Tavern on Kruse — Restaurant in Lake Oswego

The menu sounds good but the food quality does not deliver. It seems to be a restaurant put together by a restaurant consultant with a concept in mind, and not by a chef or restaurant owner passionate about food. It clearly appeals to the afterwork crowd from the surrounding office buildings

The $5 “artisan bread basket” is two little loaves of obviously pre-frozen white dough, ostensibly one focaccia and one ciabatta, but in reality two of the same disappointing thing, which is a travesty in a town with so many extraordinary bread bakeries. The bread was not warm and has zero texture. it wa served solely with a compound butter, so we asked for plain, which turned out to have been left in a refrigerator uncovered and had taken on “fridge taste”.

The artichoke crab dip is advertised as served with crostini, but it’s really just slices of the sad bread that no one ate from the “artisan bread baskets”. Annoyingly, the slices were not toasted properly, so they were only crispy around the edges and the centers were still soft; top the soft center with crab dip and you get a soggy mess instead of the crispy, creamy juxtaposition that is the point of serving those two types of foods together. They also failed to season either the crostini or the dip, but a little salt, pepper, & Tabasco added in gave it some flavor. Frankly, they’d have done better with crackers or tortilla chips, then at least they would have already had the crunchy and seasoned part taken care of for them.

The beef pattie for the hamburger also tastes frozen and pre-formed. The fried chicken comes with a drizzle of black pepper honey, which is nice, except that the honey was drizzled over the entire plate, including on top of the collard greens and the macaroni & cheese.

The wait staff seem disorganized and were quite slow with any follow-up. We got fantastic service from our busboy, though, and really appreciated him.

The cocktails were excellent and well-priced, but very slow to arrive.

In the end, we ended up each taking one bite out of each dish and then nicely asking for the check so that we could leave and go find food worth eating. The waitress was very sweet and distressed that we were leaving so much food and did not want to take it with us (we just told her we had to suddenly depart, not that we were disappointed with the entire meal, as it was not her fault) and then we walked to the sushi place a few doors down - it...

I enjoyed my dinner here and even though it was a busy Friday evening the staff seemed to handle the workflow well and we were never left wanting for service or drinks. I would like to see some different appetizers that are more shareable but not really a critique as much as an observation. We had the Savory Goat Cheese Torte and I enjoyed it but my companion was not as interested but I found it interesting. Light, almost like a cheesecake consistency and good flavor balance with the sharpness and salt of the cheese combined with the sweet of the apple compote topping. I am not usually a goat cheese fan but I found this very approachable.

I had the Lamb Gnocchi which I very much enjoyed. The ragout was just the right mix of tomato acid to cut through the richness of the lamb and the gnocchi were a dense consistency which I really enjoyed with this dish and found it gave a very complimenting texture. I seem to end up with lighter Gnocchi dumplings at home and these were an interesting change. The portions size was perfect for me. She had the fried chicken and seemed satisfied with it but this is not the place you go for fried chicken in my opinion. From across the table I had the impression of it being a little dark and possibly fried too long but I did not taste it.

We also had a side salad, both Cesar and it was ok but I wouldn't get it again. No need to pay the price for romaine lettuce with scant dressing and what were somewhat disappointing croutons. There was nothing "wrong" with it, I just felt like it was a bad work lunch salad.

I ordered two cocktails. The London Fog because I have a bottle of this Empress Gin and I am looking for ideas for cocktails to use it in. It was mixed very well and an attractive lavender color. No complaints but it didn't end up being what I was looking for by my companion was happy to take it off my hands. I think had the Old Man Kruse which was basically a take on an Old Fashioned and I quite enjoyed it. I would have liked to see a couple more beer selections but I realize you cannot have it all.

In summary it was a good meal. I would go back for the Lamb Gnocchi and the Cocktails. I would skip the salad. The staff was very pleasant...

Have stopped by here on a number of occasions, most recently on a Saturday evening.

The wife and I hadn't eaten here in a while and I had forgotten how much I like this place. This particular time I got the sparerib pasta while my wife got the ahi salad. We also shared a baruta with summer fruit plate. Everything we ordered was very good... not Le Pigeon level good, but it was good. Service is largely provided by young women who are pleasant and no nonsense. The manager also stopped by to see how we were doing, and was engaging and friendly as well.

Normally I would give this place 4 stars and be done with it, but there are a couple of factors that I feel really elevate this place. The first is the wine selection. It's outstanding, one of the larger and better currated lists I've seen in PDX (Mucca and Ringside are the only places I can think of in Portland that have a larger, more impressive list). The impressive wine selection also applies to the wine by the glass list. In that regard the Tavern on Kruse is unrivaled. Yes, it's small (15 or so choices I believe), but they have really good stuff. Think Abeja Cabernet, Broadley Pinot, and the Elk Cove "la sirene" Pinot. The gentle pricing is an additional bonus (my jaw hit the table when I saw the $18 price tag for the Abeja). And that brings me to the other factor I appreciate about the Tavern. Pricing here is very fair. Dinner here, with 3 glasses of really good wine, was just over $100. Also, not that this is a big deal, but if you pay with cash rather than CC, you'll get a slight discount (a couple of bucks in our case). Anyway, the outstanding wine selection and gentle pricing justify an extra star in my book.

This is the sort of place you want to put on your regular date night...