Stone Cliff Inn — Restaurant in Happy Valley

It's a lovely location, although, at night in the rain, they could really use some more lighting on the uphill trek. I'm very much looking forward to going up for lunch or in the spring/summer to see the view.

When we first arrived, we were a little early and had to wait for a few minutes, no biggie except the AC vents are directly under the benches for waiting and were blowing hard despite the exceptionally rainy evening. But when we were taken upstairs to our seats, we discovered why the need for the AC. In reality, though... those AC vents should be up there... it was quite toasty. The wait staff was quite lovely and very kind and accommodating (my hubby is a bit picky about his foods).

Now for the food - the smoked steelhead bruschetta appetizer was good... but it fell a little flat for me. Felt more like a tuna salad on baguette with onions and micro greens. It left me wanting something. The onions could've been pickled more, and less of the fish salad (seriously, a huge portion on each slice of bread) would've been received well (and likely cost the kitchen less). But even beyond that, there was just something lacking in the flavor... not sure what it was - maybe if the fish was diced and presented more like a traditional bruschetta, drizzle with an aioli... 🤔 not sure... could be improved, though, I think. My partner ordered a cup of smoked salmon chowder to start, and we both agreed HANDS DOWN the best chowder we've ever had. Me and cream/dairy are not great friends... but I WILL be back for that chowder. DAAAAAMN, that stuff is sooooo good. I had the steelhead with buerre blanc, which was quite tasty. Potatoes needed a little more seasoning. Hubby had the steak teres major... very tender, but again, a little lacking on seasoning. Both were tasty, though, and beautifully cooked. To finish, we shared the bread pudding (which we were told we must try by friends). It was... okay. No raisins, which feels like a sin for bread pudding to not have raisins (or SOME type of dried fruit), and again, fell a little flat for us. Maybe a salted caramel... a drizzle of chocolate... dried fig pieces or apricot or raisins baked in... something to add just one more layer of flavor. Again, not sure... just felt like it needed one more layer for the taste buds to say WOW... like they did with the chowder. Seriously, what did y'all do to that chowder... I'm ruined!

The only other thing that felt like it was missing was bread service. No bread for the soup or to soak up the delicious buerre blanc remnants. :(

We will be back to try more things. Everything was genuinely tasty, and we left very full and pretty...

Wow, what a disappointment. We went here for our anniversary and should have heeded the Yelp reviews, mysteriously much worse than the ones on google. I was expecting a place that leaned on their view more than their food and was fine with that, but it was actually so bad as to be inedible. We abandoned our entrees and went home to eat ice cream. My husband's tiny filet was not the 8 ounces advertised. The teenager who dropped it off asked for him to cut the steak open in front of him to see if it was done to his liking, which was bizarre. He'd asked for medium rare but it was barely pink, we didn't send it back though as we didn't want to wait for another filet to be cooked. I ordered the cider brined pork loin. This implied a tenderloin cut, which I don't believe they were- looked more like chops. In any case, they looked and tasted like they had been dumped out of a big frozen Sysco bag of chops with the faux grill lines already on them, and then lightly spritzed with apple juice. In fact I'd put money on that being exactly what happened. There was zero sauce, no 'reduction' anywhere in sight. Not edible.

But honestly, the worst offense was the roasted potatoes and green beans. They had both very clearly been reheated from an old batch, not cooked fresh. You know the starchy gross texture day old french fries have when you try to eat them after they've been refrigerated? That's what these were like. Fundamentally, if you can't even be bothered to roast some fresh potatoes, you are not a high end restaurant. Oh, and when we got home we realized they charged us $5 for a San Pellegrino that they were out of, lol.

The filet was $42 and the pork $32. A few days later we went to Canard in Oregon City where the dishes were fresh, complex, unique, and ACTUALLY MUCH CHEAPER! Bottom line- Stone Cliff Inn is not a high end dining experience, it's a cynical cash grab based on the view and outdated reputation. Someone with a passion for food should take it over and put that...

Food 2 stars. Our party orders Ribs($38), Wygu burger $25ish, salmon entree($30ish), the "special" beef stew(wasn't told price).

Ribs were flavorless but tender. The "hibiscus " bbq sauce was bland and left much to be wanted. I was very disappointed that the sides to the dish were exponentially better than the entree.

The salmon was a laughable small portion. Easily a 4oz cut of fish with a very basic burbank, my mother, whose birthday we were celebrating, was left disappointed and hungry.

The Wygu burger, obviously not wygu. My wife ate half of it and felt guilty about not finishing the overpriced meal. The fries were better than the burger.

The stew. My father regrets ordering the stew, leaving wanting more built flavor. Said it seemed like a rushed entree. He finished the plate but only because he didn't waste money.

Service 5 stars

I apologize because I forgot our server, but he was very attentive and kept out water glasses full. He came by and made quick jokes that didn't make the meal awkward. He was kind and funny.

Atmosphere 4 stars We sat outside, it's by the river, hard to mess that up. Inside was nice, but the air felt heavy.

All in all, we won't be returning, as great of time we had with the service and views. The food was the downfall of the evening. The price point for the quality of the food is way too expensive for what was delivered.

As a culinary graduate and cook for fine dining for 5 years (14y total), the chef seems to have an ego that needs to be humbled or replaced. It was embarrassing how every dish we were served was a letdown and did not meet expectations.

Overall, 2/5 stars. Stone cliff needs to look at their culinary leadership and reevaluate the dishes when being proposed for menu, staff should have a say in what's being added for a quality assurance so the leadership doesn't let this drop in food quality...