• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu

Portland Food and Drink

Restaurant News and Information For Portland Oregon Area Restaurants and Bars

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Send me email!
  • Home
  • About
    • Home
    • About the Site
    • The Authors
    • Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
    • Email me
  • Reviews
    • List of All Reviews
    • Steakhouse Roundup
      • Steakhouse Reviews Introduction
      • El Gaucho Steakhouse
      • Morton’s Steakhouse
      • Ringside Steakhouse
      • Ruth’s Chris
      • Steakhouse – Results
  • Topics
    • Memorials
    • Food Memories
    • Travel Writing
    • Food Writing
      • Alcohol Related
        • Beer
        • Wine
        • Spirits
      • April Fools Stories For Portland
      • Contests and Competition
    • Authors / Book Reviews
    • Cheese information
    • Interviews: Honest dialog with people in the Portland food industry
    • Recipes
  • Guides
    • Portland Coffee Guide
    • Guide to Local Wine Shops
    • Guide to Portland Distilleries
    • Guide to Portland’s Beer Shops

Survey 2011: Best Lebanese

March 22, 2011 by PDX Food Dude 5 Comments

Karam Mezza

Survey Results 2011: Best Lebanese Restaurant

The results of this question in the survey don’t surprise me at all. I think the order should be switched, with the third place coming in first, but I understand that most people are going to go for the least expensive choice.

This question had the smallest number of different restaurants receiving votes – only nineteen restaurants in the list. Most of those just received one vote. This category also had one of the lowest number of people voting – 566. I can’t help but wonder if this is because the food isn’t popular in general, or if many folks just don’t recognize the vast difference between restaurants as you get away from the most basic dishes of the cuisine.

Out of 566 votes cast:

  1. Nicholas – 37% of the vote. 318 Southeast Grand Avenue, Portland, OR 97214 (503) 235-5123. 3233 NE Broadway, Portland, OR 97232 (503) 445-4700 ‎‎Map
  2. Ya Hala – 23%. 8005 Southeast Stark St. Portland, OR 97215 (503) 256-4484 Map
  3. Karam Lebanese – 19%. 316 Southwest Stark St. Portland, OR 97204 (503) 223-0830 Map. My review (updated 1/11)

You can see all of the “Best of Portland” results here.

Related

Filed Under: Best of Portland 2011

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JD says

    March 23, 2011 at 8:42 am

    There are several other Lebanese restaurants that are at least equal in quality to the three mentioned here, and arguably better than choices one and two. Hoda’s on Belmont Street is excellent (have not tried their second location on Fremont.) The recently expanded Habibi is in the same league as the favorites here. And the nearly invisible Hush Hush in downtown is inexpensive and delectable. Their pita-producing machine is a delight to watch, and the breads come out piping hot and fresh.

    Reply
  2. JDG says

    March 23, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    “if many folks just don’t recognize the vast difference between restaurants as you get away from the most basic dishes of the cuisine”

    I would put myself in that category. Lebanese/Middle Eastern is not a cuisine that I choose all that often because of the apparent sameness in offerings and quality for the benchmark dishes across different restaurants, and those dishes just don’t thrill me enough to come back and delve deeper into the menu. But I would kill for a really good Persian restaurant to come to Portland, because living in Orange County for three years I developed a palate for what differentiates good from mediocre Persian joints, and for whatever reason I find the flavors of staple Persian offerings more compelling than Lebanese.

    Reply
    • JandJ says

      March 23, 2011 at 4:14 pm

      For Persian cuisine, suggest you check out Shiraz. They just opened a new location in the Pearl where the Everett St. Bistro used to be. Haven’t tried the new place yet, but their other location in Beaverton is terrific. We plan to try their new location just as soon as we can.

      Reply
      • CO says

        March 23, 2011 at 5:13 pm

        seconded. seriously good food. dying to get into the new location.

  3. grapedog says

    March 23, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    I used to go to Abou Karim on SW 2nd and Pine all the time, but the place closed and came back as something else. Otherwise, I would have answered the question. :-) I hope to find a new favorite place soon, maybe this survey/discussion will help.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2025 · PortlandFoodandDrink.com • See Terms of Service and Privacy Policy