Portland, Oregon Hotel

Only one night in Portland. Need hotel recs.

Stayed at the Benson last spring and it was quite nice … cozy bar, comfortable room … not a picturesque setting but quite central. Check the photos to see if it’s your style … interesting building. Curious to see what else is recommended since I don’t know Portland spots well enough but I’d rebook at the Benson if I was heading back.

We stay in PDX a couple of times a year. I prefer the Monaco and then the Paramont. The Monaco is a little more spendy but nicer. The Paramont always seems to be a little less expensive than the other downtown hotels so we usually end up there, and it’s nice and closer to shopping. I’ve also stayed at the Benson, Vintage Plaza, Heathman, Hilton, Marriott, and Westin, and thought they were all fine. The Nines, is supposed to be really nice, but I don’t need to spend that kind of money for a room that I’ll be in less than 10 hours. If you need to be outside downtown the answer might change.

We stayed at The Nines last year and enjoyed it a lot. Yes, it’s pricey but we found it to be worth it. ymmv. The restaurant up top, Departure, is very good w killer city views.

There’s a Kimpton property at River Place that looks nice too. We stuck our head in this last trip but haven’t stayed there.

The nines. Great location too.

We were at the Benson last year and were pleased

Thanks. Can any of you also recommend a couple of good restaurants for dinner one night also?

Have to agree with Rick. Monaco is a Kimpton hotel and we pulled it off of Priceline with some good filter work :slight_smile:

Nines is a great hotel, but a little to “W” for me and the lobby is on the 6th (something like that) floor. Atrium is nice and all, but I’d do Monaco again in a heartbeat; service was excellent, even with kids. Heathman was ok (nice restaurant for breakfast - corn beef hash is great), but room was a little small, much like the Brown in Denver. Riverfront and Marriott were also o.k., but the location stinks (SE corner of downtown).

Ataula - we tried this recently…
http://www.ataulapdx.com/
Awesome food, the noodle/meat paella dish is insane… we waited about 1-1.25 hours here…

Had Andina a while ago… also quite good.

Heard great things about Ox, but it was a 2.5 hr wait so we couldn’t get in.

So here’s the thing with Portland dining… apparently people really love to sit/stand outside restaurants there… almost every good spot is 1.5-2 hour wait.
Unless you have 6 people+ and can make a reservation. There’s a small list of places that allow reservation for small groups, but that seems to be the exception not the rule it seems…

When we go it’s basically a day of standing in line… and eating…
wait 30-40 mins for brunch…
wait 15-30 mins for coffee
wait 30-45 min for donuts
wait 1.5-2 hours for dinner.
etc I don’t know how the locals do it! [wow.gif]
i’m not local, so maybe i’m doing it wrong as well!

There are a lot of places where you can get a reservation in PDX. Downtown, there Imperial, Higgins, and Q (the folks from the Veritable Quandary that was forced to close a couple years ago) off the top of my head. Hell, you can get a reservation to Le Pigeon if you want, and if not, you can always go to Little Bird. A lot of the people waiting in line are from out of town…

Dang it… see. i just wasn’t doing it right… flirtysmile

no trip to Portland would be complete without a dinner at Le Pigeon. If you can’t get a rez, just show up at 4:45 and you can get a seat at the bar. 15 minutes wait :slight_smile:

What about Higgins?

I used to love Higgins - went there for lunch about once a month. I still think it’s good, but somewhat overpriced. The Portland market has gotten much more competitive IMO, and other restaurants have pushed the envelope more than they have.

So Rick, what would you recommend? I just tried to reserve at le Pigeon in early April and the available times are not good for us.

Paul is probably a better person to ask than me, and it somewhat depends on what you want. If going downtown, I’d go to Imperial, Q, and Little Bird before Higgins. If you can get out of downtown, I’d look at Kachka (Russian) or St Jack (French). I can give you an update in a couple of weeks - we’re headed up to Portland for a few days and having dinner at Q and St Jack.

Food trucks

Over on Mississippi

For a little funk, perhaps the Crystal Hotel Crystal Hotel Hotel - McMenamins . . . to go with the food trucks.

For more funk, the Ace. Connected to Stumptown for coffee, Clyde Common for room service, bar, restaurant. And two doors from Kenny and Zukes.