23 Best Nightlife in Southeast, Portland

This laid-back brewpub and pioneer of the Northwest sour-beer movement is a good place for friends and sour-beer lovers to share tart flights of several varieties, including Blackcap Raspberry, Kriek, and potent (10.1% ABV) Sang Noir. You'll find 24 rotating taps, small plates, and sandwiches to complement the sour beers, and ample outdoor seating.

Located next door to the roastery, the light and open, bamboo wood–filled Coava Coffee Roasters offers some of the highest-quality single-origin, pour-over coffees in the city. There's a second branch in the Hawthorne District.

Part of the Central East Side's burgeoning wine scene, this urban winery and taproom is set inside a dramatic and spacious Quonset-hut structure, which was once home to an auto-repair shop. Order any of the outstanding wines produced on-site, or delve into the happily esoteric menu of unusual wines from all over the West Coast, with a few French varieties in the mix. The kitchen turns out seriously good food, too. The only drawback here is that Coopers Hall is closed to the public on weekends, when it's booked with events.

A favorite LGBTQ+ hangout in the Central East Side, Crush serves up tasty pub grub, strong cocktails, and DJ-fueled dance parties. The front section is mellow and good for conversation, while the back area contains a small but lively dance floor, and there's a large sidewalk patio as well.

Based in a large garage-like space in Southeast Portland's trendy Buckman neighborhood, ENSO produces superb wines, including Malbec, Dry Riesling, and the especially popular L'American blend of Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. The high-ceilinged, industrial-chic tasting lounge—with exposed air ducts, a timber-beam ceiling, and a wall of windows (open on warm days)—serves local cheese and charcuterie plates and other tasty snacks.

Southeast Portland's stately early-1900s former Washington High School building has been converted into a state-of-the-art concert hall, featuring noted pop and world-beat music acts and comedians, from Steve Earle to Tig Notaro, plus film festivals and other intriguing events. There are two bars on-site, including a roof deck (April–October) with great views of the Downtown skyline.

Java aficionados serious about single-origin coffee favor this Central East Side roastery, which sources its beans from top growers in Colombia, Ethiopia, and Indonesia, roasts on custom-built machines, and provides its house-roasted coffees to many restaurants and cafés around town. There's also a Downtown location.

Artsy, hip East Siders hang and drink martinis and wine at this minimalist, bubble-lamped bar along a buzzy stretch of Belmont Street.

Housed in a vintage former movie theater, this music venue specializes in indie and alternative acts, many with national followings. The adjacent Lamp pub offers microbrews, pizza, and pub fare, too.

The first McMenamins brewpub, the Barley Mill Pub, is filled with Grateful Dead memorabilia and concert posters. It's a fun place for families.

The flagship bar operation of celebrated chefs Nick Wood, Matt Brown, and Tommy Habetz occupies a hip, industrial-chic space in the Central East Side, with exposed pipes, high timber ceilings, tall windows, and murals on the walls. Play pinball, grab a seat at the bar or a table, and enjoy a glass of craft beer, wine, or booze alongside one of the imaginative sandwiches for which Bunk has developed a cult following, like the pork belly Cubano and meatball parmigiana hero. Bunk has another bar location at the Wonder Ballroom in Northeast, as well as sandwich shops in Southeast, downtown, and Alberta.

Located in a cozy turn-of-the-century wooden building at the foot of Mount Tabor, the candlelit Caldera Public House serves beer, wine, and cocktails over a 100-year-old oak bar, as well as a menu of soups, salads, and sandwiches (and Cajun tater tots!). Its expansive patio out back, strung with glass lights and shaded by a full canopy of trees, is one of the best in the city.

Part retro diner and part log cabin, the Doug Fir serves food and booze and hosts DJs and live rock shows from both up-and-coming and established bands most nights of the week. It adjoins the trendy Hotel Jupiter.

On warm evenings, break from the chatter-filled midcentury-modern interior bar—with its teakwood ceiling and deep-booth seating—and snag a sidewalk table, where you can take in the activity of funky Hawthorne Boulevard. This place packs 'em in early, thanks to a generous happy hour that begins daily at 2 and continues until 8 pm—more than enough time to get happy. Wash down a few discounted craft cocktails with an order of steamed clams in lemongrass-coconut broth or marionberry-habanero chicken wings.

Hosting DJ dance nights that range from indie-pop dance parties to LGBTQ+ hip-hop nights and poetry slams, the 5,000-square-foot former auto-parts warehouse pulls in diverse crowds. It's sometimes closed early in the week; check the online calendar before you visit.

Occupying a sleek, contemporary corner space on Division Street, Imperial carries a regularly changing rotation of about a dozen connoisseur-worthy microbrews and has shelves filled with hundreds of additional bottles of craft beers. While you ponder your beer options, you can order in takeout from any of the several restaurants on the same block.

A handsome spot with leather booths and a long central wooden bar, this Central East Side pub carries an eye-opening 99 ales on draft, from local standards to seasonally changing oddballs that delight beer geeks like the Pfriem barley wine and the Crux nitro stout. Hefty burgers, Austrian-style wood-smoked pork sausages, and chili-cheddar-smothered fries are among the delicious pub-food accompaniments.

Occupying a cozy two-room space in the middle of peaceful, green Ladd's Addition neighborhood, Palio has delicious desserts and good coffee drinks, and it's open later than most coffeehouses in Portland. Try the Mexican Mocha.

Located in an odd old Victorian with a few haunted tables (you have to see them to understand), Rimsky-Korsakoffee serves up coffee, tea, and rather decadent desserts.

This diminutive neighborhood spot doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside you'll find a horseshoe-shaped wood bar and spirits connoisseurs devoted to the bar's exceptional, typically tropical fruit cocktails. Half the menu is, as the bar's name more than hints, devoted to rum-based concoctions, including the best daiquiris in town (never too sweet, and made with high-quality, aged spirits).

Stumptown Coffee Roasters, which now has locations in several other cities, has three cafés on the east side. At the original site (S.E. Division), organic beans are still roasted on a regular basis. At the Tasting Bar (S.E. Salmon)—adjacent to Stumptown headquarters—patrons can participate in "cuppings," or tastings, at 3 pm each day. Stumptown has other locations around town, including a popular branch inside Downtown's Ace Hotel.

With soft music and the sound of running water in the background, the Tao of Tea serves more than 80 loose-leaf teas as well as vegetarian snacks and sweets. The company also operates the tearoom inside Old Town's Lan Su Chinese Garden.

In the lobby of a former brothel in lively Hawthorne, the deep-red, candlelit Sapphire Hotel serves cocktails, beer, and wine with an intimate, sultry atmosphere. There's a terrific food menu, too, served late and at bargain prices during happy hour—try the salmon cakes with mustard aioli or the tinned-fish board.