Nicholas Restaurant Lebanese and Mediterranean Cuisine — Restaurant in Portland

WARNING: New owner? Not sure, but this is NOT the same restaurant you've visited in the past. A recent visit was the worst dining experience we've had in a long time. Filter reviews by lowest rating to get honest information.

My wife and I have eaten at Nicholas both and Broadway and Grand Ave. many times in the past, and thoroughly enjoyed the food and service. Not anymore. For starters we noticed the prices are 30% higher (and the portions turned out to be at least 50% smaller). Our waitress started our experience by knocking a glass over, shattering it, and spilling water in our laps. No big deal, accidents happen. She mopped up the table, and delivered plenty of napkins, but seemed very stressed-out.

Then someone, who I assume is the new owner, stepped up and gave us our first round of apologies, and then went and got us some Nahn bread that was undercooked and doughy. Halfway through the bread, the owner pops in again and asked my wife and two kids, while I was in the restroom, if they would mind moving down to the next seating area, so that he can better accomodate an incoming party of six--turns out only four people were actually seated. This was still not a problem, we rolled with it, but we just felt it was kinda out-of-the-ordinary, at least it was not at all the sort of service we remembered. Of course, we received another round of insincere apologies from the owner--many more to follow--who kept looming about in the middle of the room, and frankly acted more like he was directing cattle than hosting a restaurant.

Finally, the food arrives, well, for three of us anyway. Evidently, my daughter's order (Lamb Platter) was.. well, who knows, we never got that sorted out, but it finally arrived as the rest of us were nearly finished with our meals. We would have waited, of course, but the food we received was delivered luke warm on noticeably cold plates. In all honesty, I've had much better Lebanese food at half a dozen food carts in Portland--and for a fraction of the price. The food is absolutely nothing like what we've been served in the past. The Rice-a-Roni-like rice mound was so sticky, mushy, and gross, that none of us ate more than a bite or two, despite being very hungry at this point. I ordered the Chicken Platter and received what appeared to be at most half a breaded chicken breast that was chopped up into bite sized pieces as though I were a child that needed such assistance in order to eat my meal.

The salad on each of our plates was limp and nearly wilted as though it was left over from yesterdays lunch. I fact I had this horrible feeling that some of the food on our plate (especially my daughter's, which was delivered late) had already been served once. I hate to make that assertion, without genuine evidence, but there were signs that I couldn't help overlook--salad dressing on a couple chunks of lamb that were far from the salad side of the plate, etc. Of course, we received more than enough insincere apologies to make up for all of this, including the owner's offer to bring more bread (offered twice) that was still never delivered by the time we left.

The group next to us, didn't fair much better. First they had to get up and seek out menus, water glasses, and silverware. After that, who knows, they were still waiting for a server to come around and take their order when we left.

I get the impression that the new owner is out to bank as much quick cash as possible on the goodwill Nicholas garnered over many years, before people realize that this is absolutely not the same restaurant they remember. We'll hang on to the memories, Nicholas, sorry to see that you...

The service was lacking tonight and we didn't enjoy our experience tonight for many reasons. The host sat a family right next to us and the tables were VERY close to each other. We were so uncomfortable the whole time cause it was hard blocking out each others conversation and just felt on top of each other. It was annoying cause there were several open 4 person tables that could have been sat at that were not as close. It was also frustrating because even though we sat first, order first, and a smaller size party, we were served second after the family next to us. Then we our food came, they tried to serve our food to the family next to us even though they already got theirs. The waiter said something about being shown the ticket for their table not ours. We kinda think they gave them our food originally and we happen to order the same thing, which is why we got served second. Also, my husband wanted a Kebab Skewer a la carte not a meal but ended up with a meal. So he ended up with two $20+ plates instead just the one with a skewer on the side adding another $10-$13 dollars to our tab. We couldn't find a opportunity to fix the situation cause they were so busy that they were rushing by our table to fast we could never grab them, so he decided to eat both plates and have extra leftovers. They also never came by to refill our drinks until we are asking for to go boxes and the check. Then we got to go boxes and had to ask another waitress again for the check when it became clear the other one wasn't getting it for us. With how many to-go pickups they had while being there, it's clear they need one more person on staff. Most of our complaints stem from them being understaffed and rushing to keep up with demand. It's sad cause I feel bad for the staff but it feels unfair to still have to reward them with a tip when the service was not good. The worst part is the food is not even that good. So it was a unpleasant experience for underwhelming food. I wish we just go the food for pick up, we walked in excited for date night and left wishing made a...

Stopped by this highly recommended Mediterranean restaurant during my recent trip to Portland. Walked in and the restaurant was empty with only 2 people seated on one table. While you walk in you can actually watch them make fresh bread right there. We were promptly seated by our server and after that the server disappeared and did not return for a good 10 mins. We looked everywhere but he was no where in sight. Finally he comes down the stairs and hands us the menu get their home made fresh bread and then disappears again. We are waiting to place our orders and not to mention a good dip to pair well with the home made bread (getting cold sitting out there lonely on the table) and there is no one else and even our server is not in sight. Hungry bunch of travelers after driving 3.5 hrs from Seattle were looking everywhere and this guy shows up after another 15 mins. We now place our orders all at once as we dont know when we will get to see him again. Clearly our server seemed to be in a hurry to even take down our orders and then disappeared.

We ordered the chicken thigh kebab plate, chicken shawarma plate, salmon kebab plate and the red pepper walnut hummus dip to go with their house made bread. The plates were good nothing great. Their hot sauce along with garlic butter and yoghurt really elevate the flavors in their plates. The red pepper walnut hummus good but unfortunately their house made bread does not taste that great cold but its still freshly made and delicious.

Once we were done eating, once again the hunt to find our server continued. We waited a good 20 mins to let our server know that we are ready for the check. Service is pathetic. Food is okay. I think the food and service at their other location is way better than this location....