StormBreaker Brewing — Restaurant in Portland

I will start by saying I appreciate the difficulties that restaurants are dealing with at this time. To stay afloat financially while enforcing rules of the pandemic, not to mention having been on the front lines and serving people who may or may not be pleasant.

My co-workers and I decided to go to Stormbreaker to say goodbye to friend who was leaving for another state and would no longer be working with us.

Many of us had not been out to dine since the pandemic started, and most of us had not been to Stormbreaker. So it was helpful once we arrived to hear the rules laid out for us with the limit of 6 guests per table. It was a slight surprise to hear that they were unable to combine tables in the outdoor setting (a friend who frequents this location has seen this occur recently though admittedly, that likely should not occur).

This left us knowing that our group, as guests showed up, would possibly be split, but we thought we'd only get 6.

We quickly met the restriction of 6 guests at our table and so when we saw two other co-workers show up, we knew that we'd run into problems.

They approached our table and sat while greeting us, I honestly don't think anyone in our group wanted to immediately demand that our friends get away form our table and sit alone before at least saying hello. These are socially awkward times.

So it was, in some ways, fortuitous when our server came and informed them that they would be unable to sit there with us. He kindly, though informatively said that they could sit at the table near us.

So there we were, feeling a little bad that the 2 new folks were separated from the 6 original people (which included the guest of honor) and trying to troubleshoot what could be done.

My friend, who had not been to anything other than food carts since the pandemic began, thought that maybe we should either split up the tables or shift people occasionally. So she, wanting to include the other party went over to sit with them.

Drinks were then delivered by a new staff person, not our server, but I'm not sure if it was the bartender, manager, or otherwise. My friend who had moved, seeing her drink being delivered, stood to retrieve it at which point the staff person forcefully said (and I'll try to quote as accurately as I can),

"You can't move tables like that. We want to be able to stay open with the risk being so high. We have a 3 strike system, that was strike 1, I hope we don't get to strike 3."

Woah. We were all a bit taken aback. Not at the rule, in retrospect it makes total sense. We were shocked, however, at the authoritative directness. Moreover, this was delivered very smoothly and I'd be amazed if it was the first time this had been said to a group in this manner.

Keep in mind this was the first time we had heard that rule and also that the person the staff was directing this at had not been out to dine for over a year. This was her first go around for Stormbreaker, not to mention dining out in general.

The greeter had been informative and kind, and the server, when having to intervene and educate our group, was polite. The missed opportunity was with the 3rd staff person that chose, what I would call rude, behavior shaming approach.

We would have been happy to receive the information with a, "Sorry guys but....."

In the end, the rules were all logical and the same mistakes wouldn't be made again by us if we were to return.

Maybe consider dropping the "3 strike" speech? It is belittling.

The food and beers were good, it's just that the whole experience was quickly overshadowed by the above interaction.

In the end, we left earlier than we would have, but it allowed us to get a group photo with our friend that we needed to...

I'm giving this three stars because I have the good (most stuff), the bad (a few things), and the ugly (tomato soup). I have been here four or five times and the low rating comes from the one time we ordered "cooked" food.

The good: nice outdoor seating, pleasant indoor pub, decent beers, good cheese and charcuterie plates, and within walking distance from where I live.

The bad: The hummus isn't made right. To do it correctly, it takes some time. You have to add the liquid slowly to the food processor. It's kind of like making risotto. The hamburgers were not very good. My daughter (who cooked for years at Ft.. George Brewery in Astoria) agreed. The burgers were overcooked and seemed like they were made from frozen meat, but it's hard to tell since they were so overcooked. The cheese wasn't melted on either of our burgers. The other person in our party got the "special" grilled cheese sandwich. In her case, the only thing that made it special was the fact that only half the sandwich had cheese on it and some of that wasn't even melted.

The ugly: Perhaps the worst tomato soup I have ever eaten. It was really not soup. It was a tomato paste. It was flavorless and so thick you could almost get the spoon to stand up. Yuck. I have made tomato soup (both professionally and at home) from fresh tomatoes and it's not that hard to do.

I will continue to visit Stormbreaker since it's close to my house and I like their beers and cheese/charcuterie boards. I have also found the service to be a little inattentive (empty beer glasses), but the servers have all been friendly and personable. I would have given this four or five stars if we wouldn't have made the mistake of ordering...

Pros: Beer Food ($12 per person) Price

Cons: I have one

-Beer- While I have not tried enough of their beer selection to be certain, based on what I have tried, I can say that if all their beers are like those, then they are the best brewery in Oregon. I've been to at least 40 different breweries in Portland, including ones that have moved, and at least 100 different breweries in the Northwest, and like I said, based on what I've had so far, this one is the best. This is the only brewery that is not in walking distance of my place that I actively seek out, and I live in the pearl.

-Food- Food is actually really good. They have a really interesting selection of food, it isn't just the standard pub stuff. They have a full assortment of things, and all of it is really good. I recommend that you get all of it. I eaten through their entire menu once, and I plan to do it some more.

-Price- This place hits the price mark for what they give you. It could be cheaper, but it is certainly reasonable.

-I have one- After a little bit of struggling to find a con, I have one. During their 1 year celebration they claimed that my raffle ticket would be good for each raffle, and it was not. But like I said, that is me struggling to find something wrong...