The Ship Tavern — Restaurant in Portland

Some friends in the neighborhood and I have gone here twice for their bar trivia nights. It's pretty fun! I'm kind of surprised that this place is as empty as it is.

Both nights that we've gone, we've ordered the meatballs and a hummus platter, and I ordered an Italian sandwich for myself. There are TVs every which way you turn, and there is some seating on the sidewalk for the smokers.

The meatballs include some garlic bread on the side, and are covered in a chunky marinara sauce with a dusting of parmesan cheese. At $8, it's a good amount of food and tasty, too. Everyone in my party has some kind of sensitivity, so we've ordered them without the cheese and the sauce on the side, and the servers did not bat an eye.

The hummus platter is massive! A very generous portion of hummus with tortilla chips, olives, carrots, tomatoes, celery, and probably some other things that I didn't take note of for dipping. Great to munch on through a trivia night!

The Italian sandwich is an unexpected gem. Served on ciabatta bread, it's served hot and absolutely piled high with meats. Served with a bag of sea salt kettle chips and a pickle spear. You can order a "single" or a "double" and the double is literally a second sandwich. The single is enough if you're a hungry guy, but the double is perfect if you're starving.

As to the drinks, we've usually ordered beers, and they have a pretty good selection. My friend did order an old fashioned one night and said it was decent.

The weird thing about this place is the layout of the men's room. It wants to be a multi-user space as the door doesn't lock, but there are no privacy dividers or anything. The urinal and toilet are mounted opposite each other, so one person has to stare at the back of the other (the urinal has been broken both times I've been there). On top of this, there's a sightline from the door into the room directly to the toilet,...

Multnomah Village. Village of the Damned. So close to downtown Portland, yet in a slightly different time zone, somewhere around 1987. Not unlike the curse of Boulder Valley, go there once, you are destined to return many times. Ship Dog: Awesome. 12 pepperoncinis for $1, awesome, but WTF? Pickled Eggs: get your Cool Hand Luke on, see if you can eat 50. Early in the afternoon, you can listen to the same 4 guys sitting at the Mayor's table up front bitching about light rail and bicycle riders, same as they have been for at least 20 years. Portland in a nutshell. Speaking of Nuts, free peanut night on Thursdays. Throw 'em on the floor, you're not...

Dude, this place sucks. I come in, sit and chill not far from the bartender. I waited almost ten minutes before he finally came over and took my order. Even when my beer was gone and my food gone, no one came over. He finally came over to transfer the bill to their server. She said high, took my food, never asked if I wanted another beer.

I was planning on staying awhile and having drinks. This place sucks. I'm in the neighborhood but doubt I'll be back.

Dude, finally the new bartender came over and she was really nice. I've been here an hour. Way to late at this point but I upgraded it...