Holy Ghost — Restaurant in Portland

Update 2 years later: Begrudgingly went back because a friend wanted to try it. I didn’t mention my past experience to my friend because I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt of one bad server who is hopefully not there anymore. And again we received rude service, not surprising looking at most recent reviews. Don’t know why the owner is so resilient to listen to people’s honest feedback. But also, I decided to look back at this review and the complete denial of a response by the owner to which I’ll say this; I ordered a bottle of “bubbly” for a singular toast for a group of 18 people, and I specifically told the bartender nothing fancy please pick for me and no prices were available on that menu. Afterwards when I saw the bill I said of course we will pay it as we still received and enjoyed the bottle, but I was disappointed, and THEN I became upset by the VERY rude response I got. I don’t tip on actively bad/rude service and I don’t think anyone should. They clearly were upset by that and proceeded to take it out on the rest of our group and me for trying to still support the owners business regardless of their few, granted probably not all, terrible employees. The owner needs to stop taking these reviews personally and figure out what is wrong with their current hiring practices, easy fix in my opinion but here they are 2 years later smh…

Initial review: Very rude staff member, after looking at other reviews on google and yelp it seems that many people have had an issue with him. It also seems the owner does not take criticism well at all with the replies he gives.

Anyways my experience, I had a surprise birthday party here. I had just walked in and been surprised my friends and the instructed me to pick a bottle of champagne to toast with. The bartender came over and I asked him for a “bottle of champagne” and I told him I hadn’t looked at the menu so whatever he recommended. He told me they had Prosecco or champagne, so I said the champagne, he never told me options for bottles. So we ended up ordering two bottles of champagne for our large group. When we got the bill we noticed that it was $127 for the champagne so we looked at the menu and they have 3 bottles listed, 2 for $27 and 1 for $127. I went to the bartender and prefaced that obviously since we drank it we will pay for it but I was disappointed that he chose that bottle, we would have been very satisfied with a toast of a $27 bottle, and I just wanted to let him know that he should give people options when the price varies that much. He was extremely offended by this and told me that I “should have paid more attention” extremely rude and very unprofessional. We tipped 5 dollars on the which I do feel guilty about but not after being treated like that. He then refused to serve me a beer, stating he doesn’t want me to “anger drink”. I was extremely calm and honestly not that upset about the price, it was my birthday after all.

Edit: This is the only review I have written. And it looks like you still don’t understand that the issue was how your bartender treats people. Look at the other reviews it’s all about the same guy. Thanks for staying professional though and telling me to not enjoy a drink for my birthday...

I’ve been once and don’t plan to return. I usually order non-alcoholic drinks from bars and it’s received well by anyone working, however this was not the case at Holy Ghost. The bartenders seemed visibly disappointed by an order of 2 non-alcoholic drinks for my partner and I. The cocktail menu had some fun items, but we don’t drink.

I ordered lemonade and it just wasn’t very good- it just tasted like there was too much water and not enough lemon or sugar. I watched them make it and it looked like a basic combination of lemon juice, simple syrup, and water and I thought it was going to be good. They stirred it up and it still tasted too watered down.

The atmosphere (inside) is casual and polished all at the same time. Very different atmosphere compared to other bars on Gladstone. Our friend uses a wheelchair and it was a little tight in some spots while we waited to order from the bar, but we planned to sit on the patio so we didn’t get too comfortable. There was a ramp to access the patio, so we sat outside with drinks and ordered food from Pan Con Queso (delicious, separate review for that). The fire pit on the covered patio was nice and there was plenty of seating, but I struggled to enjoy sitting with smokers who either didn’t see the 3-4 no smoking signs or ignored them. Staff periodically came through the patio, and didn’t say much. Maybe I was at the one table where smoking was allowed? I’m not totally sure.

Sadly this place just wasn’t for me. Our friends enjoyed their cocktails, and their drinks did look good. In the future I’ll go if that’s where friends want to go, but there are so many other spots to go to and enjoy in Portland that respond well to non-alcoholic drink orders, and have a smoke free patio.

I live within walking distance and will update if there is...

(This was originally a 3 star review) It was okay. The staff is young, cool, and unimpressed for the most part. So, not that friendly. The decor is pretty cool but the vibe is nothing to write home about - you'll have to bring your own. There is no food but they allow people to bring in outside food. Large selection of alcohol and a patio with a fire pit (although it didn't look like smoking was allowed - I didn't see any ashtrays or any people smoking out there). It's not classy and it's not divey either. (If that's what you're looking for, I would recommend The Vern instead.) Not the best spot for a date and not good if you're coming alone and hoping to chat people up. Probably best for coming with a few friends. This was my main complaint: I've lived in Portland for 10 years and have been to at least 40 different bars. I always get the same drink - gin and soda with lemon. Holy Ghost gave me the thinnest slice of lemon I have ever gotten at any bar lol Update in response to their response to my 3 star review: they also don't take criticism very well. Apparently they are really worried about one 3 star review despite mostly 5 star reviews and an article in Portland monthly. Very professional to be catty and sarcastic in response to a 3 star review. "Good job", as you said. P.S. these reviews are not really for you Holy Ghost. They are meant to be helpful to the public who are looking for a bar to go to. 3 stars isn't even a bad review and you make yourself look bad by responding in a hostile way. If you care that much about being absolutely loved by every single customer, why not ask your bartenders to be a bit more friendly? That goes a really long way if you...