Pine State Biscuits | NW 23rd — Restaurant in Portland

The last time we visited Portland in 2019, we had missed Pine State Biscuits by just an hour after they closed. We were determined to try it out this time, and had the opportunity to do a pick-up order.

PARKING - Street parking only - be mindful of paid parking spots! Mobile parking apps make it easier to keep track of time and to add on if needed!

SERVICE/ENVIRONMENT - We placed our order online - note that this location will not pop up until their regular open hours! It was very easy to navigate on the website and I received a text when the order was ready to be picked up. The inside of the restaurant looks fairly deep - will have to try dining in next time!

FOOD - Reggie Deluxe ($14.00): Since we got this to-go, I asked for our gravys on the side. I had ordered both the Sausage and Mushroom gravy but they only gave me one. Overall the Biscuit Sandwich was good, but I did feel like the Biscuit itself was denser than other spots I've been to. I think if they had just cut the Biscuit more evenly, it would have been miles better.

Biscuit Beignets (6pc - $4.00): DELICIOUS bite sized treats!!! I love how the biscuit dough didn't get dry or overly dense after being deep fried. The Bourbon Caramel Glaze was a delicious accompaniment to dip the beignets in!

Caramel Apple Poptart ($5.00): Sounded better than it tasted. Think apple turnover with some glaze and caramel corn on top.

Bourbon Caramel Cinnamon Roll ($6.00): Super fluffy cinnamon roll! You can REALLY taste the Bourbon in the Bourbon Caramel Glaze, as well as the slight bitterness from the Coffee Salt. Really delicious twist to your typical cinnamon roll!

OVERALL - I'll have to try the food fresh and dine-in to really see the quality and taste, but take-out wasn't a bad experience! I really liked their Biscuit Beignets - although it sounds like a silly thing,...

I don't leave negative reviews lightly. But a few days later and I'm still thinking about my poor experience. Restaurants have bad days, but my experience is about how the restaurant is operated.

This is counter service. You bus your own tables. You get and refill your own water. And yet when you pay, the screen prompts 20, 22, or 25% tip. Sure there's a custom tip button below but management had decided that instead of paying staff a living wage and building that cost into their prices, they're going to program their POS with table service tip structures.

But you may not care about that so here's my experience with the food. Very well seasoned mediocre food. Kudos to the kitchen team for making commodity chicken taste good. The texture was dry, dense and because it's in a saucy sandwich, not crispy. The biscuit is fine (that style is not my favorite but no complaints), but crumbles before you can even pick it up... So why focus on sandwiches if that's your style of biscuit.

And that cinnamon roll was dreadful. Dry and dense, with the attempt to save it by smothering it with bourbon syrup... It wasn't saved. Seriously, even a costco cinnamon roll is a better use of calories. This was Walmart cinnamon roll level.

And since I mentioned that you bus your own tables, wait till you try and squeeze your dishes into the small space holding the bus tub. At least make it easy for us to clean your restaurant for you.

Like I said, you won't find a review like this anywhere in my history. Had the tip suggestion been appropriate and the prices a little less then I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but there are far more delicious, ethically run breakfast spots in this...

My husband and I got here a little after 10 AM on Sunday. There was a line out the door, but we decided to wait since we weren't in a rush. It was about a half hour wait, which isn't the worst because you would easily wait double that time for brunch in NYC. Once you get inside, you order/pay at the counter and then they bring the food to your table.

The wait for the food was a little crazy. We waited 40 minutes! There was a couple who sat down maybe about 15- 20 minutes after us but they still got their food before we even did. This definitely made it a not so great experience, but the food is actually pretty good. Here is what we ordered:

Reggie Deluxe (fried chicken, bacon and Tillamook cheddar topped with gravy and a fried egg) - I don't normally love biscuits but this was really good. The gravy was nice and flavorful. But I'm glad we shared this because I could see myself getting sick of eating this. It's a pretty heavy dish

Hash Ups (golden hash browns with grilled onions, mushrooms and melted cheese) - you can opt to add meat but we decided not to. Although this was a bit greasier than most hash browns, it was still really good. It could have used some more mushrooms and cheese. This is another dish meant for sharing

Red Velvet Pop Tart - they have homemade pop tarts that rotate, so you just need to ask what they have available. We had the red velvet one, which was a little too sweet for me

Overall, the food is good but I'm not sure if it's worth all...