McMenamins Blue Moon Tavern & Grill — Restaurant in Portland

I love ALL mcmenamins and have had the pleasures To visit a few of them(central Oregon, the coast, portland, tigard, wilsonville, Mcminville, etc) and tell friends from out of town to eat here and to stay at their super cool hotels, come for drinks, etc I have always received the best service, wether it was a big group of people or just a family dinner, they have always been awesome. Sunday we were looking for a place that was open late as we went to get ice cream near by. we know they stop seating about an hour before closing time so before 10PM My husband called 2 McMennamins and asked what time they closed. At around 10:15 we headed to this particular one because the Mcmenamins closest to us closed at 11pm. We arrived (6 of us, 4 adults and 2 teens) and the hostess told us to wait a little bit and disappeared to the back, some time later a male waiter/hostess🤷🏻‍♀️said he would get us a table and be right back. He finally came back and instead of seating us he said “I’m sorry but you can’t stay, there is no children allowed after 10 PM, we are a bar” I asked if we could sit outside and was told I could only buy food to go(which we should have done because we ended up eating quesadillas at home) I completely understand they have rules and it was late, but why make us wait?! Why didn’t the first girl that saw us arrive with minors tell us that it was adults only after 10pm? We then (after wasting 20 plus mins here) started looking for a place to eat and everything closed by 11pm by the time we arrived at cartopia everything was closed or closing. We were having a great day and this experience ruined it for us, it was embarrassing that I was recommending this awesome place to our friends visiting from Oklahoma and we couldn’t even feed them a decent dinner in portland because the employees couldn’t...

They often have a skeleton crew, so I call in to preorder my lunch and come in about 15 to 20 minutes later. If you are in a rush, do that, or don't eat here. I generally order the captain neon burger with the works, medium. It is almost always over done, but I don't fault them too much because it is always still very juicy. The tots are usually very nice and crispy; you can get them "cajun style" if you like (I do not). I also order a ruby ale, because I am not generally a beer drinker, but that particular beer is a little fruity and not too heavy.

I am not usually a huge fan of chain restaurants on the whole, the service is often slow, and the food is just "so so" pub fare. So why do I keep coming back and rate it highly?

It is a local chain and they source almost everything locally and they make their own beer, wine, and spirits. It's better for the environment than other places you could go.

The vibe is very cozy and bohemian. They usually play music by The Grateful Dead, Phish, The Shins, The Decemberists, and other jam/psychedelic/indie bands. The furniture and colors are very reminiscent of the 70s. They have outdoor seating for warm days and a big fireplace for cold days. There are also pool tables if you like to play.

The employees are very sociable and humorous. Maybe that's why the service is so slow, but they really do make you feel at home.

TL;DR - the food is just okay and the service is slow, but the provisions are sourced locally, and the vibe is way chill. Order ahead or be prepared to wait a while in this...

My rating is based mostly on service and ambiance. Service was pretty slow all around, and out of 4 people drinking coffee, when one person asked for more coffee they were brought another cup and the rest of us sat with empty cups. We took some friends here as their first time to a McMenamins- For ambiance I had really expected more from McMenamins- all of the other locations I’ve been too have a bright and eclectic feel to them- but the seating area for dining in this place was super dark with orange lighting, giving it a dungeon-like feel even during a rainy day/evening. I get that low light is it’s own trendy thing, but I think it was dialed up too much or not done very well here. It seems more to cover that there isn’t a lot that is visually appealing at this location. There were a few artsy light fixtures in the bar area, which doesn’t help the general seating area, and the only place where there was some light was over the pool tables. Music was really too loud for a restaurant and very bass heavy. I had found this location specifically looking for a restaurant with a fireplace on a very rain Portland evening, but the fireplace had no fire; understandable, but disappointing. Food was good to average, but in a place like Portland where you can throw a stone and hit 10 restaurants with amazing food, you need something more- and I had expected a much better atmosphere from the McMenamins brand. Plenty of other restaurants in the area with better atmosphere, food, and service for a...