Jantzen Beach Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Portland

If you ever find yourself craving Biscuits & gravy, let me give you a tip: The B&G at the Jantzen Beach Bar & Grill (hotel restaurant in the Holiday Inn, east side of NB I-5 on Hayden Island) is most certainly NOT worth the trip. Bland. Boring. Flavorless. Even what little sausage was visible was bereft of taste. The whole combo left me wondering if I was the subject of a "Let's see if this guy can tell that everything in his meal is a low-sodium, vegan alternative to actual B&G" experiment. Biscuits should not look and feel like pancakes. B&G is supposed to be a HEARTY breakfast, and what I had felt & tasted like someone was trying to present some sort of "Lite/Healthy/Vegan" version of B&G on the sly, without telling us so. This wasn't The Worst B&G I've ever eaten, but it definitely gives The Worst B&G a run for it's money. This B&G was an exceptionally flavorless, joyless B&G, with nine pencil eraser sized chunks of alleged "sausage" (which tasted like nothing) in the "gravy" (which tasted like wallpaper paste). But at least the waitress had to be asked by another employee if she'd taken my order after I'd been sitting at my table for 20 minutes. In fact, she (the waitress) hadn't even noticed I was there, much less brought me a menu. But I can't really fault her for not noticing my arrival. After all, there were two other customers there as well. At least she wasn't terribly attentive, because on the few occasions when she actually did come to my table, she managed to be awfully garrulous. So much so that I wound up wishing she would just shut up and go away. Which is a shame, because the REST of the overall atmosphere of the dining area itself is really quite pleasant. Finally, what I got was most certainly NOT worth the price they were asking. `Probably won't be going back anytime soon. Definitely won't be ordering the B&G...

What a disappointment. I asked "Google, what is the best lunch restaurant in Jantzen Beach Center?" It quickly said, Jantzen Beach Bar & Grill - do you want me to navigate you there?" Turns out the large restaurant is located Inside the huge Holiday Inn with almost no signage. When we got inside the hotel and found the restaurant, we should have known there was a problem. At 12:30pm on a weekday afternoon, there was only one other table eating there. Our server, Ann, was GREAT but the food was So Bad.

We split the Brisket French Dip - "Smoked Brisket, Grilled Onions & Peppers, Pepperjack Cheese, Horseradish Sauce, Au Jus on a French Roll with French Fries." Sounds good, right? We asked to leave off the Onions, Peppers, and Horseradish sause. We just wanted good brisket on a nice roll. The meat was really Not Good - dry and flavorless and layered with large areas of fat. The French Roll was nothing special. The Au Jus was so salty that we couldn't use it. The fries looked good but were so-so.

My wife had a side chef salad and much of the lettuce was wilted. I had a no-name sausage/potato soup that was okay. My fountain coke was tasteless like it needed the canister replaced. To her credit, server Ann got me a fresh bottle of Coke that was good.

Through it all - server Ann was deligtful and took great care of us. She was the High Point of our visit to Jantzen Beach Bar & Grill but not enough to overcome the other negatives. When we paid our bill, she applied a 15% Veterans Discount and that was appreciated. We always tip better when restaurants offer that discount.

SHAME ON GOOGLE for making this their Best Restaurant. It shows 3.8 stars - but we didn't see anything close to that. Perhaps this review will be a wake...

We ordered room service last night and again this morning, and unfortunately, it was a waste of money. The seafood chowder was basically a lumpy bacon mush,I took one bite and couldn’t eat the rest. The quesadilla was mediocre, and I barely touched it. The nachos were strange, pickled onions and other random ingredients that didn’t make sense. They only got eaten because a hungry man just needed food at that point.

I get the attempt to be gourmet, but if you’re going to use unexpected ingredients, they should be clearly listed on the menu so guests can make informed choices or request changes.

This morning, I ordered the eggs Benedict, which unexpectedly came with arugula, yuck! Nowhere on the menu was that mentioned. I thought about just removing it, but the small amount of sauce was soaked into the greens, so I asked for it to be remade. It took about 20–30 minutes, and by the time it came back, I was over it. The remake had about half the potatoes, barely a tablespoon of sauce, and the English muffin was grilled instead of toasted like I’d asked. Honestly, it felt like the cook might have been annoyed or offended that I sent the first plate back.

The only thing I actually ate was the pancake, which was fine, and the fries last night, again just fine. I didn’t call back again because Douglas, who brought the food, was incredibly kind and apologetic. It was clear none of this was on him, he’s great at what he does and deserves credit for his professionalism.

We’ve stayed here several times and have had similar issues with the food. Until the menu and execution improve, I’d recommend eating elsewhere when staying here, I...