Crush
Categories: Dance Clubs, Wine Bars, Lounges, Breakfast & Brunch, Gay Bars [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Southeast Portland, Belmont1400 SE Morrison St
Portland, OR 97214 (503) 235-8150
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Late Night
- Music: DJ
- Best Nights: Thu, Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: No
- Coat Check: No
22 Reviews for Crush
Strong Drinks, Lovely Drag Queens and 80's Dance Musis..Welcome to my Thursday eve experience at Crush.
The place was actually rather busy for a Thursday. There was a huge group of lesbians celebrating a friends birthday. I even got to get in line to spank her, you don't get that at your local bar, ha!
There are several areas to hang in. If you eventually find the techno dance music annoying you can move to a more food friendly area or the bar. Or, just do as I do and drink more so the music starts to sound good..
Great experience, I would definitely go back. Hell, I got Knob Creek straight up for $6 or $7..very generously poured might I add. Yes, you are getting a big tip...and I don't just mean my friend's number!
Crush will always be a favorite as I have spent many an evening there over the past couple of years. My friend had a residency there every first and third Friday night and Crush was the one place you looked forward to going to. Great drinks, friendly staff, awesome vibe, nice environment and a great bathroom. It is destination you can invite just about anyone to and some of the shows there were "out of this world" (Venetian Carnival, Tom Clark, Halloween Bash).
We actually threw my wife's 29th birthday extravaganza there last year in January...it included 2 fire dancers (who administered flaming paddle birthday spankings...too hot!), a professional flame spinning hoola-hoopist, go-go dancers and top local DJ's. To this day, that remains one of the best nights we have ever had, plus it was one of the busiest nights ever for Crush.
Add to this some great food, and Crush will remain one of my top destinations for a night of drinks and debauchery. Oh and some of the debauchery that occurred there...which to protect the innocent (hell, there were no innocent) will not be mentioned.
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Date Visited: Friday 6/6/08 (Late Snack)
My Meetup group had just had a movie/"ice cream" event where the Coconut Bliss was blissful and the movie basically sucked. While trying to figure out how to get the movie out of our heads, one person mentioned Crush and we figured why not.
I have a hard time calling it a restaurant, only because it seemed more of a nightclub. I don't know if they play the music loud ALL THE TIME, but it was certainly loud this night.
We stood around for a while, waiting for some tables/chairs to open for the 9 of us. We sat and picked our drinks/snacks. The menu seemed vegetarian-friendly and had some interesting choices for vegans. I got the hummus with pita. I was okay with what I got because it was quite tasty. It was a smallish portion for $5, but all things considered, good for the money.
I would actually love to return because of their menu, but I'm not sure I could stomach the loud music and nightclub atmosphere again.
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Try it for brunch.
We go to Crush every month with a medium to large size group. We're probably a server's nightmare since we never know in advance how many people we're going to have, but the service has never been anything but impeccable (bribing the server with homemade cupcakes might have helped).
The food is always above average for a restaurant and absolutely outstanding for a bar. I recommend whatever the french toast special happens to be.
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I went here for dinner with my friend last Thursday. They weren't very busy. We ordered Crush Mezza for appetizer. I had the Mediterranean Chicken Sandwich and she had a Caesar Salad.
The Crushed Mezza was good and garlicky. My sandwich was delicious. I even took the other half home and had it for lunch the next day. I only spent $10 including tip for my meal and a glass of water.
I heard they have a good brunch too, maybe one of this Sunday I'll try it out. :).
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I'd barely landed in PDX when my friends decided to take me out to Crush. Sure. we did take time to grab a couple of drinks first and... ahem... smoke some pot (Oregon pot... holy smoke!), so I was in a fairly happy mood when we got there, and had the craziest time.
Upon entering the place, I'd have thought myself in a relatively upscale wine bar: cool lighting, art on the walls, nice bar... but the 80s beat coming from the next room was there to remind me that this was actually a gay bar. As were the odd 6'4 drag queens in high heels wearing crazy blonde wigs straight out of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
After a couple of drinks ($6 top-shelf vodka in a tall glass? hell yeah...) we make it to the next room, to find ourselves in some weird warehouse looking dance room, with B52s playing, and possibly the oddest crowd I've ever seen shakin' it on the dance floor: tight-pant hipsters, crazy drag queens, (gay) corporate types still wearing their dress shirts from work, butch lesbians, shirtless guys wearing pajama bottoms... you get the picture. This might be the closest any place gets to Misshapes West of the Mississipi. Or not.
After enjoying the show for a little while (and realizing that my senses are being way overstimulated), I end up to the third room, which looks like some sort of bistro, and where I find my bf having a conversation with Robert Smith's doppelganger. A trip to the bathroom later (nice bathroom actually!), we end up back in the front bar, and I find myself chatting with this huge queenie black guy who tells I just have got to go to the Rose Garden tomorrow (which I did, and he was right, totally worth the trip). We enjoy our last drinks (final call at 2am... sucks!) and grudgingly make our way out after probably one of the craziest evening I had during my stay in Portland.
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Went here on a Thursday night for Happy Hour, which turned into many happy hours because this place is so great.
The drinks are killer- my friend had a HoMojito and she loved it. I'm more of a beer gal and drank Roots all night - the beer list is not extensive but there are a lot of local brews and it's all quality.
Also grabbed some food here - AMAZING! I had this awesomely awesome eggplant sandwich with fresh motzarella & basil on delicious bread.
I think my favorite part about this bar is the staff. Our bartender Steve was super friendly, made great recomendations about the food & drinks and made our experience top notch!
Plus it was easy to get a table or seats at the bar. I hate waiting.....
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I knew I had to Yelp this place at brunch today when I realized they had a DJ. For brunch. Now, I am not a brunch addict like most of this town seems to be, but this was my first DJ'd brunch experience since a friend's morning wedding a few years ago (sorry, but cinnamon rolls do not equal wedding cake). ANYWAY... the BF and I ended up at Crush after seeing the line snaking out of Zell's. We were able to sit down at our pick of a table right away and the silverware/napkin bringing guy (glorified host?) was considerate enough to explain the serve yourself coffee, water, and toast set-up. Our server did take a few minutes to come over and didn't mention the specials, but our drinks and food came out very quickly. My lack of a star is due to the cocktails, which were tasty, but not as fresh or delicious as Crush's reputation as a quality cocktail destination had led me to believe. The food itself, however, was excellent. I had the "Veganator" off the less-brunchy menu and the BF had a scramble with red pepper, gorgonzola, etc. My plate of roasted potatoes and fresh veggies came with a coconut curry gravy on the side, and was perfectly prepared and portioned. The "gravy" was sweet and spicy. The egg scramble was flavorful and not gargantuan like many egg dishes seem to be. As this was not a hangover breakfast, we were both happy with the reasonable portions! The apple fennel salad that came with both of our dishes was a refreshing addition. Service was pleasant if not always prompt and I'll be honest, it made my low-key Saturday night seem less lame by having Sunday brunch at a hip cocktail lounge masquerading quite well as a cafe! It was an amusing touch to see an eight-year-old girl come out of oh-so-gay-bar row of unisex bathroom stalls. Now, come my next anti-lame Saturday night, I will have a new place in mind to try- a straight-friendly gay bar where the BF will know a bit about what he is getting into! Perfect.
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Best. Drinks. Ever.
A lot of places in Portland have yummy drinks, but I liked Crush because there was a fairly diverse crowd (for lily white pdx) and everyone was friendly. Maybe I just had too many of the best drinks ever, but I found the patrons friendly, the bartenders really fun (even to this lesbo, who they clearly weren't interested in picking up) and the music amazingly good. There wasn't a ton of seating, but you should be dancing anyway. The dancing room was a little smoky but hey. Welcome to Portland.
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As an out-of-towner, I went to Crush on a Friday night based on the reviews of yelpers. Those reviews might have held true had there been anybody else besides us in the bar. All the ingredients for a great night were there, except for the people. This was on a Friday night, at midnight. We were so disappointed that we left after half an hour. Maybe Friday isn't the night for Crush?
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Great bar, strong drinks... space to move around and a lot of interesting people to look at. Bartender was attentive and friendly. Plenty of street parking. Clean, trendy and non snooty. score.
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I had some friends in from out of town and decided on CRUSH based on a friend's recommendation. The Friday night we went in was mellow, but good background atmosphere and music made it comfortable to talk. We had some cocktails (try the one with pommegranite juice), and were going to leave, but then the nightly dj started. My friends were quite impressed with type of house music being played and complemented Portland for being ahead of the scene in terms of electronica. The only downside that we saw was that the dj was located in an awkward space. Instead of being placed to interact with the crowd, he was off to the side and less effective. Other than that, everyone else is right -the staff is friendly, the drinks crafted perfectly, and the atmosphere classy, but not uptight. It has become one of my regular spots to meet people and enjoy Portland
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Brunch anyone???? Come on who doesn't like it??? Thanks again to my Navigator/DJ/Co-Heart because without her we wouldn't have ever found Crush. So for me the perfect meal consisted of an order Chilaquiles and Bloody Mary. And when you add those two things together you get yourself an awesome meal!!!
Even before I had my chance to order my "morning cocktail" I was asked by my co-heart "Who would ever want a morning cocktail?"...and as I started to point to myself and everyone else there she realized how silly her question really was.
So service was spot on but it did take awhile for the food to come out but again it was totally worth the wait. I do know once we find ourselves in Portland again we'll for sure hit up Crush yet once again...cheers..clank~clank...!!
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Pretentious bar. Staff is full of attitude, but knowledgeable on drinks. Food was tasty, if a bit pricey. Crowd was a veritable cornucopia of patrons, everything from young to old, cool to not and everything in between.
Cool 'vice' room in the back for smokers... music entirely too loud for a dining atmosphere.
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What a sexy little spot for a late-night drink. Great lighting that makes you look movie star gorgeous, and a great drink menu with some fun and kickin' concoctions. If you venture outside on a summer night, they have some cozy little tables and chairs lining the sidewalk. You must try one of the martinis...the bartender makes a killer one!
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The food is a bit greasy in my opinion, but pretty good for bar or club. They have a fantastic happy hour menu, and Tuesday night is all night happy hour. Everything is $3 less from mashed sweet potato with vegan coconut curry gravy to mushroom skewer. WOW! I am also very impressed with their weekend brunch. The vegan fare($8.5) is great and the enchilada scramble ($8) is surprisingly good. Also, unlimited cornbread and toast with jam or butter. Though the unlimited coffee is $2 per person. The big downer I have for Crush is the people who goes there... 'cause seems to me no one ever goes there on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night! It never got enough energy like Tube or Rotture. The drinks are good though. The atmosphere is nice and clean. But why is it so quiet and boring? They usually hire good Djs too (cute ones too). Wassup with this!? or am I missing out on something? Please, someone educate me.
PS: Their Sunday brunch is delicious!
PPS: awesome Tuesday all night happy hour.
PPPS: A straight friendly queer bar. heh.
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I always try to take my sister to somewhere new and cool for her birthday. And since I had heard some good things about Crush I decided to check it out. It was the middle of the week, so the place wasn't too hoppin', but that didn't stop the waitress to our little group of four from being most excellent. She kept the drinks coming, and wasn't afraid to talk the bar tender into a special b-day drink for my sis. Not remotely shy we shook our hips on a little dance floor and were impressed by the visually stimulating decor, which included intriguing art, "burning man" photos, and red walls. Although none of us smoked we did notice their separate several other people sneaking off to the "Vice Room". Their drinks were tasty and potent, we sampled their "Cheap Date", "Black Opal", and I even think a beer was in there somewhere. A good time was had by all.
Evidently, they now have a Sunday Brunch, and children are invited, from 9a-3p, and also have a tarot reader available (for a small fee) on Wednesday nights after 7:30p.
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Overall killer drinks, try the homojito cardamon infused mojito may hear weird at first but gosh dang they are tasty, Very attentive (cute) bartenders and a really nice bar menu on top of that. Have yet to been to queer bait but it hears like it might be finally taking off.
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A crush on a hip brunch
It's not often that a hip after work bar evolves into a scrumptious spot for Sunday brunch, but Crush does and it was a nice surprise.
We picked it by accident after going to a garbage sale in southeast Portland. We saw a sign outside and were hungry so decided to give it a go. The menu was very inventive and a nice alternative to typical brunch menus. I ordered an awesome egg scrambler called the Mediterranean, which was full of tomatoes, feta cheese, roasted garlic, parsley, chicken and topped with olive tapenade. It was so good and under $10. Next time I'll be getting the Nutella German pancake...can you say, yummy?
Tip: Make sure to grab some fresh corn bread and coffee at the end of the bar.
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I dug it. Nice interior, good drinks, good music, and the unisex bathrooms cracked me up (stalls are private, but the wash area is shared). Getting a drink was tough, but probably because there were 200 people crammed in to a bar only designed for 100. The staff and DJ were super.
This place has a wide range of exotic drinks and a fair bar. The middle room is probably the best place for atmosphere, the food is pretty swanky for bar food, they have djs on certain days, happy hour's great on tuesday. It's a gay bar but a surprising number of straight folks come down for the fruity drinks. A great first drink at the start of an evening before the rest of it degenerates into bourbon shots and beer chasers.
i recommend the yummy (and strong) pomegranate cooler - get your antioxidants to help cancel out the vodka! there are 3 rooms, the 3rd of which has video poker games, fun but addicting. good dj's, nice bartenders, mixed clientele (it's supposedly a gay bar). and i remember lots of warm orange tones, mmmmm, nice....
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