My first visit to Village Grille was during midafternoon, as the friends I was meeting wanted a late lunch. A lunch so late, it could practically be called dinner, I guess! But we were still early enough to make the 2:00 cutoff for breakfast dishes.
The place is impressive. It has high ceilings and plenty of booths, as well as a large bar, numerous tables and a couple of banquet rooms. The booths are apparently fashioned from salvaged material from an older place in Green Bay. My friends, who are local, mentioned the name, but I forgot it immediately. Kaaps, maybe? I will say the booth seats had very straight backs and hard flat seating surfaces. Historic or not, you might want to bring a stadium-type seat cushion.
My booth was near the front, and I watched the cars going by on Hoffman Road. They were not too busy this late in the afternoon, just a couple of other tables, although there was some type of shower going on in one of the banquet rooms. Perhaps a baby shower, because I saw women (only women) carrying large, be-ribboned packages in pinks and blues. Now I suppose you could carry such garish packages to a wedding shower, but I'm going to go with my gut instinct and say it was a baby shower.
This was my first time eating at the Village Grille, as it didn't exist when I briefly lived in Wisconsin in the mid 1990's. Of course, I lived in Neenah, but I would come to Green Bay to visit my family frequently. I also attended church in Green Bay for some time. Anyway, I arrived early so I studied the manageable menu offering appetizers, soups and salads, grilled sandwiches, pizzas and main dishes, including chicken, beef and seafood. The fried cheese curds in the appetizer section caught my eye, as I haven't had fried cheese curds since I went to the Buffalo Wild Wings in Times Square. That's in New York City.
I ordered a club soda and continued to wait for my friends. When they arrived, they placed their drink orders and asked if the breakfast menu was still available. I felt like a fool sitting there with the lunch and dinner menu, but I tried to make light of it. Eschewing traditional breakfast items, I ordered the fried cheese curds to start. Although I didn't realize it, the curds came with French fries!
My one friend went with the Village Skillet, which was a large plate teeming with eggs, bacon, ham, hash browns served with marble rye. I've included a picture along with my review, if you'd like to get an idea of the portion size. It was very generous!
My other friend ordered the triple decker club sandwich. It was also a generous portion. You are able to choose from among many potatoes as sides, including mashed, French fries, sweet potato fries, and grille fries. Prior to ordering, I asked what the grille fries were. The waitress, who was excellent,by the way, described them as small red potatoes, roasted in herbs. They sounded very good but in reality, were just okay.
My Philly Cheese steak was served on a long buttered roll and included liberal portions of onions, green peppers and mushrooms, along with the steak and cheese. One or two of the additional vegetables would have been enough, but all three was truly an embarrassment of riches! Since I'd had some fries with the cheese curds, I ordered the aforementioned grille fries.
As noted earlier, the Village Grille has an attractive bar area to the left of the entryway. Although I didn't drink anything other than the club soda (for which they charged me the same full price as a Sierra Mist, by the way) it appears that the restaurant has a full liquor license based on the bottles on display behind the bar.
The young lady who served us was polite and professional. She kept water glasses full and my one friend who had coffee received multiple warm ups. My friends had both been before and indicated to me that the service was much more attentive on this visit. I offer that only as unsubstantiated commentary since I had not previously dined at Village Grille, but my friends are trustworthy in general so I wouldn't think their statements were inaccurate. I will just state that at my visit, the service couldn't have been more prompt or gracious.
All in all, this is apparently the newest hot spot in the greater Green Bay area, although I supposed it's actually in Allouez. Not that it matters, really. One of the reviews I read on Yelp was from a young lady from Chicago, so it appears that it attracts visitors from out of town as well as people who live here. I think this place is a winner.
**Yes, this review is an homage to Marilyn Hagerty's review of the Grand Forks "Olive Garden". It's parodied with lots of love. http://www.grandforksherald.com/accent/food/2350615-eatbeat-long-awaited-olive-garden-receives-warm-welcome read more