The Star Portland — Restaurant in Portland

Easy rating. I prefer deep dish over thin crust so I haven't actually tried the thin crust either of the times I've eaten food from Star. I've been looking for great deep dish for years and am shocked that it took me this long to discover it - although I haven't eaten food from too many pizza restaurants in Portland.

The deep dish pizzas are the real deal - starting with the sauce. It's the real deal. Maybe a 1/10 on spiciness, and has a ton of weight to it. The sauce is worthy of being its own menu item (and maybe it is, I'm not sure). I hate tomatoes (but love everything they make) and there are a decent amount of tomatoes in the sauce but it doesn't have a tomato taste.

My second time here (tonight) I got a half and half. One half had BBQ chicken pizza but here's a disclaimer: the ingredients/toppings are piled on top of the cheese (I think) and then the sauce is added on top. So it may initially seem like your pizza is not a BBQ chicken pizza - but trust me, it is. I actually called them because my wife tried it first and said she didn't think it was the right. It may have been the end piece with parts of the other pizza. But when I called, that clarified how the deep dishes get created. When I tried my own slice...Yea. Perfection.

I've never had a BBQ chicken pizza like this. It's literally a thick pie that looks plain but it's truly lit. You'll see in the pic that it doesn't look like it sounds but trust me: it's amazing. And the large deep dish sizes are filling. I have a huge appetite and probably can't eat more than 3 slices.

Bonus points for playing 90's Hip-Hop and having their own vibe inside. And the cauliflower appetizer is...

We went to The Star last night looking for some great pizza. The place delivered, I think they are best know for their Chicago esque style deep pizza. Food is great and the environment is nice. Easiest to explain by saying what it is not - Not super bougie, not super classy, not hip, not stuffy - richer and inviting. I liked the environment and they have a nice bar area. Think mid posh - dim lights, some leather seating and a bunch of dark wood accents. We sat and ate in the bar area on the high tops. The only thing I can knock is the bathrooms, the type where you exit the restaurant and walk down a corridor into some not so clean bathrooms, shared by a couple of businesses. Sorta takes the edge off the otherwise great experience.
On the food front, we had salad and Classic DD pizza. I lived in Chicago for a while and if you find good deep dish (not Uno) it’s quite an super thing and pretty unique. I would say The Star almost has it, but not quite, don’t get me wrong its good, but there are a couple of things that make it not very good. Chicago Deep has a slightly different and better crust, less crispy. The structure of the pizza is also a bit firmer and a scosh deeper. But still we really enjoyed it. Expect to pay around mid $30 for a full pizza, you can also buy half. Good value for money, service was great. I would recommend checking...

I've been here twice because my first experience wasn't great and I really wanted to like it. The first time I went there the service staff seemed really stretched thin and stressed out (completely understandable). What I didn't appreciate was when our server made a passive aggressive comments about another. It was unprofessional and made me uncomfortable. The first time we went there the pizza was cold on one half and warm on the other. The flavor was good and the crust was nice and crisp. I thought the first time was a fluke so I tried again but the second time was not too much better. The pizza was warm but not hot. Still had a good flavor but they serve it on a really flimsy metal pan that is warped. Then they place it on top of a metal stand. We served ourselves a second slice of pizza and the pan wobbled and slid off the stand onto the ground. It took quite a long time for anyone to come over and notice. They said it happens all the time but they didn't offer to get us a replacement... Perhaps that is just the policy but I've been to other restaurants where they would offer to replace food that fell on the ground. Overall I was really disappointed. It seems like other people really like this place and it is a beautiful restaurant and great location. I may have just been unlucky though. Definitely give it a shot and see if...