Steeplejack Brewing Company — Restaurant in Portland

Man oh man, did I want to love this place. I just didn't.

I went on a Tuesday night for trivia. I had ordered their food to go before and found it fine, but figured if I ate it in-house it would be better. Unfortunately.. it wasn't. The obvious complaint is that the sound was horrific, the speakers in our section kept blowing in and out, and due to the crazy reverb in the space, we could barely hear the emcee or anyone else. The food is expensive, and mediocre at best for me. However, since taste is an opinion, I'm going to give a couple of hard facts about the food that was disappointing:

I try to eat gluten free, and they have absolutely 0 substitution options for any bread, bun or otherwise. When I asked the server if it was possible to just not get charged for the brioche bun (which, by the way, was the only option for the burgers), he said no, sadly even if I just got the beef patty, they would charge me full price. Bummer. They just did not have enough vegan and diet-sensitive options. My lactose-intolerant sister had a hard time with the food options. The dressing on the salad I got (roasted broccoli and cauliflower, which were sparse in a sea of lettuce) was this really terrible weird lard consistency? It tasted just like dulled mayonnaise and was rough.

Back to my thoughts -- the trivia was fine, but again, with the difficulty of hearing the questions/answers, it was frustrating. Additionally, I understand the convenience in a large space of having everyone order on their phones, however; trying to find a server in this building is near impossible. My initial issue is that you can't tell who works there and who's just from Portland. There is no direct indication of who is a server and who is a diner. Regardless of order options, as a consumer you should be able to find assistance in a business that serves food and drinks. Their desserts are bleak, for a pseudo-pub/restaurant. Pre-made cookies and soft serve is pretty much the best you get, and after receiving an ice cream, roughly 20 minutes later I asked the bartender (no servers, remember?) about the cookie we ordered, when the waitress showed up around the corner claiming she had looked for me but we'd "moved". Yeah, okay. The trivia ended and it had been a minute since the ice cream arrived, but whatever you say.

It's a stunning space with good intentions, but Godspeed if you are trying to hear: yourself, your company, or anything else. The food menu is screaming for variety for those with dietary restrictions, or even just variety. If not, then a HUGE markdown on prices. $41 for a tiny dish of olives, a "cheese plate" which was a weird creamy cheese in a bowl and crackers I buy at New Seasons for $6, and a bloody mary. Which, I won't go into detail, but was not good. Didn't finish it. Couldn't.

This is a 3-star review because although the sound issues were disheartening, the emcee did visit the table to apologize for the issues and to assure us that if we needed any assistance with the questions or answers or anything in regards to the trivia, to ask her. She was very kind. The caveat, however, was that she was stationed on the entirely opposite side of the church, making it difficult to get to in a room stuffed to the brim with drunk competitive trivia players.

Bleh....

We were on vacation and stopped at several local wineries and breweries in WA ams OR. We were touring Portland and researched breweries and Steeplejack Brewing was the closest to where we were. We already knew that it was previously a church. We drove around several times to find a parking spot but we found one We walked inside the Brewery and were in awe of the architecture and stained glass window. The inside is beautiful!

We were greeted by Casey! She was very friendly and welcoming. She asked us where we wanted to be seated and we decided to sit at the bar. She handed us our menu's and left. We were looking at menu when Joe came over.

• Not sure if he was having a bad day or if that's his personality, but I had a feeling I wasn't going to like him. I asked if I could have a sample of beer. The look I got from him. He "kindly" gave me the sample of Oregon Gold. I tried it and liked it, so I ordered it. My husband ordered Czech Pilsner. Now it was time to order our food. No clue what hubby ordered. Something along the line of tacos. IDK. I ordered the Crying Tiger Kale Salad. The second ingredient was anchovy. No way I want an anchovy on my kale salad. I told Joe that and he said rudely that the anchovy is in the dressing and not on the salad and that I wouldn't be able to taste the anchovy. I then asked, with a sarcastic smile, to have the dressing on the side please.

We received our food. Everything look delicious. Don't know who the chef was but kudos to them!!! Everything was delicious. The homemade caesar dressing was a little spicy and delicious. You should bottle it and sell it.

I'm not really sure if Joe checked on us to see how everything was or if he did, I ignored him. I just wanted to finish my food and go. Casey came and gave us our bill. Joe never came back.*

I highly recommend Steeplejack Brewing for their beer and food!! Definitely stop by here! You won't be disappointed!!!

Attention everyone!!! * I have two words about my experience with Joe!

APRIL FOOL'S! Joe was absolutely amazing!!!! He was very friendly, helpful and welcoming. He was so much fun. We enjoyed talking with him. During our meal I asked his name because I love (obsessed) doing reviews. Joe made a comment and I accepted the challenge!!! He knew I was going to do this review!!!

Thank you to Casey and Joe for a great experience! To the chef, the meals were fabulous!!! Hoping to come back one day. (We...

Went on a Saturday around 5:30. The beer was decent and the service was super friendly and warm. Between the host, server, and 2 bartenders, all 4 staff were consistently awesome and genuine. Whoever is doing the hiring needs to keep up the good work! Don't lose your staff!

Now for the not so great part....

The food and presentation was wack. We shared a Crying Tiger salad with chicken, a Bahn Mi with sweet potato fries, and the Potato Croquettes.

The salad was literally a plate full of plain, bland, barely seasoned raw kale with a soggy chicken patty on top. Not worth $20 (+tip). Crying Tiger is traditionally a Thai dish packed with flavor and crunch--- this was a sad Anglocized iteration. What a let down. The presentation lacked even a little flair, and was underwhelming and unappealing as a result.

Next was the Potato Croquettes. They were pretty tasty! You get 3, we ordered an extra. My only complaint was that the dish they were served in was way too deep, and the presentation was, again, lackluster. Better plating would have enhanced our enjoyment.

We were still hungry so we ordered the Bahn Mi, traditionally a Vietnamese dish bursting with flavor and served on a perfectly airy baquette-- once again, this was the flavorless Anglocized version, more in line with a McRib... albeit with less flavor. The pork patty on the sandwich wasn't too bad and had a nice crisp glazed skin, but the sandwich had cheap bread with almost 0 toppings (daikon? Carrot? Cucumber? Cilantro? Jalapeño? Where are you?!). The giant pile of fries were okay, just generic, and the mustard mayo on the side didn't fit with the meal.

All in all, the food needed work. If you're gonna go with a more European vibe, I expect bland food, but don't entice people with Asian classics and under-deliver. Work on plating and buy some more appropriate dishes.

Now for the atmosphere. It's an old church... it echoes due to the size. Unfortunately that meant that the typical noise of a Saturday night was amplified by 100. It sounded like being in a gymnasium. The lights in the main hall were so far away and dim there was 0 intimacy and you couldn't see your food, your partner-- not very well planned. In fact, I thought the space was planned poorly, considering they likely hired a design firm of some kind to plan for them. Why not have a more impressive bar? Why not ham up the brewing equipment under the stained glass? It's like you're apologizing for being...