Dirty Pretty — Restaurant in Portland

I was excited to try Dirty Pretty, but left unimpressed. A friend and I came on a Friday evening to have dinner and cocktails.

DRINKS: We tried the Only Fans drink, and while it was beautifully presented, hers was sweet and mine was sour, so there's inconsistency in the mixing. I next tried a house Marg, and have to say it was one of the worst margaritas I've ever had. I abandoned mixed drinks from there -- had no faith.

FOOD: The nachos were "fine", but my friend ordered the pork and was surprised to find that the meat was huge chunks of pork belly, not carnitas. The fried chicken sandwich was only so-so. The churros were good, but I would not come just for those. N

SERVICE: Initially our waiter was attentive, but after shift change (likely 8pm?) our new waitress checked on us once and then forgot about us entirely. About an hour sitting with an empty glass, I went in to the bar to ask about ordering more drinks, and she was sent back to the table to check on us, but that was again the last time we saw her for another 45 minutes. Finally, though we had originally asked to split the bill, my bill came with my Only Fans drink and chicken sandwich; her bill came with the remaining 75% of what we ordered on her tab, so we had to settle separately between us.

AMBIANCE: it is very cute and nicely designed, but the patio could definitely be more comfortable. The chair I sat on was missing a slat, and there was a jagged metal piece on the chair that nearly ripped my pants (and could hurt bare skin). The booths are cute but just too deep to be comfortable, unless you want to lie down inside of one or sit all the way inside and disappear.

Ultimately I was disappointed in our experience here, and we...

We decided to try this for a lovely Thursday happy hour date night and it was such a good choice. When we first got there, there was no seating a a "seat yourself" kind of situation. But after a bit the turn over allowed us to grab a table. Drink wise we ordered a few things: Blahaj blast: bright blue and sweet with a little Gummi shark on top, it was well mixed and reminded me of a baja blast but with a punch. Goodbye earl: gin based drink that was wonderfully lemony. If you like a gin and tonic with a fair dash of lime, I think you'll like this. Melancholia: a tall lemon drink with watermelon foam topped with glitter. It's maybe the gayest little drink I've seen and it's FANTASTIC! Like a extra fruit lemonade, the watermelon foam tasted little watermelon jolly ranchers in a whipped cream. Sober spritz: a savory orange soda like drink that was the perfect thing to end on. Food wise we ordered Nachos, both with beef and carnitas: I'll say that you seem to get more meat with the beef, with the carnitas option the meat was light and didn't feel with the price increase, but the nachos were loaded and well balanced with pickled veggies and creamy queso. Tacos, we ordered the pork belly and the gordita crunch: honestly, the pork belly was the star of the night. Absolutely incredible and worth the visit just to experience. The gordita crunch tacos were good, but compared to the pork belly, not my favorite. Fries: incredible. Generously seasoned, they make you want to lick the bowl.

Honestly, this was an incredible spot, and so busy even for a Thursday. We're already planning a trip back so we can enjoy the burger (they were sold out) and I...

This place had an amazing DJ, but honestly that’s about all I can say. My partner and I were hungry and everything on the menu has sesame or peanuts, so we decided to try a drink. I don’t drink alcohol myself, so I ordered a NA cocktail. It literally tasted horrible, I had to spit it back out, they still charged me and it wasn’t even a regular sized cocktail, it was a mini. My partner tried it because she’s a bartender and I thought I was crazy. Same reaction.

Next…..my friend (birthday girl) went up to the bar, ordered a round of shots and a beer for our table. Not only did it take 20+ min and my partner didn’t get her beer, when it was told to the bar tender, he was nice and poured an extra beer. The blonde working wearing a white sweater took the drinks, stated they weren’t paid for and she wasn’t even the one who took the order originally. She was absolutely rude and unprofessional.

Finally. My partner is finishing her beer, the blonde comes back to the table and shows a a instagram picture of some random girl and asks if she is with us. We looked at the photo confused, not knowing the girl in the picture at all. She walks away, takes the phone back to a dark haired girl with oversized shirt on. Minutes later my friend that ordered the drink comes in from outside, and we all the sudden get asked to leave and told my friend can’t be in there. We had been there for approximately a hr and maybe 15-20 min.

At the end of the day, the establishment had good music, horrible service and well don’t go there for food if you have peanut or...