Portland’s Best Bar Patios | Portland Monthly
The serene backyard patio at Mt. Tabor’s Bellwether Bar.
Portland is a bar town. The city’s residents make award-winning beers, wines, spirits, and nonalcoholic iterations of all of the above, which hold significant real estate on taps and menus around Portland. The OLCC’s strict rules about food offerings at bars mean even the most nondescript dive may have nationally significant fried chicken. So it makes sense that the city hosts an above-average selection of cocktail lounges and neighborhood watering holes. Considering the city’s brief dry season, we tend to spend our summers camped out on bar patios, in beer gardens, and outside taverns at a few sidewalk-side picnic tables.
Post-2020, most bars in Portland have some sort of outdoor seating. Here, we focus on spots that put a little extra love into their patio or back deck—firepits and pool tables, DJ sets and live bands. Some go for Miami cosplay, others hew toward gritty Portland charm. All have bartenders on hand to shake, stir, and pour—and the promise of catching a few rays, and maybe some sideways rain. For restaurant patios, this guide may help.
A Roadside Attraction
Buckman
A Roadside Attraction’s charmingly overgrown garden patio is dotted with lanterns and rusted license plates, like a wacky highway pit stop in the middle of the city. Road signs hang from pergolas that house wine barrel tables and potted ferns. Several outdoor nooks and a sweet porch swing set the scene for many first dates while longtime regulars crowd around the firepit, cigarettes in hand. The bark dust patches and abundant tin and unfinished wood give some areas a Southern-fried feel, tempered by the lush greenery climbing up the walls and peering over the fences. Order a few beers and some standard bar offerings to inhale at a table among the assorted tchotchkes—just be sure to bring cash or hit up the on-site ATM, as this bar does not accept plastic.
Bar Cala
Alberta
With its pink-hued walls and loungey, umbrella-shaded tables, the patio of this Latin American cocktail bar evokes images of poolside Palm Springs, as twenty- and thirtysomethings sip margaritas and mojitos around the palm tree at the center of the space. DJs play out back on summer nights, while bartenders shake pisco sours and pour birthday shots. Food’s not the main draw, but you’ll find Mexican culinary stalwarts like cochinita pibil and quesadillas, plus shareables like chips and salsa. The back patio can be a relaxing, chill space for a midweek happy hour, but note that weekend evenings become far more of a party.
Bellwether’s food is reason enough to visit the bar.
Bellwether Bar
Mt. Tabor
Portland has a long history of converting old Victorians and Craftsmans into bars and restaurants, and Mt. Tabor’s lovely Bellwether Bar is a perfect example of why it works so well. Enter through the wooden doors into the dark, cool dining room and swing right to order a drink over the long wooden bar. Once you’ve got it in hand, head directly out back where you’ll find a covered deck with seating overlooking an enclosed garden patio with even more tables. The sounds of the city fade away as you sip rosé and citrusy cocktails over Bellwether’s hearty, French-inspired bar snacks. If you want to turn it into a crawl (and why not?) head down the mountain to Bellwether’s sister bar on Belmont, Bar Loon, and its own bamboo-wrapped mini patio.
Dirty Pretty provides little huts for intimate imbibing.
Dirty Pretty
Buckman
The Love Island–vibed patio of Dirty Pretty, from the team behind Pink Rabbit and Fools and Horses, provides stark contrast to the saddle leather booths and slate-gray wainscoting inside. A small, enclosed patio lined with turf is home to a handful of cubby-like cabanas, perfect if you need to “have a chat,” plus corners shaded by beachy umbrellas. Bigger groups can grab cushions and stools to crowd around one of the patio tables, parked along honey-hued wood banquettes. It’s best to stick to porch pounders like the mango vodka Only Fans, fragrant with passionfruit and vanilla. Sustenance comes in the form of shrimp cocktails with gochujang cocktail sauce or tacos filled with Fanta-glazed pork belly. Order from the backyard bar, and sip cucumber water while you wait.
Paymaster Lounge
Northwest District
One of Northwest Portland’s great dives (or dive-adjacent neighborhood watering holes), Paymaster is one of those bars where twentysomethings and decades-old regulars snack on tots and knock back pints. Work your way through its various rooms, past the pinball machines and photo booth, to encounter the spacious patio, glowing under a few strings of Christmas lights. The space has both covered and uncovered areas, not to mention a pool table that can be hard to claim on busy weekends. Nab a couple of Jell-O shots to get things started.
Pope House Bourbon Lounge
northwest district
In the depths of the summer, when temperatures break into the 90s or above, head to this converted Victorian off NW 21st and order yourself something brown, boozy, and filled with ice. It’s not going to make things any cooler, but you can at least pretend you’re relaxing at a bar in the American South. That’s because Pope House rocks a wrap-around porch and tiered seating areas up the front walkway. Add a plate of the kitchen’s better-than-Portland-average barbecue and imagine you’re basking in the heat of a Tennessee evening.
The Rambler
Boise
This converted 1920s bungalow is surrounded by outdoor seating, from the benches around the firepits flanking the entrance to the lengthy picnic tables out back. The patio has the feel of your coolest friend’s backyard and a relaxed beer garden, ideal for sipping hazy IPAs year-round. Grab wine and beer on tap, well-made cocktails, and “tornado potatoes,” described as “jojos meet curly fries.” Mississippi Avenue in general is rife with bar patios, and the Rambler is a great spot to begin a crawl: Head south and pop by Bar Bar, Interurban, or the Uncanny; head north to hit up Prost, Victoria, and Red Fox.
The outdoor patio at Tropicale shares space with its neighbors.
Tropicale
Kerns
This tropical cocktail destination from the late piña colada king Alfredo Climaco was clearly designed with its patio in mind. The sliver of an indoor bar sits behind a substantial outdoor seating area with both shady spots and sunny tables. Sit under a canopy of hanging plants and string lights, and share a gargantuan piña colada served inside a hollowed-out pineapple. Alternatively, the bar also serves a strong habanero-infused mango margarita and other agave drinks. Afterward, dinner options are abundant around here: Han Oak’s Korean jipbap parties and the Vietnamese snacks at Friendship Kitchen are a few steps away.
Victoria is a great place to visit for dog owners.
Victoria
Boise
There are plenty of choice bar patios along this strip of Albina and Mississippi. But we dig Victoria’s patio because of its variety of vibes: a multilevel wooden deck with tables surrounded by bamboo; an unfussy, covered back patio visitors can rent out for events; and a front streetside patio for those who like the energy of the neighborhood. Dogs are (more than) welcome and often spotted at tables where groups house vegan bar snacks and down fruity cocktails.
Vendetta
humboldt
North Williams Avenue’s Vendetta might have the most slept-on patio in Portland. This hip, laidback neighborhood haunt is essentially one large garage space, housing a shuffleboard table and pinball machines, along with ample seating. But the best part is out back, where a sprawling, gravel-lined, fenced patio rivals even Rontom’s for sheer scale. It’s filled with wooden benches and tables, as well as raised planter boxes where plants and trees provide welcome shade to the locals snacking on quesadillas and tacos alongside margs and frosty IPAs. A covered area is squeezed against the wall of the building for when things get too hot (or too rainy), but even then, the verdant canopy keeps things relatively cool throughout.
Wayfinder offers one of the largest patios in town.
Wayfinder
Central Eastside
Up a flight of stairs along a nondescript stretch of Southeast Second, this Portland brewery’s sprawling wood deck is ideal for day-drinkers—and there’s a firepit for when day-drinking becomes night-drinking. The drinking in question involves crisp and restrained German- and Czech-style beers and unapologetic IPAs, plus a few guest taps featuring nonalcoholic brews and hard ciders. If you have a bigger group, gather at the long stretches of umbrella-shaded picnic tables and gnaw on smoked-then-fried chicken wings or dunk soft pretzels in beer cheese. Wayfinder’s second outpost in Troutdale carries a similar vibe: both a front patio with picnic tables and Adirondack chairs, plus a smaller mezzanine with two tops.
Share this content:
Author: Hey PDX
Hey PDX Team
Post Comment