Departure Restaurant + Lounge — Restaurant in Portland

I had high hopes and expectations for this restaurant. Unfortunately our experience was not so great and I also feel the views aren’t that great either and very small area for any “viewing” with maybe 16 small tables mostly two tops (In our town we have a rooftop bar on the 27th floor so I could be biased about the views but I do not feel they were that great at all). We were sat at a high top, I immediately noticed how hard/uncomfortable the chairs were and I was sliding down constantly so do not wear anything sleek or silky here. A man approached our table whom I thought to be our server, he poured us water without asking anything and walked away. Usually an “upscale” place will offer you sparkling or still instead we were given tap water and the carafe of tap water was set on the table which I found odd as well. It took quite some time for our actual server to come to the table once she did we knew what cocktails we wanted so we ordered those. Then we were finally able to order appetizers and those came before the cocktails. I attached a picture of the appetizers we ordered. The potatoes were very salty and the steak skewers were tiny but had decent flavor. Our server brought our cocktails so we used that opportunity to order our dinner cause she didn’t really have much time for us. Our server didn’t make any food recommendations or try to go over the menu at all which was also disappointing for an “upscale” restaurant. We ordered the kimchi fried rice with our entrees and I must say this was by far the spiciest kimchi rice I have ever had only took a few bites and the heat was incredibly overpowering. The egg was cold and the rice was steaming hot so my guest had to spit that bite out. We also noticed that every kitchen item came out one by one even if we ordered it at the same time so we had the rice way before the entrees arrived. When the server finally came to check on us we told her that the rice was way too spicy and her response was “yea ours is very spicy” well that would have been good to know when we ordered perhaps a server could have informed us of that I thought to myself. We asked for the bill and hurried through our entrees (we both ordered the chicken which had decent flavor, nothing to write home about though) I honestly just wanted to stand up from the constant battle of slipping down the chair at this point it became frustrating. Lastly not to our surprise the server took her time cashing us out. Very disappointed with the...

My husband and I were staying at the Nines last weekend for a last-minute “staycation”and decided we didn’t want to hassle with moving the car out of the parking garage for dinner, so I called Departure, one of the restaurants located in the same building, to see what kind of wait times they had. The woman who answered the phone was such a sweetheart and said that they didn’t take reservations, but asked what time I ideally wanted to eat, and said she would gladly add my name to the wait list for me so that I didn’t have to go upstairs and add my name myself, then go back down to my room to wait, which I thought was very kind. And a little while later, she gave me a call to let me know that our name was coming up on the list and our table was almost ready out on the patio, and gave us about 15 mins, which was plenty of time to get up there.

Once we arrived, we were seated right away on one of the patio couches, and even though it was a really hot day out, we were in the shade so it was still very comfortable. We both started with a Lucky Number Seven to drink, which is their version of an Old Fashioned, and it was quite possibly the best one I’ve ever had. Great flavors and very smooth. Warning, it goes down a little too easy, so I would watch out with this one.

For our dinner, we decided on the Crab Fried Rice, Departure Wings, Pork Belly and Beef Tenderloin Skewer. I was worried that there might not be enough food, but there was plenty, and we actually had to take some of the fried rice to go. The presentation on all of the dishes was gorgeous and definitely picture worthy. The only thing I’m sorry about is that everything smelled so heavenly that we dug into some of the food too quickly before I remembered to pull my camera out. And the flavors…. Oh my goodness, the flavors! The meat literally melts in your mouth, it’s so tender. And every bite you take, your taste buds go into overdrive. I’ll be honest, after reading some of descriptions on the menu (many of which included names and words I had to Google to decipher), I was a little nervous that the food might be a bit too eclectic for my taste, but I was way off. It was all outstanding.

Final word? Go. Period. Whether you’re staying at the Nines or just visiting downtown for the day, this is the perfect place to stop in for dinner, happy hour or just a cocktail or two. And the views from the rooftop patio are breathtaking. 5...

Our first visit to Departure. First off let me say, we enjoyed it and look forward to going back!

GREAT: The view of downtown glowing in afternoon sunshine on a beautiful day early June day and the sounds of the Rose Festival floating upward Spicy Tuna Sushi Roll - good quality fish that justified the price. Ample sized, good for two people to share. Kimchi Fried Rice. - VERY GOOD, ample sized. Price was appropriate for a high end restaurant for this dish My Sazerac cocktail was well made and delightful, my spouse enjoyed one of their mocktiails

Good: Got requested seating.. eventually, I promised my spouse a date in the sunshine and was angling pretty hard to be seated on the outside deck. In my reservation I said it was special occasion (it was too!) and we wanted outside. I also made a reservation very early for 4:15pm with the hope we'd be able to sit out there. We were greeted warmly and ushered to an INSIDE table. I stopped the guy and said, could we sit on the deck? My wife was really hoping to sit in the sun? And he said, "oh! Sure, come out this way" and had three table options to offer us. Tip to staff - read the notes.. :-)

Service. Our waiter was very kind and very thorough. She was training a new person so more staff on the way! In the middle of the meal there was a large delay on kitchen and a drink ordered, but not so bad I got up to find someone or complained. Just hit that spot of .. hmmm, shouldn't other things be here by now? But, by this time the deck was filling up, so I'm sure that was part of it.

Veggie noodle tofu stir fry (ordered ala carte from the "Experience Menu" - they do allow this). Very tasty and good but also WILDLY over priced at $34... should've asked more questions about that... In fact the sushi roll and rice were almost enough food for the two of us on our own.

Overall, this place is a gem in Portland if you want an upscale unique experience. We were all about the outside deck in the sun this visit but the inside is also very cool and futuristic looking with interesting decor. I'd like to come back and sit in there. Also like to hit the deck on a warm night after dark to see the city lights.

Despite the fact I could literally see my office window from the deck, I pretended work wasn't there and we enjoyed ourselves a lot....