Oma's Hideaway — Restaurant in Portland

We rode in here on the enthusiastic hype of local press ("best new restaurant in Portland!" PdxMonthly etc) touting this psychedelic respin of Pok Pok's Whiskey Lounge restaurant space (now a homage to the chef of Gado Gado's Malaysian grandmother). Our chief impression is that if you have gone to other Asian or Malaysian restaurants and wished that their food was waay sweeter, you are going to be very happy here. From the cocktails to the entrees, everything here is particularly sweet (and not spicy).

There's are aspects to this menu that feel like an intersection of Malaysian food and US Southern cooking. On the heavier side, and definitely sweeter (and less spicy) than your typical Malaysian fare.

We steered away from the fried items and ordered the culotte tartare which had a great mix of flavors in addition to sweetness, some spice and was probably our favorite dish. It was a 3“ diameter pile of finely chopped culotte steak mixed with the flavor elements next to five or six four and a half inch diameter Shrimp crackers. $23

Next came the market Raita salad; About a third of a pound of bright, thinly sliced cucumber, thinly sliced apple and thinly sliced radish with a tasty, more-garlicky-than-usual (tzatziki-esque) sauce on top for $17.

We ordered the wonton mee ( Perhaps their signature dish?), which was plated in a very flat, dorm/diner fashion with the noodle spread out on a plate ( arrived almost cold) and a few slices of char siu pork on one side. There were three sad little wonton purses which did not burst with juice and seem like they had been cooked some time ago. The noodles had a great texture and were stretchy and toothsome But at $26 it felt weirdly underwhelming.

Our server, while kindly and sweet, did not seem to have any inherent knowledge of the food and questions we asked looking for elaboration sort of fell flat (where she basically just reiterated exactly what was written on the menu). There was no quality check.

With two cocktails ( which were pretty nice, but whose complex flavors were overwhelmed by the incredible car crash of sweet elements) our bill came out to $120 with tip, we left hungry, and went and ate some other things down the street at Someday Lounge to round out our experience on SE Division. A fun adventure ( with a bathroom like a disco), but I doubt we'll be...

The ambience is super cute at Oma’s. I was finally able to dine with them after opening the patio allowed for not needing to check vaccination status. This spot was spoken very highly of and I was so excited to try it! A friend and I dined with them today. We received our food very quickly which was surprising. Shortly our slushies followed. We ordered the crab sandwich and the wonton mee noodles. The noodles tasted overly fishy. I could only take one bite without being overwhelmed. I was also not a big fan of having to mix the elements of the noodles myself. The wontons had a bit too big of wings but the flavor was ok. The pork belly was kinda just a piece of fat seared nicely. I personally didn’t enjoy this dish, and only took about 2 bites. I also tried the crab sandwich with papaya salad. It was alright but fell apart making it very difficult to eat. The slushies said to have had many different fruits in it, but it was very heavily rum with a hint of coconut making the drink cloudy. I didn’t take more than one sip. It seemed as though my friend and I were not checked on as if the waiter maybe was avoiding confronting a difficult dining experience. He was very polite with serving us but wish we would have been offered something for the experience. I may have decided to return if that was the case. The only thing my friend and I ate were the fries which were really good. I was very disappointed because the total was about $43 for the slushie and the noodle dish. It was spoken so highly of but I left really sad. I would...

OMA’S ALMOST AWESOME

I immediately loved the atmosphere in Oma’s the moment I walked in. The decor is fun and the staff initially seemed very pleasant. Our server did not seem to be living their best life and was curt with us once they eventually got around to taking our order.

Drinks are pricey and came out slow, but we’re very tasty and well put together. I had my first Jell-O shot in at least a decade and marveled at the branding on the cup. The purse drink we had was cute and OG awesome.

Get the curry fries. They are freaking phenomenal. Kinda like a tasty curry hollandaise situation on freshly fried freezer fries. Don’t bother adding the burnt ends, as they take away from you being able to enjoy the amazing flavor of the curry situation.

We did not care for the charred pineapple salad and didn’t bother finishing the dish.

The Wonton Mee was also only ok. The wontons were delicious, but the portion size is meager (3) and the rest of the dish only ok. Lacking flavor and the little noodles all stuck together.

We were really looking forward to the ribs, but they were only lukewarm when served to us. Had decent flavor, but I would’ve enjoyed some more crispy texture to them and definitely wanted them hot.

We were just a party of two and were appalled when our server said we didn’t have time to order dessert because we had to vacate our table in 29 minutes. So ridiculous they put a time limit on us to eat while giving us sourpuss service that is anything except efficient.

Chill the...