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Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly


guero-farag-best-restaurant-patio_he0f9r Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

The plaza patio at tortas restaurant Güero.

When Portland doffs its cloudy gray cloak for a sunny blue one and temperatures start to crack the 70s and 80s, it means one thing for local diners: patio season. Once you’ve got the itch for alfresco dining, it’s hard to settle for anything else, and thankfully the city has it covered (literally, for some of these picks). But you don’t want to settle for a subpar meal, either—there are too many good restaurants in town for that. If you’re craving harbor-style seafood classics, elegant snacks and craft cider, or a celebratory meal at one of the best steakhouses in the city (or its only “reverse steakhouse”), you can get all that alfresco—just peep the list below. Bar patios and beer gardens more your thing? We have a separate list for that here.


82-acres-brunch-best-patio_y0syru Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

The patio at 82 Acres is just as elegant as its dining room.

82 Acres

hosford-abernethy

After Quaintrelle closed its doors at the end of 2024, wine country’s Abbey Road Farm opened 82 Acres in its stead, taking over the snug, opulent space and its bamboo-lined patio. Essentially an extension of the dining room and with a nursery’s worth of greenery, the patio is as close as you can get to eating on the farm without leaving town. Start with any of the seasonal vegetable dishes—laden with fresh herbs—and something from the rolling cheese cart before turning your attention to the tender, juicy, and aromatic roast chicken. And sip one of Abbey Road’s own wines while you do.

baumans-on-oak-best-restaurant-patio_le1wek Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

Fresh baked bread and award-winning ciders await at Bauman’s on Oak.

Bauman’s on Oak

Buckman

This tasting room from one of the state’s premier cideries is as much about the food as it is the award-winning ciders. The warehouse dining room feels halfway outside already, but a large, open lot around back is best for catching some rays while sipping a signature loganberry cider at a picnic table. The impressive food menu leans snacky but substantial: think ham sandwiches on house-baked brioche, blue cheese dip with Ruffles, charcuterie, and an ever-changing seasonal salad. The cidery also loves hosting pop-ups and events on its patio, including a regular pizza night where Bauman’s chef Daniel Green, formerly of Cafe Olli and Ava Gene’s, flexes his dough-making skills.

flying-fish-co-best-restaurant-patio_nxue1o Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

A covered patio is an ideal location to feast on fish sandwiches.

Flying Fish Co.

Kerns

The built-out parking lot patio of this fresh-catch market  is a true, ahem, catch-all for iconic seafood dishes featuring all things pulled from the Pacific. It’s like visiting your favorite coastal crab shack, only on East Burnside. Under tents and umbrellas, diners enjoy clam chowder, salmon burgers on Dos Hermanos pretzel buns, fish and chips, Oregon rockfish tacos, and an array of poke. Check out the lengthy weekday happy hour for oysters on the half shell and something bubbly.

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Reverse steakhouse G-Love sports a shiny new patio.

G-Love

Northwest District

Local vegetables star at G-Love, a buzzy Slabtown destination, but don’t skip the tuna poke–stuffed “crusty avocado.” The “reverse steakhouse” went through some major patio renovations in 2024, swapping the COVID-era tents for a permanent outdoor dining space. It’s just as bright and cheery as indoors, strung with lanterns and covered with awnings and heaters for the cooler months. Sadly, the converted VW bus that once served as a “private dining room” is gone, reclaimed by chef and owner Garrett Benedict for his own transit needs. Next door is the Love Shack, a kitschy sister bar with its own lounge-y patio (think poolside cabana without the pool).

Gabbianosbest-restaurant-patios_vraewg Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

Gabbiano’s trellis matches its checkered tablecloths.

Gabbiano’s

concordia

Always bustling, this red-sauce spot has beguiled Portlanders with its mozzarella marinara shots and platter-sized chicken parm’ since 2022. The best place to nosh some noodles is on the covered back patio. Fake wine grapes dangle from a red-and-white trellis that matches the checkered tables for some serious back East nostalgia. Next time you’re free on a warm summer night, go full Lady and the Tramp on a textbook bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, then pop across the street for cocktails at Expatriate.

gado-gado-best-restaurant-patio_ci1jdb Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

The impressive outdoor dining area at Hollywood’s Gado Gado.

Gado Gado

Hollywood

Specializing in Dutch-Indonesian “Rijsttafel,” or rice table, Gado Gado serves a family-style feast of curries and dumplings with house pickles and sambals, all of which centers on the titular, clove-scented coconut rice. But you can also order à la carte dishes like steak tartare with squid ink krupuk and grilled chicken satay with shrimp terasi peanut sauce. When COVID struck, the team went to work moving things outdoors, erecting a fully covered wooden structure in the parking lot, complete with floral tiles. Dig into some soft-shell crab papaya salad or sausage and shrimp shumai over the colorful tablecloths and you won’t even notice you’re dining in a Hollywood (Portland’s, not California’s, but actually kind of both) strip mall.

guero-restaurant-patios-summer-burger_thomas-teal_cdcxx0 Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

Tough to beat an ice-cold cocktail and a hamburguesa on Güero’s sidewalk patio.

Güero

Kerns

Güero may well have the best patio on NE 28th Avenue’s magic restaurant mile. Low stools line the sidewalk with tables that swing out from the wall. Misters rain from above on hot days, and a wealth of bar-height seating fills the more substantial patio built into the street—it’s the ideal setting for a carnitas torta and spicy margarita. In the summer, a separate patio behind the restaurant comes alive as Farag’s, a pop-up specializing in wines, mezcals, and Egyptian street food snacks inspired by owner Megan Sanchez’s cultural heritage. It’s like a block party four nights a week.

laurelhurst-market-best-restaurant-patio_k0dpxt Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

Laurelhurst Market’s outdoor dining room dwarfs many indoor versions.

Laurelhurst Market

Kerns

Sure, there’s a lovely dining room inside, but the sizable covered deck at this butcher shop and steakhouse is the go-to place to gorge yourself on lunchtime roast turkey sandwiches or evening steak frites. The great wooden deck takes up most of the former parking lot, illuminated by a canopy of twinkly lights; its size and vibe make it a worthy contender for large, alfresco celebration dinners—particularly those involving updated steakhouse classics, from caramelized onion mac and cheese to grilled New York strip steaks.

ok-omens-restaurant-patios_Brent-Braun_dkq30e Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

There’s no classier place for a patio date night than OK Omens’ tree-covered sidewalk setup.

OK Omens

Hosford-Abernethy

If you want a seafood- and vegetable-focused dinner and an excellent glass of wine—and you want to have fun on a patio while doing so—this is the place. It’s one of the city’s dreamier outdoor dining spaces, a sunny sidewalk courtyard on the edge of Ladd’s Addition with individual, tented tables. Wine and food are as playful as they are exceptional. Newly hired chef Joseph Papas serves Dungeness crab and endive salads, grilled mackerel, and smoked-marrow steak tartare alongside co-owner and sommelier Brent Braun’s astounding collection of Rieslings and local pinots.

Papa Haydn

Sellwood-moreland

Papa Haydn has been serving its European, bistro-inspired menu and array of cakes since 1978, but its bucolic patio has been long slept on, we feel. Not the Northwest 23rd Ave outpost’s few sidewalk tables, we’re talking about the OG location down south. Surrounded by plants and hedgerows and shaded by a partial tarp covering and table umbrellas, dining families and couples on date nights peck at croque monsieurs and nicoise salads. The trademark boccone dolce—a towering stack of meringue, whipped cream, and fruit—is always best in the summer, when the berries are ripest. Dig in quickly, before the crispy meringue gets a chance to melt in the heat.

phuket-patio-restaurant-summer_Thomas-Teal_t5cpl2 Portland’s Best Restaurant Patios | Portland Monthly

A few window bar seats opposite Phuket Café’s train car–style streetery.

Phuket Café

Northwest District

No white tents or hasty wood-and-plastic structures here—Phuket’s patio is creatively and adorably designed to look like a streetcar, its wood painted in peachy and rosy hues and outfitted with small booths. Order a tropical-vibed cocktail from the ambitious bar and devour fragrant tom yum noodles and rich, spicy prawn curry. Then get a second round of everything. For a slightly more casual patio meal across the river, check out the SE Belmont location of sister Malaysian-style fried chicken and roti spot Hat Yai.

Tartuca

boise

The stretch of NE Mississippi Avenue from Fremont to Skidmore rocks the highest concentration of patios in town, and the intimate Italian restaurant Tartuca is no exception. Maneuver through the narrow, brick-lined dining room to its back garden patio, hidden away from the bustle of the busy street out front. Fully enclosed, partially covered, and strung with twinkly lights, it’s an ideal backdrop for romantic dinners of shared rich bolognese and tender osso bucco with silky risotto. Even when it’s cool out, the heat lamps keep the space cozy—throw in a bottle of Italian vino, and you’ve got an alfresco dining experience that will have you singing “that’s amore!”  





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