Deschutes Brewery — Restaurant in Portland

This was an extremely disappointing experience. We saw this brewery across the street when we went to Backwoods a few weeks ago and were excited to come back and try Deschutes. It started off on the wrong foot when we arrived and the host recommended for us sit in the bar area. We proceeded to sit at the bar for 5 minutes as the bartender walked by numerous times without greeting or even acknowledging us. Later, we found out there was another bartender who was running late making us question why the host even encouraged us to sit there in the first place. After that, we had to restart at the host stand and ask to be seated at a table instead. We waited again for over 5 minutes at the table before being acknowledged. When someone finally did come over to us they quickly dropped off water and said “In case you’re thirsty, here’s some water” and didn’t return for another 5 minutes. She was our server, but she didn’t greet us or introduce herself, so we’re not sure what her name is, but she was wearing an orange beanie the whole time. When she asked for our drink order, I asked a question about their sour and she wasn’t super confident about the answer, so she offered a sample, which I appreciated. My girlfriend ordered the cider and the pretzel to start. The pretzel arrived surprisingly quickly, but the cider and my sample took over 15 minutes so we finished our appetizer before even getting our drinks. At this point, I was confused so I looked around for our server and noticed her behind the bar. She must have noticed me because after that she brought our drinks and immediately made the excuse that she was helping to fill in behind the bar. Normally, we wouldn’t mind, but she had 3 tables and the bar was not busy. Looking around, it seemed like we were the only ones being neglected. When she dropped off the cider and my sample, I confirmed I wanted the sour and she took our food order. Other than to drop off the drink and one quick pass by, she did not stop at our table again until we were finished. We had been craving burgers for a while and were disappointed by how average they were. I got the BBQ Pork Belly burger which was smaller than expected and surprisingly dry despite looking juicy. My fries were too salty (which is surprising because I love salt), and they must’ve been a little stale because the last few were rock solid. My girlfriend got the black bean and quinoa burger and the garlic fries which were $2 extra. The burger was extremely dry despite having sauce on the focaccia bread bun and the fries came out cold with the cheese unmelted. We didn’t take it too personally, until the end. I guess the other bartender arrived because the next table she got, which was next to ours, she quickly greeted enthusiastically and gave them her undivided attention while answering questions, making recommendations, and taking their order. Overall, this may be the worst service we’ve ever experienced and honestly the food was kind of disappointing. Despite there being other drinks and food we wanted to try, we definitely will not...

We interacted with four different people during our time out Deschutes. One person checked us in, another person sat us, another person served us, and another person brought our food to our table. Coming from customer service, handoffs between multiple staff shows laziness and lack of accountability. On top of that you have no time to interact with the person you plan to tip at the end of the night.

Our server was unobservant. They checked in on us after getting our appetizers, while holding small share plates and did not give us any so we had to eat over the appetizer plates. Our plates sat on our table after being finished for an extensive period of time. When we got our main course, we had to move our empty plates out of the way to make space before the person delivering our food decided to pick them up.

There was no sense of urgency to serve us, we were merely bystanders as all the staff around us were trying to close as quickly as possible.

The food was not hot, pretzel was dry and overcooked, tasted like it was sitting under a heat lamp the whole night. Our fries were overcooked and oversalted.

We got our dessert at the end of the night, we had to move our empty plates over to another table so we could eat our dessert. Our dessert was accompanied by coffee which was lukewarm, the server told us they were going to make a new pot, which was not the case. We asked for another cup of coffee which was the same temp, so we asked for it to be removed from our bill.

There were several staff, most of which were putting up chairs, bussing every table around us, and seemed like they were in a hurry to leave.

Overall it was a very unpleasant experience. I remember when it first opened and the elk burger was the showcase and the pub pretzel was soft, warm, and accompanied by beer cheese and mustard. Something I had never had prior to that. My goodness how times have changed, how people have changed. This establishment used to be an exciting place with tons of energy. Now it’s filled with staff with no care as to where...

As soon as we walked in, the two people at the front seemed to be hoping the other one would seat us. Another man came over and sat us. He was great! Pointed out the specials, made sure we knew what to expect. It went downhill from there.

We ordered one of the brunch specials with scrambled eggs instead of fried because neither of us like runny yolks. It was supposed to be eggs, bacon, potatoes, shaved Brussels sprouts, and red onion. The potatoes were under done and very firm. The bacon was over done to the point you couldn't pierce it with a fork, you had to scoop it. There were maybe 3 or 4 tiny slivers of onion, and maybe one sprout shaved into tiny bits you couldn't really detect without looking really hard. The eggs were also over done but since they were a substitution i don't hold it against them.

Server didn't ask if we wanted ketchup or hot sauce which would have helped but not saved the dish that was clearly made with hate.

We considered ordering more food to make up for this but ultimately decided not to chance getting another plate of hate.

The place was not busy. Still, a table near us had to walk to to our server to get the bill so he could pay and leave. We waited for a while and had to also flag her down to pay since she never came back to our table.

We left and went to JoJos instead because they never miss. My advice is skip the brewery and go to JoJo's if...