In 2010, I asked “Who has the best breakfast in Portland”. The answers were 1. Screen Door, 2. Simpatica, 3. Mother’s Bistro. I asked again in 2011, and this time the ranking was Tasty n Sons, Screen Door and Simpatica. With the arrival of Tasty n Sons at the top position, everything else just pushed down one slot. This year, the rankings are the same, but I added 11 other restaurants to the list to give you more choices.
Out of 882 votes:
Tasty N Sons – 21% of the vote. 3808 North Williams Ave., Portland, OR 97227 Map (503) 621-1400
Screen Door – 7.4% 2337 East Burnside St., Portland, OR 97214 Map (503) 542-0880
Simpatica – 5.4% 828 Southeast Ash St., Portland, OR 97214 Map (503) 235-1600
Mother’s Bistro – 5.2% 212 Southwest Stark St., Portland, OR 97204 Map (503) 464-1122
Broder Cafe – 3.4% 2508 Southeast Clinton St., Portland, OR 97202 Map (503) 736-3333. Our review
Accanto – 3% 2838 Southeast Belmont Street, Portland, OR. 97214 (503) 235-4900 Map
Veritable Quandary – 2.8% 1220 Southwest 1st Avenue Portland, OR 97204 Map (503) 227-7342
Sunshine Tavern – 3111 Southeast Division Street Portland, OR 97202 Map (503) 688-1750
The Tin Shed Garden Cafe– 1438 NE Alberta Street Portland, OR 97211 Map (503) 288-6966
Toast a Neighborhood Restaurant – 5222 Southeast 52nd Avenue Portland, OR 97206 Map (503) 774-1020
Podnah’s Pit BBQ – 1625 NE Killingsworth Portland, OR 97211 Map (503) 281-3700. My review
My ranking would be Tasty n Sons and… well, I never seem to get further than that. I’m not big on waiting in lines, so rarely eat brunch.
PDX2CDG says
Bijou always has a line out the door. Great breakfast…..good wait staff.
Bummer this one always gets overlooked.
sabes says
Sunshine Tavern never has much of a line (or any line) on the weekends for brunch. I can’t believe people would rather wait 2 hours for Screen Door rather than get a seat immediately at Sunshine.
Don says
Tasty & Sons: UNIMPRESSED.
LONG WAIT + BLAND FLAVORLESS FOOD= WASTE OF MONEY.
Best bunch in Portland….. um definitely not.
Just because something sounds and looks pretty doesn’t make it taste good. We were initially excited about going to Tasty & Sons. The menu sounded delicious and interesting.
The wait staff was terrific and enthusiastic. However, the promises of their savory epicurean delights were not at all fulfilled… by ANY stretch of the imagination. So incredibly disappointed we felt obliged to complain about the lack of flavor and even the meager portion that was explained as extremely filling at table.
Upon leaving, we discussed in length just how dissatisfied we were and amazed by how busy this place was…. NOTHING BUT HYPE.
Come on Portlanders, we have better venues than this that could be labeled “best brunch”!
Tasty Defender says
I’m sure Tasty’s will not miss you Don. More for me… You are a needle in a haystack! All hype!? I must say, this hype train that is Tasty’s has been going for a while. Doesn’t seem to be slowing. Lack of flavor!? Let me just say that these dishes do not lack flavor unless you take 5 grit sand paper to your tongue on a regular basis. The Burmese Red Pork Stew, the Steak and Eggs, the Polenta, the Potatoes Bravas, the burgers, Annie’s french toast sundae, and pretty much everything on the menu is tasty… Still not convinced.. Try their Bambito or their Chicken and a Biscuit. Sorry to say Pine State but, Tasy’s is crushing it with their biscuit.. And FYI: the wait is a good indecator that the place is pretty damn good.
Simply Breakfast says
Tasty & Sons IS overrated. Admittedly, it is decent fare and I didn’t think it was bland. However, I do NOT know what all the fuss is about. Especially in town where there are so many options from elegant to mainstream to dives. If my ass is gonna wait in a line, I would prefer SCREEN DOOR….tried, true, portion size. You wanna taste an amazing biscuit? Get your booty to COUNTRY CAT. Better yet, go to PODNAH’S. No line.
I’ve been to the following places recently that are NOT hyped and do not have lines. The atmosphere was great, the staff amazing, there were no lines (yet) and the food was great. Try: ROOST, SONGBIRD, INTERURBAN, JAMISON, LUCCA, and any location of PETITE or LA PROVENCE (the new Lake Oswego location is wonderful).
Food Dude says
I have to say, I had a terrific breakfast at Tasty n Sons last week. I never got Screen Door, but enjoy brunch at Country Cat & Podnah’s (rarely a wait). My experiences at Jamison have been lousy, and I’m not a fan of Petite/Provence either.
By the way, thanks for using CAPITAL LETTERS. That way we know you are not only serious, but are also correct.
JandJ says
We tried it for the first time as well recently (finally) and while we enjoyed the meal, I’m afraid we don’t get all the hoohah over it either. The food definitely wasn’t bland, and some dishes (like the Burmese Stew) were awesome. However, all of us in the party agreed that the tapas like format didn’t seem to work so well for brunch and admittedly that may be colored by our own vision of what a brunch should be. The notion of bringing out dishes in fairly random order works well for tapas, but not so well for brunch, IMHO. Comes across more as a way of making things easier on the kitchen rather than something that is in any way a benefit to the patron. Also, simply finding a fairly traditional combination of breakfast dishes in combination with some of the more exotic alternatives (which would have made for a great meal) seemed challenging.
Trying to convert traditional breakfast items to the tapas like format just didn’t work, particularly if you’re trying to share the dishes (which our server made patently clear was the format for this restaurant). Some were simply too small to share (we were a party of 6) while others were plenty large enough to do so. Perhaps we’d do better after we’ve eaten there a few times and knew the menu better. But for a first experience, frankly, it was a bit disappointing and I doubt we’ll be hurrying back for a while. Again… no issue with the food preparation or flavors (for the most part), but we really didn’t see the format as well suited to our own preferences for breakfast/brunch. YMMV.