59 Best Restaurants in Portland, Oregon

Described by baker-owner Kristen Murray as a "modern pastry luncheonette," this dainty West End café has just a handful of wooden booth and counter seats and a minimalist-inspired white-on-white aesthetic. The menu features exquisite French–Scandinavian pastries, cakes, and sandwiches, as well as a full gamut of drinks, including wine (interesting flights are offered), beer, cocktails, teas, and coffee.

Beloved chef and cookbook author Lisa Schroeder dedicates her home-style, made-with-love approach to food to the comforting foods prepared by mothers everywhere. Clearly the theme resonates, as evidenced by the long waits on weekends, and even some weekday mornings for breakfast, which is arguably the best time of the day to sample Schroeder's hearty cooking; try the wild salmon hash with leeks or the French toast with a crunchy cornflake crust. Reservations are recommended on weekends.

You'll find some of the tastiest sweets—including heavenly pistachio-rose croissants and blueberry-blackberry scones—in town at this cozy patisserie and café a few blocks south of Jamison Square. Be sure to check out the ever-changing selection of fluffy macarons.

The flagship restaurant of one of the country's leading sources of artisanal charcuterie, such as smoked chorizo, pepper-coated capicola, and pork-pistachio pâté, Olympia Provisions serves gorgeous platters of meats and cheeses along with more eclectic seasonal Mediterranean-influenced fare like eggplant à la plancha with pine nuts and lemon vinaigrette, and pan-roasted black cod with stewed chickpeas. The setting is a smartly designed warehouse space and features a glowing "Meat" sign which quite simply says it all. There's also a pub and a Spanish-inspired tavern, Bar Casa Vale, which are both also in Southeast.

Colorful lights, floral-print tablecloths, and lush plants provide a bit of tropical flair to this festive culinary homage to the hawker foods of Singapore and Malaysia, such as corn fritters with sweet-chili peanut sauce, charred-pineapple salad with chili-shrimp sauce, and sour-tamarind baby-back ribs with fish sauce. Save room for a Fruity Pebble rice crispy treat.

The line that forms outside this Southern-cooking restaurant during weekend brunch and dinner is as epic as the food itself, but you can more easily score a table if you come for weekday brunch, and it's easier to find seating at the newer Pearl District location. A large, packed dining room with canned pickles and peppers along the walls, this Portland hot spot does justice to authentic Southern cooking, especially when it comes to the crispy buttermilk-battered fried chicken with creamy mashed potatoes and collard greens cooked in bacon fat. Or choose the Screen Door plate with your choice of four sides (consider the mac and cheese, creamy grits, and most any of the salads on the rotating seasonal menu).

Though the cooks at this lively counter-service restaurant are adept at preparing tamales—both the Oaxacan style wrapped in banana leaves and the more conventional style wrapped in corn husks (try the version filled with roasted pasilla peppers, onions, corn kernels, and queso fresco)—the kitchen also turns out fabulous seafood burritos and grilled-corn esquites. Be sure to check out the colorful murals that decorate the space and don't miss the chance to dine on the spacious side patio. There's an additional location on North Russell Street.

Established by the team behind the vaunted weekend dinner house, Han Oak, this cozy, casually minimalist spot in the trendy West End doles out inventive modern Korean bites, from savory bay shrimp pancakes with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce to Manila clams with miso butter and ginger sake. A highly popular brunch is served Friday–Sunday and is especially known for its twisted donuts in tantalizing flavors like milk tea and toasted coconut.

This popular upscale Pearl District restaurant offers an inventive menu—a combination of traditional Peruvian and contemporary "Novoandina" cuisines—served in a large but nook-filled space that features live music most evenings. The extensive seafood offerings include several ceviches, grilled octopus, and a Peruvian-style paella that abounds with shellfish. A late-night bar offers sangria, small plates, and cocktails. 

The pies here—which have been lauded by Anthony Bourdain, Rachael Ray, and thousands of everyday pizza lovers—deserve the first-class reputation they enjoy. The greatness of the pies rests not in innovation or complexity, but in the simple quality of the ingredients, such as dough made by hand in small batches and baked to crispy-outside, tender-inside perfection and toppings—including basil, pecorino romano, and house-cured bacon—that are fresh and delicious. Although the decor is rather plain and you'll likely have to wait for a table, you'll forget all once you take your first bite and start basking in the glory of some of the best pizza in the city.

Set beneath a soaring beamed ceiling, and with a welcoming mix of worn wooden seating, kitschy decor, bright fabrics, and intoxicating smells, this lively restaurant along Division Street's hoppin' restaurant row specializes in Indian street food. Order at the counter, and your food—perhaps vada pav (spicy potato dumplings with chutney), gobi Manchurian (Indo-Chinese fried cauliflower with lemon, curry leaves, and sweet-and-sour sauce), or Goan-style shrimp served with a full complement of chutneys, paratha bread, and dal—will be brought out to you. The smaller original location is in the Alberta Arts District.

This often crowded and convivial ramen shop, at the entrance of the Union Alley shopping arcade across from the Ace Hotel, is tiny in size and menu, but popular for its quick-service soups, including spicy red miso with pork belly and egg, and shiitake mushroom shoyu. Seating is at a few small wooden tables and a short bar, so prepare for a wait at lunchtime or on weekend evenings. Boxer Ramen has four additional locations in the Alberta Arts District, Sellwood, Nob Hill, on East Burnside.

Focusing on both craft cocktails and the exceptionally delicious sandwiches that Portland's local Bunk chainlet has become justly known for, this trendy spot in the Central East Side has an industrial vibe with soaring ceilings, exposed ducts, and concrete beams. It's a great lunch option by day, and more of a drinking spot in the evenings, when you might also catch live bands playing, but anytime you visit you can sink your teeth into a pork-belly Cubano, fried chicken, or double cheeseburger. The other locations are in Inner Northeast, Alberta, and Downtown's West End.