City State Diner and Bakery — Restaurant in Portland

My boyfriend and I have gotten brunch here on Saturday about 4 or 5 times. The service quality has really taken a dive in the last two visits. The first time it happened, we assumed the waiter was new, as we hadn't seen her before. We took several months off before returning for brunch today, and wound up getting the same waiter. Based on our experience during this visit, we likely won't be coming back here again, and that's a bummer because it's in our neighborhood and it's a decent spot otherwise.

Our waiter took our order, and seemed distracted with a couple that began getting seated outside during our exchange. She then rushed outside and took their order. After waiting what seemed like a pretty long time for our food, we got a single check-in/refill from our waiter during which she tells us our food is being plated and will be out shortly. A few minutes after this, she takes food to the couple that was seated outside and ordered after us. After a few more minutes, she goes back outside and talks to the couple for a bit as they eat, then comes back in and goes to the back. She doesn't speak to us or acknowledge us during any of this, and we're really starting to wonder where our food is.

After ANOTHER solid 5 minutes, our waiter finally comes by and admits that she gave the couple outside half of our order and asks if we want their food, which has been sitting out now for probably at least 10 minutes at this point, and isn't even what we ordered. We're like, no, we want the food we ordered, so she leaves to go put in that order.

At no point during that exchange does she ever apologize for the mistake or the wait or really acknowledge how much of a screw up it was or offer to do anything substantive to make it right. It also felt like she was basically forced to come tell us and put it off as long as possible. So we just sit there and watch the couple outside eat part of our order.

After that, she disappears and we never see her again for the remainder of our service. Other staff bring our food out and also start serving the couple outside. None of these staff members ever acknowledge the mistake to us in any way. No one ever checked on us again after we were finally given our food. We're basically without an actual waiter for the rest of our meal. We eventually just walk to the counter so that we can pay because it seems like no one is ever going to bring us a check. The person at the counter, that we were sitting 3 feet from for our whole meal, then asks us how everything was, which just made the whole thing feel even worse. It felt like everyone there was just oblivious or had no intention of ever acknowledging how badly they'd screwed up our whole service.

Just a complete lack of acknowledgement/accountability from...

Epic brunch, even by Portland standards. Brunch is my favourite meal of the day, any day. The criteria are that it must be filling (this is the only meal until dinner!), it must be delicious (again, I have waited a while to get to this meal, and it will be the only one until dinner), and there must be enough options that I feel like I could lean into a typical breakfast OR go for more of a lunch vibe. My recent meal at City State ticked all the boxes AND tossed in a side of "made with love." 5 stars, though I wish I could give 6. I thoroughly enjoyed my bacon avocado benny on the most enormous, tender, moist and wonderful fluffy biscuit I can recall ever having (no lie), with a delicately-proportioned (adequate but not overpowering sense of citrus) hollandaise sauce that made me grateful for the generous amount of it. My side salad (yes, that's the lunch vibe part) was spot on, with just the right amount of dressing. My dining companions had similarly wonderful meals set before them, and eye-poppingly beautiful drinks as well (was that a soup tureen of hot chocolate, with the ample whipped cream and casual dusting of cinnamon atop it?). This meal at City State actually gave me a twinge of regret at having moved away from Portland and the cult of brunching that overshadowed the bland white skies and grey tones and generally-damp-pavement feel that usually reassure me that it's alright to be just an occasional visitor. Looking forward to my next opportunity to feast here alongside the wonderful humans who populate...

Great food, creative menu, experienced and unfailingly friendly service staff who always keep your coffee cup full and hot. With their high volume of business and large customer base, they still managed to remember how the regulars like their eggs cooked, no small feat. A good spot for medium to larger size groups, and very accommodating to families and small children (old man grumble, grumble, but charitably, the Next Generation has to come from somewhere, I presume). Overall a very well done locally owned class asked for breakfast and lunch. Support your local owners who do it well, and these people do, consistently, and over the years.

March 24, 2018 Update

I wasn't able to get there early as I usually do to avoid the crowd and wait, but the staff grab me and immediately put me at a spot on the counter so I had no wait at all. I had the crab hash, but unfortunately the waitress either didn't hear me or the cook missed the instruction to poach my eggs hard, so it went back for a redo, and everything was fine from there on out. My coffee was kept full, which is an occasional issue here when they are busy. Maybe that's one advantage of sitting at the counter? In any event, overall another successful visit to a neighborhood standby with very friendly staff, and generally consistent food. I might say this restaurant could benefit from a chalkboard with rotating specials to change things up a little bit more so regulars don't get bored and occasionally...