McMenamins Old St Francis School

I have been to McMenamins maybe hundreds of times. I am a local. On Sat. Feb. 13^th 2016, two of my girl friends and I went into the bar to see if we could find a booth to celebrate ‘Gal’entines Day. It goes without saying it was swamped. We spotted a table and Bryce (Sorry if I spelled your name wrong.) cleared it for us. He was a bit overwhelmed. I have to say thank you to him however because he quickly became the best service I have had there in a very long time. He gave us the inside track on the timing between the movie starting and the kitchen being inundated with orders, as well as made us feel like we were the only ones who mattered. Thank you Bryce, you helped make our evening!

Sampled beers at the bar. Good atmosphere. Ruby rightfully stands out and is their most popular beer — light with a refreshing raspberry tartness.

I came for breakfast, and although the entry way smelled a bit weird today, the food was seriously some of the best I have ever had. I ordered the Eggs Alpine from the breakfast specials. Amazing polenta topped with crisp prosciutto, topped with perfect poached eggs, topped with Swiss cheese. The flavour of each item was so rich and perfect… I had to stop myself from hogging it all down. It was good to enjoy slow with tea. Reeeaally great flavours. Great service too. Recommend.

Love every burger and I always add blue cheese crumbles, they put a little horseradish in it and I don’t even like horseradish…

Went there with my mom, wife, and daughter. We had excellent food and service. Server was very friendly and he made our lunch comfortable. He recommended their peanut butter dessert and it was awesome! Thanks!

I’m a giant fan of this place. The soaking pool is wonderful, and always seems to have nice people to chat with. My girlfriend ordered a Pear Side Car a year or two ago, and every time we visit, she looks forward to getting it again. Places like this will never be perfect, but the time I’ve had here really is.

Disclaimer: I just joined Unilocal and I’m catching up on my reviews! This was in December 2015.
Came in here with three other people. With the snow, we ate inside. It was around 11:00 a.m., sometime shortly after Christmas. Day after? Anyway, we had a lovely waitress, our drinks came quickly, and not long after, our food also. We got calamari to share (yum), and shared a margherita pizza.
It was kinda pricey (the pizza), but it tasted good and I appreciated the great service from our waitress and the bartender

Overpriced crap food, I mean snack food!!! Don’t let all the pretty lights and cute appearance sucker you in.
As the ratings for this place decline, I hope the owners/​management take this review to heart.
Where are your managers that should be walking around making sure everyone’s happy? This place should be running like a well oiled machine!!! You are in the heart of Bend and should reflect the best of what this place has to offer.
I adore the atmosphere here and would love for this place to be a regular hang out. What a shame we’ll now just have to pass it by.
We waited over an hour for steak bites. After finishing my second cocktail (which was almost a room temperature martini), the bites finally arrived. What we got was greasy leftover jiggly FAT trimmings… SOOOO GROSSS. Half the fries were limp and the watered down cheese sauce that came with it was flavorless. Epic fail! The Portand brand ketchup was the best part of the meal.
Everyone around us that came in after we did was now starting to leave because our new fumbling waiter probably forgot to place the order… lucky us. It would have been nice (and protocol for any decent restaurant) if she (his shadow trainer) was bright enough to even notice and offer to take it off the bill as a courtesy. But No Bueno!!!
At that point, we decided to not order dinner. Too bad it sucked because we go out to drink cocktails and eat all the time and could have been regulars. Basically they’ve lost out on thousands of dollars in the years to come. So sad because this place could be a goldmine.
We ended up walking down to Noi (Thai food) to fill our tummies. The Crying Tiger steak at Noi was delicious and $ 3 bucks cheaper. The same quality steak should have been used in the Steak Bites but it seems profits and dumb management are hoping for unsuspecting travelers to not notice or care that the quality of food served here sucks.

I love the soaking pool… Until a guy was caught masturbating in it recently! It’s been a problem with people getting way too «friendly» with their Partners especially in front of other customers, and most importantly children. They don’t seem to care, no matter what time of day it is. there are people dry humping each other, making out heavily, or even getting way too wasted. people have been bringing in their own alcohol! Don’t bring your kids here. It’s not child friendly. There needs to be better monitoring on McMenamin’s part. Food is ok drinks are under poured an overpriced.

We were in both the restaurant and the bar. Happy hour was good and we were able to play shuffle board which was also fun. Service was good and the staff was nice. If was also entertaining to explore the multiple rooms.
We wanted to go into the salt water pool and waited for two hours. We felt like it was worth it and it was nice to soak after our long day, however the pool is chlorinated and I have a chlorine allergy. I ended up with a full body rash and feeling miserable. I would definitely not had gone in had I known that, but we saw it in multiple magazines advertised as a salt water and thought I would be ok :(a sad end to an otherwise really enjoyable visit.
Update — the management and customer service is on point. They promptly responded to my review and addressed my concerns. Thank you!

Slowest place in Bend.
Not very busy… 50 minutes here and still no food.
I’d leave but there isn’t anyone to tell I’m leaving.
NEVER AGAIN !

What exactly is McMenamin’s? Where do I start? Like some of their other locations, McMenamin’s Old St. Francis School is more of a complex. Renovated from a historic Catholic schoolhouse, it features a hotel (with guest cottages) a brewery, bar, restaurant, spa (with hot soaking pool!), movie theater, and music venue. While the function of the spaces has definitely changed, they don’t lose their connection to the past. They have a lot of old photos of the school intermingled with more recent concert posters. Cool stuff.
I’ve had the pleasure of dining at a number of McMenamin’s locations and have always been satisfied with their fare. This time was no exception. From their Fireside Bar (they also have a full restaurant) I ordered their Old School Grilled Cheese. It’s called «old school,» but it was nothing like the traditional grilled cheese sandwiches I’m used to. It starts with fresh-​baked sourdough that is grilled with gruyère, apples, and an onion marmalade. It was heavenly! Served with a side — I went with fries.
I washed it down with their Ruby — a light, crispy ale with a fruity finish. Fantastic!
My only regret is that I didn’t get to spend too much time at McMenamin’s. I did poke around to feel the heat of the soaking pool and check out the movie theater (Huge screen in a room filled with sofas. How cool is that?)
The service is fast, friendly and efficient.
I’ll need to make sure I carve out more time on my next trip to Bend!

The atmosphere is really nice but the food is rather unimaginative. Great place for drinks though.
The soaking tub, fire pits and bars make this place really fun.

Spent a couple nights here in November 2015 on vacation. Like the other McMenamins, food and beverages were at the higher end of average (although, the stout on nitro was pretty solid). What makes this particular McMenamins stand out is the service and staff. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. When we mentioned that the heater in the room doesn’t feel like it’s working, the front desk clerk came to the room and checked it out right then. Explained that they were old units and work best if left running on low all day. She even offered to let us switch rooms for the second night if we wanted.
All in all, a very nice experience. Highly recommend.

Old St. Francis is definitely my favorite of the McMen’s locations. I love that they pack so much into a fairly small amount of space without it feeling crowded. The service here is also just so much better than many of the other Mcmen’s I’ve been to — maybe it’s just the Bend nice thing? Choose from 3 different restaurant/​bars for food and drinks, second run movies in their auditorium, the occasional awesome free concert, and firepits galore.
The crown jewel that sells this location for me is the soaking pool. It’s a Turkish bath style salt water pool with beautiful tilework, a fountain in the center, and an open roof to the stars. I am so excited to soak in the winter while it’s snowing! All this for only $ 5, and you can enjoy a hot cider or adult beverage while soaking your stress away.

I am a Tripster working on my 2^nd passport. I am a fan of the McMenamins.
Stopped by this brewery on our Bend Ale Trail quest. Got beers, dinner and a stamp.
This property has a hotel, soaking, pool, theater, meeting spaces, restaurants and three bars. I have not stayed here — but I have had the food and beer.
The food is good — the usual McMenamins fair.
The best thing about McMenamins is the art and history of the properties. They really do a fantastic job of using the history of a place to create a cool and comfortable place to enjoy craft beer, good company and food.

Beer cheese and pretzel, mohito, beer samples and a nice evening on the patio. Another successful trip to a McMenamins! The waiter was very kind and was willing to make our visit delightful!

Had the brewers salad. .it was pretty good. Added chicken to it and it was dry. But salad was tasty.
Maybe it’s just me, and it’s been a long while since I’ve been into mcmenimans BUT wow they seem really expensive for what you get. But it’s a good atmosphere so I will always come back…

What a fun, quirky place to stay in downtown Bend.
Compared to McMenamins other hotel properties, I believe Old St. Francis may be the smallest with only 19 guest rooms on one long corridor. [1] The converted Catholic school classrooms make spacious guestrooms, but my favorite part was our bathroom with vintage-​style tile, fixtures, artwork and great water pressure.
They went whole hog on the lodge theme and when we went to the front desk, I felt like I was checking in with my camp counselor. That being said, I received nothing but great service from the hotel staff. We stayed in a King room named after Rolie Anderson who ran the Piggly Wiggly store near the school and featured his portrait.
The downside of our hotel experience was the lack of a few things in the room that would have been desirable, namely a mini-​fridge and a safe. Also, because the rooms are lodge-​style with wood walls and ceilings, it was exceedingly dark in the room. So not the best option for those with SAD. While there were large windows along the back wall of our room, it faced a walking path used by visitors on their way to the courtyard, pub or movie theatre, so we didn’t want to have all of the curtains open.
We enjoyed the Soaking Pool, which is definitely more geared towards adults than kids (it becomes adults-​only after 7:00p). Just a really cool space. We also loved having a theatre on site (tickets are currently $ 4). For dining and drinks, my favorite space was O’Kanes with their large patio and fire pits. And since I’m not the biggest fan of McMenamins food, I loved the location which was easy walking distance to dozens of bars and restaurants downtown.
Hotel guest parking was challenging at times, since visitors to the rest of the property shared parking, but we usually found a spot. But, we appreciated the free wi-​fi and no surprise charges or access fees. The property is also dog friendly and your four-​legged friend can stay with you for an additional fee.
Would I stay here again? Probably, but I’d like to get a look at the new buildings to see if some of the ‘downsides’ are addressed in the new building. Or perhaps stay in the double-​claw foot tub room that everyone is raving about.
[1] I guess that will soon change. Two new buildings are under construction and will feature 43 new guest rooms. They anticipate opening in early 2016.

The buildings began as a 1936 Catholic School and was enlarged in 1953 and 1968, In 2000 the school moved to a new campus across town so this place was available for a McMenamins makeover.
It is filled with old photos and mementoes of the school. Rooms are named after students and staff, though they feel new with private baths with wood paneling, showers, cable TV, and Wifi
The property houses 4 bars if you count the theater, several meeting rooms, an amazing hot tub, and great service. Besides the hotel rooms there are several cottages that can be rented out.
In all it is a nice destination to go and escape my everyday life.
My two favorite places are:
The soaking pool, especially if I can time it with no kids. it is nice with a hole in the cieling above and nice tile work. Tip grab a drink from the bar on the way!
The other is the area outside O’Kane’s it is great at night when they get the fires going. I just grab something to drink and a chair…
According to the receptionist, they are building a new building behind O’Kanes which will allow more hotel rooms.