way - definitely not okay to mess up this easy dish.

Bread basket

Too few stuffed jalapenos for the price. ($6 for 6 halves) And not at all spicy as stated. Salad was actually really good but mine was served with the wrong dressing ($4 salad + $1 blue cheese crumbles). Balsamic dressing finally arrived and was delicious. The cheese plate (Artesian Board $14) wasn't bad but we were surprised to see the blue cheese served crumbled in a cup, rather than slices/pieces like we generally see, but I did enjoy the large olives on the plate.

Hard cider

I will say that their cider ($6) was yummy!  Also tried the Mt. Rescue ($4.25) from a friend's pint, and the Decender ($4.25) and enjoyed both. Service was friendly - Dewi did a good job of coming back at the right times to check on us, bringing more bread when we asked for it, making sure our glasses (water included) were full, etc. And he was very friendly! Just because this was my least favorite of all our stops doesn't mean it was awful - a lot of the other pubs were just more awesome.