The Fireside Grill — Restaurant in Beaverton

I have been a customer of Fireside Grill for many years. It's been a while since my last visit because I moved out of state in 2022.

I recently came back to Oregon to visit the family for a couple of weeks so of course I had to stop by my favorite spots.

It was a busy Friday night (2/23/24) when I walked thru Firesides doors. I was sooooo excited as I'm a stout drinker & they usually have an imperial stout that I absolutely love.

I walked in and there were 9 people standing in the small entrance. When I entered, I cheerfully said, "I guess we’re all here for their awesome cheeseburgers”, to break the awkwardness.

I immediately noticed that there were 2 seats available at the bar. I turned to all the people standing there waiting on a table & asked if anyone was interested in the available seats, and they all said or shook their heads, No.

As me and my best friend got ready to sit down, a young man walked up and angrily said I couldn’t sit there & that the bar seats were a part of seating. This was a first for me as all other restaurants I’ve been too, usually offer open seating at their bars. I expressed that to Mikey, and stepped back from the bar stools.

Mikey proceeded to ask all the people standing there waiting to be seated, if they wanted to sit at the bar & the all said no. Then, he asked for my name & walked away. He did not ask me if I wanted the bar seats but he didn’t need to because he already knew I did. When he walked away, the last lady he asked if she wanted to sit at the bar whispered, “I left the bar for you”. I smiled and said thank you.

Mikey came back after about 5 minutes and seated the people one by one as the bar seats sat empty. Finally after about 15 minutes, and all the other people had been seated, he asked me, where I’d like to sit as if I hadn’t already told him, I wanted the 2 empty bar seats directly in front of me. So that’s where me & my BFF sat.

After seating us, he took our order and again just walked away. He didn’t offer us any water or put our drink order in so my friend got the attention of a very approachable female bartender at the other end of the bar. I didn’t get her name but she had purple hair. She was so kind and got us our drinks & our glasses of water. Out of nowhere, a man standing waiting to be seated, says, I’m glad you finally got your drinks because he too noticed how rude Mikey was being to me.

Just then Mikey walks up just as a new customer walks up and says he wants to sit at the bar. Mikey informs him that the bar is a part of the seating. Then he tells the guy but I can get you something from the bar & I was immediately pissed. I told Mikey, you didn’t ask me if I wanted anything from the bar. Mikey says, “Well you just barged in here, cut in front of everyone trying to take seats at the bar.I told Mikey, that first off, he wasn’t even there when I walked in. I told him that when I noticed that there were 2 open seats at the bar, I asked all the people standing waiting to be seated if they wanted the seats before I attempted to sit in the chairs.

It’s very sad that he was punishing me with bad customer service because he thought I’d done something I didn’t do. Not to mention, I’m the only black person in the whole restaurant. I’m 54 years old. I’ve lived in mostly white areas all of my life & this is the first time I’ve ever felt like I was maybe being treated rudely because of my race. He was wearing rainbow glasses so I thought, “Is he gay, and being a racist?”

I was hurt & very angry in this moment. He seemed a little ashamed as now he had the full story & all the facts. He then says, “Is there anything I can grab anything else for you. I said, “Yes, your neck.” It’s not my proudest moment but I was thru being nice & patient with him.

He paused for 5 or 10 seconds, then says, “Don’t threaten me!” In response, I said, “I didn’t threaten you. You asked if YOU could grab us something & I said your neck.”

He then snatched my friend’s drink right out of her hand(she’s white btw) & tells us very rudely that we need to get...

Yah, I'm not sure why everyone else is loving this place so much.

Put aside the over-the-top sexual innuendos and derogatory comments toward their patrons that riddle their menu and the artwork that hangs on the walls of a guy smoking a dube (real classy, guys) - put aside all that and this place was still lacking in most respects.

The method of service is odd. You don't get a dedicated server. The servers there share tables and you'll get served from two or more of them. Which, they say, is a strength. Because sometimes your waiter isn't there when you need something but another one might be. So you can call on any of them. There were some other interesting reasons why they said they do it this way as well. But the main disadvantage, as we came to realize, is that sometimes one server really sucks while the other one was really good. But then how much do you tip? If I would have based my tip on the service we got from the arrogant, cocky know-it-all guy who served us 50% of the time I almost wouldn't have left any tip at all. But on the other side the young girl who served us the other 50% of the time was amazing. I should have just given her cash and left nothing on the card. It's a frustrating way of handling service. There's a reason other restaurants don't do this.

But even aside from the service issues the food we had wasn't great either. I ordered a Rueben sandwich, which came out charred/black. It looked like a burnt piece of toast on both sides. When it arrived I said, "Oh wow! A little crispy, huh?" The waiter didn't even acknowledge it and just said, "Anything else I can get you guys?" I was sort of flabbergasted. I've been a server before at several nice restaurants in the past and I never would have served that to anyone to begin with. But assuming maybe he didn't notice I said something. So if that had been me I would have said, "Oh my goodness, you're right! That is rather charred. Here. Let me go have the kitchen remake that for you. I'm so sorry." Instead he just ignored my comment, asked if we needed anything else, and just abruptly left.

Fortunately, the INSIDE of this Rueben sandwhich tasted amazing. So I just avoided the outside of the bread and ate it anyway. By this point, it was obvious to both of us that we weren't coming back or enjoying our current stay. So the idea was to just make do and get out of there as quickly as possible.

My side salad was completely lackluster and regular.

My wife got a dish that included potatoes. Two of the piece of potatoes had roots growing out of them, which she had to remove. So tacky! Needless to say, that sort of ruined her appetite.

The interior of the place was just your average dive bar. I didn't consider it anything fancy or even interesting. It was just a dive bar, nothing more.

Everyone says the burgers there are amazing. And neither of us ordered a burger. So maybe we missed out. But the food we had was lack-luster, as was the decor and 50% of the service. I would never go back and I still can't understand what people see in this place.

The place was packed. I'll give them that. They are apparently very popular. Although I have no idea why. The decor, rude commentary on their menu, and pictures of dudes smoking a dube on the wall were enough to make me never want to come back. But the jerk waiter and burnt sandwich just solidified...

UPDATE: Had to come back and update my negative review. I actually forgot I gave them a bad review a couple years ago or I would have updated way sooner. I have revisited Fireside numerous times since the review below. It conveniently located just 10 mins from me and great spot for a late evening and snacks or meal. Service is generally top notch except sometimes is can be slow when they are slammed, but that is on the owner and manager…..but I also get it. Now they should have a dedicated server for the floor but they usually do not and this is why it can slow service when the place gets super busy,…tho even when it takes a bit to get to you they are always super friendly and super accurate on your orders. The system is setup that the bartenders also wait on tables taking orders and running food …. All the while doing what their job actually is and that is bartending making all the drinks for whole place. A simple extra 5-6 hrs of labor each day or maybe their prime time days would make such a difference. So maybe the added shift Wed-Sat 4/5pm-9/10pm. Tho I understand to cut costs the easiest is to cut labor. This is why and the only reason a star reduction on service. SO back to the update: always friendly, food is generally always good but occasionally inconsistent time to time but that could just be simple as diff chefs on diff days. Atmosphere is great and the overall prices are def reasonable and good value for quality and portions which amazing to say that most places in this area are about $2-$5 overpriced per dish. From what I know this place is owned by the same person of Westgate on Cedar Hills, but between the two Fireside is def the winner! I like Westgate but it has a corporate chain feel to it while Fireside is like a laid back neighborhood spot. Thank you Fireside for what you do…..PS: Don’t sleep on reading all the items on the menu through even if you know what you’re getting because the humor is awesome.

Two Stars for the great service, but don't know what happened to the food quality control since the last time I was here a month ago. Ordered a Ruben and usually it is so stuffed with meat I can hardly finish half of the sandwich. This time, where is the beef? Maybe an ounce of chopped up corned beef in the whole sandwich. Flavor was great, but no meat. Highly disappointing from one of my fav places in Beaverton. I have never had a Ruben that had the corned beef chopped up and mixed in with the sauerkraut to disguise the lack of portion size...if you don't have enough meat to make a proper sammie then take it off the menu for the day. Sad days for one great spot. Friend had the Beefeater Sandwich and it looked poor too. All mushrooms and onions with little steak. 3rd person ordered a burger...only thing that looked right...maybe because the patties are pre-portioned and pattied. May give another chance, but slim...