Xanadu Astoria — Restaurant in Astoria

I love visiting Astoria every summer. I was so excited to find this place last year that I couldn't wait to come back again. But have things changed - and not for the better.

One of the things I liked about the space before was the relaxed vibe. Unfortunately that wasn't my experience this time. I felt unsafe there seemed to be predator types in the bar. Something is definitely different.

I was hoping the food had gotten better but I feel like it's gotten worse since last year. I know it takes time to get your stride and get your business going but you would think they would have it figured out by now. It took more than 30 minutes to get what ended up being a truly unremarkable pizza. The toppings were sparse. The crust was bland and too tough. We also had the stuffed crust pizza. Save your time and money. It's like it was an afterthought. They clearly haven't perfected it yet. There are several other pizza places right around there that are a million...

My bestie and I were in Astoria for a few days this Labor Day weekend and, on a lark, decided to check out the local queer scene by hopping into Xanadu on Saturday night during karaoke. They easily checked all the essential boxes of a gay bar/spot - strong drinks, excellent brunch game and great music. But more important (and more difficult to convey in a google review) was the powerful sense of belonging and welcome we felt in this space. It was beyond lovely to get outside of our zone (Portland) and find this beautiful, shared community in Astoria. We instantly recognized the Xanadu folks - and were recognized, in turn - as family. That's a cool feeling. I wanted to extend the toast my bestie and I shared after rolling the dice on Xanadu that night - "to good decisions." As far as I'm concerned, it's an institution of queer culture on the Oregon coast.

Try the chile relleno...

We were one of 4 couples in the whole place and the owner went out of his way to ignore us. We waited to try to get a menu as the employee ignored us to take care of everyone other than us. We had a similar experience when we were tryin to pay at the end. No one would come near our table, so my partner went up to the bar and stood there as the bartender/owner helped the man who walked up there after us as well as a couple who walked in and then when he couldn’t find anyone to look at other than my partner he started cleaning the bar and bussing tables. We almost just left without paying but we really wanted to support this business so my partner made a point to pay even though we had never felt less welcome anywhere. Sadly, we won’t be back and won’t be sending our queer family and friends to this particular...