Formerly the hippest bar on the Belmont strip, Aalto has become a bar where one can enjoy a drink, excellent food, and the dimly-lit, well accented space without having to shove through a crowd.
Amnesia's brews are as much of a draw here as their patio and both are pretty impressive.
More than just a holding area for anyone waiting for a show at Mississippi, Bar Bar is a draw all it's own. Great food, decent prices and an amazing patio.
Dark and grungy with spotty service and cheap drinks, it'd be easy to forget if it didn't offer up a few notable surprises: the food is excellent and they have a covered, heated smoking patio.
This place has more rules than the TSA after a bomb threat. One drink per order, patio closes at 10, last call is at 1:45, etc. It's exhausting.
The Bear Paw is a rarity: a not-gay bear themed bar. Once your head is wrapped around that reality, the only thing left to do is figure out what poor life decisions lead you here.
Beulahland has a way of weeding out those who just aren't going to understand how awesome it is and leave a group of wonderfully strange individuals within its walls. Well done.
Occupied by the sort of people that would puke on your cat and pass out on the lawn at your housewarming party, Billy Ray's is a good dive on the edge of bad (and that's a complement).
It's hard to say if B-Side is a great bar or just a great alternative to the other bars in the immediate area. Either way, it gets the job done well.
Excellent vegan food, delicious mix drinks and plenty of outdoor space makes this one of the best (and most popular) bars on the Alberta strip.
If the humor in watching human garbage get in a queue to humiliate themselves isn't lost on you, Chopsticks II might be good for a laugh. Just don't eat the food or go on a weekend night.
Chopsticks III is a karaoke practice bar, fewer people in the queue, fewer people to judge you.
The name conjures up images of youth flailing about to some shitty DJ, but Club 21 is actually a respectable dive with good service and a great outdoor area.
Doug Fir is one of the best venues to see a show in Portland, just make sure to bring a friend. Go alone and the best conversation of the night will start with "Hey, got a cigarette I can bum?"
Duckett's motif seems to be impending doom, and they carried it all the way through, from the patrons who size you up for a potential robbery to the bright lights to aid any potential witnesses.
EastBurn got rid of everything cool about it. It's basically just a restaurant with "meh" food and a bar with terrible service now.
Portland's nastiest gay bar and proud of it! They don't frown on having a beer in the nude, but they do tend to frown on women entering this "man's bar".
One could forget the fact that Foggy Notion is equal parts aggravating and alienating if they could serve drinks faster than it takes a person to sober-up waiting.
It's impossible to always be up for a night of dancing in a hot, moist basement full of hipsters, thankfully Goodfoot offers an upstairs with lots of games and decent food.
With 50 rotating taps you can drink through a couple livers before getting bored with the selection. Unfortunately you'll be bored by the other customers long before that.
You've found yourself at Hal's which means you are either a.) An alcoholic or b.) a douchebag. If neither of those describe you, consider another bar. Otherwise, welcome home.
Just off the main Mississippi strip, Liberty Glass is by far the best bar in the area. It's cute and intimate, they've got decent prices, good food and great service.
There's not much of a reason for anyone who doesn't live in the neighborhood to venture to The Lion's Eye, and I believe that explains what makes it so awesome.
Mix drinks are the draw, but the patio is an oasis in post-smoking-ban Portland. Prices are steep and the wait time on the bathroom can get really bad on a busy night.
American bars modeled after European bars typically do a pretty half-assed job, and while Moon & Sixpence tries a bit harder, it's still pretty unremarkable.
There isn't anything wrong with this place, it's clean, cozy, and sports a pretty sweet patio. Unfortunately, it's haunted by sadness and patronized by the living embodiments of broken dreams.
The Nest is a shithole that feels vaguely dangerous depending on the night, and the threat of stepping in a puddle of underage vomit is always present and very real. That is the draw here.
Ample outdoor space for one to enjoy a drink, hookah, cigarette, or just bar time with a dog. The only downside is the painfully slow service.
Radio Room trends to douchey, but they've devised a layout that hides the majority of them from view. The food is good, but it's only "meh" for drinks.
Ill-suited for anyone looking to have fun, Red Fox would be a great place to dump someone, or have any uncomfortable conversation really.
Like moths to a light bulb, smokers gather around the fire on one of Portland's best patios. Free jukebox, free pool, and lots of antiques await you inside.
Rontoms is a case study in how a bar can get so hip that it circles back to lame. Things become more tolerable in the summer months on the giant patio, but the service sucks despite the season.
After looking around, eating here may be the last thing you want to do, but the food is actually pretty good. Drinks are cheap and Roscoe's also sports a heated, covered smoking area in back.
The awesome multi-level patio is one of the city's best, awesome enough to make you forget how much they're charging you per drink.
They seem to have a different set of rules for every show/event, so don't be surprised if you end up covered in hand stamps or have to ditch your drink to see the band.
Great food, great prices, pinball, a photo booth, smoking patio and an interior that somehow pulls of cozy and spacious? Saratoga is so damn good, it might be the only stop you make.
The long tables make this a great bar to have awkward small talk with strangers, so grab a Hamm's and discuss the weather!
Busy nights are pretty random at this SE gay bar so look to the patio! Party outside = good night at Starky's.
The service can be spotty, the patio closes before the bar, and it gets randomly over-run with idiots. That said, Vendetta definitely has a sweet spot, and when you hit it, all else is forgiven.
