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Langano Lounge
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Music:
- DJ, Live
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- Outdoor Area/ Patio Only
- Coat Check:
- No
12 reviews for Langano Lounge
12 reviews in English
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Review from Anthony R.
Eugene, OR
8/8/2006
A great little bar underneath Jarra's Ethiopian restaurant.
The bar food is half-price after 11. Very reasonable. A great place to drink beer, play pinball, and eat exotic east African treats with your hands. -
Review from Erica M.
Portland, OR
8/6/2011
It's small, but the bartenders are soooooo cool, you feel like you're BIG STUFF!
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Review from Jenny H.
Portland, OR
2/14/2008
The Langano Lounge is my granny's basement in Chicago recreated in Portland, if you switch out my Uncle John and Aunt Peggy for the occasional bands and DJs, and trade in Gran's pierogis and golabki for delightful plates of Ethiopian food. So my Gran doesn't have a mural of the Serengeti in her basement, but there is a certain cozy comfortable feeling I am delighted to have found at the Langano Lounge that makes me want to bring Gran in with me to shotgun a coupla Old Milwaukees .
There was a hullaballoo a while back regarding this place changing ownership or management (I am iffy on reliable details), and I was worried it would lose the magical feeling, but I went recently and was so happy to find all the charm and good music and inventive drinks and pinball and DJ night and nice bartenders and Ethiopian food (served as plates for 1, HELL OF spicy. The chicken dish comes with a hard-boiled egg on your plate, which really really freaks me out, but you can make lots of chicken and egg/what came first jokes, right?) and board games and Serengeti mural intact. Be my basement, darling Langano.
I would like to now take this opportunity to point out one last cosmic connection between the Langano Lounge and Gran: LL serves a crrrazy concoction called the Ethiopian Chili Dog, which consists of a POLISH SAUSAGE (my grandma is the QUEEN OF POLISH SAUSAGE. She used to mail us Polish sausage wrapped in newspaper from Chicago to California because she was certain we couldn't find decent Kielbasa anywhere on the West Coast) flooded with spicy spicy lentils and a dollop of cottage cheese. I am not brave enough to try it, but sources tell me it's radical. Note to self: send one Ethiopian chili dog wrapped in newspaper via post to Granny in Chicago. -
Review from Janessa P.
Portland, OR
11/16/2008 1 photo
How come nobody has ever told me about this place? I feel like I've been missing out on a delightful chunk of Portland.
Located underneath Jarra's Ethiopian Restaurant, Langano Lounge is a loud-but-not-too-loud and smokey-but-not-too-smokey hole in the wall.
There was a guy in a raccoon hat (who I believe bartends there occasionally), good music, and lots of shots of whiskey.
I will come back. Many many times. -
Review from Joshua R.
Portland, OR
11/5/2007
Some coworkers and I wanted to try something new, so we stopped in here for a couple of drinks on a Saturday night.
Langano had a very relaxed atmosphere. Although it was a Saturday, there were never more than 10-12 people here.
We sat in the back room, which also contained some Oregon Lottery machines, and played Boggle. Any place that has board games is OK with me.
Someone in the front room was playing cover songs on an acoustic guitar. The artist was talented and the volume wasn't too loud which made for unobtrusive background music.
The bar serves local beers, big brand beers and has a full liquor cabinet. One of the liquor bottles had a cover on it that said "Mystery Shot $2"; although when my friends asked for it the bartender talked them out of the decision. Mysterious!
I didn't try any of the food, but the good smells filled the bar.
Service was fast and friendly, however the bartender charged me for the wrong number of beverages and then didn't know how to reverse the charge to my card. He said if I came in again while he was on shift he would buy me two beers. I appreciate the attempt, but I would have rather had my money back.
If I lived closer to this bar I might stop by once in a while as I appreciate a relaxed atmosphere and local beers, but there are plenty of other bars closer to my apartment that fill this niche. -
Review from Meghan M.
Portland, OR
11/23/2010
Langano Lounge is totally quirky, totally fun and super friendly. The food is awesome as is the basement atmosphere. Great local bands play there regularly, and if there is no band in the house, you can count on a rad DJ.
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Review from Chris C.
Park City, UT
7/14/2010
I stumbled into this place while in town on business checking out the Hawthorne area for new restaurants. I had a great time here, there was a band rehearsing with a woman singing the lyrics to old metal like "ACDC's Dirty Deeds" and the music was remixed on the computer with an old Moog accompaniment to sound like 90's gay disco. Oh, and the food. But before that. The beer was an IPA, and good, of course this is Portland, which has the best beer in the world. You PDXers are way too lucky. But, one bottle labeled "mystery-shot $2" caught my eye, I didn't investigate. I ordered the veg plate. It was $7 and worth probably $5. Only gave me a half of a piece of injeera, and the mixed vegetables was mostly broth. It was OK, but the idea of getting Ethiopian bar food is amazing, I hope Langano reads this and turns up the food a couple notches and make this place 5 star.
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Review from Schuyler C.
Berkeley, CA
2/27/2009
This is my girlfriend's least favorite bar in Portland, but I like the place. It's dumpy and smells strongly of Ethiopian food, but it's familiar and comfortable and there is always some decent Portland-alternative eye candy.
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Review from Maeve C.
Portland, OR
8/5/2009
I started going here because it was near the 12th and Hawthorne food carts, and kept on going because it was just kind of a weird place, which amuses me. It smells like lentils, which makes you kind of hungry, though I really don't recommend ordering food here. Once I bought an Ethopian Chili Dog (vegan variety) and it was pretty funny but not something I would do again. But it's cozy and there is outside seating and cheap booze and yes, a $2 mystery shot. My old roommate bought it once and I'm pretty sure she regrets it, but hey, if you're broke...
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Review from Brittany N.
Washougal, WA
5/31/2009
Great little hole in the wall with kick ass bartenders and regulars! When I want to drink and not break my bank this is the place to go!
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Review from tim s.
Portland, OR
1/19/2010
i went into this place totally by accident sometime last year. the atmosphere was pretty relaxed and i felt comfortable with the staff. there was some guy DJing who claimed to be a reverend but showed no signs of it. I didnt recognize one song he played and when I asked him to play something he said he "wasn't feeling well" and to "ask again later". weird. the guy behind the bar was plenty nice but at one point seemed overwhelemed when a group of sorority girls came in asking for spanish coffee
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Review from vanessa s.
Oakland, CA
8/8/2006
my favorite bar in town. mostly just people from the neighborhood hang out here and i feel very lucky to have this gem just accross the street from my apartment, and a block down. located in the basement of a family owned and operated ethiopian restaraunt you can get most if not all of the menu down in the lounge. the food is hearty and fresh and made with love. it could be cheaper, and it would be in cali. but in portland most food is a dollar or two more than it would be in most parts of CA. in addition to eats there is a full bar and a happy hour from 11-1 am. there are awesome djs on sunday and wednesday (i believe) who play everything from puerto rican hip hop to alice coltrane and back to martha and the vandellas (plus much more obscure pop and soul). ive never had anything unpleasant go down here and i usually am miserable at bars. plus there are board games and pinball and theres nice sexy lighting so everyone looks cute. perfect for dates or groups! come visit me and i will take you there.
