McMenamins Courtyard Restaurant — Restaurant in Portland

Where to start..

We wanted to visit the McMenamin's Kennedy school and eat while here during the holidays - made it here on a snowy day. Starving, at first we were going to eat in their pub area, but opted instead for the Courtyard Restaurant as we wanted brunch and not burgers. In hindsight, this was a mistake.

It was a seat yourself situation, so we picked the nearest table after waving at the servers. We noticed they were 2 servers, 1 busser and 1 person behind the bar. It was brunch and they had a good sized crowd eating, but not too much and the place wasn't full by any means. After we sat down there was no acknowledgement from anyone except the busboy. Eventually we got a waiter to take our order...like 15 mins.

We ordered food and drinks at the same time. I only ordered a water - the rest in my party (4) order coffee and a pint of something. The food came out fairly quickly...but no drinks for anyone yet. So we waited....warm food getting cold. The coffees and guiness came out finally, but not water. I reminded the server that we had water(s) too and he said they'd come right out. And we waited...and waited. Finally, the rest of my party couldn't wait as we were starving and dug in, while I took a bite and realised I NEEDED the water to eat because the bread was dry. (Not bad dry, its just bread and you need to wash it down with something.) So, I kept waiting...

....and waiting... ...and waiting...

20 minutes later - after trying to wave someone down and throwing glares in the direction of the bar and servers...and after my party had finished eating... I finally get a damn glass of water. Really? So, I was finally able to eat.

The food was great - and the kitchen was definitely on point.

Toward the end of the extended meal, thanks to me and the non drink situation, we noticed the state of the tables near us (see photo). The busboy we saw working earlier must have been on break or was off for the day at that point. It was not in this condition when we came in or we may have turned around and left. It was filthy and a warning of the bad service.

Would I come here again or recommend it to anyone. NO! The bar may be better. I've eaten there before with family a few years ago and had no issues.

Granted, its still COVID-time, but we've been in places that have been understaffed that ran their establishment far, far better. Ie -blocking off some tables so you limited how many parties are there at the same time...it helps with distancing AND makes things more manageable for the waiters. There were places we went during this trip that were awesome. Sadly this was not one of them and we...

One of the most unique spots we visited during our trip to Portland Oregon in June was Kennedy School. The historical elementary school circa 1951 has been renovated by McMenamins into a hotel, restaurant/bar, brewery and so much more. It was great walking around the hallways, looking at original artwork and historical photographs on the walls, ceilings, and even the doors. It was like walking through history.

We went there for lunch at their Courtyard Restaurant. As the name suggests, Courtyard Restaurant have nice courtyard, which seemed to be very popular. For us, it was a bit too hot on that day, so we decided to sit inside. There were not many sitting indoor, seems the outdoor seating was more popular.

We ordered Flagship Brewery Flight so we can try some of their beers made in their brewery. we chose six different types of beers; some dark, some fruity, and some light ones. Each one had distinctive flavors, and we enjoyed them all.

For food, I ordered Agnes’ Breakfast Sandwich, which was a nice sandwich, good size and all, but the price felt a bit high since it doesn’t come with any side. Overall, it was very satisfying. Our friend ordered a burger with side of fries or tots, and she went with tater tots. Their tots are quite good! We did add an order of their Cajun Tots to share, with peppercorn ranch. It had a nice kick to it, and was quite addictive!

My hubby went with JR’s Jumbo Deluxe and substituted the side with a soup, since we already had a additional order of tots to share. The soup was comforting, and the burger came loaded with protein. It was juicy and tasty.

We had a fun lunch, but unfortunately, the service was almost nonexistent. We felt like they focused more on the customer sitting outside, and we were completely forgotten. Due to this issue, the lunch took a very long time, causing us to cancel the next appointment we had on schedule. The server did apologize at the end when we talked to her about it, and gave us a few of discounts by giving us Happy Hour pricing on a couple of items we ordered. If it wasn’t for the lack of service, we would’ve enjoyed the...

We had breakfast at Courtyard and it was okay. I waivered between 2-3 stars, I gotta go with 2 stars because 3 stars feels like it could still be a good meal and this was just meh for paying money for it. My husband had a bloody mary. It's hard for a bloody mary to taste watered down or like water when there are so many flavors, but it happened. It wasn't about alcohol content but taste, a great bloody mary tastes delicious. He also had the biscuits and gravy which were fine, but nothing delicious. I had the breakfast sandwich. The eggs were cold-to-lukewarm, that's my biggest complaint. They came out promptly so there's no reason for my eggs to be cold except for if they sat in a big egg bin in back waiting to be scooped. I think anything else I say about the sandwich is potentially more personal preference - the crispy croissant was not really chewable, I had to cut into it; the bacon wasn't cooked very much, which again could be a preference so I didn't eat the bacon at all. I always enjoy a little bit of sweet with my restaurant breakfast, so I got a side of kids french toast sticks. They were quite tough, almost all crust with almost no soft delicious bread in the middle. So I only had a bite. They seemed a bit short-staffed and our server had a scratchy throat/voice which I wish she had worn a mask while she worked, but again that's a preference and I feel like that's a management decision to make someone work around food when they may not sound like they are well. For such a prominent venue and ownership, it feels like they are missing the mark here, but I'd put that on the owners, not the individual people doing their jobs at the restaurant. It doesn't feel like they'd need to do much to make the meal and experience fantastic, you know? I'm rooting for you Courtyard, work on that experience...