Dick's Primal Kitchen — Restaurant in Portland

EAT. REAL. FOOD. It says it on window right outside! But how "real" was their food/experience?

A buddy and I checked it out on a Saturday around 5 and the place was pretty empty. However, an hour later and there was a line. So, first recommendation: get there before 6 if you don't want a wait.

We ordered a Brokeback burger (basically a bacon cheeseburger with their house bbq sauce) and Hunter & Gather (sautéed mushrooms with goat cheese). In addition to the burgers, we each ordered small fries and two brews. Our total: $42.00+tip. Here's my second recommendation: Everything costs individually and it adds up quick. The burgers range from $8.25 - $12.00 (with add-ons like cheese, bacon, eggs, veggies costing additional). Fries come in two sizes: small and large. If I were to do it over, we probably could have shared a small fry. So study the menu ahead and have a game plan. Also, water is complimentary. But enough about what it cost.

They brought the fries out to us first so we could munch on those while we waited on the burgers. They were fresh, HOT and a great russet fry. The one thing that was so simple and impressed me the most was the way they brought me my burger. They're on larger dinner plate sized steel... uh...platter? But the burger is unassembled into three different stacks: top bun, then burger with bacon, cheese and sauce, and finally the lettuce, tomato, pickle and red onion. It's brilliant! Everything is separate and you assemble how you want it! Since I'm not a fan of onion and my friend didn't like pickles, it was extremely easy for us to remove the unwanted fixins and get to eating. And the burgers were fantastic! Juicy, flavorful and delicious! And some previous reviewers complained about the size, but for us, we were completely satisfied. We couldn't even finish our fries.

So does the taste justify the price? I think if you compare it to Red Robin and any other major chain of burger restaurants, it absolutely does. Dick's prides itself on using 100% grass-fed beef and other quality ingredients so you know it's fresh. For me, it's worth it. And I felt full, but didn't feel like garbage after eating. I think that says something about the quality of the food they're putting out.

So if you're if you've got the hankering for a burger, eat real food at Dick's...

Walked in this place for lunch to try the poutine with pulled pork. Had to go up to the counter to order. When paying I was prompted for a tip, I tipped and didn't think anything of it at the time. We got our poutine with pulled pork. It arrived in a mixing bowl which was a little weird cuz I felt like I was eating out of a dog bowl. You can't afford a real ceramic bowl you got to use a mixing bowl which seemed cheap, not cute. The poutine did not have enough cheese curds it's like they had scraped the bottom of the bag and they weren't even on top of the fries they were in the bottom. I've seen pictures of what the poutine used to look like in mine looked nothing close to that amount of cheese curds. It was more like cheese dust. The poutine had good flavor just really lacked the cheese curds. And it's real annoying when these places charge high prices for these dishes and are chincy with what they put on them anymore. I mean $19 for french fries and cheese with a small amount of pulled pork. While eating I noticed a sign that said please bust your own table. Now why did I just give you a tip if I had to go up to order and bust my own table and no one's came to ask me how I was doing are my drink at the table. Tipping is for getting table service this tipping thing has gotten out of hand. In the northwest you get paid above minimum wage, tipping was to make up for the $2.33 for being less than minimum working a server job. Tipping is also to show your appreciation for service which means checking on my drink making sure it's doing good, clearing my table when I leave, asking me how my food was, etc. Not for me to have to walk up to a counter order and you hand me my food. Why should I pay a 20% tip for that. You didn't do anything you just did your regular job and nothing more. Here's a tip higher actual wait staff and not people that just stand...

Just not good food, unfortunately. We had high hopes given the other reviews, but definitely did not meet even basic expectations. We were the first customers of the day, and the only customers in the place at the time.

I had a venison burger with onions and goat cheese on a keto bun,and my husband had the beef patty with grilled onions, cheddar and bacon.

Both of ours were way overcooked, which was unexpected given that burgers are their main offering and we were the only people in the place. The beef patty was extremely thin, so perhaps that was why for that patty, but... a speciality burger place with no other orders in shouldn't have that kind of issue. And for some reason, my husband's was so greasy it dripped a huge pool of oil onto the plate. Maybe from the cheese or bacon?

Neither my husband's nor my burger seemed to have nay kind of seasoning at all, either - extremely bland, which was pretty surprising for a venison burger.

The bacon was also rubbery and kind of hard, more like jerky - not crispy at all. Maybe it was microwaved? Again, hugely disappointing from a speciality burger place.

Finally, they also forgot the goat cheese on my burger and the garlic aioli for both.

The keto bun at least was decent.

Would not go back, and would strongly...