Mox Boarding House — Restaurant in Portland

What a gem of an establishment.

I found this place on Google Maps, looking for a great place to eat for a date. I hadn't read any reviews, but saw the menu and noticed some enticing options, namely the blended burgers. A restaurant with board games you can play while eating... I had to give it a shot!

While walking up to the entrance on the corner, I had to do a double take, as at first glance depending on the side you're coming from, you'd just think it was a game shop and the restaurant entrance is elsewhere.

Boldly charging through the fully stocked and expertly faced board game store teeming with cardboard entertainment, seeking the restaurant, I had to slow down a bit as these colorful and beautifully designed boxes acted almost like an art gallery as I made my way through to the back.

At the board game desk in the store, they have a wall of shelves packed with games to play while you eat. The shop attendant recommended a reserved selection of games for 2 players, making it easy to sift through the seemingly endless options.

We ended up choosing Codenames: Duet, a cooperative word association game that brought out the clandestine secret agent in me.

As we moved through the hallway to the restaurant, game in hand, we met the host who let us know our table would be ready in a minute, as they were just cleaning one up.

My date and I were commenting to each other how well presented, clean, and polished the restaurant was. The contemporary 1920's styling, with bare Edison bulbs lighting portions of the room with a sleek mini-bulb track mounted on the ceiling in the center confused and delighted my expectations. This place stood out against the cookie-cutter style of other places.

With no ability to make reservations for this restaurant in sight (or site...), at 7 PM on Humpday, we were fortunate that there wasn't much of a wait. At the host's lectern a QR code sign gave us access to the menu while we waited. Within a few minutes we were seated and ready for action.

My date and I both ended up with the Tex-Mex Queso blended burger, as just reading the description made me start salivating. We were able to get a couple of quick games in before our food came out. It's surprising how fast it came while we filled our time with trying to associate words like Glacier and Walrus with one single hint word while getting them to avoid the word Blizzard as the other option.

The flavor of the burger was great, but it was a little dry. I've never had a blended burger before, so I can't say if that's how they're supposed to be, but it wouldn't surprise me if they needed to be to hold together. That being said, the spice level was perfect, and it was nice and flavorful. I'll have to try the Mox Classic or the Buffalo Hot Chicken next time to compare.

I have 4 syllables to describe the fries; IN-CRE-DI-BLE. I would eat those little guys for the rest of my life if I could. Definitely not for anyone who hates really delicious things.

We continued to play as we enjoyed our meal. I can only imagine they have to constantly replace these board games with pieces getting food bits on them or water spilled. Our game had none of that, but a couple of drops of water made it onto a token or two.

After dinner, we "shared" a Pineapple Rum Affogato. I can't think of a more fitting term than shared, because my date took one sample and just couldn't do it. It may have just been the food beforehand, or the ice cream mixed with the pineapple rum, but the rum completely overpowered any other flavors, likely because of the proof of the alcohol. A few tastes in and I was muddling the ice cream into the rum to make it more palatable. This was my first time having a non-coffee affogato, but next time I'll likely stick with some of their weaker proof offerings like Amaretto, Maraschino, or Raspberry Liqueur.

I'd safely say if you are going on a date, or eating out with a group of friends, this place has to be one of the best in Portland. It's certainly near the top of my list. 10/10...

Summary: Decent, slightly overpriced, but pretty food, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Notably cool bathroom design. Events, and gaming rooms for rent. Friendly, knowledgeable staff, and good service.

The prices of the food are definitely about 25% to 50% high, by Portland standards, but the overall experience is sufficiently bougie for it to feel reasonably okay. Also, though it feels odd to mention it, the bathroom is notably beautiful - excellent interior design, and gender-neutral! Cool! One disadvantage of the location is a lack of parking, when soccer games occur, so I might suggest to bus or rideshare, when those are happening.

So, my first visit to Mox was when they were having a grand opening event, which was held I think weeks or maybe months after their actual, initial opening. That visit was, unfortunately, underwhelming. I was excited to try their food, as the photos in the reviews generally look beautiful (side note: bizarrely, this would-be free advertising is hidden / suppressed / relegated to just within the reviews by whoever, in my opinion, excessively controls their online presence / image, such as Google Maps, and un-tagging genuinely appealing images of current menu items on social media - I honestly pity the wait staff for the lost tips, lost restaurant sales, and probably even lost game store sales, by extension, that is surely directly resulting from this baffling decision, but I suppose it's theirs, to make).

On my second visit to Mox, I had the Chorizo Breakfast Burger with fries (pictured) which is what I had wanted to order, the first time. It was pretty good. Chorizo is often slightly dry, but between the egg, sauces and popper, the burger had a pleasant, medium-spicy flavor and plenty of moisture. The cream cheese squirted out the other end of the popper, when I bit into it, which was funny and memorable. I have been going there weekly for D&D, and will probably get it, again.

My third visit, I played D&D, and had the elotes queso dip (not pictured), which was pretty, but again, just okay. Very mild, a bit soupy, and not very much corn (elotes) at all, when I had it. My friend's, on a later date, appeared to have a more noticeable amount.

Fourth visit, more D&D, and ordered the Cheddar Brie Mac and Cheese (vegetarian, pictured), which was okay - very mild, would be perfect for my mother (but, for me, next time, will add bacon or chorizo or both). Also got the Dijon Maple Brussels (vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, also pictured) which were, again, a tad overpriced, but surprisingly good. I don't always like dijon, but I do like brussel sprouts, garlic and maple, and they turned out to be solid.

The service at Mox is actually really good. I have nothing bad to say about the employees. Attentive, prompt, aren't overbearing, didn't guilt trip me, on my second visit, when I asked for a table (which is prime real estate in a game store / restaurant), instead of the bar. It can, unfortunately, be quite common in Portland, and in Nerdspaces / fandoms in general, to be elitist, exclusionary or gatekeep-y, but the Mox staff, thankfully, doesn't give off that vibe. Always nice to be around friendly, professional, inclusive people.

The game store portion of Mox Boarding House has board games, miniatures, dice, CCGs, handbooks, etc. for sale, and has private game rooms available for reservation/rent. You can also eat and game at the (public) tables in the restaurant, if they are unoccupied and not reserved for an event. The tables are maybe slightly narrow for certain games and for D&D, but it's not too bad, and they look nice.

This is easily my longest Google review, largely because I am now a regular at this business (for weekly D&D) but slightly disappointed by a few specific aspects of it. I doubt anyone is still reading this novel, but if you are, feel free to check me out on [ Instagram: jonathan.grubb ] for more (almost exclusively small / local) greater-Portland-area...

I was there roughly two weeks ago. I requested a table for myself and a few friends, and was seated prontly. As I sat there for over an hour waiting for my friends (stuck in traffic) not one time did the waiter or anyone ask if I wanted a drink or even so much as said a word to me. The same waiter walked by me and my table several times in that hour, looked my way amd I thought, "Finally, some service." Nope, not a single word. It was as if he looked right through me. After an hour in a half one of my friends showed up ans sat with me at the table. I thought for sure I'd get service. I was wrong again. Roughly 20 minutes after my friend showed up I waived the waiter down who was promptly severing each and every table that was there before and after myself and asked him if I could have some water while I waited for service. With a crude and almost insulted look on his face he just made a gesture with his hands and pointed at a cart on the other end of the room, then walked off. At that I point I decided I was not going to order any food or drink. After expressing my dislike for my experience there, my friends also decided to not order food there. The goal was to have a nice meal, order some finger food and enjoy a night of gaming. Needless to say, only one of those things happened that night.

Look, I am no stranger to getting the side eye, instantly judged based on my appearance. I am a mean looking guy with tattoos, piercings, big rings, biker look. However, I do believe based off my personal experience of being judged based on my looks and the service and attention I got that this was in fact one of those times. Which is a shame, because this is after all Portland home of the weird and home of the accepting. To my disbelief this place of all places judged me based on my looks.

With that experience aside, the staff outside of the restaurant were absolutely amazing. I expressed that I was just getting back into Magic and was unsure on what set to get and what the new boosters were. The staff were attentive, helpful, and informative. They had plenty of patience for my accidental game of...