Bar Diane — Restaurant in Portland

I’m African American and I’ve been living in this neighborhood for over a year and a half and I’ve been going to this place since it opened. The service is usually great, the drinks are good, I like their events, the atmosphere is awesome and I’ve made some great friends and contacts from socializing with fellow patrons. I’m not huge on leaving reviews but i felt inclined to this time. I went here last night 8/10/23 around 9:30pm.and I got treated terribly by two rude staff members and was told to leave. I noticed something was different the moment I walked into the bar as I was being starred at aggressively. I saw two attractive ladies sitting down and I ask them if the food was good since I hadn’t honestly tried it before. One of the ladies responded by saying no, the food isn’t good, and you should let me know if you find some in the neighborhood that’s better. I said I will, here’s my number and I’ll let you. That’s how the conversation ended. As I’m about to walk into the bar, One of the rude staff members comes up and says in front of the ladies “are you going to get a drink?” I reply , yes”. And I head to the bar. I see the second rude staff member and I didn’t know she was working or even worked there but before I sat down, I asked polity if anyone was sitting in the seat close to her. She responds , no there is no one sitting there. I’m like ok, I’ll sit down. Before I could open my mouth to order a drink from the bartender she tells me, I’m not interested in talking to you. I thought to myself, that’s a odd thing to randomly say to someone but to each their own. I respected her wishes by saying ok. Next thing you know , the first rude staff member comes up to me as I’m literally about to get a drink and she says “hey I notice that every time you come here , you never get drinks and you like to go from table to table talking to people.” At this point, I’m shocked she says this because I’ve been there numerous times and have got drinks and YES I do talk to people because that’s what people do. Apparently, me, having conversations with other patrons made her feel uncomfortable and I was like first off, I do buy drinks here and second what is wrong with talking to people who want to talk? I’ve never talked to anyone who doesn’t want to talk to me and that night , the ladies I talked to had no issues either. The second rude staff member ( the one who said she didn’t want to talk to me) jumps in the conversation and I respond by Saying you just told me, you didnt want to talk to me and I respected your wishes. Why are you talking to me now? So after that question ignore her because why would u treat a customer like? before I know it, she says that I should leave. At this point, I realize she works there too! Next thing you know their telling me to leave because I they say I give different names to people . I then tell them my name so they know and they still tell me to leave. So I gave them a $5 tip and I left because they were attacking verbally in the restaurant and telling I was lying. I’m not sure who the owner is, but as an African American male, I felt wrongly targeted and treated very poorly. Hopefully, whoever the owner is, trains their staff to be more kind in the future to customers and I’d like and apology. These two staffers were so mean from the moment I walked in and they very unprofessional. The funny thing is, I work with lots of restaurants and bars in portland and I help my clients handle reviews like this all the time. My goal of this review is to make the owner aware so that they can correct this from happening again. If I don’t an apology, I’m going to tell my story to as many people...

Visiting from New York City, and having imbibed at the world's best bars, I have to say this establishment is good at putting on a "show" but lacks substance and definetly lacks skilled bartenders. Cocktails are weak and poorly balanced and the wine selection is small. The aloof and "cool" attitude of the bartenders may distract the typical Portland customer from the subpar cocktails but the allusion will be, and should be, shattered once someone of more "worldly" experience takes their first sip. High on misguided pretentiousness paired with low quality cocktails. Of course, everything is relative. So maybe by Portland standards this is a high quality wine/cocktail bar? However, I have had much more expertly crafted cocktails not only within the confines of the "Nob Hill" area, but definetly within the "Pearl District".

In addition, I arrived fairly early in the evening to ensure I got a spot at the bar. 15 minutes later a women joined her friend at the bar, fairly empty bar, and decided to sit right next to me? Total lack of bar etiquette and low class behavior. I asked to speak to the manager but was given a beta personality excuse as to why the manager was not available. Typical Pacific Northwest. LOL. Nothing like poor people to ruin a well intended Wednesday night cocktail hour; never fails. If you are insistent on surrounding yourself with low income Nob Hill patrons while you "enjoy" low quality cocktails than this is the perfect place; a "bucket list"...

I had a fantastic experience at this little hideaway. I sat in the garden behind the restaurant on a hot summer day and it was an oasis.

Excellent wine selection. I order 4 half glasses and everything paired perfectly with the food.

I came here on Sunday ($2 per oyster) and the wines were excellent and the food surprisingly good.

MUST GET: oyster with champagne from romaine guiborat. hamachi crudo roasted maitake paired with local orange (Buona Notte mortadella from Columbia George in Washington). Maitake was served with pinenut and rice crumble, which was delightful. I put the sauce with hamachi crudo in the roasted maitake and it elevated the taste. It can use a bit more balsamic vignegrette or lemon juice to elevate the mushroom taste even more. dessert wine (2021 romaine ogereau, chenin blanc) was delightful. Very balanced. Subtle sweetness with perfect balance of citrus notes. A bit of apricot on the nose. A fine ending to the delightful dinner.

Solid: Spaghetti with morel. Paired with 2023 Bruno verdi from oltrepo pavese Italy. I really liked the pecorino cheese that tempered the salty-ness of the spaghetti. I think the food would be better with a bit less oil. The spaghetti almost reminded me of the Asian noodles vs...