Trillium Café — Restaurant in Hood River

Trillium Café in Hood River, Oregon is a little hole in the wall that has a cult-like following for their hamburgers. It is a local hangout that serves a small menu of bar food made up of appetizers, hamburgers, sandwiches, soups, salads, and a few specials. It’s also one of the few restaurants in Hood River that is open late at night, which is how I came to visit it.

I arrived in Hood River late at night, and was looking for a bite to eat before I went to my hotel. I had walked by Trillium Café many times over the years, but never visited because the menu looked like a lot of other restaurant menus, and I’m always on the lookout for something new.

Even though I arrived shortly before the kitchen closed, I was greeted warmly and provided excellent service.

My go-to when ordering a burger, is a classic Cheeseburger. I ordered The Standard - 1/2 pounder with lettuce, tomato, pickles, served on grilled bun, and added a slice of cheese. All burgers are made with Cascade Natural 100% Angus Beef. Burgers are served with your choice of hand cut fries, tater tots, or garden salad. I got the hand cut fries.

Wowza! Trillium Café makes an EXCELLENT Cheeseburger with Fries! First, I love that they know the importance of grilling/toasting the bun. The hamburger meat was fresh, perfectly cooked and seasoned. The Tillamook cheddar cheese was nicely melted on top of my burger. The lettuce, tomato, and pickles were served off to the side so I could dress my burger as I liked. The fresh cut fries were excellent! It was one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever had in or anywhere near Hood River.

I’ve heard excellent things about their Fish & Chips, which is one of their three specialties, along with Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese. If you’re looking for a casual dining option, with a small but excellent menu, check out Trillium Café the next time you’re in Hood River.

Highly...

Oh Trillium, we all wish we could love you more.

The good: Sometimes the food is decent, and the menu is broad enough to meet most palates. Sometimes the bartender is friendly. Sometimes they are open.

The bad: Some days they are inexplicably closed. Like don’t come to town on a Saturday and expect to eat here. The food is vastly overpriced for what it is. Go almost anywhere in town and get better food and service for the same money. The service can be truly awful. They’ll tell you to come in and sit down and good luck if a menu ever arrives. Good luck if your check ever arrives. Sometimes the food is bizarrely unseasoned. The bathrooms will remind you of the trashiest dive bar in NW Portland circa 1995 - truly disgusting. The place sometimes smells like either something has spoiled or everything has been...

Well, in looking for a mom and pop style restaurant, google brought us here. It's more of a bar with a restaurant. But oh my goodness! The food, especially the "beaver tail" was soooo good! We were there around 4:30pm and the locals were just beginning to wander in, so it was rather quiet still. The cook, I was told had messed up one of our orders and was recooking it. Not only that, but the cook came out himself and offered apologies and said he was giving us that meal free.??? Really!?! Who does that nowadays? We did not complain in any way. Stuff happens and it was no bother for us, we had no schedule to keep. And yet, the staff of Trillium took it upon themselves to make our experience there go far above our expectations. Do I recommend stopping here? EMPHATICALLY YES! Good food, good service...