I dont really know Redmond too well, but ive known that Diego's is a local fav and Cascade Lakes Brewery has a nice pub called the 7th Street Brew House. For the steak lover The Brickhouse is expensive but good. And a Bend BBQ chain recently set up shop in Redmond called Baldy's which i pretty good bbq (for being in the NW). For a lot more options and variety, i would suggest taking the 25-30 min drive south into Bend. If you have never been to Central Oregon, I would suggest you check it out!

Good luck and have fun!

No problem. I hope you are enjoying the area even with all the wildfires :(

My fav is Bend Brewing Company. It’s pretty low key with great beer that sits just off the Deschutes River. A lot of tourist hit up Deschutes Brewery as well. That is also a great place to get decent food with amazing/different beer that is only found at the pub (gets real busy though). Probably one of the cooler atmospheres is the newer 10 barrel brewing co. They have a great outdoor patio/fire pit with good beer. Bend is a beer town, so you cant get too far without trying one of the area’s amazing beers. The town of Sisters also has a great brewery called 3 creeks brewing co. For a great burger you cant miss Pilot Butte (no to be confused with the actual pilot butte in town). If you are newer to town I would suggest hitting up McMenamins as well. That is a good place to stay, catch a movie eat dinner and have amazing beer (the best 1 stop shopping in my book). Bend has too many good restaurants to name off so here are my top 5 breweries to hit up based on food, beer and atmosphere.

Bend Brewing Co

10 Barrel

McMenamins

Cascade Lakes

Deschutes

If its straight beer you are after. Go to Boneyard brewing (just a tap room).

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Deschutes Brewery
901 SW Simpson Ave, Bend, OR

Bend Brewing Company
1019 NW Brooks St, Bend, OR 97701

Sisters, La-Pine, and C-Lake will not have what you are looking for (probably) as far as eating local and veg friendly. LaPine and C. Lake are too small and rural of areas to even care about that. Sisters there would be a few places. As bend goes, that is where you will find most verity. For veg-friendly places i would check out this site: http://www.happycow.net/north_america...

Bend is known for having that 'local' kick. So you will find many places that promote eating local. Most of the 9 breweries in bend will promote locally grown foods.

Let me know if you want some meat and beef in your diet, and i will point you in the right direction....b.c thats where its at! ;) Hope you enjoy the Pac NW!

I would never eat at the old mill location. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend where in town for the Memorial Day weekend and we decided to eat there. Not only was our server extremely rude and un-professional (white guy, bald head), it was never mentioned to us until after we ordered and waited 45 min for our food, that they ran out of food due to a busy day.

The "scrapped-together/sloppy food" was awful (literally, tomato sauce for salsa dip), the service was god-awful, and when they told me that the reason rice was not on my plate was b/c they ran out, the bald headed server said "rice is cheap" and failed to discount the meal. I got the impression that they thought I was a tourist. I had to pay full price for a half meal.

I really wouldn't have minded if they were straight up with me and said that they don't have some menu items due to lack of preparedness (Seriously, who runs out of food when everybody knows that the Old mill is a place for tourists??)

I would suggest you go elsewhere unless you want to spend $18-a-plate on garbage and rude service.

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Hola! Restaurant
2670 NE Highway 20 Ste 710, Bend, OR 97701

That is a really hard question b.c bend is filled with a lot of great restaurant options.

Depending on what kind of genre they would like the best (bend has a really good restaurant genre for being an isolated city) and how much money (bend can also be expensive) so here is a list of my fav places that have great food, good atmosphere, lower costs:

Hola-Old Mill District $
El Rodeo-just off of 3rd street $
FlatBread Community Oven-Old Mill $
900 Wall-Downtown $$
Marz Bistro-Downtown $$
Blacksmith -Downtown $$
Zyedco-downtown $$
Bend Brewing Co (My personal Fav for food and great beer)-downtown $
Baldys BBQ-Westend $
Cascade Lakes Brewery -westend $

There are a lot of options, but those are a list of my favs. Let me know if you need more options (I still have plenty more). If your friends are not an Oregonian Native, I would highly suggest McMenamins (Great food, beer and movies)!

Bend has a lot to offer. Depending on your price range you can have it all. IBSowen mentioned Zydeco. That is very good, but a little pricey and is one of the better fine dining places in bend. Baldys is awesome bbq! you cant go wrong there (it is a small place though) If your friends are more blue collar, i would recommend one of the many breweries bend has to offer. Bend Brewing Co. is my fav. and the newest one 10-barrel has great atmosphere/beer. If getting some great food while sampling one of many Oregon craft beers and watching the game, i would also recommend The Summit. One of The best things you can do is hit up happy hour (which, virtually every place has happy hour) below is a link.

http://www.bendhappyhour.com/

Below is another link to a weekly community paper/mag that recently published the "best of" for central Oregon. You may want to check that out for more ideas.

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1ota...

Bend has amazing restaurants that i believe compete with many metropolitan cities.

My fav’s (not in order):
El Rodeo (Mexican
)Baldys (BBQ)
Bend Brewing Co (brewery food)
Summit Saloon (great place to watch the game and AMAZING Sandwiches)
The Breakfast Club (Breakfast)
Pilot Butte Drive-in (Breakfast and Lunch)
Flatbread Community Oven (Great Pizza)
Brother Johns (Great little pub/bar)
McMenamins (need I say more)….many many many more…..

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El Rodeo Restaurant
1075 W Broadway Ave, Moses Lake, WA 98837

The Breakfast Club
378 NE Greenwood Ave, Bend, OR 97701

Flatbread Community Oven
375 SW Powerhouse Dr Ste 130, Bend, OR 97702

Ps. If you are taking your trip fairly soon, you will be treated to the amazing sunsets C. Oregon is having right now due to the numerous wildfires. If in bend for a sunset, i would suggest Pilot Butte (not to be confused with the drive inn).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_Bu...

only places to eat in Madras are Mexican, which some are very good. Any other food genre there is slim pick'ns. The Cross Creek Cafe in Redmond is good sandwiches and beer selections. Bend is where its at when it comes to food choices. Pick any locally owned joint and you wont be disappointed. For a quick burger stop, Pilot Butte Drive Inn has the best burgers and shakes, you also can go wrong with Bends 1 of 7 (6 of them you can eat at) brewaries. Here is a link to one of the food critics that can give you some insite.

http://bendoregonrestaurant.blogspot....

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Cross Creek Cafe
507 SW 8th St, Redmond, OR 97756

eventhough my post is a month late....flatbread is still alive and kickin' great happy hour. The bend Scene has gone through some changes, but honestly, the scene is still the same. A bunch of closings, but once 1 resturant closes, a new one takes its place within a few weeks....its been a revolving door the last couple of years, but i stick to my favs and they seems to be doin well.