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Arleta Library Bakery Cafe
Category: Restaurants Breakfast & Brunch Breakfast & Brunch [Edit]
5513 SE 72ndPortland, OR 97206
Neighborhoods: Southeast Portland, Mt. Scott - Arleta
(503) 774-4470
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 8 am - 2:30 pm
Sat-Sun 8:30 am - 2:30 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Breakfast
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
180 reviews for Arleta Library Bakery Cafe
Review Highlights
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"The biscuits and gravy are phenomenal." In 64 reviews -
"The apple bourbon coffee cake is my ultimate favorite." In 17 reviews -
"I am a huge fan or their hash and their baked goods." In 11 reviews
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180 reviews in English
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Review from Kate J.
Portland, OR
3/2/2012
There are 162 (about to be 163) reviews about Arleta Library Cafe... what more could I tell you? What nuggets of tasty, insider goodness, could I bestow upon you...?
Well, not much! I have lived within 3 blocks of this delicious beauty and only just discovered it last year! I KNOW RIGHT? I mean, 97206 is getting better, but talk about a slacker! I know and I am sorry.
First and foremost: Have you eaten here? If not? Stop reading and move it! If you have, well, then write your own dang review (and hope it isn't ridiculously overdue, like mine).
What you need to know:
1.) Whatever is the special - JUST ORDER IT.
Please gawd. For all things holy, trust them. I don't trust anyone when it comes to my grub (see my reviews about mayo/aoli and burgers - I'm picky for no good reason except that I'm a control freak), but I do trust these guys. I have NEVER been let down. Every single awesome breakfast is better than the last. And I'm not even kidding.
2.) If you are an old geezer like me (well, I'm not really THAT old, but I am certainly LAZY and do not find it "cute" or "hip" to wait *forever* to eat), get your butt in line by 9am if you want to eat the same weekend you arrive. Trust me, it is worth setting the alarm on a non-alarm day.
3.) Back patio! Hey, if you are there when it is nice out, make your way towards the back patio. It is small, but has a cozy feeling with the leafy green canopy!
4.) ORDER THE BISCUITS AND GRAVY. I am SO serious. It is worth the small investment. BEST. EVER. No joke people. There is a reason for its prime real estate on the menu. Just. Freakin. Eat. It.
5.) Did I mention ORDER THE SPECIAL? There is a reason some food is special. Just give it a go, you will love it. Then, once you do, you will be drooling to come back next week and wish you'd bought a house (down the street from me) so you can just moonwalk to Arleta Library Cafe. -
Review from Tim E.
5/11/2012
Dear Arleta Library Cafe,
If you're going to charge me twelve bucks for a scramble and a few cups of coffee, you had damn well better knock it out of the park. But you didn't. Carrying the baseball metaphor to it's next logical step, you hit an infield fly.
I ordered the Tuscan Scramble, which boasted "three eggs scrambled with roasted peppers, SPICY Italian sausage, and Italian cheese blend; served with Library Fries and toast." We'll start with your caps lock-stressed sausage. Well, I don't think it was particularly spicy, but it was kinda hard to tell, because I had a difficult time finding it in the scramble. There might have been three thin little slices in that mound of fluffy eggs. Those eggs, they were nice and fresh, but that was most of what I got. The peppers were pretty good, but even they seemed to be skimpily provided. I was bummed, because the flavors were building well, it's just too bad you had to get all greedy with the most important elements of the dish.
Speaking of greedy, those emaciated, over-baked "Library Fries"? You gave me four little small potato wedges. We're talking about a product that costs you about the price of air, and you went and held back on me. That one slice of toast was pretty good. Ever think of offering jam or something?
Man, I just ate a half hour ago, and I feel like I might need a snack before lunch. Good thing you put a ton of eggs on my plate, because otherwise I would have paid twelve bucks for warmish coffee and a slice of bread. But now I'm turned off eggs for a while, because I experienced egg-overkill.
If you stop being greedy and balance your proportions, you might actually offer food with enough value to justify the price, but I'll never know, because I can't justify returning.
I will offer that your service was excellent, and when the server asked me how my meal was coming along, she expressed honest concern at my doleful response, and offered to replace my dish. But I perceived the flaw to be something that can't be fixed with another pile of eggs and nothing.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go eat a cracker or something to tide me over. -
Review from Chelsea A.
Portland, OR
5/10/2012
I ordered a hash and got six scrambled eggs in heap on top of my hash-ness. I say no. I don't even like eggs that much. Why so many eggs? Not even a question on how to cook them? It wasn't even easy to get like a little bite of hash and eggs together because said eggs were in a pile on top of my food. It was odd.
Get the biscuits and gravy if you're going to go. Because the taste I had of that was delicious. -
Review from Bob J.
Scappoose, OR
5/6/2012
Excellent food. But be warned this place is not kid-friendly. It is extremely cramped and they don't have any highchairs.
I also wouldn't recommend parties larger than 4. -
Review from Jenna F.
Portland, OR
5/24/2012
Meh is the perfect description for this place. Very limited menu. I have never been wowed by anything I've eaten. The best thing about this place is the way it "feels". It is pretty charming and quaint. It's the type of place where I would like to stay all day and talk with my cohorts- but you can't because there are only like 5 tables. Oh well, such is life. I will most likely return but it isn't my first pick.
Listed in: Breakfast
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Review from Huong T.
Portland, OR
5/17/2012
Do not be fooled by the fact that it is a hole-in-the-wall cafe in SE Portland. Be prepared for some delicious breakfast at Arleta Library Cafe. Weekdays are not as busy as weekends, where lines and waiting are highly probable. My favorite part about the cafe is the toast. My taste buds got a kick out of the toast. It was perfect! Best toast I've ever had. Just the right amount of softness and crunchiness all around, and it was not painted with butter like most other places. The actual meals themselves were pretty good. But I had expected more for my money.
On another note, it was featured on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. So if you ever eat here, you're eating at a place the Food Network deems worthy. -
Review from Erin T.
Westminster, CO
5/22/2012
I love the special. Doesn't seem to matter what it is. The Sicilian Hash and the Pane Dolce was not as good as their special. But the staff are very friendly and really seem to care about how you feel about the food.
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Review from andrew s.
Portland, OR
4/16/2012
I have only been here twice.
It was a very good breakfast.
Had the biscuits/gravy.
Also, tried like a spicy sausage omelette, don't recall the name.
It was great.
I prefer this place over Toast for Breakfast.
But that is based on limited experience. -
Review from Jenny G.
Portland, OR
5/9/2012
Delicious and fresh homemade food. Tiny space so there's always a wait on weekends. Closes at 2:30 so get there early!
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Review from Tet W.
West Linn, OR
5/6/2012
Today I had the biscuits and gravy and The Portlander. Both dishes were fantastic and the sausage gravy is out-of-bounds! Our waiter was okay. My partner's plate was missing her toast and my scone was on her plate. They also were out of the Spanish pear scone so I was left with the corn scone. Their fresh OJ was wonderful and freshly squeezed. The food was terrific but the service could have been better with better attention to detail. This place is a nice place to go out to brunch with a small group of friends or family.
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Review from Loon E.
Seattle, WA
5/8/2012 4 photos
Food was delicious here, server (the girl who's playing the customer on their DDD segment) was delightful too, but the male owner, while friendly at first, became really weird mid meal. He just hovered over and seemed angry over something and became quite rude. Meal became uncomfortable. Still left over 20% tip when paying on the way out, only to get another dirty look from him. Would never come back.
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Review from Giggly c.
Portland, OR
4/27/2012
Oh panne dolce, how l love you. BLT amazing. Biscits and gravy, so yummy... what have we had that hasn't been excellent? i love how the consistancy is still awesome. Been here over 10 times and everytime I swear I'll be back and i am. I love it.
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Review from Simon T.
2/25/2012 31 Check-ins Here
I love being in walking distance of some of the best breakfast in Portland!
The vegetables here picked and served fresh everyday - I've never tasted greens with such flavor.
I've had several options on here: The Sicilian Hash, The Bullseye, The Florentine, The Tuscan, multiple quiches, and The Hawthorne. All of the dishes are comforting, hearty, delicious, and have complex flavors. The pastries are also tasty, flaky, and not overwhelming in sweetness.
It can get quite busy on the weekends and the street parking is sparse but there are plenty of side streets nearby. It's a quaint little neighborhood place and I love it! -
Review from Rosy D.
Portland, OR
4/12/2012
Amazing biscuits. Went for breakfast and was full all day!! A little steep, but I would go about once a month
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Review from Genevieve B.
Colorado Springs, CO
4/3/2012
Mmmm, came for breakfast. We shared the hash and the biscuits and gravy. Best. Breakfast. Ever. Also, OJ is like an orange is being squeezed into your mouth - delish! What are you waiting for? Go!
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Review from dan h.
3/12/2012 1 photo
I am the guy who orders his biscuits and gravy with the gravy on the side. I've honestly just never really been a gravy fan and they always put so much on top that you can barely taste anything else that is going on in this dish. I should step back for a second.
A friend of mine told me about this place quite a long time ago. It has been sitting bookmarked here on Yelp with a note attached to it saying, "per (the friend I went with who might not want his name here) best biscuits and gravy". The Arleta Library Bakery Cafe even says this on their menu. This dish is called Portland's Best Biscuits-n-Gravy. So why on my first time here would I not order this dish? Obviously I would and I did.
This dish is not for the light hearted. This is some heavy food. Heavy food that will stick with you for the rest of the day and into the next morning. At least it did to me. I might as well have been a zombie for the second half of this day. I did some things after eating here, but I was walking around in a haze and a daze. You might think I didn't like this meal from these previous sentences. That is not the case at all. It was really good. The best biscuits? Not sure on that one. There is another place in town that I think has better biscuits. Best gravy? I don't eat all that much gravy, but this version (rosemary sausage) is one of the best gravy's I've ever had. Don't go by me though. I'm not a gravy connoisseur. I'd like to be one, but I don't see it happening. One more thing about this dish. It comes topped with thinly sliced slow roasted pork loin and that puts this dish ahead of others I've had.
If you want a meal that will make you sleepy for the rest of the day and question whether or not you should go to work the next day (if you actually work that next day) the biscuits and gravy here are calling to you. I look forward to coming back and eating something that might be kinder to my body and my mind. -
Review from Andrea B.
Portland, OR
3/25/2012
The food is acceptable, however the service is horrible.
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Review from Grez T.
Portland, OR
12/26/2011
As per closure of another place I wanted to try out, roommate pointed us here. Came in about 15 minutes before closing time; staff didn't seem real enthused but was cheery (enough) anyway. Prompt, generally friendly, service. Inside of Arleta is very homey, like your weird friend's parents' kitchen: weird paintings, lots of wood, slow-cooking style vibe. My companion and I had some sort of bacon-y scramble with a bunch of awesome vegetables. Better than average fair. Came with toast and potatoes I think. Price about $8-10. Jam or whatever it was that came in shot glasses was ridiculously good. Seriously, like buy-it-to-go good. Found the portions a little small, but still very filling or my poor hungover stomach. Not too greasy, not too dry. I have had better breakfast potatoes however.
Overall, will probably be back. -
Review from Vee A.
Portland, OR
Great service and friendly people. I am a fan of the Softipper. They ran out of tomatoes and subbed it with delicious avocado! I like little breakfast/brunch spots like this.
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Review from Jake P.
11/21/2011
Oh thank you for living up to your reputation Arleta! I am pleased. In fact, pleased enough that I am still thankful for breakfast I had there yesterday.
Even the things that I don't normally care too much about were awesome. Ambiance is well, chill -- nice, not pretentious. The coffee was really quite spectacular, and given that I normally drink 1-3 cups A WEEK, the fact that I had 3 cups that morning should probably say something. Only offer Raw Sugar? I like. Offer soy even though not explicitly listed? I like more.
Our waiter was fast and friendly and got my relatively complex gluten-free, nightshade-free order 100% right the first time, which really doesn't happen as often as one might like. Huge kudos to these folks who seem to understand that "no tomatoes" doesn't mean you can just pull the tomatoes off once the customer complains about your first mistake. Huge!
The Greek omlette I had was super-tasty and not overly salty (as can be a problem when you mix feta and kalamata), but more importantly, they nicely allowed for fruit as a substitute for bread... and the fruit didn't even taste like it was meant as a garnish. Awesome.
But listen, I'm gonna talk about biscuits and gravy here, even though I didn't have them. Both my dining companions did, and wow -- sensory overload of the best kind. I can't even eat them, but I'm going to recommend them based on look, smell, and the smiles on my friends' faces.
Will be back soon! -
Review from Michael R.
Portland, OR
1/14/2012 1 Check-in Here
We saw an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives that featured this little diner/bakery and it looked great. This neighborhood is also known as "Felony Flats" for reasons that you can probably guess at. However, it is a neighborhood that has been going through a real renaissance in recent years--as in, scrappy, by-the-bootstraps, pre-yuppy gentrification, so we were intrigued.
We had their two signature dishes: Sweet potato, buttermilk biscuits and gravy, and Sicilian hash and egg. The biscuits and gravy knocked our socks off. The addition of sweet potato in the biscuit was just a perfect amount of sweet to an otherwise lip-smacking savory. The hash, however, left us struggling to clean our plate. In fact, we took 50% of it home and probably would have left it on the plate if the staff hadn't been so obviously proud of it. The concentrated tomato sauce packed such a punch that it overwhelmed all the other flavors. Maybe it's an acquired taste, but for me hash is supposed to be corned beef, potatoes and maybe some onion and peppers fried crispy, not a tomato paste dinner dish. It came with a parmesan egg on top but it was scrambled and left us wishing for a runny yolk. They apparently only do scrambled, which they call "fried".
Service: Great
Decor: Funky hip with a touch of "when did they last clean the floors?"
Coffee: French-press and yummy (stumptown)
Biscuits and gravy: Uhh, yes. Wow, yes!
Sicilian hash: Avoid -
Review from Rachel P.
Clackamas, OR
4/20/2012
Good Good Good! It's not in the "nicest" neighborhood, but the spot its self is cute. Great food, SUPER friendly! The waiter kept the coffee coming, and when he poured before I had a chance to say "decaf please!" I felt bad when it came out of my mouth anyway. Without skipping a beat he said "No problem! I'll pour it out and get some decaf!" So many other people would have been annoyed. The food was GREAT. Biscuits and gravy are totally worth it! Semolina pancake is superb - order one as an add-on. I want to try everything on the menu! Oh man - I'm hungry!
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Review from Heidi B.
Portland, OR
10/9/2011 2 Check-ins Here
This is my second time here, and that was only because i was craving a mimosa.
It was nearly empty at 1:30 pm on a Sunday, not unusual.
Ordered the semolina griddle cakes and they were awful. Heavy, thick, flavorless and dry. The syrup was too sweet and had nearly no maple flavor. The only good part of breakfast was the incredibly delicious apple in the side of fruit. Really.
Service here is random. The waitress was really super nice, but most of the kitchen staff seem to have a thing for glaring at patrons. it was like being under a microscope! This happened both times Iv'e been there. In fact the first time I was ever there one of the waiters was downright rude and gave off a "go away" vibe. -
Review from Ketsamaly S.
Portland, OR
3/1/2012 1 Check-in Here
Love breakfast spots like this. Very unique. Very homelike. I want to be a regular here. I enjoyed my pancakes. I also had a bite of the softipper from my cousin. Very delicious!!
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Review from Jason M.
Portland, OR
Updated - 8/28/2011
Not sure what happened today.
The wife picked up some B+G to go. They were out of the home fries apparently, so they chose to throw some measly sweet potatoes in. Then they charged her full price for half the food they serve. I wonder how the owners would feel if decided to pay half my bill for their full services?
Get with it Arleta, your going to start losing customers quickly.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/1/2011
I have eaten here several times now and think its fair to review this place.
My wife and i have… Read more »
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Review from Ben B.
Cedar Park, TX
9/21/2011
I was a bit bummed out when I got the swimming pool / community center across the street and found that it was closed for maintenance. So I decided it was time for something to eat.
I saw a sign for 'bakery' and thought to myself, some bread sounds good. As I feared, they were not that kind of bakery, but they did have some fantastic scones and breakfast foods.
I ordered the Liberty Breakfast (eggs, toast and home fries) and a sliced tomato. The breakfast was fantastic!
The eggs were not overdone, nor where they at all runny (scrambled in nature). The home fries were fantastic as well. The toast was made from great bread and the serving of the jam in a shot glass was a nice twist.
I tasted a lemon rosemary scone that they had out for sample and loved it so much that I ordered two of them on the spot, due to circumstances I ended up getting getting the rosemary scones and some lemon mint scones.
The service was great and it truly turned around my day. -
Review from tara p.
1/5/2012
It would be five stars but the place is freezing cold and it sucks to eat breakfast with your coat on. friendly staff, decent (and frequently refilled) coffee, good scrambles, tasty house-made hippie-style desserts. But the crowning achievement is the biscuits and gravy, which I think really IS the best in Portland. And beating out the screen door and pine state for that title is pretty serious. It's worth the trek to deep southeast, and you can do all your eastern bloc furniture shopping on the way!
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Review from Kristy M.
Genesee, ID
10/24/2011
Great little cafe with excellent service! We arrived about 15 minutes after opening on Saturday and got a table right away, but the place filled up soon after and folks were waiting outside when we left. This is a place adored by its neighborhood, as I witnessed a little boy (maybe four years old) do a special handshake with one of the staff.
My husband and I shared the Portlander (eggs with bacon, mushrooms and cheese, with home fries and a scone) and daily special Asian pear and maple bread pudding. My coffee cup was never empty, which is a big plus on a Saturday morning. Everything was delicious, and service was great.
I'd come back again, for sure. -
Review from Taylor P.
San Francisco, CA
1/12/2012
Normally, I am extremely difficult to please. I arrived at the Century 16 Eastport Plaza to see the matinee screening of 'Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.' Despite the film time stating explicitly that the film would promptly begin at 12:40, it didnt seem to begin until well after that due to some stupid previews. Who knew!? So, anyway, I left and found myself at Arleta Library Bakery Cafe and had some nice bourbon coffee cake and probably, the best biscuits and gravy east of the Willamette.
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Review from Sam W.
San Francisco, CA
8/13/2011
My friends dragged me here. Apparently it's one of those foodie-been-on-tv-must-go destinations. I had the biscuits and gravy. The gravy itself was pretty darn good, but the sweet potato and biscuits weren't all that. Everything seems to be made on location (jam, ketchup, etc.), which gave a pleasantly rustic and homely touch to our meal.
Given that there was also a wait to be seated, and the place is kinda really humid, I don't think I'll go out of my way to come here again. -
Review from James Q.
San Ramon, CA
8/7/2011 2 photos
We were up in Portland for a wedding so I went to Yelp for a breakfast place nearby. This place seemed like a great choice as the reviews were solid and glowing. But, alas, we were very disappointed.
I had the Tuscan, three eggs scrambled with roasted peppers, SPICY Italian sausage, and Italian cheese blend; served with Library Fries and toast.
The eggs were overdone (slightly tough when they should be tender and even a bit fluffy) and the POTATOES WERE OLD as if leftover from yesterday! And, I thought it was overpriced at $9.
My wife fared better. She had the Semolina Griddlecakes -
3 ample buttermilk cakes with whipped honey butter, organic maple syrup, and seasonal fresh fruit. $7 + berries, $1 + crumbled bacon, $1 = a whopping $9!
The pancakes were very good and had a slightly 'gritty' feel to them, a bit like coarse corn bread but the flavor was good.
And the coffee was mediocre.
$25 for a mediocre (at best) breakfast is too much!
Sorry, but I disagree with the majority of reviews! I have to tell it the way I see it.
And those that think their biscuits & gravy are good need to go try Pine State Biscuits - FAR AND AWAY WAY BETTER! And cheaper.
jim -
Review from Bizzo F.
Portland, OR
8/17/2011
This place has absolutely great food. The home fries are the best! The service has always been wonderful when I've been here.
The one drawback is that you will most likely have to wait for a while to get seated. The dining area is microscopic, and it makes me feel a tiny bit clausterphobic.
The breakfast experience doesn't get much better than this! -
Review from lynne M.
Portland, OR
6/19/2011
I want to like this place but I continue to be disappointed. The first time I was there we were treated like crap and the food was OK. This time the service was wonderful but my friend's Sicilian hash was not.. Isn't this suppose to be their signature dish? Bland meat and OK potatoes do not . make good hash. My dish was good and I did really enjoy the bread.
The physical space of the cafe isn't my favorite either.
Props to their philosophy of food and for a cool name. -
Review from Beulah M.
Portland, OR
2/23/2011
I love Arleta Library. The food is amazing, and the portions are just right, not huge and over-priced. The coffee is French pressed, Stumptown roasted. The space is small and personal, the staff friendly and patient, albeit busy. They often use small-batch locally produced organic food. It seems that no details are forgotten, even the ketchup and jam are amazing. My favorite dishes include the Grecian and the French toast.
A bonus I just learned about from reading the reviews: it seems Arleta isn't very small child friendly. My boyfriend and I were really excited to hear this; because who wants to hear yelling babies while trying to enjoy a meal? -
Review from Orian I.
On a much needed mental health day we did our favorite thing which is brunch on a weekday. It was on the later side, perhaps 1130 ish or so. The server was friendly and smiley, and I got my first cup of coffee of the day, mmm good coffee, good cream. We got the coffee cake of the day which was pear and cardamom which was warm and lovely and hit the spot. nice crumble topping, sweet but not too much rich and moist with excellent flavor.
I got the biscuits and gravy and Mr. Ben got the portlander.
The plus's of the b and g was a completely uniquely sweet flavor brought by the use of red peppers and the sweet potato biscuits. The gravy was plentiful filling the entire plate. The pork loin was an interesting touch, which i did enjoy. i really couldn't finish the entire thing and next time would ask for a half order to be sure.
Ben's scramble was fantastic! there were plentiful heaps of wild mushrooms. the whole thing was just a fantastic experience and the service was exceptional. oh and the jam is home made we had cinnamon strawberry very tasty.Listed in: Brunch!!
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Review from Natalie W.
Portland, OR
5/3/2011
I'm torn, really. The first time I came here I had their griddlecake special (can't remember details) and it was heaven. Absolutely delicious. But every time I've been back (3 times?), they've failed to impress me. I know, I know, maybe my expectations were too high at first, but the curried scrambled egg special I had on Sunday had very little going for it. Sure, the veggies in there were tasty (I thought the slightly pickled carrots were a nice touch) but there was no spice, let alone discernible curry flavor.
The wait for tables is pretty long and I'm fairly sure once they sat a later-arriving table of the same size before us, but if the food was consistently... if not out of this world, than at least special, that wouldn't be an issue (I mean, for Sunday brunch, what place isn't packed?).
That said, I'm sure I'll be back here to try again. First impressions are hard to conquer. -
Review from Lily R.
Portland, OR
9/13/2011
We used to be regulars here but just got back from our last visit.
The food used to be fantastic and the service was better than the (low) Portland standard. Recently the quality of the food has begun to drop, and then so did the service. Today we went in when there were no other customers, so we sat down and waited for service... and waited and waited. A guy brought us water but didn't ask if we wanted anything else. Then he brought us silverware but wouldn't take a drink order. Then he went outside to wash the windows. Meanwhile the place filled up with other customers, all of whom were served promptly while we were left to languish. By the time I got my coffee, two of the other tables already had their food.
Eventually we put in our food order - the best thing on the menu is only available on weekends now, so we settled - and continued to wait. Other tables had finished their food and were leaving before we got our food. When my husband got up to complain, they told him that my meal took longer to cook, and offered no apology for leaving us to sit there so long in the first place.
When we got the food, it was crap. I was hungry so I ate mine, but my husband barely ate half of his. It was supposed to be eggs, bacon, etc. on a buttery roll (and it used to come on a croissant, I think)... what he actually got was cheap eggs and mediocre bacon with mayonnaise on a cheap white hamburger bun. He sat and waited for me to finish my meal, during which time they offered to refill my coffee twice but never once asked if he'd like more hot water for his empty cup of tea.
We let the waitress know that we were extremely unhappy and she offered a lame apology while shifting the blame around as much as she could. They charged us full price for the meal and said they "couldn't" change anything on it. The guy at the register asked if everything was good, then shrugged when my husband said it wasn't. No one there seemed even remotely interested in fixing the problem or making us feel like they wanted us to come back.
So we won't come back, then.
There are plenty of good restaurants in this town. It's a shame that Arleta Library isn't one anymore, but now we know to go elsewhere. -
Review from Kristina L.
Portland, OR
4/11/2011
Sadly disappointed.
Biscuits & gravy weren't as good as I had hoped. The pork loin was dry and didn't come with as much gravy as I would have liked.
The cafe is small and there was no waiting area, I felt cramped between the register and front window with nowhere to go. The staff wasn't all too friendly either. Wahhhhhhhhh! -
Review from Zach N.
Portland, OR
2/16/2011
I am down with this place!
The first thing that impressed me was that we showed up with a party of five and rather than adding a chair to one table they pulled two together. I will probably only go here with groups of four or less in the future because it is small but that they were so accommodating was very nice.
The coffee was great! They used a french press and it was flavorful and balanced. Then it was time to order food so I took a look at the menu. It is a pleasant surprise when you have trouble ordering because everything sounds amazing! About 10 options but all were well thought out.
I ordered the Sicilian hash and my buddy ordered the biscuits and gravy to share. Both were great but my preference was the biscuits. They really nailed the flavor of the gravy, the only downside was I could have used a bit more of the stuff it was so good.
The ambiance was homey and the service was good. Though this is a far cry from my house I am apt to return because of an overall wonderful experience. Be prepared for a short wait that will probably get longer as more folks discover this place. -
Review from Danni D.
This place has been on my "get here" list for a long while. I have no clue what took me so long to motivate, but The Bud and I finally managed to get here, and we got the last table before the morning rush. Score!
Delicious, dare I say thick, French press coffee circulated around the place regularly. As I approached the bottom of each cup, it was textured, like campfire coffee (The Bud's description, but honestly, what are the chances that he'll actually write a review). I write this review somewhat coffee buzzed, some hours later.
They also serve yummy orange juice in little mason jars.
[Suppressing squeal.]
Mason jars! Aw Hell, "Yay, mason jars!"
I had the Sicilian Hash. The beef was braised so low and so slow it practically dissolved on my tongue. The cheesy scrambled eggs on top of the hash were incredibly light and fluffy, whipped full of air. I don't know how they did that so completely and utterly perfectly.
The Bud had the Biscuits and Gravy. The sweet potato biscuits held their own with the rosemary sausage gravy. Biscuits were tall with great texture and just the right touch of sweet. The sausage gravy was incredible. Plus they add thinly sliced pork loin in case the sausage somehow does not deliver enough of a meat punch for you. Delicious!
The atmosphere was positively Southeast, which makes sense given its location. Nice use of re-purposed and re-homed items here: doors turned on their side to create a barrier half wall between the kitchen and the small dining area, shot glasses in which to serve delicious strawberry jam with the tiniest hint of (I believe) nutmeg, old dishes from the 1970's that I swear my parents owned at one point or another. This place is full of charm.
Service was terrific. Prompt, friendly, frequent with the coffee refills. That's really all that I need. Arleta is now firmly in my breakfast line up since I know that I can get a table early enough in the morning.Listed in: PDX Breakfast, Mason Jar Drinks!
