75 Best Restaurants in Portland, Oregon

On the 30th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower, the Portland City Grill has bragging rights for best dinner view in town, which makes up for the rather unremarkable steakhouse fare. Gaze over the city skyline and the distant Cascade and Coast mountains from a window table. The adjoining bar and lounge has comfortable armchairs along its windowed walls, which are nearly always occupied.

A long, narrow storefront space on the lively North Mississippi strip, this convivial restaurant with exposed-brick walls, a long bar, and high timber ceilings is appreciated as a drinking hole and source of reasonably priced, well-crafted modern American fare. Sip an inventive cocktail and order a few of the shareable small plates, such as smoked-bluefish pâté or summer squash sweet corn risotto.

Pig-themed bric-a-brac indicates the specialty at this casually hip neighborhood joint, known for its fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs, but there's also beef, poultry, seafood, and smoked tofu dishes on the menu. Big eaters might consider the meat-a-palooza tray, with your choice of three meats, including one ribs option (beef, back, or spare). The candied yams, barbecue baked beans, hush puppies, mac and cheese, and braised mess o' (collard) greens make excellent accompaniments.

This first U.S. outpost of a popular Tokyo izakaya franchise is on the leafy Park Blocks, steps from several theaters and museums, and offers a reasonably priced, extensive menu, especially during happy hour, which runs a lot longer than in most restaurants in town. Choose a seat in the lively bar area, with both tables and counter seating, or one of the darker booths in the main dining room.

Named for the patron saint of bakers, this French bakery on a quiet corner in Slabtown serves light meals and pastries. Start the day off with a plain or chocolate croissant, or café au lait, but return for lunch (or dinner) and the delicious quiche, sandwiches, salads, savory puff pastries, and tarts. St. Honoré has outposts Downtown, on S.E. Division Street, and in Lake Oswego.

College students, local workers, tourists, and fans of authentic Chinese food pile into this brightly lighted, unfussy restaurant to indulge in heaping platters of hot-and-spicy crawfish, cumin lamb, crispy chicken with hot garlic sauce, and braised beef brisket noodle soup. Although the menu draws on all different regions of China, the Sichuan fare is especially good.

If you had to choose a star among the several outstanding Latin American food carts at the Portland Mercado, you could make a strong argument for this cheap and friendly purveyor of authentic Oaxacan fare. The owners turn out flavorful renditions of their own long-treasured family recipes, including chicken with chochoyotes (masa dumplings) in a complex yellow mole sauce, and tlayudas (prodigious corn tortillas) topped with chicharrón, black beans, and Oaxacan cheese. There's also a brick-and-mortar location in the Montavilla neighborhood.

A slightly snazzier but still informal outpost of a classic blue-collar burger joint in Portland's industrial Swan Island neighborhood (there's a third location just across the river from downtown on East Burnside), Tilt is a worthy stop for massive burgers, sandwiches, biscuits and gravy with fried chicken, house-made jalapeno tots, and hand-dipped pie shakes. On the right side of this cavernous order-at-the-counter space, there's a full bar as well as a coffee counter serving espresso drinks. There's ample seating on the patio, a former loading dock; sadly, there are no loading trucks to help you out of your seat.

This busy, informal restaurant on Alberta Street is known for its hearty breakfasts—namely, its biscuits and gravy, shredded-potato cakes, egg and tofu scrambles—but the lunch menu offers plenty of creative choices as well, like a creamy artichoke sandwich and a mac and cheese of the day. With a large stone fireplace and chimney, the covered, comfortable outdoor area doubles as a beer garden on warm spring and summer days, and the adjacent garden rounds off the property with a peaceful sitting area.

The tremendously varied and interesting beers—barrel-aged ales, small-batch seasonal sours, gluten-frees, German and Belgian styles—are the key draw of this cavernous brewpub, but the kitchen also turns out legit pub fare that makes this a great choice even for the hops-averse. Many of the best dishes have an Eastern European slant, such as the smoked trout salad and the bratwurst sandwich, but the pizzas are great as well. There's a second location at Glendoveer golf course in far Northeast.

Portland's top neighborhood for Asian fare is S.E. 82nd Avenue (and the blocks near it), and this Cantonese seafood restaurant with an expansive dining room that looks a bit like a hotel banquet hall is one of the area's most authentic venues. The lengthy menu of delicious fare includes a number of fresh seafood specialties like braised abalone in oyster sauce and tamarind-stir-fried Dungeness crab.