The Village Pub

Doesn’t get any better! And if you love wine, the list of half bottles is beyond impressive. The cool thing about this restaurant is you can have as casual or as decadent meal as you want. The bring the bar menu to the table, so you can eat light and inexpensively. Or you can order off the full menu and have a lot of fun, like we did with the wine list. Melody was our server who knows her stuff, but is so fun and unpretentious. Our two sommeliers, Simi and Mary were also fantastic. Along with a delicate, yet flavorful Hamachi dish we enjoyed a 1995 Domaine Huet Vouvray half bottle. Most people wouldn’t order a 21 year old half bottle of Chenin Blanc. If you have the chance, try this amazing bottle. It has a slight honeyed aroma and flavor to balance out beautiful acidity.

Wish I could do 3.5 stars.
Was unimpressed as a whole. Details below:
Foie Gras was wonderful! And the best part of our dinner.
Our waiter was great.
Had a delicious whiskey cocktail.
We were not impressed with our dinner entrees. They were tiny, and for the price we expected something more. More of a gourmet touch, maybe a regular sized ribeye. Thought the menu had a 14 ounces ribeye, and I received two small medallions, maybe 4 ounces of steak.
The vegetarian option sounded special, but it was hardly any food, some steamed broccoli and mushroom dumplings.
Will not come back.

Stuffy, overpriced, pretentious. Food’s pretty good but the service is inconsistent.
Only if you’re in the neighborhood…

If only i could review the décor and dessert — they are lovely. The food is a disappointment. Ingredients are fresh but the food is just so basic and sans effort. And you will certainly need to order 3 – 4 apps and entrees per person to be full. I love coming here for the ambience but the food just keeps lacking in effort. It relies on the reputation and location so i guess people (including me) will keep coming here. But there is so much potential to make it truly michelin star worthy. Why not do that?

Went for Sunday brunch after camping. Very fancy place and we were pretty filthy, but they didn’t even bat an eye — very friendly. Burrata and lobster quiche was yummy. Asparagus so so. Pancakes fantastic. Great espresso. Biggest highlight — raspberry preserves. Complimentary crack. They gave us a few to go. Will be back.

5 stars for the dark chocolate soufflé withe the earl gray Crème Anglaise. Amazing!
Sommelier was very good about the wines but didn’t know much about scotch. She was deferring to the bartenders. In my opinion she should have been known about the broader liqueurs and spirits selections.
I would have liked to see the server make more of a connection with my husband and I. Seems like he was more interested in up-​selling. Service by the server was about a 3. I seemed to get better service from the bread servers and bus boys.
Food overall was about a 3 stars. We have travelled the world and have eaten better. Pork loin was tastey but it was so fatty that it seemed like I was eating a pork belly. For $ 38 it should have been leaner for a pork loin.

One of my husband’s and my favorite fine dining spots on the peninsula. I love that this place has such an elegant menu and dining room, yet is casual, relaxed, and comfortable. The service is excellent, and so is the food. I love to order the charcuterie here — I believe it is house made. Other standout menu items include the French fries and pâté (from the pub menu), and I really love the seasonal salads — they are always made with exquisitely fresh seasonal ingredients. The dinner menu changes frequently; I’ve had stuffed pork chops, ribeye steak, and some terrific seafood dishes. I’ve never been disappointed coming to The Village Pub.

I love this place — and have frequented it over the years for business lunches/​evening dinners etc.
last night I brought four guests with me, and service was stellar as always, and the guests enjoyed their food (other than one who had to get a correction) but I had ordered the Big Eyes Tuna — expecting their high quality fish I usually receive while there. But this time it was not. I could not eat it at all. It was so fishy smelling and tasting — as if it wasn’t fresh — I didn’t send it back due to the hour, but was very disappointed and lost my appetite.
So I am still very happy with the restaurant as a whole, and will definitely go back — but I will not order fish again.

This is a fine dining experience you should all seek out to try. The restaurant looks very unassuming from outside, but once inside, you are in for a fantastic culinary trip. The ambiance, serivce, food, everything about this place is worth praising.
Their exquisite service starts before we even walked into the restaurant. I received a call from the restaurant the day before confirming/​reminding the reservation along with inquiring about any special occasions. In this digital age of text confirmations, call was a pleasant reminder of service and care.
Inside the restaurant, I enjoyed the ambiance quite a bit. Dim lighting for romantic night out with jazz playing in the background. We were promptly greeted and seated soon after. Server came soon after and presented us with the menu and ~100-​page book of drinks. Their drink selection, especially for the wine, is quite extensive. I had some fun trying to find the most expensive bottle on the menu. Since we had such hard time deciding on the drink, server was happy to assist us and make some recommendations. While I can’t remember the drink’s name, we were both very satisfied with the drinks as they had exact qualities we were looking for.
Dinner started with an amuse bouche, cheese puff, compliment of the chef. Nothing special, but it does get appetite going. Following was ciccioli I ordered to munch on as an appetizer/​drink companion. Salty ham with whole grain mustard was good bar food to go with the drink and get the saliva flowing for the main dishes.
Speaking of the main dishes, we ordered Foie Gras and Duck to share. Oh the Foie Gras. This is how it should be (at least to my liking)! Something so rich and fatty that gives out all that savoriness as soon as you put it in your mouth. I don’t look to eat large portions of Foie Gras as fattiness does get heavy after a while, but their portion was perfect.
Duck came out medium rare (once again perfect to my liking) and I couldn’t believe how tender and juicy the meat was. It was one of the best ducks I’ve ever had.
Finally, the chocolate soufflé for dessert. I don’t think I’ve ever liked the dessert from a restaurant as much as I liked this soufflé. Despite being a chocolate soufflé, it was not at all sweet, and for someone who almost always skips the dessert because they are too sweet, it was a heaven-​sent. Soufflé was fluffy to perfection and the earl grey crème was very rich, yet clean and smooth in flavor.
Finally, we were served mini macarons and jelly as complimentary dessert, capping off the perfect dinner experience.
Addition to their exceptional food, I must praise their astonishing service. All the food items came out well paced and our server was very friendly and helpful with everything. There was always someone to help us out with in case our server was busy with another table. They also gave me a call the day after inquiring about our experience the night before and these little gestures definitely left me a positive impression.

Review: the village Pub Woodside California
It’s a amazing place, a great experience and will probably go back; however, will probably stay more in the bar area as it seems to be more fun
The service throughout the place the staff is superb … give it a nine
The food is very Los Angeles, very decorative and very interesting.
The plates are decorative and it might be fun to take photographs… The bread and rolls are probably better at Denny’s.
Oh don’t let us forget the Halcyon on moment of the evening… the dark chocolate soufflé with the whip cream… best to pass on the their sauce… which would ruin the experience but the dark chocolate with simply the cream is off the charts… it made the evening
This gent named Rodney, waiter from Persia… made evening.
The maître d’ or hostess also was on target charming, attractive albeit her dress attire was very bohemia.
It’s a great place for people watching albeit somewhat of a challenge to route yourself through the sophisticated/​over sophisticated menu to find the tastier edibles.
We will probably be back but I’ll probably have a light salad, he super french fries and their hamburger and finish happily with a dark chocolate soufflé.
Might take a pass on the $ 3000 bottle of Château Margaux 1945… They might want to consider sending their sommelier to sommelier school… a charming petty gal
P T Brent Hotelier Hawaii
Nice rest rooms. orchids hot water & clean

The Village Pub has excellence covered in service, food, ambiance and even efficiency! The team work I observed among staff was quite impressive. I have been to some outstanding restaurants lately, but Village Pub is good as it gets.
I was in the mood for some corned beef and cabbage on St. Patty’s Day and made reservations for the bf and I. They were pretty limited trying to book the night before, but we got in at 7:30. We were seated promptly, handed soft leather bound menus and a novel-​sized wine list. Wow! You can go big here with a magnum size too! We ended up having dirty martinis which they garnished with Castelvetrano olives (my fave) and shook at our table (nice touch). A server came by with a bread basket with a selection of sourdough wheat, garlic parmesan and sweet roll. I had a slice of garlic parmesan which exceeded my expectations! There were little bits of garlic clove lodged in the soft, white of the bread. When our corned beef arrived, it was so pretty I wanted to take a photo, but I didn’t want all eyes on me in the middle of this swanky, upscale restaurant taking food pics. The chef here does an excellent job in taste and presentation. Neither of us had tasted such soft, juicy, flavorful corned beef with crème fraîche! The fingerling potatoes, carrots and napa cabbage each had a different taste that made an otherwise simpleton dish quite delectable! It was filling enough. So the bf had a port for dessert, and I indulged in a digestive, Fernet Branca. On the house, they gave us some tiny, soft cheese puff things which were heavenly. They also brought little sweet treats: a Meyer’s lemon cookie, macaroon and mint marsh mellow cube with the texture of a «Peep». That wasn’t it though! They sent us off each with two soft sugar cookies in a bag.
Yes, the service was excellent. The staff was buzzing around all night. The efficiency is amazing. What someone misses the other one takes care of. They work as a cohesive team here. I never saw the bottom of my water glass. Our table was cleared immediately after finishing our meal. They explained what was on our plates. Everyone is friendly.
It goes without saying we’ll be back, and the best part is the close proximity Village Pub is to us!

The Village Pub is not your average village pub. In fact, it really isn’t even in a pub and it’s sort of not in a village. Located up in the hills of Woodside just due west of Redwood City, the Village Pub is rather unassuming: you’re not going to find it just strolling around, it’s hidden deep down with rather austere outdoor décor. Walk right in and you feel like you’re in the 50s (or maybe the 20s): men and women dressed to the nines with some nice jazz playing in the background. You’d half expect to see Frank Sinatra pop up. It’s that sort of classy place.
If you’ve come here to look for pub food, you’re at the wrong place. If you’ve come here to have a dinner that will blow your mind away, you’re in good company. The service is on point. Waiters and waitresses circle around, filling your water and wine glasses before you even realize it, serving you assorted breads, and even bringing in compliments from the chef at times.
On to the menu, and you’ll find some of the best starters you’ll ever get. I’m no fan of scallop, and this is the first time I’ve ever enjoyed it. The octopus is also fantastic. You really won’t go wrong with anything on the menu, and everything is definitely to be a delight on your tastebuds.
Pair that with wine on their extensive wine list. The size of a small book, the Village Pub carries wines of all varieties, and even more interestingly, of all vintages. If there’s a wine enthusiast within you or among your ranks, they’re in for a treat.
The highlight of the meal was without a doubt the entrée. I had the duck breast with foie gras and potato croquettes, and I’ve gotta say, it was all just melt in your mouth. For the price, it was a fantastic meal.
With the atmosphere and the food, make the Village Pub a place to check out if you ever have a special day.
TIP: Go wild.

The Village Pub is the definition of bougie — dim lights, small amounts of artistically arranged food, slow music playing and waiters coming to check on you every 5 minutes with a plate of freshly baked bread.
Pros:
–Wonderfully attentive waiters who bring you a bounty of wheat sourdough, garlic bread, and more
–Amuse bouche (mushroom and foie gras) tasted like a falafel… a food that I personally love. I didn’t taste any duck or mushroom but it tasted pretty good to me nonetheless
–Cinderella pumpkin soup was phenomenal — a medley of sweet pumpkin purée complemented by burnt honey yogurt. Would’ve never thought of such a pairing!
–I liked the sea bass plate a lot — tender on the inside, finished off with crispy skin and doused in yellow curry, then served with pearl onions and cauliflower
–I love dark chocolate. I love the texture of ganache. The dark chocolate tart combined the best of both worlds — a melt-​in-​your-​mouth, rich, chocolatey block served with vanilla bean ice cream
–The chocolate soufflé was pretty good. While I would’ve preferred a stronger chocolate taste, what really blew my mind was the Earl Grey liqueur it came with
Cons:
–None

Absolutely the best meal we’ve had in ages. The service was SPECTACULAR! (Thanks, Raymond). The food was WONDERFUL! The wine selection was brilliant.
We were there for a special occasions (birthday) and we were treated like royalty. We ordered 2 appetizers and 2 entrees — which we wanted to share. They turned the meal into a 4 course experience and actually helped pair wines with each course.
Then dessert! I had the Chocolate Soufflé!
And a bag of yummies to take home.
I will always have a special place in my heart for this place. I will make sure to go back when another special occasion is on the calendar.
Thank you, Village Pub!

A great restaurant for a special occasion, or I guess a regular spot if you’re a trust fund baby, old wealthy retiree, or just have tons of money to blow on fancy food.
The experience here was fantastic — the food, service, ambience is all top notch.
For starters, they provide a complimentary amouse bouche, which was a crisp puff with Gouda cheese, and they come by with fresh baked bread. We ordered the crab salad appetizer — the waiter split this for us so that was nice. The crab salad was light and came with avocado, citrus, and tapioca. It was a very delicate dish — wish there was a little more but since it was pre-​split, this was kind of expected.
The entrees were very substantial portions and were very very tasty. The fish that I got was buttery and flaked right off with the fork. It came with a butter sauce, vegetables, and some caviar. The beef entrée was also a hefty portion — cooked perfectly medium rare as requested, juicy and tender.
To end the meal, we ordered the apple crisp. At this point after the bread and the appetizer and entrees, we were already pretty full. But this dessert was divine. Freshly baked, it came out warm and crunch with a generous serving of cinnamon ice cream on top. Too good to pass up!
In summary, a very classy establishment with great food that is well worth the money.

I recently had a holiday work lunch here. We had a private room with a set menu. The servers were very attentive taking drink orders right away. I will say they were a bit lax on refills later in the meal but otherwise were attentive.
We started with some appetizers of shrimp cocktail and a cheese plate. The shrimp was very well cooked with a good spicy cocktail sauce. I can’t eat dairy so I skipped the cheese plate but it looked yummy. The bread options looked good too.
For entrees, we either had the salmon or the burger. I did the burger with no cheese or bun. My burger was nicely cooked, good dill sauce on the side. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals.
For dessert, the had chocolate pot du crème. But since it was dairy filled, they brought me a nice pear sorbet.
The restaurant was quite busy for lunch time so I guess its a popular place. I enjoyed our meal and would definitely come back here for a regular meal.

This started as a 1 star review, but boy, it changed.
My wife reserved a table for our 5^th anniversary and we found ourselves waiting for the reserved table for 45 minutes at the bar. It was our first date since our daughters birth and this was quite frustrating. We talked to the manager which apologized that too many parties are taking their time more the usual.
But then, we were seated. We got a cozy booth, compensated with a large plate of the charcuterie, it was perfect. We ordered some wine, the beets salad, the ravioli, I had the grilled pork chop and my wife had the Salmon. The food was exquisite and the wine menu was very impressive. Several types of fresh bread, butter etc were constantly offered and served. I also recommend the Chocolate Chocolate soufflé for desert, it was different and unique.
I really like how they kept brining tiny pastries and treats with the check, and another set after the check. Its different then similar restaurants I went to, and really nice.
The service was perfect. Several waiters per table, kind and professional.

This place serves one of the very best brunches that I’ve ever had. As a michelin star restaurant, it certainly comes at a price, but if you’re looking to avoid the lines (they actually take reservations. For brunch!) and have a quality meal near Palo Alto, this is absolutely the place.
Highlights:
— The little complimentary pastries that come at the beginning of your meal. The coffee cake in particular is 100% heaven. And they come out warm. And they come with homemade jams. And I’m having withdrawal symptoms just typing all this.
— The lemon ricotta pancakes. The first few times that I tried these at Village Pub, they were very thin and perfectly cooked. Best pancakes I have ever had. Since then, they’ve been making them thicker and I have not enjoyed it quite as much, but I do appreciate their effort in trying to vary the flavor (i.e. pear compote instead of lemon, etc.)
— The chicken and waffles. I’ve had a better waffle, but the chicken is divine. I feel the waffle quality has also improved over time.
— The banoffee cake. I admittedly don’t really know what this is, but I do know that you need it in your life.
I need to come back for dinner! Once I’ve amassed enough savings.

Well well well… This place is great but if I may compare to French restaurant in Paris at this level of «fancyness» in appearance, I would expect better.
It was funny because they would differentiate «Appetizers» and «Entrees» even though it means exactly the same thing. Using French make it fancy I guess.
They didn’t have the duck confit for my deepest dissatisfaction. The excuse was that something happened during the cooking process and they wouldn’t serve an average entrée. Which is a good status to take. But then, if a good restaurant, they wouldn’t even make that kind of mistake.
When asked for a well medium cooked burger, it was clearly over cooked.
The halibut brandade cake was okay but again too cooked in my taste. Or at least dry. Overall and for the level of this restaurant in terms of appearance, customers and food quality it was average.
The beignets were nice and just the right portion.
Service was great, we had this funny waiter who was funny throughout the meal and would explain gently for the dessert menu what was the «organic Swiss water decaffeinated» coffee for my laughing friends around the table.
Let’s say it’s a fancy restaurant but serving American food. Well it’s nice, but variety is few compare to French level at the same ranking.
This is not a Michelin restaurant right?
I just checked: it’s stared by Michelin. But wait, that’s just because they have wines that cost more than tuition fees. Wine may be there but food is behind.

Superb eats at this gentleman’s pub, and before you get started, I would have you get started with the Whiskey Smash. I would trust any duck, venison or porterhouse steak by their veteran chefs. And surprisingly, side note, this is a fine place to hold a wedding reception if you’re thinking about sophisticated aptitude up in the forest hills of Woodside. #sublime