Blue 5 Restaurant

Address:	312 2nd St SW, Roanoke, VA 24011, USA
Phone:	+1 540-904-5338
Site:	blue5restaurant.com
Rating:	4.2
Working:	4–11PM 4–11PM 4PM–12AM 4PM–12AM 4PM–1AM 4PM–1AM Closed

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Sarah Dean

We had a small destination wedding on a beach, and had a large reception back home at Blue 5 a week later. We had originally booked the Red Room downstairs, which is a speak-easy style, with cocktail tables and a dark decor of red and black. Its adorable, and perfect for a good party, but the new White Room on the 2nd floor happened to have a cancellation days before our event, and Blue 5 offered for us to move up there instead. We took one look at the room and jumped at the chance :) The White Room is large and open, with gorgeous hardwood floors and huge windows on two sides, overlooking the Roanoke municipal building and Kirk Ave. It has a large bar with 4 beer taps and beautiful highlight lighting throughout the room. We had a rustic beach theme to our decor, with shells, burlap, and white candles, and it worked perfectly on the white table cloths. As the sun went down, the ambiance was fantastic. It was a nice day so we had the windows open, and was such a nice atmosphere. The staff was fantastic - our guests had nothing to say but nice things, and one of the bartenders checked on me (the bride) every 30 mins or so, to see if I needed a drink or just some water. Without her, I might have passed out from dehydration, I was so busy and kept forgetting to drink :) The food was fantastic (we highly recommend the meatballs and the jambalaya dip!) and the timing of refills was perfect. Most of all, Angela was so helpful in both the planning and execution of our event. She met up with us about 2 weeks out and finalized all the details, from the music (we just used their Pandora option), to the setup of the room, to what food and drink we would serve, and even a quote of the price that was right in our range, and the night came in at that price by the end. We could not have been happier with our event at Blue 5, and so many of our friends and family commented on how beautiful the room is and how nice the evening was, we would definitely recommend Blue 5!

Elizabeth Bohr

I have not had good experience with Blue 5, as much as I wanted it to work out. Its located right across from the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke, where the VA is located, along with hundreds of our federal employees. My first failed attempt at Blue 5 was to attempt to plan our VA holiday party there. I arrived for my appointment with the manager, who did not come out to talk with me even thirty minutes past our scheduled time. She later emailed to apologize, saying that if she had known my time was so important, she would have come out on time. She was "counseling an employee." Needless to say, I did not plan our party there after that terrible first impression. I dont have time to work with that. My second failed attempt with Blue 5 was yesterday, when I took a visitor to Blue 5 for a quick Caesar salad in between training sessions. I ordered our meals in advance, to be picked up at noon. The hostess was confused by this and waited until we showed up to find out if we really wanted a Caesar salad, which we did. We waited until 12:50 to get our salads, by which time, we were late. The manager was apologetic, stating that the kitchen staff was new and inexperienced, and that their online menu was outdated and inaccurate. When we opened our lunches in the conference room back at work, we found two Caesar salads with tasteless chicken that had been tossed with Bleu Cheese dressing. So, we just threw them in the trash, getting no lunch at all. The food was inedible. Thats my last time trying Blue 5 Restaurant for anything, ever. I do not recommend using them for anything professional, or you will find yourself embarrassed at the choice you made.

From Ballparks to BBQ

I would say Blue 5 is one of the cooler restaurants in the Roanoke Valley. It almost feels like a local version of a House of Blues restaurant without the touristy feel. They have a great bar with a huge craft beer selection and they are known for having great live music. Also, there are multiple dining areas, including a private room that can be reserved for banquets, parties, etc. The decorations in the restaurant are awesome, with guitars and various memorabilia hanging on the walls. I’ve been to Blue 5 two different times, and I thought the food was good on both occasions. We went last week for lunch and I had the crab cake sandwich and Cajun fries. The sandwich features a crab cake, topped with arugula, pickled onions, & stone ground mustard aioli on a Kaiser bun. The crab cake was good, with a nice amount of crabmeat and I liked the peppery flavor from the arugula. Also, the pickled onions were a nice change from a raw onion that often goes on a sandwich. I think a slice of tomato would be a nice addition to this sandwich, but I’m not the one putting the menu together. The Cajun fries were good, but I would probably try a different side next time for some more variety. For lunch, the sandwich and fries were $9.00, which is comparable to most places serving lunch downtown.

Lynn Garbo

My husband and I were traveling from Ohio on the Blue Ridge Parkway and decided to find a nice restaurant with craft beers on tap in Roanoke. Blue 5 came up so we decided to eat there. It was about 5:30 or so when we arrived. They were not busy so there were a lot of tables available. The host sat us clear in the back left side away from other people that were there. I asked our waitress about the Twin Biscuits BBQ and the Maple Burger. Since she had not tried either and not really msking a suggestion I told her I would go with the Maple Burger. She asked me how I would like it cooked and I ssid Med. Well. When my food came it was the Twin Biscuits/vinegar based. Because my husband and I were talking I didnt really realize until after I had taken a few bites that it wasnt what I had ordered. I didnt want to tell the waitress so I decided to eat it. It had so much vinegar taste that it ruined the taste of the pork. The presentation was great and the fries were good but I couldnt eat all the meat because it was such a overwhelming vinegar taste. The BBQ Im sure would be much better without the vinegar. My husband said his ribs were just ok.

A Private User

Ive only eaten at Blue 5 once and I had a good experience. Unable to decide where we wanted to eat dinner out of all of the downtown Roanoke restaurants, we finally settled on Blue 5. The atmosphere was nice - the lights were dim and it felt very "jazz lounge"-ish. We were seated upstairs, but not where we could see down into the restaurant. Our table was kind of awkwardly isolated and in the middle of the dining area, but we werent too bothered by it. Our server was very sweet, but a little busy and "distant" so we were worried when our order wasnt written down. We didnt require much attention, so we didnt mind not seeing our server. When the food came out, my steak was slightly undercooked (I wanted medium, I got medium rare) but still delicious. Took a little bit to get the check, but overall we were both very pleased., The food (we both got steaks) was really very good, however there are a lot of things on their menu that dont appeal to me. It was also a little on the loud side. Ill definitely be back to Blue 5 one night when Im craving a decently priced, delicious steak.