BEASTRO by Marshawn Lynch — Restaurant in Portland

Editing my original post. Beastro has been open for a while now. They remodled and now have a bigger space but the decor is just confusing now. Its clearly football and Marshawn Lynch related but the menu has gone from Asian Fusion to very Americanized and boring. They've replaced the Ube Eggs benedict with a basic, dry probably store bought english muffin. Even the Portoguese sausage lacked flavor, most likely switched to a cheaper brand. The fried potatos were obviously from a frozen bag. Do not order them.

They've removed the breakfast fried chicken from the menu, very dissapointing. My BF got the pandan mochi waffles with popcorn chicken. The chicken tasted like the frozen Trader Joes bag of Orange Chicken without the orange chicken sauce.

Overall I do not suggest this place anymore. Even the workers are no longer tied to the Asian or Island culture. Food is lacking and seems like they've tried to cut costs by using frozen foods.

This place is easily one of my new favorite brunch spots in Portland. Usually I’m skeptical of Asian Fusion food but this place nailed it. I got the Eggs Benedict with Portuguese sausage. They’re on the smaller side for portion size but they were amazing. The hollandaise sauce was flavorful and paired well with the sausage and Ube English muffin. The Ube was not overpowering at all. So good!

My BF got the breakfast fried chicken and OMG. Hands down one of the best pieces of fried chicken I’ve ever had. So juicy, crispy and so much flavor, with a hint of yellow curry. The cheesy jalapeño biscuit was moist and had so much flavor, honestly better than Pine State Biscuits.

The food was damn near perfect and hit all the Island flavors I was hoping for. Only thing that could have been more seasoned was the hash browns but everything else was so amazing. 10/10...

Inside Hotel Vance, is Beastro. Opened by NFL star Marshawn Lynch, whose Filipino roots, along with Hawaiian chef Kevin Yamada and co-owner Jun Park have created a unique menu of Korean stews and street food.

The cocktail program, created by Yanci Violi, is extraordinary in its presentation and diversity, incorporating many Asian flavors such as Ube and Sesame.

The ‘Purple Drank’ is, in my humble opinion, a cocktail worthy of its own review.

Koloa Dark Hawaiian Rum, Orgeat, Ube Extract, Demerara, and Fresh Lime. Sprinkled with coconut flakes and garnished with dehydrated lime.

Ube, a gorgeous purple hued Asian tuber, commonly found in Filipino cuisine, has the distinctly sweet flavors of vanilla, white chocolate and coconut.

Add to that the sweet almond essence of orgeat, cut with lime and add coconut flakes for texture, and it’s a splendid cocktail.

Beastro bartenders make the extracts and syrups in house, so be assured that you are getting an epic cocktail here.

Pastry chef Helen Nguyen creates some playful desserts on the menu such as the “Taste the Rainbow” macaron, filled with mixed berry compote and lime and served with a side of Skittles (Marshawn Lynch loves them).

Featured:

🥘Army Base Stew Budae-Jjigae

Korean-American fusion noodle dish made from umami-rich broth, Korean hot pepper, kimchi, spam, beans, sausage, and mushrooms.

🍹White Cloud (Banhez Mezcal, Coconut, Green Tea Infused Agave, Toasted Sesame, Yuzu, Egg White.)

🍹Lychee Blossom (Big Gin, Lychee, Shiso Leaf Infused Vermouth, Fresh Lemon, Bubbly)

🍹Purple Drank (Koloa Dark Hawaiian Rum, Orgeat, Ube Extract, Demerara, Fresh Lime.)

🍸Island Old Fashioned Pendelton Whiskey, Pandan Infused Demerara,...

I am going to preface this review with this: I was a waitress at this establishment for a while.

A lot of things this restaurant says are "house-made"...are not. The caramel sauce on your cheesecakes is one of two brands, but...most of the time, it's Smuckers brand of ice cream caramel topper. The shrimp tempura is store-bought, freezer to fryer. Most of the time, the gochujang sauce isn't proper gochujang. A lot of their "house-made" sauces are store-bought.

The special cocktails are pre-made in batch, and you better hope they've been changed out recently enough. That's also why you can't ask for liquor substitutions in them usually.

Spot-sweeping and spot-mopping is what is done. There's something under the bar on the floor that won't come up with hefty mopping. From what I've been able to pull up...they've never had a proper inspection.

The working environment in this establishment, at least during dinner hours, is extremely toxic. Their chef (Miss Moon) is abusive to the rest of the staff; any time she was on the line, the entire shift was full of her screaming at everyone. I was told eight waitresses quit within weeks of me having my interview, and I completely understand why. She would scream mostly in Korean, and none of us understood what she was saying to or about us.

Any time conflicts arose with customers, the manager was a "no conflict" kind of guy. We, the staff, took the brunt of everything. He also refuses to hire more than one waitress per shift, which is ridiculous considering the volume of customers the restaurant gets at any given time.

Do not eat here. Do not support this toxic...