Evo Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Portland

I was excited to visit evo, having come here several times over the years and always having been impressed with the quality of service and food. Unfortunately, after the former chef Matt Ginn left it seems things have gone downhill.

Service/atmosphere: we arrived on time for our 6:30 reservation and were told they were waiting for the prior party to leave, I asked how long of a wait it would be and they estimated 5-10 min. Usually in this situation, I would expect to be offered to wait at the bar- but we were told to either stand (awkwardly) behind the hostess stand or take a walk, which we would normally have been happy to do however there was a heat wave on the day of our visit and it was 80s with 80% humidity so not exactly nice walking weather. In any case, we decided to take the walk rather than stand in the busy walkway as suggested. We came back 10 min later and our table was still not ready, at that point we were finally offered a seat at the bar to order some drinks while we waited for our table, great, air conditioning I thought- I thought wrong! Apparently evo doesn’t have air conditioning, or fans, or really anyway to dissipate the heat from the open kitchen as the windows that make up the walls of their dining area do not open. On the first level of the restaurant there is at least a slight breeze from the open front door, but when we finally got our table on the second floor it was probably 5-10 degrees hotter than outside with minimal airflow- the open kitchen allows all the heat to rise to the lofted second floor quite readily. It was the kind of situation you would call type 2 fun. To top it off, I kid you not, as we were getting our check a fire truck arrived. From our lofted view on the second floor I had an excellent view of the restaurant below, where it seemed one of their other patrons had fainted from the heat! She was lying on a make shift bench with a cold towel across her forehead, being fanned by a friend as the EMTs evaluated her. On the bright side, our waitress was nice and attentive, we did commiserate on the lack of air conditioning- while we endured it for 1.5 hrs she and her comrades had to endure it all night, running up and down stairs with hot dishes! Ironically, there is a 4% charge on the final bill for staff health and wellness, I am happy to pay these charges to help support the healthcare/living wages etc for the workers… but maybe evo could devote some of that 4% to manage the day to day atmosphere of the restaurant to quite literally make it a healthier place for their workers.

Food: I will overlook a lot of things for great food, unfortunately the food just did not meet the same standard that we previously experienced at evo. What we ordered: Skordalia- used to be one of our favorite dips, and was still tasty but was not as creamy as we remembered and was slightly more bland as well, it just didn’t have the punch it used to. Baba ganoush- tasted so strongly of cumin- it overpowered any of the more subtle smoky eggplant flavor that I would expect from the dish, it was also rather thick, it kind of reminded me of black bean dip. Tuna crudo- we liked this dish, the avocado toum complemented the tuna well Green salad- dressing was excellent- but the salad itself seemed premixed/perhaps not made to order- the croutons were somewhat saturated in the dressing and lost some of their crunch, likewise the lettuce seemed to have lost some of its crunch from sitting in the dressing as well… although maybe it was just because the restaurant was so hot that it wilted Monkish kebab- this fish was great, very light, and managed to be slightly meaty but melt in your mouth at the same time, with a tasty remoulade/sauce to accompany, I would order this again Steak- meh- slightly overcooked and dry, despite the fact that it was presented in a puddle of oil. Likewise the fingerling confit potatoes were a disappointment, I expected them to be tender and silky given the confit preparation, but they seemed quite starchy on the interior, with oily sad exteriors, they just didn’t...

Had high hopes, but was left disappointed and confused. Despite having a reservation, our table was not ready. It was an unpleasant wait--we were dressed in formal clothing and, due to there being no real waiting area, we were standing where servers were filling glasses, dropping off dirty plates, etc. When we were finally seated, the server seemed unaware that we had selected to do the Chef's tasting menu (despite having paid an online deposit upon making our reservation). Our drink order was taken by two different servers, and our lemon slices (asked/offered with our sparkling water order) were never brought to us. The Chef's tasting menu was hit and miss. There were some good dishes, but there were some very bad dishes too. The most upsetting part was the poor pacing of the meal. Time and time again a server would come and struggle to find a spot on our tiny table to place another dish. At one point we had three different dishes. The servers clearly know this is an issue because one commented, "Sorry about that. The first couple dishes come out really fast, but it will slow down." That simply doesn't feel like a tasting menu--we had to stack up dishes on our table in order to have enough room. The chilled carrots were by far the best dish--delicious sauce and nice presentation. However, things went south with the scallop dish. The sauce (which had drowned the entire plate) was disgusting. We heard the table next to us make similar comments--they said it tasted like shampoo, which was accurate. (The sauce was not ginger-based, so the flavors just didn't make sense). The dish was inedible. Our table and another table collectively expressed our concerns to the waitress, who said she would ask the kitchen, but never followed up with us. The steak dish was similarly upsetting: unseasoned steak on a dish smeared with aioli. In fact, the majority of dishes on the menu had an aioli sauce--it felt like a lazy choice. The broccolini were old--sprouted tops. Disappointing for the hefty price tag. The next dish was a chicken dish which could be best described as something someone would make/order when hungover. It was a sliced, grilled piece of chicken on top of a pita, smothered in so much sauce (three different colored sauces), it was unclear what was underneath it. The pita was soggy. The dish was odd and confusing. But the dessert (a carrot cake) was the worst presentation of the evening. It looked like someone took the topping from a wedge salad (carrot curls, blue cheese crumbles, candied walnuts) and dumped them on top of a slice of carrot cake. I have NEVER seen dry, crumbles of buttercream before. Unappealing, unenjoyable. Walked out having spent $250 on this meal: Chef's tasting for 2 people, one glass of wine, and the tip. Felt like money wasted for an overpriced, underwhelming Portland spot. Wish we would have returned to the spot we ate lunch at earlier that day (Duckfat). I would recommend avoiding this spot and spending your...

This place is absolutely amazing! Evo was recommend to us by friends who dine here on a regular basis, and I’m so glad we were able to check it out and cannot wait to come back!

It was hands down the best dining experience I’ve had so far! We sat at the chef counter and did the tasting menu and it is by far worth every penny!

From the moment we sat down we had nothing but outstanding service. We were greeted by the bartender who provided complimentary champagne for our anniversary, and then dove into the tasting menu. The bartenders were professional, welcoming, never made us feel rushed or ignored, friendly, and knew how to make outstanding cocktails. Watching every ingredient they put into some of these drinks and the creativity was impressive.

I can’t remember all the names of the dishes but every single one of them was mind blowing, flavorful, beautifully presented, crafted with passion, and just straight up awesome! We were amazed at how well some of the flavors paired together and impressed at the portion size! I would definitely say you get more than just a couple of bites!!

We had a an awesome variety from the dip with pita, to sea scallops with bacon and maple flavors, a delicious crusted cod, duck, filet, and finished with a goat cheese and fig flan it was all just perfect. I’ve never liked duck before, but the way it was cooked and prepared I absolutely loved it!! It was so tender you could cut it with the butter knife!

All of the staff was on their A Game too, extremely attentive and knew how to keep the pace of the meal with out rushing anyone. Each person who delivered the dishes was informative and descriptive with their delivery. At the end of the meal the manager made it a point to come over and thank us for dinging with them and even gave us some carrot cake to try when we got home! It was such a nice gesture and we cannot wait to tell everyone how amazing this place was!

This is the perfect spot for a nice little date night, special occasion, or a fancy cocktail- the atmosphere is cozy and elegant but not pretentious, it is just perfect.

Great job Evo!! Can’t wait to...