Raven's Manor — Restaurant in Portland

I recently visited Raven's Manor and decided to book the "Elixir Experience," despite hearing mixed reviews about it. I wanted to see for myself what the hype—and the criticisms—were all about. Overall, the experience was enjoyable, but it had its highs and lows. Here’s the breakdown:

The Cons:

Pre-Experience Escape Room: Before the main event, there’s an escape room-style game. While this could be a fun addition, it felt a bit disjointed and could have been more streamlined to better fit the overall experience. That said, my companion, who’s an escape room enthusiast, absolutely loved this part and found it to be a delightful surprise, although, like me, she felt it needed to be tweaked a bit to make it flow more smoothly.

Wait Time for Drinks: As soon as I arrived, I was eager to get a drink and dive into the experience. While you do receive a drink before heading to the mixing lab, the wait felt unnecessarily long. I believe that if the experience started with a "welcoming" drink, it would reach another level.

Post-Experience Restrictions: After the main event, you’re required to stay in the dining room downstairs and aren’t allowed to go back upstairs to the bar. I suppose you could tell the staff you're leaving and then re-enter the upstairs bar? Regardless, it’s a weird rule.

The Pros:

Decor and Atmosphere: The theming and decorations were incredibly well thought out and immersive. The place felt like it was decorated just right—it had a perfect balance of spooky vibes without being overly done or tacky.

Staff and Acting: The staff’s acting was a highlight—it was funny, engaging. I found myself laughing multiple times throughout the night.

Drinks: The concoctions created during the experience were surprisingly tasty. After the main event, I ordered a couple of additional drinks from the menu. While they were on the pricey side, they were definitely worth the splurge.

Overall Thoughts: Despite the minor drawbacks, I was ultimately happy with the Elixir Experience. My companion enjoyed it even more than I did, which made the outing worthwhile. The themed drinks, the entertaining staff, and the fun of concocting our own potions definitely outweighed the few issues. With a little tweaking to the pre-elixir game, this could be a truly standout experience. Nonetheless, worth the booking and would recommend...

We were excited to visit Raven’s Manor, but our experience was incredibly disappointing. We waited for 2 hours, and there was a $15 cover charge per person because they had opera singers performing. Fine, we paid it. But then they sat us at a literal couch with a coffee table. How are three people supposed to enjoy a meal—especially the steak we planned on ordering—on a coffee table? It felt like we were being treated this way because we were a group of young girls. They would’ve never sat three older adults there. Despite our age we are still paying customers who deserve an actual table especially after paying a 15 dollar cover just to get in.

To make matters worse, as we were being seated, the hostess made a comment about only staying for two hours, which made us feel rushed from the start. I’ve never been to a restaurant that has made a comment like that off the bat, it made us feel uncomfortable. When we asked to move, we were relocated upstairs to a proper dining area with actual tables (and plenty of them), which made me question why we weren’t seated there in the first place.

To top it off, they were already out of steak (which we had all planned on ordering), despite being open for just a couple of hours… on a Monday. When the food finally came, our waitress ignored us for the rest of the night. Never got any refills, nothing. The first time we saw her after our food arrived was when we were ready for the check. We watched as she checked on all the other tables around us where older adults were seated. Overall, it was a frustrating experience that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. We were a group of 22 year olds and they treated us like a joke. We were spending our hard earned money just the same as everyone else. Disappointing to be treated this way especially in Portland such an...

Ravens Manor is a blast! I would give 5 stars but, booking for the elixir experience was very frustrating. I booked for 7 people a month before we were going to attend. Two more people wanted to join our party and in the booking it said that if there were additional people, we could ask for them to make accommodations. I emailed Ravens Manor 3 different times , no response. I called a week and a half after I booked and was told that I would just have to wait for a response from the email. I decided to use the communication page on the website. I finally got an answer explaining that they opened a new location and were busy, but that it was fine for us to have 9 people, I just needed to confirm and they would charge my card. I did email back to confirm, no answer, so I tried to follow up 2 more times, no answer. I noticed the night before my card was not charged for the additional two guests, so I called and was told that since I had an email from Rebecca saying we could have 9 it was fine and that they usually just charge our card at the end of the night. We arrive for our experience and no one there was told that we had 9 people, and another party of 2 booked putting them over the max amount they could allow. I had the emails from Rebecca saying we could have 9 people. The ladies that were running the experience were SO accommodating and lovely, they were able to fit all of us in and we had the best time. They completely turned the night around in a positive way. I knew that the booking issue was not their fault but it became their problem and they were the AMAZING! Definitely worth it in the long run, but it seems that someone is too busy and needs to delegate some tasks so that this isn't a common issue for guests AND for the workers who are actually...