The Rambler — Restaurant in Portland

I'll try to keep this simple... (yeh right do I even know me?) I really like this place. The food is outstanding! I was there with a small group (6) and we did that thing where we all wished we would have gotten what what everyone else had ordered, because it all looked and smelled delicious! The atmosphere is really cool, not too crowded in the main room because most people were out on their rather large patio out back OR out front. What? Two outdoor seating areas??? YES! So there's plenty of room when the weather is good! So yes, I really like this place. I want to give it 5 stars but there are a couple things y'all need to know: First, no AC, or if they do they weren't relying on it, and it wasn't intolerable until they shut the main entrance and then it started getting really stuffy in there. I'm sure it's probably because of local noise ordinances that dictate they have to, but on a hot summer evening if you're gonna shut the door on a room full of sweaty people you need to bring on the AC (pay attention Lovecraft Bar). They probably wouldn't need to close the door if they would simply turn their music down so everyone didn't have to yell at each other. One of my common complaints about so many places is the total lack of sound absorbing materials and this place ain't no different. There's lots of bare wood everywhere so sounds bounces all over the place and turns conversations into people mostly yelling "WHAT?" at each other. Second, this is one of those places that run on minimal staff (which is always a bad choice, especially on a Friday night) and minimal resources, such as things like menus. If you're in there with a group be prepared to share menus because the bar staff aren't very eager to lend out extras, and there's no table service. You have to order at the bar (they bring you your food) so when there's an influx of hungry and/or thirsty patrons be prepared to wait in line for a while. Since we're on the subject of minimalism (it isn't just for art movements anymore) this explains why the food does indeed as a previous reviewer mentioned, comes in waves. It also explains why one of our group got the wrong food. Here's a tip: When you run a place with minimal staff on a Friday night, trying to keep up with everything is impossible and sooner than later mistakes will be made. But it wasn't a big deal, and they were very quick to bring the correct order. Amazingly, all the food did come rather promptly so that was definitely a big plus! Lastly, the only thing I would caution you about is I only saw one bathroom. If there was another hidden somewhere I apologize, and to be fair I didn't explore much but the interior is pretty small and I didn't see any hidden nooks where another bathroom might be hiding, and if we've learned anything about one bathroom bars is the wait times can become really uncomfortable, even painful (and sometimes embarrassing). BUT! Overall we had a really good experience. Don't take anything I said as a deterrent, dear potential patron, definitely GO to the Rambler and order one of everything on the cool, hand-made leather bound menus because the food is awesome, the drinks were awesome, and the staff were great despite being overwhelmingly busy. I hope the owner doesn't take this as me getting down on their establishment; it really is a very nice place to eat and drink. The End! Thank you for coming to...

NO MINORS!!! I got to emphasize that because out of all the states I've been to I had never seen a brewery that does not allow minors even if the parent is there. I mean. Maybe they consider themselves a bar, or a high end restautant. IDK, BUT..... We were on vacation and had found this place on google. It is pet friendly with fire pits and we decided to give it a shot. We don't even drink alcohol, we were there for the food. We saw a sign that said no minors so I asked them (before waiting in line) if this applied even if we were all adults with her. They said no so we ordered take out. As for the food. It was a 3 out of 5 at its best. The best thing I had was probably the smash burger (or smthn like that). That was quite tasty, 4 out of 5. The mac and cheese, the chili and the other burger we had were just OK. NOT BAD but not absolutely amazing lol. Would I come back? I mean, it would not be the first place i choose to go to. I would only order the smash burger. Anyway, If you are traveling with adults only, I would check it out and see what you think or yourselves. Then follow us on instagram...

Visiting Portland for just over a week, and The Rambler was thankfully close by. I've unfortunately forgotten the gentleman's name who was cooking our first night, but he came out and introduced himself and we had a fun chat, made us feel super welcome and excited for the food. It has become a favorite spot of ours and we visited almost every day we were in town.

The food is great! Everything is tasty on the menu but, the Frito Pie is the best thing to have with your drinks. The smash burger is on point everytime. Tornado fries and house bbq on the side. So good.

Ian and Izzy were the greatest humans ever. They took care of us and we're super friendly. They both made some amazing margaritas that my wife enjoyed. Izzy was so awesome everytime we were in. She recommended great drinks on tap and was just the dang coolest everyday we went.

The music was varied, eclectic (which I love) and great. One of the bartenders had an amazing playlist of early spanish rock n roll covers. Also don't miss trivia night! It was so much fun.

We are definitely coming back when we're...