Spinellas — Restaurant in Gresham

Update: Spinella's is fully back in normal, non-pandemic, business mode, with indoor dining and live music indoors during the rainy and cold season, and outdoor live music when weather is nice. It is highly recommended to call ahead for reservations as this is a very popular spot. You simply can't go wrong coming here any time for great food, great hospitality, and seeing awesome live music!

The following is my last review from there pandemic days: Spinella's is open, operating, and is better than ever! I'm absolutely blown away by how great a job they've done accommodating the pandemic precautions. They've converted their parking lot into an outdoor dining area (there's a big, free, public parking a few blocks away), they have more staff than I've ever seen before, they display tons of whimsical, large, conspicuous COVID-19 protocol signage, and their food is absolutely fantastic! The outdoor dining area has various-sized picnic and standard tables all appropriately socially distanced, each has a big umbrella for shade, and there is a bandstand with an excellent-sounding PA. Volume levels are perfect, too (perfectly audible, but quiet enough to enable comfortable conversation with your table mates). They currently offer a small "patio menu" that covers all the bases. I opted for the ground chuck burger with bacon and cheddar, and it was honestly one of the best I've ever had (and that's saying a LOT)! Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, perfectly juicy, on a fresh, delicious roll. I ordered fries as well, and they were fantastic. I was happily surprised to see house-made potato chips served with the burger. I generally don't like potato chips at all, but these were absolutely fantastic. I couldn't be happier with my visit, and can't wait for my next! I can't wait to see more great live music, chat with the super friendly staff, and to try their bacon...

We called head because we wanted a place to celebrate my 75th birthday that had karaoke & had gluten free options & our teens could come. We were a party of 22 and several of us wanted to sing however when I asked if they had a book of selections to choose from I was told "we don't cut down trees anymore". I sang two songs from a CD I had heard at home earlier, but nobody else sang because we didn't have any choices to select from. I had to pick something I was familiar with. Very disappointing, I won't go there again. Made my 75th birthday celebration much less than it could have been. Also it's nice that they make each dish individual but the person organizing this event was the 6th person to order and even though they were asked three to four times about her meal everybody in the party (22) were served and still she did not get hers. They finally realized there was a similar order prior to hers so they made the assumption they had already made it. I wonder if 2 people order a hamburger does only one of them get it? You would think in that three or four times we inquired about her meal not coming that someone would have looked further. They comped her meal but still she had to take it to go and didn't get to eat with the rest of us. They get a zero on that one. This was not the kind of birthday celebration I was hoping for. I even had on a birthday girl banner on and I was not acknowledged. The DJ finally said "oh, are you the one that called ?".. There was one table of karaoke singers that were clearly regulars and they appeared to be catered to. Huge disappointment we...

The food is pretty solid. However, from a value perspective, it is a bit overpriced, and I feel that this place puts an emphasis on extracting every penny from you when you're there vs focusing on providing a great experience (i.e., making it easy to customize your food or drink without charging an arm or a leg). For example, they print on the drink menu something to the effect of, "Better like your drink because if you don't, we won't give you a refund." Which is like, ok I get it if you order a pineapple drink and want to return it because it had pineapple, I can see how, as a business owner this can be frustrating, but seriously?? To put it on the menu and not just handle it on a one on one basis for those who are abusing it seems weird. Most establishments would prefer you return your drink because as an owner they'd prefer above all else that you enjoy your experience. Another example is that it costs something ungodly like $3 to SWAP OUT FRIES for a side salad. The owner (gentleman) seems curmudgeonly, however his wife (assuming) and daughter are a pleasure who I've seen there quite a few times. The food items are oddly named, which I enjoy and find fun, and we really enjoy the Mac and cheese there.

Never done the wine and paint nights, but definitely want to try it. If they turned down some of the nickle and dining tactics and got a better vibe from the gentleman owner, this place would be...