Mikes Drive-In — Restaurant in Portland

First off, How are so many people giving such good reviews on Google? Check the other reviews... Mikes in North portland has been doing a horrible job from the start and the REAL reviews show that. Is everyone doing Google reviews just pandering? Is everyone afraid to say anything negative? Just be honest if you are going to review. Blowing smoke and shooting sunbeams is not going to make the service or food better.

I have been going to Mikes since I was a kid. Mostly in Oregon city. Since the North Portland store opened I have been there three times. today I finally had to say something about the lack of quality food I received. The burger had nearly no lettuce, only one very thin slice of tomato and the fries were lukewarm and chewy. This was after waiting for 30 minutes to get my food. The staff was very kind and gave me a refund, which I appreciate. What I do not understand is how the staff could consistently turn out such a shotty product. Mikes' used to be a "go to" for well made burgers. As things have been I do not see many more orders in my future.

When In and Out burger can provide a far superior product for around half the price of Mikes, I have to wonder why Mikes has become so bad. The people are nice and but meat on the hamburger is low-quality with lots of gristle, also when did they stop seasoning it? A tasteless gristle patty with a slice of cheese does not a burger make. If I do go back I guess I will ask for extra lettuce, extra tomato and fresh fries, although I feel that for nearly $12 for a burger and fries, that should already be the standard.

Update, I did try this location a few more times since writing my review. I did not find anything to cheer about. Their meat is still full of gristle and lacking flavor and the burgers still come with skimpy portions of tomato, lettuce and onions (EVEN WHEN YOU ASK FOR EXTRA). For a couple dollars more, you could have a much better burger at McMenamins (everywhere) or Northport in Kenton. Even Burgerville makes a better burger for less.

HAD TO DROP MY REVIEW TO 1 STAR, Mikes in North Portland is failing in every way. I had really been excited about them coming to North Portland, but have not had one single good experience there. Burgers at Mikes in Oregon City were always hot and fresh and well made. The burgers in North Portland are small, unseasoned and (as I said) full of gristle, very little...

I hate to say that I was disappointed but that’s the reality. I knew in my heart of hearts that it was gonna take a minute to get my food, not 30+ minutes, Geezus!!!!

The fastest thing they did was take an extra $0.50 for their dipping sauce that I dipped my barely Luke warm tator tots into. Asking for hot tots would probably cause a major impact to how they do things.

If any one thing was good it was the Oreo milkshake.

My 1-5 rating -

Over all experience 3 of 5

Oreo Shake - 5 of 5 (this was the best thing)

The Mike S Special burger was a - 3.5 of 5

Fries - 3 of 5

Tots - 1 of 5

Time to get food - 1 of 5

I’ve worked in restaurants and I’m a former production specialist and just watching their operation makes me wonder how they don’t see it themselves after reading reviews of the slowness. What I saw was people silohd in their stations chit chatting, not providing the best help to their neighboring station causing things to take longer. What really got me was seeing all the deep fried food sitting waiting for everything to finally catch up. It was so slow that if I called in an order while off I-5 in Ridgefield, WA (about 30-35 minutes away) it has a greater than 50% chance of not being done by the time I get there. It doesn’t take that long for fresh food.

If they fixed their time to get orders out I guarantee their current overall 3.X rating will go into the 4s. If they get into the 4s it will...

We made an online order for this location and the instructions said to go to the window in the text that it was ready, we rang the door bell hanging in the window (right next to the sign saying the window is open) and we could hear it from outside... they workers looked at the window and kept on doing their own thing... we stood there for 10 mins while they actively glanced at us but ignored us. Finally we went around inside the lobby and sat there waiting for another 10+ mins trying to be acknowledged by any worker there.... they went by multiple times and I tried to get their attention and FINALLY an employee stopped and looked back when I was saying we had an online order. At that point it was over 20 mins after pur food had been ready just sitting there on their shelf... the fries were all stale and cold, the burgers were still decent luckily, but they also forgot the Ranch we paid extra for. Which was only 50 cents, but after their lack of service and cold food it was just frustrating that you lay extra for something they don't even give you. We had been warned this was a bad location but we were in the area and normally love Mike's.... Never again here though! Within an hour of eating now both my kids are feeling sick now and im beginning to wonder if the food was sitting...