The Best Restaurants, Bars, and Cafes Near Portland’s South Waterfront

Portland has undergone massive changes over the last 20 years, but perhaps no neighbDining in Portland’s South Waterfront feels a bit like a layover in a posh regional airport: glossy, modern, and correspondingly expensive. But just like PDX’s beloved food court, there’s anarray of diverse cuisines and impeccable craft on display inside its manicured cul-de-sacs and gleaming glass condos. Craft beer, soup dumplings, and some of the city’s best baked goods are there for the taking — just make sure the parking meter’s paid up (or better yet, avail yourself of the many public transit options).

This map stitches together three distinct areas of South and Southwest Portland: the oldest is Lair Hill, a narrow strip of Victorian homes and a handful of storefronts perched on the base of the West Hills. Next up is South Waterfront Park, the southmost section of Tom McCall Waterfront Park that connects downtown to the vaguely vaporwave cluster of hotels and residential units that sprang up along the Willamette in the ‘90s. And finally there’s South Waterfront proper, a cluster of shiny high-density apartments and vertical corporate campuses clustered around the retro-futuristic aerial tram that connects the city to OHSU. And thanks to a tracery of bike lanes and pedestrian bridges it’s actually quite easy to explore all three unique neighborhoods without a car, an especially tempting proposition when there’s a cool river breeze on a hot summer day.