McMenamins Old St. Francis School

This place was an awesome location to hang out and stay. An old catholic school that was turned into multiple bars and wings of a hotel, a big restaurant at the front, a theater, and the soaking pool of all soaking pools. As others have said, the beer and food were solid, but nothing exceptional. There were plenty to choose from, lots of house made beers and even house made spirits. The service was great though, and it felt nice to be inside. A cool spot in a cool beer town.

A cozy place in old Bend. The service was great. The food (fried fish sandwich) was really good. The two beers I had were good too.

Great place. A smaller hotel, four (?) bar places, lots of outside seating. Good helpful service. Not super busy which is nice. I’d consider staying here, the location is solid. Fun big place to explore. As always with McMenamins, good prices.

The common feeling about most McMenamins is that...Wow! what a neat place to hang out, the beer is ok..mostly...and the food is.....ok. This place in Bend is along those lines but is over the top for the place to hang out by the fire pits anytime of the year day or night. The employees try hard and if you are a semi regular they are really freindly and appreciative. Be sure to find O’Kanes small bar out back to the east of the main property.

(Visited 05/2013 - Stop #5 on the Bend Ale Trail): McMenamins Old St Francis School is on Bond St and Louisiana in downtown Bend. Street parking is available in the surrounding area.

The brick school building was built in the 30s as a Catholic school. The classrooms now serve as a pub, movie theater, bakery, lodging and conference space. There is even a pool inside. Eclectic decor throughout including old artwork and photos from when it was a school.

The brewpub has around 8 beers on draught. As with most McMenamins locations there are a few flagship beers plus some unique to this location. This included Our Pope’s Vienna Lager and Midnight Cry Black IPA. The beers are hit or miss but decent for the most part.

Service on a quiet weekend afternoon was good. The bartender was friendly and pretty knowledgeable about their beer.

We did not have any food on our visit.

Overall this is not necessarily a spot to visit just for the beer, but coupled with the great atmosphere it makes for a worthwhile place to visit.

We visited Bend to play Golf but it was raining, although we have heard it never rains in Bend. Fortunately this place opens at 7.30 am. We had a great breakfast - Eggs Benedict and several beer tasters. Very nice place which was a former school, still you can find some school equipment like a black board, also a hotel is in this building. Really good place, beers are absolutely ok.

Excellent location, cool layout, good beer. We stayed here, a group of us split one of the cottage/houses and it was very spacious and comfortable. Food ranged from excellent to mediocre, same with the beers. Our service was well above average, very friendly, accommodating.

Hotel/Bathhouse/Bar/Courtyard/Theater this place has everything. Can be a bit intimidating, but fun service and relaxed atmosphere make this a great place. Location is superb, right in the middle of town. Beer is the regular McMenamins list, which will have a couple to satisfy anyone.

Really cool atmosphere and venue. I didn’t get a chance to check out the pool or theater, but the restaurant was great. Food was decent, and happy hour prices were great. The beer is standard McMen fare - good, but nothing spectacular.

Quirky little place. I went to 3 McMenamins locations during my Spring 2011 Portland trip, and this one was probably my least favorite. It’s basically a spread out campus of hotel rooms, outdoor spaces, a restaurant, and pool/spa area. We tried a few of the beers, and none were impressive. In fact, I’d venture to say that they were pretty darn bad, on the whole. Tons of diacetyl. The food is also very lackluster, and we had pretty bad service while we were there. Your best bet is to grab a bourbon or scotch and enjoy the nice cedar wood fires that they get going on the back porch. As a beer-centric destination, though, I’d probably skip this place.