Albina Press — Restaurant in Portland

As the cigarette smoke settled in the air of the packed café I closed my worn old copy of Lonesome Dove and forced down the dregs of my now cold coffee. I looked around at the tired faces of students, writers, artists, and the occasional reader like myself; their body's littered at tables and on too old couches colored in the golden red hues of dried blood. I glanced down at the table in front of me, suited with a rickety leg and battle scars from children with paper clips, and pain started to rush into my body like a cold breeze rushing through the leaves of a tired old tree. Maybe it was the way this place reminded me of the dive bars my mom would take me to when I was a kid, could also be the decades as a private detective making me weary of these bodys all packed in a small place like sardines in a can. who knows. As I start out of my chair and its back hits the back of chair behind me. The sour looking woman sitting in the chair shoots me a cold stare. I gather my book and I leave a tip. I walk out of that thick aired café with my mind on other things. I weave my way through the bodys and push open the wooden door with a ring out of the bell. it's raining outside, and I make a right hand turn. I walk to the end of the block where the sidewalk meets an impressively large puddle before I turn back and look at the sign hanging off the wall of the café....

I was in here having a meeting with 5 people and just a few minutes into the meeting someone who didn’t work here came over and requested we move because they were throwing an engagement party. They went to every single person on this side of the cafe and requested they move. The cafe was already full there was no where to move, so we didn’t move. Shortly thereafter a mere 50 people showed up, causing every person who stayed on this side of the cafe who were just trying to finish their work or meetings were forced into unbelievable chaos, a suffocating environment and were forced to leave basically. We’re talking 80+ people in a capacity for 40 people tops.

While I understand the people who asked everyone to move did not work here it is UNBELIEVABLE that the cafe allowed them to do this. We were all paying customers including a man who clearly had a developmental disability who had a complete melt down because people kept...

They have signs on their tables that say “please don’t spend too much time sitting here” I was soo embarrassed to have asked someone to meet me here without checking if it was actually a welcoming place staffed by adults with manners. It is not. In addition to the blaming and resentful attitudes directed at customers, there is also difficulty in entering due to a total misuse of space. A giant table, clearly put there to make a station for staff to berate visitors, makes distancing while standing in line impossible. A second room that could easily provide double the space is used only for storage. As if all that isn’t awkward enough, their menu is also too small to read until you get right up to the counter. If it takes you more than one second to choose a beverage then be prepared for some bimbo to scowl at you behind her sanctimonious...