White Buffalo

I always try to add at least one thing positive in reviews. Yep… got nothing. I tried. But nothing about our meal or visit was even half way decent. We ordered spaghetti, and Thai curry. After 30 min of sitting at our table and wondering what was happening, and when the heck were we going to get our food, our server wandered by but didn’t stop at our table, kind of like she forgot about us. But she did stop at the table next to us and happened to mention that the kitchen ran out of rice. And she said it generally, to no one in particular, in passing, and like she didn’t care, or maybe it happens all the time. Seriously. How do you run out of rice? You see it getting low, ya pop on another pot. But, okay. That can happen. How about maybe letting us know before 30 min had passed? How about coming directly to us and asking us if there’s anything else we like to order? Give us a chance to order something else? Or is that how long it took for them to realize they were out? Someone said she was the owner. Not sure if she was. She spent a lot of time in the back.
Anyhow, after 45 min, we were finally served: pasta had lots of stuck together clumps. Meatballs were dry and bland. And what little sauce there was had no flavor. The bread they served with the spaghetti was just a slice of sandwich bread drizzled with olive oil. Eh. Thai curry was sweeter than we’ve ever had before but edible, although my husband was pretty hungry by then. He said he’d eat anything. Finally finished and couldn’t find the server to try and to get our check so we could get the heck out. Don’t know how long that took, but too long for us. We won’t be back.

I got the Thai Curry and it was superb! One friend got the Green Machine and said it was also really delicious. My other friend got the meatballs and said they were ok. They happened to come cold over the hot noodles and sauce. The bread that came with the meatballs was really good though. Great place!

I live right across the highway from White Buffalo and have been meaning to come here for quite some time, especially after seeing the four star reviews. Upon coming here on an October Saturday night, my wife and I were really disappointed.
The atmosphere was okay. I could see how grabbing a glass of wine here in the summer might be enjoyable. They also have a wine store area when you first enter, which would probably be a great place to grab a fancy bottle of wine and wine accessories.
The food… well, this is where things went down hill. First of all, they were out of a lot of things that sounded really good like the pot pie. Apparently, this is what they’re «known» for. So as we swatted at knats and flies (seriously), my wife and I dined on spaghetti and meat balls and a bison burger. The meatballs were okay tasting, but the spaghetti stuck together in one big clump and there was very little sauce. As for the bison burger… I ordered it with bacon and cheese and the first one came out with some kind of «bacon onion jam». It looked like sautéed mushrooms or onions at first. I hate onions so I mentioned this mistake to our server. They made me a whole new burger. It was okay. Small, but okay. The bun was nothing special, perhaps from Safeway. And they apparently don’t have a deep frier, because fries were not an option. No big deal right? Just serve it with some high quality kettle-​type chips. Nope. Food Services Of America basic Lays brand.
I don’t see us coming back anytime soon, especially with so many better restaurants in town.

Where do I start? The great service, the friendly atmosphere. The amazing food.
I’m not a big wine drinker but they were very knowledgable and brought out wines that I enjoyed.
All the dishes we tried were made from the heart, you can taste the love that was put into making all the dishes.

I have been there two times. Our last time (last night) will be our last visit there. And based on our experience i wouldn’t be surprised if this place is out of business next time I’m in hood river.
In all fairness, the first time we were there i got the impression that it had just recently opened. We enjoyed the food overall, but the service was extremely slow and the waitress didn’t seem knowledgeable of the menu or specials. We had the bacon wrapped stuffed jalapeño poppers, and i really enjoyed them.. also had the pot pie, my wife had pasta, that she described as «okay.» Pot pie was awesome.
The ambiance was ok, simple, clean, and cozy. The place was not busy either time and the food seemed to take forever. But the first time it was just my wife and i so we didn’t mind the extra conversation time.
Our second time here was a disaster. First, i found the description of the Spaghetti and meatballs misleading. «Bowl of soul» with local ground beef, smoked sausage, and tomato basil sauce served with noodles. When it came apparently the owner thinks spaghetti and meatballs are a soul dish, and the beef and sausage i assume we’re ground up together because when i said, oops i don’t think this is what i ordered the waitress said, «sure it is, buffalo meatballs and spaghetti.» I asked to review the menu to read the description and she said ok. Then she went behind the counter turned and just overlooked the restaurant. (We were the only ones in the place.) In all honesty, the spaghetti was decent, my kids devoured it, but they should describe it as spaghetti and meatballs rather than something more extravagant.
At any rate, the waitress clearly was not going to bring me the menu so i went to the bar. She remembered i asked for it, because as i approached she sort of shrugged her shoulders and said something like. «Oh ok, I’ll get you that menu.» As if i would forget or something. As i recalled, the meatballs were not buffalo, they were beef and supposedly sausage.
Our first visit was decent enough that we were there again to share it with an out of state guest And our kids were there with us too.
Back to while ordering. I asked what kind of juice they have, the waitress said they don’t have juice. I then requested milk, the waitress said they don’t have milk either. So i said, ok, i guess the kids would just have water. After i asked for a sample of v8 or tomato juice to see if they’d like that she offered up. Well, we do have lemonade. It was like i was speaking another language with the waitress, ok is not juice, but i was asking what they had the my kids might like to drink. (Keep in mind it was the same waitress we had the first time and our visit was seperate by a few months) so she should have a better knowledge of the menu and drinks.
My out of town guest had chicken kabobs and rice, she was ok with. Kids, as i mentioned, devoured the spaghetti and meatballs, my wife had the pesto pasta special she describes as forgettable.
I will give them credit for the beet salad, i had half a salad and it was very good.
Now to the most notable criticism of the meal. The timing. Not only did the food take WAY TOO LONG, especially for being the only party in the restaurant and with having inpatient young kids with us, the order and timing was terrible.
My salad came before anything else, even the poppers we ordered again. (The poppers this time we’re only ok) but my wife’s food didn’t come out to her until the rest of us were almost finished with our meals. She insisted we not wait, but none of us would have guessed the special would come out after the rest of us were done eating!
They offered us one desert for free for my wife, but we already had recalled their desserts are store bought and not homemade so we planned on not having desert.
The cook came out and apologized to us. Saying sorry for the delay, «she’s not a chef.»
We will never come back to this place, and unfortunately i believe it’s only a short matter of time before this restaurant closes.
Don’t get duped by the ratings. It’s inconsistent quality, extremely slow, go elsewhere.

Excellent food if you have tons of time. Service slow and poor. Plan on waiting an hour for your food to arrive. Place wasn’t even very busy to explain slow service. Very disappointed.

The ravioli is amazing. Brown butter with Parmesan. The people are a delight. Quinoa salad is great and refreshing– and I’m from LA so I know quinoa salads. The olive oil and bread is worth the $ 5. Great service, amazing women that are so willing to give a word of advice on wine or totally cater to what your pallet needs! Love!!! Don’t miss this one!

This place was awesome. Their spinach and artichoke dip was so delicious, even my boyfriend loved it and he doesn’t even like spinach and artichoke dip. They accidently got me the Grown Up burger instead of the Cowboy burger, but I didn’t really mind because that was my second choice. But they ended up giving us a completely free dessert to make up for it, so that was very nice of them. I will come here again next time in Hood River. :)

Wow, usually when you think of the term ‘mom and pop’ this is what you should be thinking about. This place is small, that is by no means bad. When you pull up you question yourself if this is the place or not. It is. It is truly the definition of ‘mom and pop’, run by a wife who clearly loves, and has a good knowledge of wine (mother’s note), Me being 20 unable to drink cared about the food more that had 4 and 5 stars all around. When I walked in I knew that food would not be coming out fast like a big budget olive garden or something like that, frankly some of the best things in life are worth waiting for. This was so true here, I ordered spaghetti and meatballs (original I know) took about 45 to an hourish for all of our food to come out. Gave my family just time for family to talk, though with me saying that, it was really really quiet. I refused to talk, because I know and my family knows I am a loud person by nature, When I talked it was basically my whisper of a whisper because when I tried to talk a little normal, everyone in the place would shut up and stare at me! I know I am interesting but d*mn.
So when we finally got our food everything was hot and fresh. I ended up getting 4 meatballs instead of the 3 (said menu) cool cool. The pasta was cooked good, not raw or doughy, the sauce was good, in my opinion could have used a little thyme or basil to give it a pop but was still really good. Now for the part that was alright, my meatballs were a little on the dry side and were burnt a little from the pan, the sauce made up for this, without the sauce though this dish would have been too dry. All in all everyone was very pleased with their meals, we were a little bummed that the pot pie was out, the table next to us ordered the last of it and it looked so yummy!
All in all this was an awesome cute little place to find, pretty good romantic spot not a first date in my opinion because of how quiet, but none the less would totally come back!

Looking for something good, this restaurant came up as #2 on Unilocal so we tried it out. Ended up being the first customers of the day and got the pleasure of meeting the staff and Mary the owner. A real pleasure as they were extremely welcoming and had a lot of great info on the local happenings and activities to be had in the area. The interior was warm and charming.
They recommended the pot pie and shrimp curry. We also learned they had just whipped up some smoked bacon jalapeño poppers, home made. So we couldn’t help ourselves. The pot pie was the best I’ve ever had. Comfort with a little more. It had just a hint of nutmeg which really did the trick. The curry was rich and creamy and not overdone and the shrimp, large and clean. You can request how spicy you want it. The poppers were amazing. The smokey sweet glaze of the bacon wrap paired just right with the cream cheese and jalapeño. They had Backwoods and Boneyard on tap as well as a couple ciders. They round everything out with a nice wine selection. In conclusion, good owner, staff, food, ambiance. Can’t go wrong here. Look forward to coming back.

Well…
I really wanted to like this place.
I was excited by it’s good Unilocal reviews, its vegan menu options, and the coincidence that we were staying next door, within walking distance, at the Vagabond Lodge (see my 4star review).
Turns out, the two experiences didn’t match…
We went to the White Buffalo for dinner.
There’s zero atmosphere (their website is much more elegant), but there seemed to be a lively local vibe happening at the bar, and that drew us in. The inside is not a large area (it’s an old gas station); the bar, and maybe six tables.
Our party of four was seated right off. (Good start.)
Our waitress introduced herself, and said she was new. (No biggie. I’ve been in the business for most of my working days, and respect waitresses, especially the new.)
We ordered drinks. (They were delicious; local ales and an-​out-​of-​this-​world berry cider.)
We ordered. (Just the usual, off the menu. No special requests).
We enjoyed our drinks and conversation.
More parties came in. Were seated. Ordered. Ate. Left.
We ordered another round of drinks. More conversation, but by now the place was clearing out for a second time, toning down, heading for what felt like closing time, and we still hadn’t been served dinner.
We flagged someone down, as by now our (embarrassed?) waitress was avoiding us. We asked, «What’s up?»
Dinner came shortly after. It was forgettable.
When we were done, the owner, who had been sitting at the bar all night, strolled over and began making many excuses for the long delay, none of which faulted her restaurant or staff. I could have handled a straight, «We lost your order,» but the excuses were maddening. Apologies felt insincere. No comps of any kind were offered.
I can chalk up the experience to one bad night in the restaurant — shit happens — but the way it was handled, for me, was unacceptable, and has me writing this poor review…
Too bad.
P. S. Please don’t offer your Thai Curry as vegetarian and vegan when it has fish sauce in it. That’s No Bueno.

First off we highly support local businesses. This restaurant was vastly recommended, small with only a few table (one waitress, one experienced waitress could handle the entire restaurant (wait only one did). Definitely must have been a bad night for the new waitress ! Didn’t want to write this negative review however the service was NOT there. If we hadn’t had our drinks we would have walked out-​it was nearly two hours before our food came out (and only three tables had customers). The order was nothing-​chicken skewer, soup-​and don’t remember what the others ordered. Other tables came and went. And there was not a person who acknowledged us until the very end.. We are extremely easy-​going people and the manager apologized (BUT was it sincere or good acting??). Did she offer us a dessert, a drink, a glass of water-​nothing! Come to think of it the waitress never did bring our water. The new server must have left town after she served our drinks and took our food order; because we only saw her once after that and that was after the other server asked if we needed anything.
Please try this place because it is highly recommend and ran by a mom and daughter run it which the daughter, Sarah, was not there (could this have been the problem??)perhaps Saturday night was just a fluke with service.. .food was average. Sadly we had extremely wonderful service and a better meal at Best Western near Button Bridge.

Other than the loud table of folks next to us, we had a great experience. Whoever thought this was a dive is either a princess or stupid. It’s a super cute, casual bistro with darn good food and amazing wine choices. Definitely one of the more repeatable dining options in Hood River. Away from the ridiculous Oak Street strip where your servers would much rather be windsurfing. We had the lauded bacon wrapped jalapeños which were great, the heavenly meatballs and the grownup grilled cheese. All were quite good, but the 5 stars is for the friendly and personable service throughout the meal.

Mary greeted us at the door. Ordered the buffalo burger it was cooked just right. Given two chocolate strawberries. Yum. Too full to drive home to Portland. Need to find a sunny spot and rest first.

All homemade organic food. The food is great. It is not the cheapest place but the Cowboy burger is awesome and worth it! I didn’t even need to put catchup on the burger and if you knew me this would be shocking. If you have never tried bison burgers you are in for a great surprise. Yes, it took a minute to get the food, but well worth the wait and the staff was very friendly.
Really great surprising place… Enjoy!

This place is a gem for Hood River. Don’t let the exterior scare you away-​inside is a quaint bistro atmosphere. We started with the meat cheese plate, stuffed jalapeños and a flight of red wine. It was all fabulous. Mary the owner explained all of the wines, cheeses and meats. She opened up some very tasty wines just for us. Then we tried her house made sausage-​fantastic! Not only did she season and stuff this delicious sausage, she also raised the pork herself. How fun and delicious! Friendly owner and staff.

Stopped in on a Thursday night for wine, food and music. The chicken enchilada with a salad was amazing — freshly made and delicious. The owner recommended a good white wine — Mirth — and I loved it even though I don’t usually drink chardonnay. Everything here is made from scratch with careful attention to seasonings and flavor. I also tasted the shrimp curry and was impressed. We’ll be back.

We were staying at the adjacent Vagabond Lodge with our dog, so we thought the location with outdoor seating would be great.
It was not.
The service was sufferable.
They were out of the appetizer from the online menu that LURED us, so we just ordered buffalo burgers. the burger came with chips or salad, so we opted for salad.
then we waited. a very long time. i finally carried our water glasses back in for refills because it was HOT outside.
at long last a girl in an apron came out carrying two of the appetizers that they claimed were gone. she told us they were the last two and apologized for the wait.
see they ran out of lettuce, so they sent someone to the store to get salad.
blink. blink.
I was starving, so as I grabbed the offered forbidden appetizers from her, I assured her that chips would be fine, please bring our food.
and maybe some water?
the burgers came dry. no ketchup, mustard or mayo of any kind.
very mediocre and quite forgettable food. even the appetizers which were bacon wrapped jalepeno poppers.
Bottom line — if you are staying at the Vagabond Lodge, drive into town and find somewhere else to eat.

Super great food. The bison dog with the bacon onion jam is fantastic and their spinach salad is great also. The things they do with bacon here… I wanted the «grown up grilled cheese» but opted for the bison dog because I’d never had one, and my husband had the spinach salad and commented «this isn’t even fair…» It wasn’t fair for other people eating salads in other places.
The wine selection looks great here, kid of bottles. A w beers on tap and lucky me, a few ciders too. I opted for an Atlas blackberry cider which was wonderful for summer.
Great staff, great atmosphere, outdoor seating, and fantastic food. Hard to beat. Very hard to beat.

We decided to give this place a try for lunch, despite some uneven Unilocal reviews. True, prices appear a bit high ($ 17 for bison burger with cheese and onion & bacon jam) but the quality of the ingredients and the preparation were spot on. We’d both order it again and be happy paying.
At the owners suggestion, we decided to split a tasting of 4 wines for $ 14. We let the owner choose local wines for us and the pours were generous 2 ouncers. At what amounts to $ 7 for a traditional 4 ounce glass, we found these prices were fair.
If you’re looking to slam down a few brews with the bra’s, then this place probably isn’t for you. But if you want variety and quality in what you eat, you’ll like it!