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- Price Range:
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$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
17 reviews for Merenda Restaurant
This reatuarant is now closed...they shut their doors the first week of the year. It's pretty sad, Bend had some amazing restaurants and yet they all seem to be closing. Deep, their other restuarant is also done.
Best of luck Jody.
RESTAURANT CLOSED. Ch. 7 bankrupcy. Owner leaves country to Austrailia owing 2.4 million in unsecured creditor claims.
No major loss except for the vendors who got stiffed. The portions were small and over-priced. The service was weak. The food was way too salty and the acoustics in the building are terrible.
Be wise next tenant. Salute.
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We enjoyed Merenda for a couple of glasses of wine in April and on this visit to Bend, decided to try it for dinner. We were impressed with their selection of wines by the glass. In April they recommended a really tasty Stoller Pinot Noir, unfortunately it was gone but we found some nice alternatives.
Merenda has a very good selection of menu items. I ordered the special dish of the day, a roasted duck on a bed of greens with fennel root and fresh cherries. It was delicious. We also tried the risotto, it was ok but was nothing too special.
Ambiance is comfortable, decor nice. Our server was excellent, very helpful and informative. However the host needs some more training. He got his feathers ruffled when we asked to be seated away from a table with a large group of 14. He also delivered the wrong drink order.
That said, we'll certainly try Merenda again next time in Bend.
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Great ambiance, fabulous wines by the glass, awesome happy hour, good food for lunch, dinner and dessert - my favorite: powdered Sugar Beignets with whipped cream, chocolate and macerated strawberries.
If there is a wild mushroom pizza is on the menu, it most likely will be drizzled with fresh herbs and truffle oil. Also had a fingerling potato and onion pizza before (so good), homemade rosemary potato chips, the freshest salads and seasonal sandwiches...if they have one with eggplant on it I HIGHLY recommend it. Heirloom tomatoes are offered when in season too. If you like burgers they offer one at lunch but not at dinner.
Have an eclectic palate? Then you must try this restaurant. After reading the menu I couldn't tell if this was a Moroccan, Italian, French, Spanish or American. So it's a little bit of everything. They make their pasta fresh everyday and the produce is as fresh as can be. The menu contains vegetarian items from risotto to a Moroccan tagine dish which escapes me at the moment. If you are a carnivore, there are tons of things you can chose from. You can even make a meal off the appetizer menu!
The dishes are definitely creative. The chef utilizes combos like monkfish with lemon preserves, or Elk sausage with dried cherries. Definitely not a run-of-the-mill restaurant.
By the looks of the menu, I have to guess that it changes seasonally.
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With all the good press I expected something good.
Merenda has the honor of a first in all of my dining experiences. This was the first time that I, and everybody at the table, was visibly disgusted by a dish that was served.
My poor friend ordered the Risotto, which we all unanimously agreed had the look of semen and Elmer's glue over rice. When he tried it, found the taste matched the look, he sent it back.
All the other food was simply mediocre. Mediocre at $7 is fine, but starting at $18+ it's ridiculous.
The only redeeming factor was the waitress was pleasant and the atmosphere was decent.
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"I had hiiiiigh hopes, I had hiiiiigh hopes, I had high apple pie in the skyyyyy hopes."
Oh well, they can't all be winners. This place gets a lot of good press and I imagine under certain circumstances it might even be great. But, not today.
This was actually a reconnaissance mission because we are having a family reunion in May and need a large private dining room in Bend for the occasion. This seemed like the perfect spot on paper and after looking at their web site. But, I'm so glad we had a trial meal to see if the setting was right.
I was expecting light and inventive fare with flair. I ordered what I thought would be a light meal (1/2 vegetable sandwich and onion soup), but I felt kinda greasy and blah after the meal. They have a lot of fried items on the menu and my sandwich was huge. Large loaf of bread cut in half so there was no dignified way to eat it and even the vegetables were in large chunks rather than delicate slices. The onion soup (l'm in love with gruyere cheese) was tasty, but didn't make up for the rest of the meal.
Others had the crispy fried sturgeon sandwich and the baked ricotta quiche and the kids' rigatoni. The yukon gold potatoes that came as a side were good, but like many of our items were overly seasoned or over sauced.
The restaurant also looked a little worse for wear. And the private dining room is upstairs, sort of semi-private, and since there is no elevator it won't work for our party.
So it was a successful mission because eliminating choices is part of the process, but the quest continues for our family function. Actually found another place this afternoon that was love at first sight. Will try the food and see if it tastes as good as it looks.
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Celebrated my birthday while in Bend at Merenda. This is definitely a welcome addition to the downtown area; part restaurant, part wine bar.
The food was pretty good, of the things I tried:
Pork loin with green beans and mashed potatoes was decent
Grilled rabbit in a red wine sauce was kick ass
Gnocchi with sausage was good
Risotto with gorgonzola was good but way too rich
The wine list was extensive and SOLID, good selections from France, Italy, Spain as well as domestics. We went with one of the lost leaders from Italy and were totally happy with it.
The space is nice; tastefully done with lots of wood and the right amount of light. Seating is tables as well as some booths and there's a large bar. There's also an upstairs loft-style space that I didn't check out.
Service was good and particularly speedy, it wasn't packed so we got our food pronto after ordering.
My only beef was the live music. There was a talented musician playing guitar and singing and aside from the one Hawaiian tune he played that made my skin crawl, the music was good. We had a heated argument as to whether his voice was more Neil Diamond or James Taylor but regardless (totally Diamond, fuck y'all, I was right), although the music was good it was too loud and made simple conversation difficult. There's no need for this; rely on your good food and ambiance for the experience, don't destroy it with the loud music.
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We were so disappointed by our recent visit to Merenda. The menu that was posted to their website (fish, meats, fresh seasonal vegetables) were not at all representative of the menu last night. The choices were very limited and all seemed a bit contrived - maybe trying a bit too hard to fit into the Gourmet crowd. Perhaps overall they just reached too far and fell short at every turn.
We made a reservation for seven people for 7:00. We were ignored at the door by the hostess and two waiters. This was the first sign that something was a miss.
We were seated at a nice table on the second floor of the restaurant. The skylights were beautiful but upon closer inspection (trust me, we had the time) it became obvious that there were a lot of paint touch-ups and water damage that caused the decor to sour.
It took almost fifteen minutes for our waitress to come say hello. We were ready to order and four of the seven of us ordered drinks (wine from the extensive and impressive wine list). Three of our drinks arrived a short while later while the fourth had been confused (she brought a red but we'd ordered a white). It took almost twenty minutes and two reminders before the fourth glass arrived.
Over 80 minutes went by from the time that we ordered to the time that our food arrived. When it arrived it arrived in shifts (ten-full minutes from the first person to the last).
Most of the food was very good - however none of it seemed to arrive as described in the menu.
After we finished dinner the waitress offered us dessert - we were so frustrated by the meal that we declined. At this point she stated that "my manager would like to buy you dessert because of your wait." We thought that it was odd that she told us that *after* she offered dessert.
Who are we to turn down free chocolate - so we ordered four selections for the table. Turned out that they were out of one of our selections (not at all surprising at this point in the meal). It took almost 15 minutes for our dessert and coffee to arrive - not at all surprising.
The dessert was good and a nice gesture. But way too little too late. 80 minutes is a joke and an update or an apology would have gone a LONG way.
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While Merenda's regular menu is in the "special occasion" price range for me, their happy hour menu (from 4-6 every day)is a great deal for good food & drinks in a wonderful space. Juice drinks are fresh-squeezed, and there are lots of beer and wine choices for those who won't be seen in public holding a froofy drink. Service is just as knowledgeable and attentive as you'd get if you were there for dinner. There's also a late-night happy hour on Fridays and Saturdays, starting at 9. This menu is a nice alternative to the nachos and french fries most kitchens switch to at night (not that there's anything wrong with nachos and french fries!)
The only thing I don't recommend is a visit to their website. Tons of slow-loading flash animation and music you can't turn off. Geesh.
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This is my favorite place to eat in downtown Bend. It's got good food, and a good glass wine list (that can change every once in a while to be not so good, but you can always find SOMETHING to drink that's better than most places).
The happy hour menu is the best deal... because otherwise the food is quite pricey. Of course, so is the wine menu. But overall, it's a great place to hang out - good people watching, good food, and good wine. The best idea is to go sit at the bar from 4-6 or 9+... otherwise you'll walk out without an arm or leg.
We don't get out very much in Bend, but this place had been recommended by two different friends here, so we figured it worth trying. Located in downtown Bend, Merenda has the feel of casual wine bar/restaurant with dark wood floors, an open kitchen, and both upstairs and downstairs tables. We were warned it got noisy, but it didn't seem that bad during our visit.
Overall I was very impressed, as was the boyfriend. I loved the enormous wines by the glass list, as well as the choice of having a sampler glass (2 oz) or a full glass (6 oz). To complement wine tasting, Merenda offers a variety of smaller plates, including some interesting sounding side dishes. We met friends there, and among our group we ordered one of the pizzas (spicy shrimp), roasted summer vegetable salad, risotto fritters, and the veal blanquette. All dishes were pronounced very good, and we all joined the ranks of the clean plate club.
While a bit on the pricey side if you're ordering full meals, it's a nice change from the brewpubs and burrito places we tend to visit here. Plus the selection of wines by the glass makes it a nice place to go just to try different bottles.
This place is the best place to dine in Bend hands down! I love the atmosphere in this hip joint! They have french and Italian cuisine...and ever thing we had on the menu was fabulous! They have the best mashed potatoes (pureed with garlic yumminess)...and I totally recommend the Rotisserie Pork Loin with mashed potatoes, green beans, shallots and bacon. The wine menu rocks too!
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I have not given a five star review in a long time, and it took a trip to Bend to coax it out of me. The boyfriend and I stopped by Merenda for drinks and dinner on the recommendation of a former Bend resident, and we were NOT disappointed! The exposed brick wall, vaulted ceiling, and relaxed vibe of the restaurant were perfect for our taste. The server took a few minutes to come to our table, but was very apologetic and fantastic overall once he did arrive. Our cocktails were tasty and strong, with my Ginger Cosmopolitan being one of the best drinks I have ever had. Even the BF commented on my raving about it- the rest of the weekend. He had a blueberry mojito and a huckleberry martini, both of which were exceptionally fresh and delicious. Our food lived up to the stellar drinks- we shared a salad, mussels and a pizza, nothing out of the ordinary, but all were really well made. Our salad was pretty typical field greens/tomatoes/bacon affair, but topped with a poached egg, which was a nice touch. They even poached two eggs for us when we requested our salad split into two bowls, with no extra charge- classy! The pizza was onion and goat cheese, and perfection on a crust. There's really nothing else to say. The mussels were pan-roasted rather than steamed, which was the first time either of us had tried mussels that way. YUM! They were huge and just briny enough, and the buttery sauce served along with them was decadent and light at the same time. The entire meal was delicious enough that I shamelessly kept eating after the BF had declared himself stuffed. I finished every last bite and it was worth the rumbly tummy I had the rest of the night. We will definitely be back at Merenda next time we head out to Bend.
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We stopped in for lunch during a recent visit. The atmosphere was nice--hardwood floors, high ceilings, tall windows out to the main street. We enjoyed the mixed greens and the portabella sandwich.
Had the risotto here, very rich and flavorful. Like the overall layout of the place, most of the kitchen is open and you can watch them cook. Look of the bar is impressive.
so we went here on monday evening. i was a part of a large group of about ten. the atmosphere is noisy and somewhat casual, but warm and friendly. the service was great. they had a live guitarist performing, to a full house... the place was packed! the food: ok so here's the thing. i think i really chose well: fried green beans...mmmmmm.... i had spring green salad... it was alright, pretty basic stuff. and then i had the roasted squash pear and goat cheese with a basalmic reduction. yummy. it was awsome! my husband had the venison. i tried it, it was so so. my mother had the prime rib.... that was pretty delicious.. but i have to say. i think i really lucked out.
overall, it was a great experience. this was one of the best vegetarian dishes i have ever had, and i am a meat lover.
