Portland Lunch Spots: Uncover Hidden Joys
Nestled in the verdant Pacific Northwest, Portland, Oregon boasts a culinary scene as vibrant and diverse as its residents. Lunchtime in this foodie haven offers an array of choices that can satiate any craving. From the aromatic food carts lining the city's bustling squares to the cozy bistros tucking into its leafy neighbourhoods, Portland's lunch spots serve up a tantalising mix of local flavours, international cuisine, and innovative dishes that embody the city's pioneering spirit. Whether you're seeking a quick bite or a leisurely feast, Portland's midday offerings will delight your palate and invite you to savour a taste of local charm.
Andina
4.6
(3095)
Upscale Peruvian tapas & entrees, plus regional cocktails, presented in a warm, bustling room.
Reviews:
This place had an impeccable atmosphere and vibes, complete with live entertainment music. It was spotlessly clean, and the staff were not only attentive but also incredibly sweet. The food here was truly amazing. Each dish was delicious, filled with enticing aromas, and beautifully presented. The prices were reasonable and not too overwhelming. While I didn't try any drinks from the bar, they looked quite tempting. This spot is perfect for a romantic date night or just a lovely evening out. I highly recommend giving their beef heart skewers a try, although I do recall them being a bit larger. This time they were smaller and slightly saltier than usual, however they were still quite enjoyable. Definitely recommend!
Angela Nguyen
We haven’t had Peruvian food since our last trip to Peru. This restaurant provides an authentic Peruvian food with modern sophisticated touches for great presentation. We loved the grilled Octopus, the Peruvian seafood rice, the pork belly is delicious, and wonderful and tender short ribs!!! The service was great; a little noisy but still good to carry conversation. A nice, pleasant experience for our dinner guests.
Robin Wang
Stunning. Remarkable. Delightful celebration. First time. Rex, our server made the evening special. He was engaging with delicious recommendations. We were celebrating the completion of a 13 month project and wanted something memorable. The food, the service, the space, delivered a delightful and memorable experience.
Mark P. Fisher
Fresh ingredients & flavors. The staff was very accommodating with my dietary needs & helpful with suggesting dishes to fit what we were in the mood for. There was music in the bar & each dining room was BEAUTIFUL. My cider was delicious & my husband's old fashioned was the best he said he's ever had.
Breanna C.
Truly exceptionally great tasting food. The flavors were well balanced and the food was fresh and delicious. I had dinner with a couple of friends on a Tuesday night and the place was packed. No valet parking so you have to try your luck at street parking or finding a nearby lot. While the prices weren’t cheap, at least you save on taxes since Oregon has no sales tax. For our party of 3. We ordered 3 appetizers, wine, entrees and dessert. Total with 18% tip was $273.
Alan
1314 NW Glisan St, Portland, OR 97209, USA
Måurice
4.4
(257)
An array of pastries, Nordic-French fare, coffee & cocktails served in a tiny, all-white dining room
Reviews:
Maurice is a long-time favorite of mine in downtown Portland. It is an oasis of charm, warmth, light and attention to every detail, a reflection of the care taken by superstar chef-owner Kristen Murray in this very personal place. A “pastry luncheonette” means a tiny, daytime-only spot offering a small, seasonal menu of savory and sweet things—handwritten daily by Kristen to reflect what she finds at the market and feels like cooking and baking. All of the deliciousness on the plate is complemented by her thoughtful selection of wines by the glass, teas and other drinks. Run, don’t walk, to Maurice.
Juliette Pope
Absolutely wonderful gourmet-French-Scandi dining experience. The lemon soufflé was extraordinary - one of the best I've ever had. The lions head mushroom schnitzel had dynamite flavor but could have been a little crisper in my opinion. The halibut was like butter! Amazing! Hollandaise was perfect as promised. Great ambiance from the staff's clothing to the bathroom decoration. Staff was knowledgeable and helpful, asked about allergies, and even made recommendations for other restaurants. My only problem was that I like to pay cash and they are cashless.
Michael Breaux
I went for a late breakfast but I recommend this place for lunch. The menu looks amazing. The place is small and cozy a block away from Powell books. I had a toast with poached eggs and a house vermut. Very PNW pretty food
Gustavo Perez
A magical place on Earth! Chef Kristen and her team brought one of the best tasting menus (Fri - Sat dinner and Sunday brunch) to PDX area and the best tea pairing I've experienced!
My Bach
It’s the details that matter. Subtle details and intricacies abound, which are reflected in the way food is made here! Had a phenomenal light lunch and ordered a host of very peculiar pastries, a delicious orange wine from the area, and the claimed to fame Quiche. All were praiseworthy in their own right. Definitely worth a stop for lunch. Minimal wait. The service was great too! Hint: Order the honey teacake, the black pepper cheesecake, the pear tart, or the plum brioche. All spectacular.
Kenneth
921 SW Oak St, Portland, OR 97205, USA
Mother's bistro & bar
4.6
(4691)
Homey cafe & bar with country-chic decor & chandeliers specializes in hearty comfort-food classics.
Reviews:
The portions were good and the quality of the food was excellent. I highly recommend the location, the atmosphere and the customer service. Even the owner and Chef, Lisa, came out to check on our table personally. The servers were friendly and I was astounded with their capacity to memorize the specials. I was quite impressed with my experience.
Vivian Kwan
Awesome place for breakfast. We ordered Biscuits & Gravy, Stuffed Frittata, Wild Salmon Hash, Pumpkin Pancakes, Strawberry Belgian Waffle, and Coffee. Everything was super delicious!!
Sue L
This place is amazing. The place has wonderful selection of cocktails and food. Visited this place with a group of 5+ people for dinner and my experience was really good. They start you off with freshly baked biscuits that were really good. I also ordered hibiscus Margarita and I can recommend that. The staff were really polite and friendly. I didn’t like chicken and dumplings that I ordered from entrees. However I think that is because of my palette. I remember everyone else really enjoyed their order. Don’t miss out on crème brûlée, that was amazing!! I can recommend this place to anyone visiting Portland. Parking could be found in the street parking spots or parking lot nearby. Restrooms were clean and well maintained.
Dewansh Rastogi
This place has plenty of reviews, but here's one more. We had a great server, Kailea! I tried the raspberry waffle and blueberry pancakes, and they are both good without syrup. I also had eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes. The bacon is thick cut and cooked well. The crispy edged potatoes were properly seasoned. Next time I'll skip the sausage, but everything was delicious.
Farah Fam
I was treated to brunch for my birthday at this well-known restaurant in downtown Portland. It was quite a treat. The restaurant is situated in a beautiful and historic hotel built in the early 1900s. The photo is of a delicious breakfast of French toast presented to me with a candle.
Katie Hackley
121 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204, USA
Higgins
4.5
(1069)
Longtime classy spot for local & sustainable NW fare, with a lively bar, many beers & Oregon wines.
Reviews:
We enjoyed a Friday night dinner in the dining room. The staff was attentive and super friendly. The food was excellent. We ordered the mussels appetizer, the mussels were steamed perfectly, but the soup base was the star of the show. I ordered the lamb pasta dish, which was delicious, and I was surprised by the portion, my husband had to help me finish. My husband ordered the duck as an entree and he said it was fantastic, portion size was basically half a duck, which was amazing.
Paula Regan
Extremely helpful and friendly staff, very professional and knowledgeable service. The food is excellent. Everything we ordered was great, including the wine. The wine list is fairly large with several Oregon wines in addition to French, etc.
Ethan Anderson
The food was excellent. Service was great. Our entrees were taking particularly long but the waiter was attentive and informative about the situation. As a thank you for our patience, they unnecessarily "took care of" one of our rounds of drinks. Free drinks or not I'll be going back.
Nate Drews
Fantastic French meal. Farm to table ingredients, friendly staff, inviting atmosphere. Portions are plentiful and savory. You won't be disappointed.
Kim Owen
Stumbled upon this place while searching Google maps for a restaurant in downtown nearby to my hotel to meet up with a local friend in Portland. He’s familiar with many of the top restaurants, but had never been to this one though it’s been on his list for a while! Relaxed atmosphere with staff that really care about the food and your experience. Our waiter had been working there for 29 years and had helped found the restaurant! I was excited to try the dishes with locally sourced ingredients, and we shared the salmon (pictured) which was really nice and a very substantial pork dish with sausage and a meatball. In hindsight, would have ordered the ling cod as a lighter dish but enjoyed my dinner here.
Samantha Ching
1239 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205, USA
Cafe nell
4.2
(963)
Classy & cozy bistro specializing in European & Northwest bites alongside innovative cocktails.
Reviews:
Or visit to Café Nell was fortuitous, as the nearby restaurant we'd planned on checking out was unceremoniously closed during their posted operating hours (both online and terrestrial), for some unknown reason. We looked for something similar in the neighborhood, and this classy little bistro jumped out at us, having both an intriguing brunch menu and an adorable aesthetic. Upon arrival, and lacking a reservation, we were informed that the only available tables were inside (awesome!), and were seated immediately. Pleasantly surprised to see a variant of one of my favorite cocktails (the Rusty Nail) on the drink menu, I ordered the Kentucky Nail to go with my chicken paillard, while my wife ordered the French 75, a sort of sparkling lemon gimlet, along with the shrimp and grits; I'm still flabbergasted that she didn't order the Dungeness crab mac & cheese! In both cases, the entrées were incredible; the shrimp and grits, an elevated home-cookin' comfort classic, hit all the right notes. Meanwhile, the chicken paillard was a complex amalgam of savory, sweet and sour, unified by the acerbic mustard vinaigrette dressing drizzled over both greens and fowl, it's only weakness being there wasn't enough of it. This would be my only complaint about our dining experience here: without the presence of an included side dish, this otherwise exemplary dish seemed a little exorbitantly priced for the size of the portion, yet not enough to be a detraction. Still, those with larger appetites should plan, and order, accordingly. As gorgeous as the covered outdoor seating is, especially as it was on the warm Sunday morning in which we visited, the interior décor is no slouch, with its upscale-diner-meets-Parisian-boutique vibe. It's cute, cozy, and intimate, particularly after sunset, when the lighting manifests a moodier, duskier, more sultry ambiance. Perfect for a date night! Portioning and pricing taken into consideration, a meal at Café Nell is still a worthwhile experience. They do things differently enough to stand out among their competitors, offering some truly incredible dishes, uncommonly great (and uncommonly encountered) cocktails, and stellar service, all packaged together in a charming little corner space that wouldn't seem out of place in any of the 20 Parisian arrondissements...which is saying something, because this is ostensibly an American café. When you can stand toe-to-toe with the culinary colossus that is French cuisine and culture, you're doing something VERY right.
Jason Van Camp
Im surprised this restaurant doesn’t get better reviews but sounds like service gets tough when it’s busy and I can see how this Northwest spot can get really busy for lunch and dinner. It’s a small place inside but they’ve created amazing outdoor spaces. I’ve been a few times, always during off-times like 3-4p for a late lunch. The food is always great (chicken and salmon cob are my go-to but the beef and turkey burgers are fantastic too). The service has always been friendly, attentive, and quick too. Go during their off times or just be patient as the atmosphere is incredible and the food is worth the wait!
Pizza Prince
Fun spot for a group reservation outside. It's on a quiet street. They have a sidewalk patio and back patio in addition to indoor dining. The have a full bar. We came for dinner but the breakfast and lunch menus looked better. I wished there had been more snacks to order for the table. I'd come back to sit outside again.
Teresa
We had been to a wine tasting in the alphabet district and needed a light dinner. Cafe Nell hot the spot. It's decor is quirky but not in a bad way, lots of convex mirrors on the wall and ceiling.We had eaten a large late lunch so decided to share the crab cake appetizer and the mussels and fries entree. The crab cakes were tasty but could have had more crab and less filler. The mussels and fries were delicious. We had to order bread to soak up the sauce. We will definitely go back with bigger appetites.
Greg Burns
It was a very warm and inviting atmosphere, definitely enjoyed the vibe and live music (which was just the right volume). Sat outside, temperature was cozy with the space heater, lighting is festive. Beyond that, the food and house cocktails were top notch, service was fast and friendly. Will definitely return
Jeff Roberts
1987 NW Kearney St, Portland, OR 97209, USA
Farmer and the beast
4.7
(180)
Trendy food truck making shakes & handcut fries, plus burgers made with beef, tuna or vegan patties.
Reviews:
Oh I wanted so badly to enjoy this place, it looked like my kind of burger! We must have ordered at the wrong time, I think they were over-extended. When I arrived to pickup the food, I ended up having to wait another 30 minutes. They were getting hammered with people and online orders. We eventually did get our food and it was pretty good. The burger I'd say was decent, like much better than any fast food, but I don't know, there was something that was missing to take it to the next level. My wife agreed. The french fries were excellent! I also got the chicken sandwich which I thought would be stellar, but it was a little burnt to be honest, so the burnt bits sort of overpowered the taste. I think maybe this place is a victim of their popularity? I'd like to try them again at a less busy time. They definitely make some good food, but the night we went it wasn't quite there.
Paul M
I recently decided to visit this place based on the buzz surrounding their supposedly mouth-watering sandwiches. I, an ardent lover of burgers, went for their much-hyped 'Smash Burger', while my partner chose another popular sandwich, their chicken sandwich, from the menu. Upon our first bite, our expectations hit the ceiling but soon came crashing down. The Smash Burger, priced at a whopping $11, was mediocre at best. While it wasn't awful, it certainly didn't deliver the taste explosion that the price tag implied. However, the second sandwich – the one my partner ordered – outdid the first in disappointing us. It was so drenched in grease that it was rendered practically inedible. What was meant to be a deliciously indulgent meal quickly became a sloppy mess, so much so that it necessitated a small mountain of napkins to combat the deluge of oil. I've attached a picture here and you can see just how much oil we're talking about. I understand that some people may enjoy a certain level of greasiness in their sandwiches. However, this was way overboard, and frankly, felt like it undermined the ingredients' inherent flavors. This sandwich should come with a warning sign or perhaps a bib! Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Pedram
Really good burger. Some say best in Portland...but I like Killer Burger better. But taste is subjective. Pattys are fab. Good bun. I added jalapenos, bacon steak and grilled onions. The bacon tastes like ham. The basic burger is $11. With my additions it came to $16. Parking is challenging. They have left over covid outdoor seating. Tao and pay accepted. Check out my other reviews for yummy places to eat.
Michael Key
Smashburger style...double patty standard and just a great all around burger. Super satisfying, they even do a fried egg as an add which is my favorite thing for a good protein/nutrient add. Nice people. Easy to order kiosk style system. The little courtyard they are in is a great location. It can be a little loud and the table availability can get tight. I overall I recommend.
Erica Jane Price
Beast burger ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - really good and better than fast food, but won't absolutely blow your mind Fries ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - perfectly crispy Farmers lemonade ⭐⭐⭐ - too sweet for me Think I'd try a salad next time and that would probably be five stars
Nicole
1845 NW 23rd Pl, Portland, OR 97210, USA
Cheryl's on 12th
4.5
(2783)
Gourmet cafe & market offering creative New American cuisine & housemade sweets in an upbeat space.
Reviews:
So good that we ate breakfast there twice! The Portuguese and Veggie Fried Rice were outstanding! Lovely, fresh beignets and a cozy atmosphere just added to the experience. Best breakfast in Portland IMHO!
Erik D
The beignets are amazing. We sat down and the waitress brought us some complimentary ones and they were the best pastry I have ever had. Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside almost the softness of a pudding, melt in your mouth I had the biscuits and gravy and it was really good. I don't know if I could day it was the best I ever had, it would have to be a little hotter temperature wise to be really amazing but it still was good The waitress was friendly and very helpful The atmosphere is excellent, the chairs are very comfortable. Great place
Bradley Berthold
The foods are delicious and very yummy! We ordered fish tacos, the grilled fish was larger than the tacos. The Portuguese fried rice was tasty with eggs, sausage and green onions plus seasoning. Service was excellent and friendly.
Robin Wang
This GEM! Totally worth making the trip to downtown Portland. Open up with delicious coffee and teas, served with delicious beignets. Our party picked up the delicious Portuguese Fried Rice, savory Ed's Scramble, and uniquely and tasty Apple Frittwich. All of the food was phenomenal! Our hostess was polite and attentive. I really appreciated her not trying to sell anything she hadn't tried and giving honest feedback on things she had experienced. The dining area is a huge, fun, maze with turns around every corner. Recommend reservations, saved us some time in line on a busy Sunday. Most definitely will be back!
RJ Whitley
Finally an enjoyable and peaceful downtown Portland experience for breakfast. Such a great atmosphere and the food is quality with unique flavors that make it so memorable. The service was slightly lacking, but they were busy and had just expanded to the space behind them so I won’t knock them too hard for it. I got the Croque Monsieur with the side of Cheesy Hash Browns. The sandwich was great with quality cheese, and bread that was absolutely delicious. The hash browns are a must have here, they are creamy and make for a perfect side. Totally recommend.
Parker Powers
1135 SW Washington St, Portland, OR 97205, USA