Anderson’s Tavern serves up Southern cuisine in Sherwood

Sherwood, Ore. — There’s a new restaurant in town where Sherwoodians can get their fix of Southern cuisine.

Anderson’s Tavern, 21025 S.W. Pacific Hwy., soft launched on September 26, 2025, serving “simply Southern comfort food” alongside pool tables and arcade games with an upscale vibe. It opened for full menu service two weeks later, and now employs 13 staff.

The tavern is family-owned by Bobby Anderson, his husband Charlie Juarez, his sister Alana Holbert, and her husband Justin Holbert, who are originally from Georgia. Anderson said his sister modified many of the family recipes to also cater to gluten-free diets, including the macaroni and fried chicken.

“One thing that's very common down South is a very good, homemade, made-from-scratch type quality food,” Anderson said. “We have a big family cookbook … so we get here at 8 a.m. every day and we prep, we do all made-from-scratch food.” 

The menu features Southern cuisine such as shrimp and grits, fried okra, chili, brisket, ribs, pulled pork, collard greens, pimento cheese dip, and fried chicken and waffles. Specials for every day of the week keep the menu fresh, and the owners have plans to change up the menu every four or five months.

Anderson’s favorite item on the menu is the fried green tomatoes, a recipe from his Grandma Julia.

“I grew up eating them,” Anderson said. “Our fried chicken dinner is super popular.”

Anderson’s career background is in restaurant management, managing at pubs such as Generations and McKenzie as well as the Sherwood Elks Lodge.

The family is originally from North Georgia, but the Holberts have lived in the Sherwood area now for about 13 years, while Anderson followed them and has lived here for about nine years.

“We come from a one stop sign town in North Georgia, so we like to pay homage to the history, the architecture, and things of that nature,” Anderson said. “This building has been here since 1902, was initially a feed store and many other things. When we took over, it was an empty room with carpet. Rather than trying to make this brand new facility, we wanted to pay attention to the architecture.”

Anderson said one of the big challenges in getting the tavern up and running was fixing up the old mattress store into a restaurant with a full kitchen. He said the renovation team reinvigorated the existing 12-inch natural fir beams, which are hard to get nowadays, to help bring the building back to life. 

“Where we’re from, we don’t just tear it down and build a new one — we renovate,” Anderson said. “We did all of our own woodwork.”

Anderson said their relatives came out from Georgia in their fifth-wheel camper, stayed in Dundee, and did all the woodworking for the bar top: three inches of walnut, by hand. 

It took about three months to renovate the property into a restaurant, according to Anderson, who said he and his sister Alana designed the place themselves, leaving the horse tack up on the wall as decor to pay homage to the building’s history.

“I try to treat this place like an extension of my living room,” Anderson said. “When you come in here, I want you to feel like you're a guest in my home.”

Soon, Anderson plans to build out a patio to open the garage-style doors and launch a summer concert series with vendors and merchandise. He said they plan to pull the Traeger grill outside to smoke brisket and other meats this spring and summer — and have a fun Super Bowl event planned for February 8.

“We've had the full support of our community, which has been fantastic,” Anderson said. “Everybody was so excited about something new and a little bit different … the community has been so welcoming to us. Growing up in a small town, that’s very crucial — your neighbors are your family.”