Best Restaurants in Bend
Five essential tables, ranked by occasion.
$ Under $20 | $$ $20–45 | $$$ $45–95 | $$$$ Over $95
Bend’s Top 5
Deschutes Brewery Public House
Deschutes Brewery opened in 1988 and became one of the defining craft breweries of the American Northwest — Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale are beers that shaped the category nationally. The Bond Street Publi...
10 Below
10 Below established itself as Bend's most serious restaurant by taking Central Oregon's extraordinary produce — high-desert vegetables, Columbia Basin proteins, and the river trout that the Deschutes watershed provides ...
Jackalope Grill
Jackalope Grill has been Bend's special-occasion restaurant for years — the kitchen that the city's serious diners book for birthdays, anniversaries, and the dinners that require a restaurant that can match the occasion....
Bos Taurus
Bos Taurus ('domestic cattle' in taxonomy) takes its name from the animal it celebrates — Oregon cattle from the high-desert ranches that produce beef with a flavor profile specific to the sage-brush pastures and cold ni...
Zydeco Kitchen & Cocktails
Zydeco Kitchen is the Cajun restaurant that Bend's transplant population from across the South built its loyalty around — a Louisiana-inspired kitchen in the high desert that applies the Cajun tradition to a Pacific Nort...
Spork
Spork is the Bend restaurant that applies the city's outdoorsy democratic spirit to global street food with Oregon ingredients — Korean BBQ tacos with local beef, banh mi with Oregon pork, and the rotating global prepara...
Dining in Bend
Bend is the outdoor capital of Oregon — a city of 100,000 on the Deschutes River at the eastern edge of the Cascade Range, where Mount Bachelor's skiing, Smith Rock's climbing, and the river's fly fishing and kayaking attract a year-round population of outdoor enthusiasts. The culinary culture reflects this: democratic, ingredient-focused, and fueled by the craft brewing scene that has made Bend one of America's most celebrated beer cities.
The Craft Beer Capital
Bend has more craft breweries per capita than almost any city in America — over 30 breweries in a city of 100,000, led by Deschutes Brewery (founded 1988), Boneyard Beer, and GoodLife Brewing. The combination of the Cascade Mountains' pure water, the outdoor culture that generates appetite for good beer, and the entrepreneurial community that the city attracts has produced a brewing scene whose quality and variety match cities ten times Bend's size.
Central Oregon Sourcing
The high desert of Central Oregon produces agricultural bounty that the coastal media underrepresents: Columbia Basin wheat, Deschutes Valley beef from high-altitude ranches, river trout from the Deschutes watershed, and the mountain mushrooms and ramps that the Cascade foothills provide in season. The best Bend restaurants have built sourcing relationships with these producers that mirror the farm-to-table connections of the Willamette Valley.
Practical Notes
Bend is served by Redmond Municipal Airport (20 minutes north) with connections to Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. Portland is 3 hours west on US-20. Downtown and the west side are the primary dining districts. Card payments are universal. The ski and summer seasons both create demand peaks that require advance reservations.