Wildflour owners to open tap house restaurant at Wasena’s River House
Rendering courtesy of Proviz
The owners of an established Roanoke restaurant are opening a tap house at the River House apartment project in Wasena.
Doug and Evie Robison, owners of Wildflour Market and Bakery on Fourth Street in Old Southwest, will open the Wasena City Tap Room this fall.
True to its name, the restaurant will carry 36 craft beers on tap.
The menu will feature tacos, burritos, burgers, sandwiches, salads and pizza. A wood-fired grill will be used to cook meat and fish, Doug Robison said.
Prices will be comparable to the pricing at Wildflour, he said.
The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, and for brunch on Sundays.
The $15 million River House project is transforming a five-story brick building that served as cold storage until the 1990s into a 128-unit apartment building. It sits off Wasena’s Main Street and is nestled against the Roanoke River and greenway.
The Robisons live in Raleigh Court and drive through Wasena to get to Wildflour. They’d been following the River House project with interest but didn’t realize that the developer, Ed Walker, was looking for a restaurant operator.
Two weeks ago, one of Walker’s assistant project managers mentioned the restaurant opportunity to the Robisons’ son while dining at Wildflour.
The Robisons, who’d been talking about opening another restaurant, signed a lease within days.
The 2,600-square-foot restaurant will come equipped with a furnished kitchen and bar. The Robisons need only provide furniture, china, flatware, food and other necessities.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Doug Robison said. “I couldn’t say ‘no’ when I saw it and looked at the terms of the agreement.”
He hopes to open the restaurant in October.
The Robisons got into the restaurant business in 1991. In addition to the Wildflour restaurant in Old Southwest, they’ve also started and sold two other Wildflour locations (one at Towers Shopping Center and the other at Hollins, which is now Hollywood’s Restaurant), as well as Buck Mountain Grill.
June 21, 2012 - 6:00 AM
Nice!
Ed Walker + Doug&Evie Robison = WIN!
This is going to be great for Wasena & the greenway & Roanoke.
Did the Robison’s own Buck Mountain Grill down on 220? That was the best restaurant in Roanoke! I really miss that place!
Now THAT is good news! Best of luck to all involved! I LOVED the food at Buck Mountain Grill! Of course the BEER news is the most exciting of all!
@Jody: They did own Buck Mountain Grill, and later sold it.
I can’t believe they didn’t know the developer was looking to put a restaurant in…you reported that 3 months ago
I haven’t been to Wildflour/Hollywood’s in quite some time…so maybe the menu has changed but it just didn’t do it for me. This menu looks great though…and the 36 taps? Yeah baby!
What great news! This combo is a winner, for sure. Looking forward to eating there!
@Brian – Goodview: That’s why everyone should read The Roanoke Times!
This is great news! Doug & Evie do a wonderful job at Wildflour and I’m excited to see what they do with this new restaurant.
This sounds great…what a fun sounding place to hang out! Can’t wait.
This is exciting news for Beer advocates like myself!
Any news on what breweries/brews will be represented by this Tap Room Amanda??
It would be great if they could get a variety of tapped beers from Virginia breweries (Blue Mountain, Devil’s Backbone, Legend, Starr Hill, Mad Fox, Hardywood just to name a few) that we don’t have access to here in the Roanoke Valley.
Might wine, cider, or mead be available as well??
@Tony: I just talked with Doug Robison, the owner. He said they haven’t come up with a list just yet, but his son, West, who will be the beverage manager, has already been out tasting beers. I listed off the beers you mentioned in your comment and Doug said some of those will be included, as well as other local brews.
This is a different topic, but what is the latest on Beamer’s @ Lofts at West End? Is it still on schedule for an AUg 1st opening? Any changes or delays?
@crooked road: I’ll get in touch with the developer and get back to you.
great news.We need some more developments around river
Can’t wait…my wife and I are devotees of Wildflour…aside from that, I’m a devotee of great beer…sounds like the perfect place to me! Yeah Robisons!
I wish u both the very best. However Im afraid also that u are soon going to experience the frustration of spreading yourself to thin…..I hope neither establishment suffers due to this:(
Tony – Blue Mountain, Devil’s Backbone, Legend, Starr Hill, are all available here in Roanoke – All have been on tap at Blue 5, available at Wine Gourmet and Cave Spring Kroger. The Barrel House Beers from Blue Mountain have just hit the market in bottles. Had Mandolin last night from the series. Wolf Hills IPA even made an appearance at Local Roots. They are here. Hardywood may be a bit before they hit the area, but they just expanded production with 2 new fermentors, so I’d expect by fall we’ll see them in the area.
@crooked road: The developer, Bill Chapman, says construction is on schedule to finish in late July. He is checking with the restaurant operator to see how long they think it might take to get up and running once the work is complete.
I am glad to see that there will finally be some competition in town for blue 5. They did a great thing by bringing all that good beer to roanoke, however they charge too much. $6, $7 or $8 is too much for one pint of beer. I can see paying this much for a special release, but the average everyday stuff that you can get at Kroger for $9 a six pack, i dont think i should pay $7 a glass. A little competition should help this out, so new owners if your listening, price under what blue 5 is charging and you will be tapping kegs faster than you can imagine.
johnny b, hate to break this to you, but I will bet my life the taphouse will be just as high. Happy hour is where you’ll need to be to find discounted craft beer. You’re not going to find much craft beef that’s plus 6% alc under $5 let alone $6, especially as you hit the upper 7%-12%. The other big problem is the crap 3-tier distribution law good ole virginny has that bumps the price up.
I buy for a few area businesses so i know what the price lists are, and I can tell you that the beer is expensive, but can be served at a more reasonable price than what it is currently. I agree that the three tier system is garbage, and serves mainly to keep the big 3 in the lead so to speak.
There many places in town that have these craft beers from Devil’s Backbone. Corned Beef has some, as does a few more downtown. Buffalo Wild wings even has a large selection on tap.
Though $5-$7 for a craft draft beer is average in almost any restaurant you go to anywhere.
Think of it like wine. You pay $6-$9 for a “house wine” when the bottle costs $10 on average at Kroger. Alcohol has a markup when you go out, just like everything else.
Uptheriver. While Blue 5 has a very nice selection, If I wanted DB’s Vienna or IPA I could go to the grocery store and buy it, same goes for Starr Hill and some of the others. To the best of my knowledge they don’t have anything by Blue Mountain.
I personally would like to see at least half of the taps focusing on Virginia Beer and some of the varieties that is not available in a bottle. DB for instance has a variety of award winning beers..but I haven’t seen many of them outside of Vienna, IPA, and the newest bottled beer available locally Congo Pale Ale. Maybe they are available in specialty shops sucj as Wine Gourmet??? I don’t really shop there.
To go along with your comments above UTR, mine goes along with Johny B’s concerning what is available on tap vs. bottles..I hope to see more Virginia brews in a bottle..and on this side of town. Cheers!
As a Wasena resident, welcome to River House and the Robinsons. Friends visiting from Richmond are always telling me how lucky I am to have the greenway system. Now they will be even more green with envy over the ale house. Roanoke is a great place to live! Thank you for keeping me informed of all that’s happening in my own back yard.
Amanda – I grew up in Rke, left in 1980. In Dallas presently. Your column is a great way for folks like me (away from Rke) to get a snapshot of new changes to the area.
Great column. Keep up the good work!!!
@Tony: You might want to check out Beamer’s 25 when it opens in August at The Lofts at West Station. When the developer of the lofts announced the restaurant he said it would carry 25 local craft beers. (And by local I am pretty sure he meant Virginia).
@jim: Thanks for reading! There are a lot of great things happening in Roanoke.
I hear you Tony, local beer needs to be heavily emphasized especially once the Parkway guys get up and running. In regards to Blue 5, they’ve had a few of Blue Mountain’s rotate in and out, most recently Evan Almighty. They have a new line out from their new Barrel House that should be arriving in the market soon. I agree also on DB, but they are only distributing 3 beers regularly and just launched a 4th (red) beer that’s coming soon (may be here). Hopefully with the new distribution facility near Lexington, they will be pushing those beers or those experimental beers a little closer to home.
First restaurant in a very long time that I am actually super stoked about. Can’t wait to try them out!