The American Local

The service is amazing and so are the skewers!
I really recommend the pork belly skewer if you're into the whole salty sweet sensation. I've also tried the black cod which was so juicy and the steak skewer with horse radish cream was delicious! Perfect with the "Invincible" IPA.

Also... Jarred was such an amazing server. So informational and really nice!

Food: 5 stars.
Ambience: 3 stars.

Weird portioning. The menu layout makes it look like it should be tapas, but the sizes of the dishes vary so wildly, I'm not even sure how you should order without inevitably having too much or too little.

Everything we ordered was delicious, which included a massive pile of seafood karaage and one singular skewer of chicken as separate menu items, illustrating the confusing portioning. (also the pear salad and the wagyu tartare. The intensely mayo-laden egg salad was probably not necessary on a pile of meat that's key selling point is being marbled with fat, but it was still delicious because fat.) My sake/gin/lemon cocktail was probably my favorite part of the experience.

Ambience? Good lord, it's loud. Distractingly loud. And harshly lit. We chose to sit at the already-awkward, kitchen-facing bar, right in front of a cash register where the guy who was helping us was standing the entire time while we were trying to decide which drinks and food to order, which resulted in us feeling super rushed and not relaxed at all. I was already kinda drunk, so my vibes went from chill to "I need to get out of here" pretty quickly.

This place was FANTASTIC. I can't say enough good things.

Came with my sister and mom. We ordered the fried mac and cheese, arugula and peach salad, beet salad, both kinds of raw fish, and the green beans. Our favorites were the salads. The grilled beats with goat cheese was probably our favorite, but my sister raved about the arugula salad for days after.
Whatever the raw white fish was, I can't remember and would need to look at the menu, we really didn't like, but the server took it back no problem and brought out the tuna instead which was delicious.

The outdoor seating is cute and clean. Everything about the environment here was spot on and trendy.

Overall, would come here again and again and again.

2nd time here's as good as the first. We sat at the bar and the bartender helped us select food. Great service and excellent recommendations. The veggies are always outstanding and tonight was super. Szechuan long beans were perfect! The delicato squash tostada was amazing !

This place is straight up delicious. Yelped it on the fly as we were looking for food after a bit of beer tasting. Great reviews. Why not? We were impressed and then some. Everything was cooked to perfection and we left with a souvenir glass to constantly remind us of the joint.

Fried mac n cheese. How can you go wrong? We had to wait to sit, so we beered up and stood at the window ledge taking in the place. Made a joke about the mac served wimdowside and was told they don't serve any food in the waiting area. Low and behold, an extra was made and the hostess walked by and dropped it on us complimentary. You had me at hello, sweet hostess lady.

After being seated, we ordered a good portion of the menu. Blue fin tuna was great, would order again. Wagyu flank, tasty. Pork belly, solid. Chicken thigh, dynamite. Brussels and beet dishes, good lord! Blew us away. We also got some pimento cheese toast, skip. Walked out full and happy.

The kitchen is visible from where you sit and it looks like a well-oiled, delectable machine. Love you Portland!

Very cute..roasted corn nuts with moist warm towels to start!

To be honest, we didn't start off the night well. My friend did the ordering for our group of 9, and the first half of the plates were all roots. I wasn't too fond of the idea of a root themed dinner..meeps. still..over the course of the night, it got better and better and better!

We ordered:
1. Baby scallops - fishy. But tender. Questionable freshness.
2. Sunchoke/dungeness crab - where was the crab? Thought the sunchoke was potato .but its the root of a sunflower. Not a fan of it..tasted like an uncooked potato
3. Cumin roasted carrots - one of my faves. Carrots were tender and wonderfully seasoned
4. Potato tostada - really good. Another favorite of the night..spices overload!
5. Salmon skewer - really soft and fatty, moist and not overcooked.
6. Green onion flatbread - pimento, mushrooms, and rapini
7. Chicken thigh skewer - tender, juicy
8. Flank steak - everyone's favorite. D said it is "tender as sh!t"..lol
9. Panko fried mac and cheese - MY fave of the night. In my opinion, it was the best of the night.

Overall, the good dishes were the really good. The bad dishes were reallllly...not..good. so thus, 3-stars! Sorry..you have to order the right things or its just not a good use of my tummy's real estate!

Patio seating, I love you so. Great place to people watch as it's right on Division.

The food was overly salted, but when I took my leftovers home and threw them in a pan with extra veggies, it made an excellent dish.

Basically I'm here to tell you that if you see the Sea Bream with Sea Bean item on the menu--GET IT. It was amazing (see photos).

Hip spot, good drinks with decent food.

Came in for a snack and a few drinks with some friends after seeing a few compliments thrown towards American Local's way.

So there were a few plates that stood out, in a good way... but a few which were mildly interesting. Fried Mac & Cheese, Croquettes and Kimchi Fired Rice were good, sharable dishes! Nothing to write home about, but a solid side to your cocktails.On the other hand, Wagyu skewers were over salted and their tartare was uneventful and overpriced.

Cocktails were pretty standard. Their house cocktails were really just slight variations to your average, standard drinks.

Luckily, we enjoyed the fun, casual vibe of this place and their friendly service. Quite a lively and social atmosphere and open concept.

Overall, good place to grab a drink and some apps...

This place is definitely a hidden gem in PDX! I came here one evening with my boyfriend and his brother, and had a truly amazing experience. First off, this really feels like more of a tapas style dinner, with smaller portions, but each one just as amazing! There are a couple of "larger" dishes, but they are not easily deduced from the menu.

Crispy Fried Chicken: beautifully crispy fried chicken is what I live for!! This is definitely at the top of my list. The portion seemed sufficient for three people. Really simple - served with just hot sauce and lemon.

Pork Belly Skewer: these dish comes with exactly five pieces on a skewer, with a dollop of sriracha. The pork belly was tender and just melted in my mouth!

Snake River Farms wagyu flank steak skewer: this one had five portions as well - I don't remember this one being as memorable, but definitely a well cooked piece of meat

Brussels Sprouts: It is pretty hard to mess up brussels sprouts - these were smoky, a little charred, and cooked perfectly! The mandarin's were a great addition to the dish.

Bacon Beignets: We were stuffed, but had to get these, well because BACON + BEIGNETS = heaven. They were amazing, and definitely ended our meal on a high note.

To drink I got the Portland Cider Company Pearfect - which was $10 for a 650 mL bottle!

Overall, great experience! The service, food, and ambiance were great! I'd definitely recommend this place to anyone visiting PDX!

As I was checking out the menu in the window, another customer walked out raving about this place. So we decided to take their lead and put our names on the list. It was a long wait-over an hour and it looked like they could have seated the 3 of us between two other parties but eventually we got a nice table to ourselves.

So everything is family style, with the skewers being smaller and the plates being a bit larger. The cod was excellent and my favorite! The salmon was pretty good too. My mom and sister enjoyed the beef. We ordered seconds of the skewers. They were that good. The delicata squash was also a hit being flavorful and filling. I liked the beet and ricotta salad but it wasn't anything out of this world. The Chinese noodle was very disappointing. We did not realize it was a soup and it was served to us in one big bowl. I had to ask for bowls and spoons do we could share it. Also it only had one noodle although super wide and very long. I would not order that again. I had the cider to drink and it was mediocre and unsweetened. Other than lack of bowls for the soup, the service was decent and the staff was friendly.

This place is a bit pricey and there's usually a wait but it's very unique and has delicious offerings.