The Village Pub

Everytime I come to this place I try something new, so far I have never been disappointed. The bacon cheese curds have changed my life. If you are ever in the neighborhood this is must stop.

Closed for renovation! Hopefully they’re renovating the staff too! Nothing more annoying than finally getting the group all together and the tabs start showing up. Staff acts as if they’d rather be anywhere else. Especially the super skinny dark haired woman. Gee! sorry I’m spending money, my most sincere apologies. Can we say «grumpy pants!»?

We celebrated St. PATRICK’S
DAY lunch here.
The corned beef and cabbage was delicious, like tender pieces of corned beef with Irish potatoes, carrots, celery in a a broth.
Both comforting and delicious!
$ Best price in town!
Maddy gave great service!

Have been here twice now with family. First time had a jucy lucy second time had a smokehouse burger. Both very good burgers and a good amount of fries also. Waitress was quick and attentive and the food came out pretty fast! A good menu and atmosphere I would come back for sure!

Ate here with my family yesterday evening. We wanted to choose a place somewhat close to the U, but did not want to deal with the craziness of Dinkytown during Welcome Week. They have a great selection of tap beers and happy hour until 6. Waiter was friendly, attentive and offered great advice on the menu. I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese, and it was very unique and not too spicy– I also had enough left over for an entire 2^nd meal. Others in my group ordered the stroganoff, juicy lucy and the tipsy brisket. Everyone left full and happy with their choices. I am intrigued by the Bocce court on the patio and would like to return to play sometime soon.

I have driven past this place for the last year and finally wanted to give it a shot for Sunday breakfast. First let me say the service is excellent here, Our waitress was very friendly and professional, and so was the food runner .The bartender stopped by to check in on us too! I ordered the crab cake benendict and so did my buddy. My other friend had the french toast. My crabcake was very fresh and the egg was poached perfectly. I noticed a bloody mary bar which will be for my next trip. The price is very affordable, our tab for 3 guests $ 34.00 without tip. This place is worth checking out.

We’ve been here several times over the last few years, and our experiences have ranged from «terrible» to «meh.» It’s a shame because the restaurant has such a nice, quiet space so close to where we live, and because they at least try to keep a varied beer selection on tap, but they don’t seem to put the same effort into the food or service that they put into the décor. We tried once more for brunch this past weekend, since there was a Groupon, and this visit wasn’t any better.
On this occasion, I’d talked my husband, who’s not a die-​hard brunch junkie like I am, into brunch with the promise of «Ramen for Breakfast,» which is highlighted prominently on the breakfast menu. Unfortunately, the kitchen hadn’t stocked the ingredients for it that weekend, so it was unavailable. They hadn’t run out because it was busy or because we came in at the end of brunch, or because there was a tragic ramen shortage in the Twin Cities — they just didn’t bother to make it that weekend.
Wondering if we should try again another time, I asked the waitress if this was a one-​time thing, since it was the dish we had come to try, and she said that it happened frequently enough that other customers had complained to her about it. Apparently at the Village Pub, you’re expected to call ahead to verify that the items on the regular menu are actually available, as some weekends the kitchen staff elects not to bother making them. She clearly realized how ridiculous this was and apologized, saying she’d mention it to the manager — again — but she didn’t sound hopeful that the problem would be corrected, and recommended that we always call ahead in the future.
Disappointed, my husband ordered the Brisket Sandwich and an iced tea instead. I ordered the Crab Benedict and a coffee. Both came with hash browns as the only side option.
Working my way from best to worst: The Crab Benedict was a mixed bag. The more difficult parts of the dish to get right were good — the eggs were perfectly poached, which is a rarity these days, and the crab cakes were delicious. The tomatoes were okay. Unfortunately the english muffin was soggy and tasteless, and there was so little béarnaise sauce on it that I had to strain my eyes to see it. This could be easily addressed by actually using more than a half teaspoon of béarnaise sauce, and by toasting and buttering the english muffin. The coffee was weak, but not undrinkable. My husband’s sandwich was utterly flavorless, to the point where he boxed it up and took it home rather than eating it in the restaurant so he could add *something* with flavor, since he didn’t want to waste the food. The hash browns were abysmal, among the worst we’ve ever had. They came completely unsalted, soggy in the middle, and tasted like wet paper. Adding salt at the table did not retrieve them.
This echoes our usual experience at this restaurant; the food looks good on paper, and the quality of the ingredients is fine, but something has been lost in translation, and what you actually get is bland and unappealing. And I don’t just mean «bland» as in «not spicy,» but «bland» as in «lacking normal flavors you’d expect at any restaurant,» like salt, or garlic, or onion, or butter, or really anything at all. And you have to understand that I’m saying this as a person for whom spicy-​hot is anathema, as a person who has a history of eating baked potatoes totally plain. If something is flavorless to even my boring Indiana-​grown palate, it has such a serious dearth of flavor that it may actually be exuding some kind of powerful anti-​flavor field that sucks the flavor out of its surroundings.
On the plus side, unlike every other time we’ve been to the Village Pub, this time the waitress actually brought us silverware and refilled our drinks promptly, which we greatly appreciated. (On past visits, we had been ignored for over a half hour and had to flag down bus-​boys more than once per meal to get beverage refills as our server ignored us to chat with friends who had come in.) I can’t tell if this is because the crappy server problem was addressed after I left a note for the manager on our last visit, or because we lucked into one of the good servers, but this at least was a welcome change.
I don’t know whether we’ll be back. I can always get a great brunch at Hazel’s or Ideal Diner, and Stanley’s has a better beer selection, so there’s not much to recommend the Village Pub other than it’s always empty enough to not have a wait.

Good beer selection. Service has generally been good. Food is okay but nothing great.

Don’t let their fancy named foods & visibly appealing menu fool you. If it’s not over-​seasoned, it’s tasteless or undercooked.
They lack in the service area as well-​simple, effortless things seem to be extremely difficult for them. I’ve requested they remove the onions & tomatoes from every salad I’ve ordered-​but my requests all went unnoticed. Maintaining an acceptable amount of toilet paper in the bathroom stalls is another thing they struggle with.
Sure it’s a good place for drinks now and then. But if you’re looking for a decent meal-​I suggest you go someplace else.

This is a bar, not a restaurant. That being said don’t expect the food to be anything better than average. The burgers are awesome. The beer selection is great and the service is decent. Very kid friendly. The patio features a bocce ball court and is great in the summertime.

We wanted so badly to like this place. We gave it about 10 chances because it’s a really cute, little local place. The tap selection is pretty good, so it’s worth stopping by for happy hour.
Other than that, the food is ok… sometimes pretty good, usually only ok. At the bar the service is usually good, but in the restaurant it’s bad. Every time.
I wanted it to be an awesome local hangout but it’s an o.k. place I’ll only visit occasionally for happy hour.

We ordered a few of your burgers to-​go tonight and they were amazing! The cheese curd one and the sourdough melt… amazing! However, we were truly excited about the BACON breaded onion rings… and when we got them, they tasted NOTHING like bacon. And actually, hardly seasoned at all. We eat pretty «clean» normally, so this was a treat to say the least… and unfortunately, the onion rings just weren’t worth the «cheat» tonight! Use some bacon grease! Or at the very least, some ground up bacon bits. Or… just make regular olé onion rings with some salt! :) other than that… we loved it!

We enjoyed going there somewhat consistently for almost two years. Convenient and better than average pub food, decent beer selection… good place to meet a few friends on a weeknight. Enjoy the patio. Not great but definitely comfortable.
With that said… what changed? I’m curious. We went often enough to notice when there was a big difference maybe a few months ago. We went 3 times in a row and it was just bad.
The menu changed, I think it got more expensive, and the food was suddenly really inconsistent. Ingredients missing, not cooked quite right. Like they lost their chef or something. I was also unimpressed by their new items.
We always had timely, friendly, ok service — and then it was suddenly always bad. Like there was a turnover of the staff. Drinks sat empty. We were never checked in on to see if we wanted to order more. Once after our drinks took so long we just paid our bill and ate elsewhere. Tap lists not updated. Understaffed.
I would have mentioned it to a manager but I’ve in fact never seen one. Unless it’s the woman with the game in the corner always on her cell phone. I hope it gets sold soon to someone who will give a decent location a fresh start.
Oh well.

This is a great place to grab a beer or two, along with some above average pub food. The patio is fantastic in the summer, and they feature a bocce ball court (haven’t tried it out yet, though). I would recommend trying out their seasonal beer flight if you plan on sticking around a bit.
For food: the pub salad is awesome– sweet basil dressing, grilled chicken, and all sorts of healthy additions (I am a sucker for anything with beets). For a heavier option, try the truck stop turkey dinner. As far as what to avoid, the Philly Cheesesteak is drenched in a nacho cheese substance that made me reminisce about my days working at my high school’s concession stands. It just didn’t do it for me… But maybe it will for you!

The one star is earned based on the good beer they serve. Food is awful, there is no consistency with their food presentation and most of the staff is rude. As a St Anthony resident, it’s a real disappointment. Don’t bother and go to Barley John’s instead.

Those of us with ties to St. Anthony refer to this place affectionately as «The Pub» given that it is centrally located and really the only place of its kind in STA. At first, it was exciting to have a sparkling new bar/​restaurant that STA could call its own, but that excitement quickly faded as the Village Pub became just another average suburban bar/​restaurant with the added benefit of a few bocce ball courts.
I’ve made enough visits to the Village Pub to tell you the potential is there. The food, service, beer selection, and drinks all CAN be excellent. But you rarely get more than one of those things being excellent in the same visit. My go-​to menu item is the Patty Melt, which I think they do exceptionally well (as was the case last night), but on a few other occasions they’ve messed it up (not cooking to order, not keeping sauce on the side), and in fact on one occasion I had to make them redo it twice, and on the third time it still wasn’t right but I was so hungry I ate it anyway. The other items I’ve tried on the menu are decent — better than standard bar food — but at the same time they should probably be better given the prices.
On my last couple of trips the service was quite good, yet the one before that I sat in the bar area with my dad and was consistently ignored by our server until we finally inquired with the manager. The experience can vary a lot from server to server.
The management here could dramatically improve things by emphasizing the details and consistency in food preparation and service. I concur with others’ comments about the lack of cleanliness and organization in the restaurant. It’s never been bad in my opinion, but you see things that make you say «Hmm, that probably should be taken care of,» especially the restrooms.
I will always have a soft spot for the Village Pub and will continue to hold out hope that it will step its game up and realize the potential that’s there.

To put it bluntly…
Overpriced mediocre Food with the ambiance of a cheesy sports bar.
The location is great and will say when they first opened up they were putting out some good food at reasonable prices but times have changed.
There’s just no reason for me to come here.
Here’s their menu
So instead of having a choice between fries and tator tots this revolutionary pub lets you substitute tots for an extra $ 1.50 bringing you a burger and tots to around $ 12.50 without tax or tip.

Best outdoor patio in north burbs, good beer selection and predicable but good food. A solid local option any day of the week. Especially good for lunch or warm summer and fall days.

I go to Village Pub all the time, because I play in the summer and fall bocce league.
Pros:
–The bocce court is awesome. Love that they have a league!
–Good selection of burgers — I had the sourdough melt and it was super yummy.
–Great drink specials
Cons:
–Fries are NOT good. They have too much skin on them and they are never cooked very well.
–Service is always unpredictable. Sometimes we get good and friendly servers, but there have been more times than not that we get someone that obviously doesn’t want to be working.
I’ll be back — going to try the brisket tacos next time!

Village Pub is pretty much your typical neighborhood pub; plenty of TV’s to catch up on the game, pub trivia, pulltabs, plenty of drink specials and a fairly bar food centric menu all served up in a laid back environment.
Admittedly, their tap selection isn’t bad for a place that I assume sells more Miller Lite than anything else. They have around sixteen beers on draught; made up of various local and regional craft breweries with a few of the larger macro breweries thrown in as well.
The menu contains many of the usual suspects; burgers, nachos, wings and mostly other pub grub, though they do make an effort to provide some unique touches on some of their dishes and there are a few options for vegheads as well. Overall, it’s satisfactory food at satisfactory prices.
Service has always been friendly and if nothing else they also have a bocce court, so it’s not a bad spot to stop off for a cold one if you’re in the area.