Fireside red

Fireside red was absolutely slammed on the night that we visited. We had to wait a few minutes just to get a seat at the bar. Looking out the window at the large deck seating, not a table was empty. This was my first visit to Fireside red and I was excited to sample a couple of dishes.

We weren’t very hungry though and so we shared some small items and had a couple of drinks. Fireside’s menu looks good and I want to go back again to try some of the other dishes.

Bacon Wrapped Dates are a must try. Fill in the blank:

Spinach is to Popeye as _____ is to BOR.

Normally restaurants will stuff their dates with cheese or like at 28, more pork. But these were drizzled with a balsamic reduction and cooked perfectly. 4 for $5 isn’t really my idea of a good deal but I heard that at happy hour you get twice as many or something like that. For not being stuffed with anything, these were grubbin.

We also had the Mussels that were pretty good. I wanted more but for only $7.50 I thought it was an ample portion. I thought the mussels themselves were small but the broth was good. The wife thought the addition of sun dried tomatoes was a great idea. The only thing that I didn’t like was the flat bread that came out with the mussels. It was really floury and blah. I know it sounds weird but I’m a weird guy.

The wife was able to talk me out of one of the pizza’s and get the Mediterranean Spinach Salad with pickled onions, feta, cucumber, olives, pine nuts, and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. What do you want me to say? It’s a flippin salad. I wanted pizza. Still, it was pretty good….for a salad.

Fireside red served up some good food at a rather fair price although the drinks are spendy. Drinks are spendy everywhere though so that’s not really a big knock against them.

On our next visit the deck was filled but the inside of the restaurant was empty so we were able to get a table right away, although we really wanted to sit outside. Seems that Fireside red’s deck is an awfully popular spot.

This time we tried the calamari, pita garlic bread (only $2.50), fried brie, and couldn’t pass up on the mussels and Mediterranean Spinach Salad again. The mussels and salad were the same as described above but I thought the calamari was bland. All rings and no tentacles makes BOR a dull boy.

The pita garlic bread was better with the mussels than the pita slices that came with it so I was happy I got that side dish.

The fried brie was pretty good for being fried cheese. How can I resist? It went well with the mango chutney that came with it. I don’t think I’d get it again though. It was basically just like a fried mozzarella stick.

I like Fireside red. I found the staff is friendly and attentive on my visits. Even got a good laugh out of a fellow patron who’s chair got bumped by the hostess as she carried a high chair to another table. It wasn’t funny until the customer looked all annoyed even after the hostess apologized nicely. This lady sort of huffed and grunted. Get over it. It was an accident and the hostess graciously apologized. People crack me up.

Anyway, back to Fireside red. I like the tapas style, small plates that you can share and the pricing is quite reasonable (for food). It is perfect for us as we like to try a variety of dishes instead of just one large plate.

Fireside red
803 SW Industrial Way, Suite 202
Bend OR 97702
(541) 306-3121
http://www.firesidered.com/