Produce Row

There were a few things about our visit to Produce Row Café that didn't impress me all that much, but overall the experience was a positive one. Its location in the Central Eastside industrial district doesn't bother me, as I have some beloved places located there, all of them camouflaged as dilapidated husks on the outside, but warm, welcoming, inviting and even upscale(!) within. Produce Cafe doesn't suffer as much from this exterior decrepitude, but it's still not much of a looker, until you're actually inside. The interior dining spaces, as well as the bar, give off an old-timey, speakeasy vibe, but as our one and only visit thus far was on a warm sunny morning, we opted for the semi-covered patio out back. We were instructed to order from the bar and pay up front, which is both a little unusual, but also very efficient, especially when the place is noticeably understaffed (as it way), and servers are hard to come by for a lazy Sunday brunch. There weren't many other patrons present either, as it was just past opening, so it was probably the best decision they could make under the circumstances, assuming this isn't how they usually operate. There were a few kerfuffles during ordering: they were out of preserves to accompany my wife's Monte Cristo which is, in all honestly, a critical component of the dish (as is powdered sugar, which was strangely absent as well. Fortunately, my wife still loved it, and only lamented slightly that, with the inclusion of these two components, it would have challenged her all time favorite iteration of the dish for first place. Management, take note: when dealing with Monte Cristos, everything Counts! Don't be a Dumas. I went with the Row Burger which was, overall, pretty tasty, although again, there were a few slight nitpicks. At first, the meat patty itself seemed to have a strange, crunch texture to it, which I only realized later was the due to the included pickles. Now, normally I love pickles on a burger, and the flavor of these was excellent, but something about the texture of them was...off. I've never had a negative experience with pickles on a burger, and I wouldn't say this was, either, yet...something needs to be changed, even just slightly. Different pickles, longer marinade time...something to change up the interaction between protein and pickle. It's not enough to ruin anything, but it was definitely distracting. The burger could also use a slightly stronger, savory seasoning of some sort, whether that be a steak sauce, mustard, or something else to give it a little extra tang and kick! Service was alright, although closer to non-existent, and the wait time for out food to arrive was notably longer than should be, especially considering how few other customers were present, and most of them arrived after us. Again, this may be due to the understaffing of the restaurant, and since we pre-paid, there was little incentive to check up on us. I honestly couldn't tell you who our server was, or anything about them, since they graced our presence a single time, only to drop off our order. This review may come across a bit harsh, so I will emphasize that we did enjoy our time here at Produce Row, and both my wife and I agreed that we would like to return here in the future, possibly for dinner, when the ambiance is likely to take on a warm, dusky, sultry, romantic air to it. That said, I feel its important to be honest on the particulars that we felt could be improved, since its obvious they run a quality establishment here. A couple easy tune ups would escalate Produce Row to an easy five-star recommendation, and one I would be happy to promote!

Took advantage of the nice weather we are starting to have in Portland and wanted to go check out some new eats. On their website it stated that they had happy hour, but, upon arrival that was not the case. They had set up a great outdoor seating area in the back patio. Nice to take advantage of the outdoor space. Staff was accommodating and wiped down outdoor tables for us so we could take advantage of the nice weather. Seeing as we were stopping by for happy hour we tried their new Grapefruit cocktail and their brussel sprouts. The crunch and the glaze they were able to get on them was insane, so tasty. The crunchy onions and bacon on the top was just and added bonus to the flavor profile. Will have to come back and check it out for the full meal experience.

We stopped by on a whim, because it was really close to where we were beforehand. The employee behind the bar told us to, "sit anywhere and we'll be right with you" Well ten minutes later, after seemingly every employee walked past our table and said nothing, we went and sat at the bar instead. We got service a few minutes after that. We ended up only having one drink (my partner and I) a piece. They were $20! I spent $40 on two cocktails. Bring your burning money, because that's what you'll be doing here. Prohibitive pricing prevents me from recommending this spot.

It’s great this place is still around, and certainly still a good place to drink, but the food is really below what one should expect in Portland. The vegan quinoa bowl was soggy and should have been sent back and thrown in the trash. The onion soup was over salted and lacked onions. And definitely not inexpensive. Service at lunch was pretty inattentive. Won’t be eating there again.

I organized a dinner in the patio area for 23 guests. The management at Produce Row was wonderful and the atmosphere was perfect - they had 3 picnic tables set up for us when we arrived, and it open-air and quiet enough for us to hear each other. The picnic tables made it easy for folks to move around and catch up with different folks throughout the dinner. If you are looking for a great open-air venue near the convention center for a larger group (or a smaller group), I highly recommend Produce Row! The food was really good (something for everyone) and the service was great, too. I highly recommend the Produce Bowl!

Best Cajun chicken burger I've ever had. I don't remember the last time I could taste every ingredient combined with the flavor of the chicken all at once and in every single bite. I liked the fries too, nicely salted with a good crisp. And the chips that came with the burger were surprisingly good! Although the seasoning on them might be too much for some people, I like it and used the extra amount to go with my fries. Service was mid. And it's like they wanted us there but didn't at the same time, can't explain it other than I think they were busy and had an event later that day or something. Which might explain the servicing was distracted with multiple things. I still recommend this place just based off that burger!