Sad Valley — Restaurant in Portland

The care taken to create this bar is impressive. From design to acoustics, it’s really amazing. If you don’t understand how these things work, you’ll miss it. Which is intentional, but unfortunate. The pleasure of a Chicago rail, even a thin one, cannot go unloved. An obelisk over the drafts? Chef’s kiss. Seriously, the amount of new build here is incredible when you look behind the bar and notice the original structure. Even the bathrooms have impeccable loving touches from the knobs to the practical catch under the soap dispenser. But that’s just a vibe check. Let’s get to the booze. This is a complete high low spot. I can get my beer & shot for the average Portland price and average Portland pour or I can get a nice cocktail & top shelf some shit. Not Ted Wheeler’s BFFs sneaking OLC bottles top shelf, but some tasty gems. I grabbed me a Silencio Last Word with what is an almost impossible to find green chartreuse these days thanks to pious monks. As someone who drinks too much, I literally don’t know anywhere else I can get this liqueur. For those annoyed by minor things like temperature or such, understand this bar just opened up. Kinks happen & will be worked out. Portland, of all places, should understand kinks. The full crowd on a Friday was fun & lively, dancing to tunes among the ample seating. On the Homer Simpson scale, I give Sad Valley 9 thumbs up. A great addition to the...

I cannot rave about this spot enough!

It is without a doubt one of the best Portland spots I have hung out in. Great neighborhood bar with an impeccably maximalist interior and just totally wonderful employees all around.

Everyone has a great sense of style and massive vibes.

The drinks are glorious! Highly recommend getting a blue velvet and I also love the frozen cocktails on a hot day.

Cannot encourage you enough to get the sweet potato fritters! They are to die for with chimichurri and garlic aioli and I could eat several orders.

Came here with friends who moved to the area and I wish I had a bar like this back home!

It helps that the neighborhood has a lot of lil fun things nearby. If you're so inclined, there is a game shop just steps away that has MTG so you can rip packs, while you have amazing drinks and food.

There are also games, fantastic music playing, a TV playing some of the best 80s movies both times we went, and they even have a working lovemeter.

It's kitschy and fun and I will be back the next time I fly up to visit my friends. This is the perfect neighborhood spot to just relax...

This was a great location to have a catastrophic and friendship-ending fight. The atmosphere made the perfect backdrop as our conversation descended into chaotic oblivion in what would be the final moments before our friendship was rendered a lifeless and unrecognizable thing.

After asking my “friend” to leave the bar before he gave me a full blown panic attack, I sat there silently crying with pathetic little tears rolling down my face. At one point, without saying anything, the bar back poured me a glass of water and placed it in front of me. It was a simple and kind gesture, but it meant a lot to me in a moment where I was very sad, vulnerable, and exhausted.

10/10 Would come here to have a cataclysmic ending to a toxic relationship again. (Although, next time I’d prefer just enjoying a drink and the company of a friend who is actually nice to me.)

Oh, also, the...