Where is the Best Wine Bar in Portland, Oregon?
It’s a new location at the “old Rocket”, on top of a great building on E. Burnside. It’s definitely lost some of the “neighborhood” vibe from the old location and is now a more trendy yet still comfortable wine bar. It is VERY different from the old location. If you liked the cozy, low key environment from the old place, the new busy trendy vibe from the new NR may not be your thing. It seems that it’s no longer a “neighborhood wine bar” but a “downtown wine bar”. There’s still the same staff and same menu, which kept a continuity, but there is definitely some growing pains with the added staff getting used to the new kitchen. I’m excited to experience it in the summer with the view. The wine list is great, the prices are fantastic, the food….could have been better, could have been worse. Our party (5) enjoyed a lot of the menu. Our favorites: The cheese plate (great variety and the most fantastic triple creme that I’ve ever had) and the onion tart (classic and the perfect size). Th
My sister and I checked out Vino Vixens the other night and we both really liked it. The location is odd, kind of hard to tell where it is exactly in the strip mall (their sign isn’t really over the door you enter through). Inside we were really surprised – the front is a wine bar and pretty decent wine shop. There were a good number of wines by the glass to choose from and all we tried were really good. The back goes on & on…..There are tons of seating areas, couches, etc. and a big-screened tv – kind of feels like a big living room. There is a pool table and foos ball table in an adjoining room. Their location is the only draw back, but might not be too crowded on the weekends, especially if you have a big group. Nice to see a wine bar that you can actually have some fun at.Pros + Good wines by the glass, foosball!Cons – Location – strip mall on Powell.
We’ve been going to Vino Paradiso for over a year now, sometimes once a week, sometimes once a month. What I love about Vino:THE FOOD – fresh, local, organic, creative, delicious, perfectly priced. Chef Duncan has even hand picked the nettles he uses in spring dishes! His lamb is amazing. His hand made sausages are incredible. I want to eat his heirloom tomato/mozarella/basil/olive oil salad as my last meal. Last night we had a really, really good winter squash wrapped in speck. We’ve never had anything but excellent food, wine pairing and service. We love the food so much we hired the chef, Ian Duncan, to cater an outdoor summer grill party which was a resounding success. THE WINE- An extensive menu with great, approachable descriptions to help us decide what we want. Tim Nishimoto, the owner/sommelier will tell us about the region, history, and flavors (sorry – I have no better word) of the wines we try. He’s so down to earth, mellow and approachable that it’s a fu
I’ve lived in Lake Oswego for 35 years and while Portland has tons of options to choose from for knowledgable diners, we have had very few here. I had been to Five Spice a couple times before, but not since the latest change in management and menu. Frankly, I think the Pan Asian theme was better than the current more mainstream approach.I took my wife and mother there last night (a Saturday). We were greeted downstairs at the door as I dropped my passengers off by the hostess. The restaurant is still beautiful inside, and the bar has been given increased importance, although the multitude of large format wine bottles setting around seemed an overt attempt to impress. The place is well-staffed in numbers, though we seemed to get the junior waitperson, who was pretty tenuous. He managed to break off the cork on the bottle of ’96 Rhone wine I had brought from my cellar. Still, service was pretty attentive.The wine list is fairly extensive, with a $35 – 2,000 range, though not va
Wow – a wine bar without attitude and that has a beautiful view, good food and a great selection of wines. Albeit they focus on Pacific Northwest wines, not something I usually gravitate toward – but their selection is delicious and the staff knows how to point you to what you will like. For the adventirous – they also have…
