Sayler's Old Country Kitchen — Restaurant in Portland

Sayler's Country Kitchen has been around since 1946. They've enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) a good reputation as a high-quality steakhouse. Everyone who's lived in Portland for long has heard of or eaten at Sayler's.

We got there at 5 PM, before the place got too busy. Parking was a bear. There were no parking spaces. We found a spot on the road just west of the restaurant. I'm not sure where folks parked once it got busy (which it did a short time later).

The wait was minimal. Reservations are not allowed. My first impression was, "Dang, this place is huge." It reminded me of a huge Denny's. No knock there; I love Denny's. It seemed like a somewhat dated monstrous diner. There's a bar with a few televisions and comfy chairs. There's a room that reminded me of a conference room. There is another smaller room on the west side of the restaurant. A party room? There are bathrooms on the east and west sides. The waiting room is spacious with plenty of seating.

The first things I noticed (after being seated) were the steak-shaped menus and the prices therein. Holy smokes! I eat out plenty but I guess I'm not rich enough to eat at places like Sayler's. The average price (I'd say) was about $30 per plate. Prices ranged from $11.50 (for a gardenburger) to $70 (for a 72 ounce sirloin).

After seeing the prices, and knowing Sayler's Country Kitchen's reputation, I knew I was in for a treat. I ordered a medium-well 12 oz. New York Steak for $32. My wife ordered the country fried steak for $18. I asked for a couple samples of beer and very generous samples were provided. So far so good. A few minutes later some yummy bread was brought out. Tasty. Then a veggie tray with carrots, celery, olives, baby corn . . . Not bad!

After a short wait, the main dishes arrived. I cut into my 12 oz. New York steak expecting the most succulent meat I'd ever tasted. However, as I sawed through the steak, I started thinking, "It feels like I'm sawing through a plank of wood." I dismissed the thought as utter foolishness, knowing that I was at Sayler's, the best steakhouse in Portland! After cutting it open, I noticed that the middle was red -- VERY red. I touched it and it seemed sort of raw. I thought, "Well, my server did say that they cook on the rare side here." So I decided to take a bite. I bit, chewed . . . and chewed . . . and chewed! After getting the first bite down, I quietly waved down our extremely patient and kind server and asked for a new steak. "This steak is really chewy," I told her. "And I don't think it's cooked medium well." She took one look at it and said, "That steak is rare. I'm sorry." She recommended the rib-eye, saying that it had more marbling but should be more tender. I took her recommendation and waited.

My new meal arrived about 10 minutes later. The steak was cooked perfectly. I took one bite and it was very tender and juicy. I cut into it again and yanked out a huge chunk of fat. "Marbling," I thought. "It's OK. Rib-eyes are supposed to have a little more marbling." My next bite contained a lot more marbling. And my next bite was all marbling. When I finished my steak, I filled up an entire 8 oz. paper cup with marbling for the dog. So I got about 8 oz. of marbling and about 4 oz. of edible meat. Wow.

My wife told me that she went on a chicken fried steak binge a few years back. She said that chicken fried steak always comes with white sauce. But this chicken fried steak came with no gravy at all. And it tasted like it was made with ground beef. At least her mashed potatoes had brown gravy. She would have sent the meal back but was too embarrassed because we had already sent back two meals.

The only reason I'm giving Sayler's Country Kitchen two stars is because of our wonderful and amazing server. She treated us well. She was patient with us. She was kind. She was attentive. I'm glad Sayler's hired her or else I'd be giving them one star.

My conclusion? Sayler's Country Kitchen is a massive, glorified diner with exorbitant prices. It's perfect for rich folks who like to say, "I eat...

This wait staff was impressive, it was like watching a symphony in motion, there were some mistakes, additional things brought to tables that didn’t need to be there but every one of the service professionals was working hard and with a smile.

Saturday traffic here was clearly regular customers, now I had never been here, however, you could tell that many of the guests come often, greeting by guests names, remembered preferences by the servers, it was an interesting bunch of typical Portland folk keeping it pleasantly weird.

I ordered the steak bites appetizer, 10 oz pot roast medium rare, salad and fries and the grilled mushrooms. My 6 year old got a grilled cheese and fries. They didn’t have grapes, I find it odd they didn’t have something for the children to snack on waiting for food but she brought bread with melted garlic butter. I’m not sure I’m a fan of this, you can’t spread it, it’s a dipping situation, but the bread was very warm and pleasing especially to my son who ate most of it. The steak bites were tender and prepared perfectly, it was like eating a nibble of love with each steak bite. The salad, it was fresh but it was just greens, there was a beet slice, I don’t eat beets, there was radish slice x2 but I didn’t eat that, there were a couple little purple onion fragments and a carrot shred but that’s it, a vegetable tray has been brought but the salad itself was mainly lettuce and blue cheese and it was good. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t extravagant, it was fresh and it was good. The 10 oz pot roast was very good, it wasn’t perfection but I wasn’t at all disappointed, the flavor was very good, temperature was very good good it was all very good. My son said the grilled cheese was the best ever, which I took offense to as I think I make a pretty good grilled cheese, but hey, I’ll give it to you. Best grilled cheese ever.

All in all it was a very good visit and I would go back.

…But I don’t know why you have a SWAT dressed security guard walking through the restaurant, I’ve never seen anything like this, I’ve seen security in restaurants, but in a place like this that is focused more on family meals get together and putting a love of food and environment why is your guard dressed like he’s ready to storm my place? At the very LEAST get him to wash it, the thing looks like he just low crawled the entire LZ. I was not impressed, if you do lottery and this is important to you, if this is a needed placement, get him a security uniform, crew neck t-shirt some slacks and a utility belt. I couldn’t even tell if the guy was armed because he had so much unneeded tough guy ornaments, this took away from the entire aura of the restaurant. If you hire this person out and this is what they sent tell them never to send this again. You’re sending the wrong message. As a veteran I’m not trying to eat and keep an eye out for what tough guy has his hand in and if he took all his vitamins that day.

Anyway I’ll be back at least once more, but honestly if Rambo doesn’t tone it down I’ll choose somewhere else or grab takeout. Great job with your servers, they...

Been coming here for years. And I love to show this place off. It is trapped in time (in a good way) and generally delivers an amazing experience for the price point. I’d prefer to support a place like this than any number of nameless chain steakhouses or frou-frou places where I am paying for the oxygen and the attitude (I mean, ambiance).

This visit was underwhelming. We—myself and four people who have never experienced Sayler’s before—came in for dinner on a Thursday at around 7:00. The place was busy, but not unreasonably so. The manager did right by us by suggesting an alternative option for our group of five. Very much appreciated. Our server was very busy but remained attentive and friendly. Also appreciated. The full order of onion rings remains an amazing thing of unique beauty . . . and grease (a good thing). The relish tray is a throwback. The soft bread and garlic butter a nice treat. The salads, well, they are funny more than they are filling or particularly good or great. The scallops and chicken fried steak that two of my guests had were eagerly (and quickly!) consumed. Ice cream for dessert. Yes, please (at least for the rest of my group).

So, what went wrong and why only four stars? I realize prices have gone up and have no issue with that. But, when you are a steakhouse, you need to deliver steaks that are on par with the prices. This time, they weren’t. My sirloin arrived room temperature (you had to force the butter pad to melt on it), had an inconsistent cook (I ordered medium rare), and was difficult to cut with the serrated knife provided. One of the ribeyes that I recommended was too fatty, and I say that realizing that the fat content is higher on this cut. But this one had so much gristle and fat that it was close to inedible. The other was a touch better, but still under par for Sayler’s. It was also the case that the spacing of our items was odd. Relish came out quite late. Long pause before salads. Longer pause before the main course. But, again, our server did what she could and was always there to refill our drinks.

I kept my misgivings to myself because I didn’t want to spoil it for my guests (though I sensed that some of them were wondering why I hyped this place up so much). And it also wasn’t our server’s fault. But I left feeling like I paid far too much for not as much as I expected . . . and this was the first time that I felt that way leaving Sayler’s.

So, it is a four-star review because I love this place and have had great service and food over the years. This one visit? An off night? I hope. Because this was, at best, a two (maybe three) star dinner where I paid four-star prices. I know you can do better.

Disappointed. Really. But I will give you...