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Blue Monk On Belmont
Rating Details »
Categories: Nightlife, American (New)
Neighborhoods: Southeast Portland, Belmont3341 SE Belmont St
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 595-0575
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Music:
- DJ, Live
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- No
18 reviews for Blue Monk On Belmont
I just moved to Portland and I'm trying out places here and there. A friend brought me over to the Blue Monk the other night and I was quite pleased. It wasn't all that busy when we first got there but we were there till closing and it picked up in the later hours. The waitress/bartender tolerated us being there for a long while and merely sipping on our drinks and picking at our food. We were doing too much chatting to be too interested in putting other things in our mouth :P
Good vibes, love the art on the walls and the other patrons seemed pretty chill too (no drunkards getting rowdy in the wee hours).
Gotta give it a try!
I really like this place. The ambiance is pretty good. It gets loud, but the tapas are well worth it. They have a pretty good happy hour (if I remember correctly) and they carry pear cider, so bonus points on that one. There's also a room downstairs where you can go and hang out. Last time I went there were belly dancers. Fun was had by all. BUT, I left with some people to grab a bite and when we were trying to get back in, they were charging $10. That was a no-no. Their mixed drinks are okay. Not that strong or tasty, but they are doable.
Ok, I'm new to Yelp and just need to give a shout out to Blue Monk!!! This is my FAVORITE restaurant....eat there practically every week. I can't believe the other whiny reviews?! No, I am in no way affiliated with the restaurant. Anyway, back to my review.
1. Drinks: THEY HAVE GUINNESS! ON TAP!! My wife sticks to mixed drinks....the Ruby is her favorite.
2. Appetizers: Cheesy Pesto bread is yummy and practically a meal on its own. The crostini is beautifully presented with a chopped tomato, onion and green olive spread. My wife and sister in law also believe the beet salad is the best in Portland.
3. Dinner: The Spaghetti & Meatballs and Chicken Parmesan have never let me down..or any of my many friends I drag to this place. You've got to give them a try.
It's 9pm and I have been go go go all day, just finished helping our friend move in to her new place around the corner. We are starved. Walk up and sit down outside, prompt service no need to let anyone know we are there, large selection of wine, beer (I love that the menu was organized alphabetically by type, ale, brown, ipa, reds etc) and drinks. Got the baked ziti wasn't the most mind blowing I had ever had but famished as i was I devoured it like a champ. The beet salad came with a healthy portion of chevre yum! All in all a fairly decent place for a late night dinner on a Monday evening.
How does the Blue Monk have 10 reviews? I have never seen more than two people in this establishment (self & Rooms not included) at one time.
I mean, granted, we've tried to visit the Blue Monk on a Sunday and a Tuesday, which are, admittedly, not the most popular jazz bar-hopping evenings. But still. Why wasn't anyone there? ...the places we defaulted to, after our Blue Monk failings (EastBurn and Aalto, respectively) actually had patrons.
Oh, and for a bar without anyone in it, why the heck was the bartender so uptight? It's like it was a busy night--unless business at the Blue Monk is really that abysmal, in which case, I can't wait to see what opens up in the space it will soon vacate.
Blue Monk, I am sorry, I can't abide by the "three strikes you're out" rule in your case. Two total strikes, and you, sir, are out.
God, I need to find a place to listen to some jazz.
The Blue Monk? A Dart Bar?
Technically speaking - yes. There are a total of two boards - one of which is awkwardly placed on a stage that looks like it's main purpose in life is to host small musical acts. The other board is tucked away on the side under a lonely swinging light. Light - an important thing to dart players, this place doesn't have too much of it. I couldn't even figure out how to light up the board on the stage - so that board may as well have not existed.
The board on the side was lit so poorly that the shafts of shadows that followed your darts into the boards made you think you had already hit the numbers that you needed. Any dart player knows that this will throw your game off big time. Stopping in between every throw to verify what you actually hit makes for a very unpleasant and choppy game.
The rest of the bar was sparsely populated - meaning bring your opponents with you, you're not likely to find any once you're there. But the server was sweet, and attentive (possibly due to the previous observation). The food was good (gourmet type bar grub) and so were the drinks. We enjoyed ourselves, but I would never stroll in there alone to look for a game, because alone is what I'd be.
NOT a great dart bar.
This is down the street and I went here for dinner on my 21st. Pretty darn good choice. We came in and were sat fairly quickly. It took a minute to get us some water but I didn't mind. Not many people in here at about 4:30pm on a Thursday night. We got a list off their beers, and house cocktails, and wines.
First, I want to YELP about the beers in stock here. They have sooooo many, and the waiter/bartender that helped us was knowledgeable. He also frequently checked on us. The list is split by different beers, it shows the Alc. %, size, and price, also where it is brewed. FUN! We tried a couple beers that unfortunately I can't remember now because I had never heard of them and am horrible with names! I also got pretty tipsy. :)
It seemed as though the waiter was also maybe the manager, he was very laid back, but new his stuff, and was attentive like I said. He made the first cocktails we had and the second I had was made by the waitress who came on shift halfway through our meal. I got a "Blue ____" and it wasn't blue which the waiter noticed and she was embarrassed about, but everyone makes mistakes, it was super tasty.
For dinner I had a Artichoke stuffed Chicken with mashed potatoes, the man had Chicken Parmigiana. It took a bit to get to us and it was presented very nicely. Mine I think was $14 and his was $12. His portion was giant, and he usually is left hungry after pasta ordered on the west coast since he is used to hefty east coast pasta servings, also usually not that pleased with our "italian" cuisine here. He LOVED the Parmigiana at Blue Monk, I tried it and it was super good. Mine would have been GREAT if the potatoes weren't a bit cold, and the chicken piece was a breast or thigh instead of a wing. Otherwise the flavor was great, I just was wanting more potatoes. Or a salad served first would have been nice.
Totally excited to go back on a weekend and check out the bar area downstairs.
I really just don't like this place. The service blows... and the food is pretty average. The downstairs is non-smoking which is about the only good thing that this place has going for it in my opinion.
Wine list? Sucky. Beers, eh. Since I don't drink the liquor, I got no feedback on that. I just don't see any reason to go to this place again... and I probably wouldn't have gone had it not been for someone else's birthday. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do... but hopefully I won't have to go to the Blue Monk again.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
3/29/2008
Walked in the door and sat down - not a person made even a slight motion towards me. However, I… Read more »
Worst Italian food ever. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs and I was far from impressed! Its like they used tomato sauce alone with no flavor or love what so ever. Ragu does a better job than this! I would be truly embarrassed to say I cooked this food. After seeing the Italian joint on Hawthorne close down I really have to ask myself why this place is still open. I sure hope the drinks at this place are better than their food.
We stopped by this cozy little joint on Belmont to catch some drinks and good jazz. The place quickly became packed full of 40-somethings bobbing their heads to a talented group of jazz cats blowing the top off of the basement stage. The piano looked pretty tired, but came to life under the touch of a wicked piano man. And the other members of the band also took their turns to wow the crowd with some toe-tapping solos during every song.
We didn't try the food that night, as we had already eaten dinner at another joint, but we had a couple drinks and noted a decent selection of beer. One of the only downers of the evening was an extremely obnoxious phone ringing behind the bar that was loud enough to taint the performance that was going on. I'd like to go back and try their food because there appeared to be some tasty options on the menu.
I recently visited their website to check out their latest shows, but it only had information on a new game room downstairs, including pool tables, pinball and darts. So, it may mean they aren't doing music anymore? Hmm...
Good atmosphere. Super friendly bartender. Nice beer selection, but weak long islands. Overall, a good place to meet for a drink before going somewhere else.
I almost hate to write this review for fear that I won't like it as much if it gets crowded but I definitely don't want them to go out of business so I decided to brag about it anyway. Downstairs.....Non-Smoking, Free pool EVERYDAY, great beer on tap, great service and I never have to fight for a pool table! This is our go to place for pre music or movie nights. We plan to be here around happy hour if there is a show on the east side to drink $3.00 drafts and eat $5.00 happy hour meals!
I like this place a lot. Call it a bar that serves very good food (for a bar), with an amazing selection of beer. My partner doesn't care for it, so I don't get there often, she finds the food "just OK." The service has always been very good.
i will never return to the blue monk.
in short- i waited over an hour for a salad when the place was not busy.
our waitress never came by in that span of time and never returned after delivering our food until there was money on the table.
needless to say, she didn't have much to return to.
The Blue Monk has a great basement that is smoke free and has free pool and darts! Usually good music playing, great atmosphere and a great place to get an evening drink out on the sidewalk in the summer. They welcome dogs at their outside tables, and will bring them water!!
Great place for Happy Hour. Cheap eats for 5 bucks. Not too many drink specials during happy hour, but enough to get ya by while you scarf down your $5 dinner, which is a dinner, not a happy hour snack. They do have a large list of imported beers, some with very high Alcohol %. They no longer have jazz acts downstairs nightly. They added pool tables and stuff, probably to try to compete with its neighbor, Belmont Inn. The bonus of their new game room is that it is non-smoking. You can smoke upstairs (after 10pm I think). The crowd used to be a bit older when they were more of a Jazz venue, but only time will tell since it seems that they are trying to hit the younger crowd.
Beet salad was AWESOME, but other that have to say pretty so-so, probably wouldn't make a special trip to go back. Was quiet for a friday eve. Beer on tap was nothing to write home about. Bartender not super friendly, took forever to get tab. All around pretty average. Decent selection in jukebox downstairs, but only plays if someone puts money in it, otherwise is pretty quiet down there!
Great beer selection. Good food. Good tunes. Downstairs is totally chill. And the owner is a red sox fan which automatically gets 5 stars in my book.
