Portland's Best Dive Bar

Historical hipster bar with an otherworldly, Oriental feel.

Reviews:

• “best quesadilla ever!”
• “Cool bar, bad smoke”
• “Fantastic service, food and stiff drinks!”
• “The worst bar in Portland”
• “Best downtown bar”

Tips: Nouveau Asian fare is a must—it’s inexpensive and on its way to legendary. Don’t pass up potstickers, which are delicious and tender. Other interesting culinary finds: coconut and lemongrass soup, various incarnations of ahi tuna, and noodle bowls.

Shanghai Tunnel

Reviews:

• “Best “Classic” American Diner in Portland"
• “Mellow, comfortable dive bar”
• “Greasy and Cheap!”

Joe’s Cellar

Reviews:

• “Great Happy Hour Drinks!”
• “Best Dive Bar in Portland!!!”

Yur’s Restaurant and Lounge

Reviews:

• “Good chain retaurant you can depend on”
• “It was just ok”
• “Great time, reasonable price…”
• “Overpriced Bland Food”
• “$12 plate of lettuce”

McCormick’s Fish House

Dark and funky, this lounge successfully counteracts the Pearl District’s high-brow tendencies.

Reviews:

• “Always my last stop”
• “No more….”
• “Psycho owner”
• “the truth”
• “Stylish Dive Done Right”

Tips: Get $2.75 microbrews and $3 well drinks Mon-Fri, 5pm-7pm.

Low Brow Lounge

The next best thing to taking a little vacation in the islands.

Reviews:

• “I love it”
• “Plug Your Nose!”
• “The Smokey Hut”
• “Whatever”
• “started off great…”

Tips: A table shuffleboard keeps patrons busy while the Ramones, Dixie Chicks and Fleetwood Mac play from the jukebox.

Sandy Hut

Customers can exile themselves in this North Portland island-themed bar, drinking and karaoke-ing the day away.

Reviews:

• “Fun karaoke, mediocre service”
• “Great place to Karaoke!”
• “Awesome service, avoid weekend nights if you want to do karaoke”
• “Cool atmosphere, weak drinks”
• “Be drunk and plan to stay drunk”

Tips: This bar serves huge, fun drinks like the Cabana Kooler, which consists of orange juice, oceans of rum and other secret ingredients. It may be pink, but it packs a punch.

The Alibi Restaurant and Lounge

Blues rules, but music isn’t the only draw at this friendly joint.

Reviews:

• “go to the Pitstop instead”
• “Grow up!”
• “Going downhill fast”
• “The Tilly has been better…”
• “Lost my patronage”

Tips: The bar-menu dinner comes with a choice of vegetables—all of them fresh. On one visit, razor clams were as tender and nicely pan-fried as those you’d find at a fancier restaurant.

Tillicum Club

Reviews:

• “I’m in love”
• “Definitely the YamHOLE”
• “the kind of bar where the homeless feel at home”
• “We call it ‘The Yamhole’”
• “cool barkeeps..lotta scumbags”

Yamhill Pub

Cheap libations and a well-stocked jukebox fuel a grungy, raucous, yet friendly vibe.

Reviews:

• “Hangin’ in the basement again for sure!”
• “Great bar to meet people at for a beer.”
• “Get rid of your attitude, Portland…”
• “Great fun palce”
• “great little neighborhood joint”

Tips: Big pints (20 ounce) at regular pint prices can be had during daily happy hour (3pm-8pm) and all night on “Big-Ass Mondays.”

The Basement Pub

It looks like a Bavarian ski lodge on the outside, but it’s all hip rock and rollers and stiff drinks inside at this popular northeast hangout.

Reviews:

• “Pretty good bar, but avoid the snarky barkeep”

Tips: Don’t miss the dollar beer night, Wednesdays 5:30pm to 2:30am.

Club 21

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