Where is the Best Wine Bar in Portland, Oregon?
A group of 6 of us went there for dinner yesterday.First the service. There was our table and 1 other group in the place, yet the service was extremely slow. On 2 occassions the solitary server went out the door and left, coming back a few minutes later.Now the food. You get 2 menus, a bar menu and a dinner menu. The bar menu offers “snacks” at about $3-$6 a pop. We had 2 items. They were nice, but small. Value for money is questionable.The dinner entree’s had about 5-6 dishes on it. Price wise they ranged from about $14 for fish and chips (the Duck mentioned by Lori is down to $14 too!) to an eye watering $25 for their Sunday Roast. We had 3 different dishes at the table (no Sunday roast!). The consensus was that they were alright, but nothing special. We tried the desert and consensus was split on that – the trifle wasn’t for everyone, the spotted d1ck was ok but the sticky toffee pudding was good.$35 a head for 2 shared snacks, 6 entrees, 3 desserts and 2 rounds o
My friend and I were in search of a good place for Happy Hour and decided to try the Empire Room. The place itself is cozy, cute, and somewhat romantic. We went during a time when business was slow, so the service was fairly fast. I ordered a lemon drop and felt it tasted a little watered down. My friend ordered the Butter Pecan which I thought was much better. We ordered artichoke dip and quesadillas. I thought the quesadillas were very tasty, however the artichoke dip was just so-so. We had a good time, the atmosphere was great, but it wasn’t the greatest food/drink I’ve ever had (at least as far as Happy Hour goes). Maybe I just ordered the wrong things.Pros + atmosphere, fast serviceCons – food was average, lemondrop was so-so
The other day, my wife happened upon this charming restaurant and spent an hour or so enjoying a glass of wine and talking with some of the patrons and the bartender. She, of course, told me about it when she came home. So this evening we decided to try it for dinner. I must say that while my wife is quite a connoisseur of gourmet eating establishments, my tastes tend to be a bit less sophisticated. Wine Down on 28th was the perfect choice. My wife had a glass of sangria and we started with a cheese tray. I don’t know what kinds of cheeses there were, but I liked them. For our entree, my wife ordered the Adobe Marinated Pork Loin with citrus demi-glaze and chili-lime mojo and sliced avocado. Our waiter (who was PERFECT) recommended it, and advised us that it was a bit spicy. My wife did think it was extremely flavorful, but not spicy in a “hot” kind of way. I ordered the Ribeye, but started with some soup. Like I said, I’m not very adventurous, but the soup was… get this..
This is simply a great neighborhood wine bar. You can either (1) pick up a bottle to take home to dinner; (2) hunker down at a table and work on your dissertation; or (3) chat with your neighbors at the bar. If you don’t know anything about wine, Beth will help you figure out what you like. Ask her what’s open, or try anything on the shelf. What’s not to love? No snobbery, plenty of sass, good music, and a cute dog. Pros + good food close by, interesting artCons – a rare needy customer
We had a great time, but on that night the chef was gone because of a family emergency and we could only do a limited menu which was still good. I was there a week before and there was zero seating on the patio so we had to wait for a pretty long time. We had a great Rose wine at the bar and finally got a seat out back 30 minutes later. The patio is very private and feels like hanging out in your own back yard. Comfy! It is a good place to drop by after work for all of us.You might call to see if they will do reservations since I’m not sure.Pros + Beautiful bar, very European feeling patio, nice server.Cons – They need more outside seating for sure. Didn’t know what “Alu” was for ages because the sign doesn’t say.
