Angel Face

Angel Face is one of those bars that thinks it is way cooler than it actually is. I’m sorry, if I’m going to fork out some dough for some cocktails, I expect to at least feel like my presence is welcomed. Maybe I’m not cool enough to be hanging out at a hipster bar on SE 28^th, but I do have money to spend, so at least some timely acknowledgement of my existence is appreciated. Terrible, snobby-​feeling service. Not returning.

This just might be my new fave spot to grab a drink and have a quiet chat with a friend. It’s actually quiet enough so you can have a conversation. I know, I know, I sound like an old lady, but seriously, so many bars are so loud it’s hard to conduct a catch up session with a drinking partner.
Our bartender, Jupiter was adorable and very helpful. He explained to us that there is no drink menu, you simply let your bartender know what type of flavor profile you’re looking for, and they make it for you. In my case, I was looking for a hot toddy, and what the bartender whipped up was just what I envisioned.
They also offer a small menu, and I can attest that the French onion soup is divine.
The atmosphere is beautiful; circular marble bar, hand painted (!) wallpaper and quiet bistro tables for two. Angel Face is simply a delight.

I was running early for bookgroup last night and so felt like rewarding myself because I usually run late to everything. There are many reward-​drink options near my friend’s house off East Burnside, but I’ve wanted to try Angel Face for ages, and oooooh I love it. Sure, the place smells like boot polish because it’s full of people out of dream-​Portland central casting but has gorgeous atmosphere, terrific menus and extremely friendly servers, and I received one of the most delicious cocktails yet. «Tangy aquavit» was my request. Bartender confirmed I liked cucumber and got to work on an anise/​cucumber/​celery/​magic/​lemon glass of delight. As a west sider, Pepe le Moko has been my tops. But I think just maybe AF is a tiny bit better (and less expensive)!

I’ve been here a number of times and after last night, I won’t be returning. The service was just terrible. I even asked the bartenders if everything was OK. My friend and I were amazed by how unfriendly they each were.
Garbage.

I like the concept. It’s a lovely idea. Our drinks were fine… The cocktails, however, were decidedly not $ 14 great.
The food was just awful. We ordered the caviar and potato chips to start, and we received a tub of sour cream with some fish eggs in it. Caviar or roe should pop in your mouth, but this was soggy and gross. It was not fresh. After that, we asked for a check and left.
$ 50 for a snack and two drinks. No, we will not return.
As a side note– I expected an experienced bartender and learned that our bartender (who was very nice and heavily reliant on his iPad) had never had a bar job before. Not his fault– but for a place who holds out as «we will use our magical mixologist powers to discern your fantasy beverage,» it just feels wrong.

I’m not sure what people are talking about with rude service. The bartender was super sweet, had drinks for us right away and let me taste some wines.
I liked their German and French reds they offer and it’s super cute!

This place was great. If teardrop is for people in town from beaverton, this is for the locals. Ricotta gnocchi, can we say no flour dissolve in your mouth amazing. The drinks were also phenomenal. Made to your desire drinks, yes please. We had to wait ten minutes due to a large party, but no big deal because once we were waited on, our glasses were never empty of delicious personalized cocktails. Come back again? Definitely!

One of my favorite bars. Especially on the east side. So comfortable, easy, and happy. Drinks flow, music is perfect, the window out into 28^th is perfect people watching. And the meat board I just had was top notch.

My review is hard to rate as an overall because 2 out of my 3 visits were perfect. Lovely service at the bar and delicious drinks among the beautiful décor. However, the other night my husband and I took our friend for her first time and had a horrible experience with the service. Especially because we were clueless what we did to cause such rudeness. The bartender barely made eye contact with us after sitting at the bar. We eventually moved to a table so we all could sit down and she walked by us several times as our glasses sat empty. My husband got up and politely asked if we could have some service and she replied coldly, «what do you want?» So a quick change of mind we got the check and went somewhere else.
After reading several reviews I am not taking it personal as it seems this bartender is just not fit for the service industry. Hospitality is worth so much so it is unfortunate that this lady is causing so much damage to the reputation of Angel Face.
I will visit again but perhaps peek inside first to make sure she isn’t working. My suggestion is to hire more friendly and experienced employees. Kindness is worth so much.

We stopped by for a friends 40^th birthday after dinner at Roe. We tried to befriend the female bartender and ask her what her name was. She said that we were too aggressive and wouldn’t tell us her name. Then after a few minutes we tried to order another drink from the male bartender Jim and he checked with the female bartender and he came back and said that we were too intoxicated to serve us. We were having a completely normal conversation with them. We were obviously not locals and when locals came in the bartenders had a completely different attitude with them. This place was the rudest that we have ever been too. We were just in town for the night and certainly did not feel welcomed at all. Do not go to this bar.

Wish we’d read M.E.‘s review before walking in that door. Spot on with the surly, inept service. Two stars only because the chef did a solid job. But they could have the finest fare in the land and I still wouldn’t endure the too cool for school staff again.

I’ve been meaning to try this place and, for some reason, thought it was closer to Alberta area. Ended up in the neighborhood and gave it a try.
Décor was surprising, but quaint. It was a Tues night around 7ish, so not busy, really. We were instantly brought water and a menu. I’d heard about the place so I asked how to proceed with the drink order, what details they wanted about my preference, etc. The blonde server seemed confused by my question, so I just ordered a Sazerac, one of my favs, and my friend ordered an Old Fashioned. They were spectacular. I would have liked to have experienced more of the fix a drink to suit my mood vibe I’ve been hearing about in relation to this place, but maybe that’s for bar sitting — we had grabbed a table by the window.
I did not get to try the food, but didn’t know it was French — my favourite — so will definitely be back as the menu looks perfect.
The music was loud and a little obnoxious for such a quaint place, but I could still carry a conversation. Drink prices were good.
Will definitely give it another visit soon.

Meh. This place is cute, but the service was disappointing. The steak wasn’t terrible, but it certainly wasn’t the finest I’ve had. My drink was ok, could’ve been better. I won’t be going back.

In this review, I’ll try to put aside the aggressively expensive, tritely pretentious cocktails that Angel Face offers its mostly yuppie clientele.
Instead, I’d like to focus on the so-​called «service.» On my latest trip, one bartender seemed friendly enough, hard working and attentive. Alas, he was not our bartender.
We had the misfortune to be «served» upon by a surly young women. She ably answered every question/​request my friends and I made with a snide or condescending reply. Too cool to serve, she may be working the in wrong business. I don’t typically like to pay $ 10+ for a drink when it’s served with so much rudeness.
I won’t be back. And I hope this review saves you a trip.

It is with a bleeding heart that I submit this two star review, because I absolutely love all of John’s other establishments. Luce and Navarre are incredible and I don’t want to hurt the owners’ reputation at all, BUT:
This would be a one-​star review if I hadn’t been a patron of Navarre and Luce for years, because the service at Angel Face is so rude and incompetent that I just can’t even.
I’ve been there 6 – 7 times since Angel Face opened, so I’m a somewhat regular customer. There is this one bartender there who is younger & brunette who almost seems like she has it in for the place and wants to destroy it from the inside. I say this because it doesn’t seem like she’s actually interested in serving anyone, it just seems like she wants everyone to leave so she can stew in her own destructive misery in quiet.
I went in there a couple of nights ago, sat at the bar, repeatedly made eye contact with her, and after half an hour of trying to get her attention, she finally came over to me and said «has anyone talked to you and told you that your bar stool is too far out in to the walkway area?» No, I said, as a matter of fact, NO ONE WHO WORKS HERE HAS TALKED TO ME IN THE HALF HOUR THAT I HAVE BEEN HERE, CAN I PLEASE HAVE A MENU? There were maybe 20 people in the bar, so I thought that this was totally unreasonable. Also I would like to follow the rules and be respectful, so it’s like, ok, if I’m sitting in the wrong place, just tell me, I’ll gladly move, but don’t not serve me and hope that I will leave because that is childish.
I went back last night after having dinner at Navarre. My friend had our leftovers boxed up. The first thing the bartender told us was «you can’t bring outside food in here». Um, excuse me, let me just go across town and put this in my fridge and then come back to your establishment that is right next door to the restaurant where I just was (and owned by the same people) so that I can make you happy. OK BRB.
GEE MAYBE YOU SHOULD WRITE WHAT THE RULES OF THIS BAR ARE IN REALLY BIG LETTERS ON THE WALL BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN GOING TO BARS AND DINING FINELY FOR 16 YEARS NOW BUT APPARENTLY I DON’T UNDERSTAND.
After we pleaded our case that we were classy people who wouldn’t just crack open some leftovers in the bar like a bunch of slobs, she decided that we could stay. We placed our order and this time got our drinks in a reasonable amount of time, but oddly enough, when she brought out my glass of water, it was in a shot glass, and I was just like «ok, cool, thanks for this 1 oz of water, what am I supposed to do with it?» Very weird.
I swear up and down that I am not a svenghali about service. I also totally understand that we all have good days and bad days. When it comes down to it, I’m actually a pretty easygoing person who is not super neurotic about service. If it’s going to be awhile that’s okay, I just want to know that it’s going to be awhile before 30 minutes elapses. But I will say that part of the reason why I love Luce and Navarre so much (both very busy, very high traffic establishments where quality of service and food is never an issue) is that after going in to both Navarre and Luce a few times I felt like I was friends with the servers. They really treat you so well at all of John’s other establishments and to get the rude and lousy service I got at Angel Face was just shocking.

I’m flabbergasted at all the great reviews. The décor is horrible, the bartenders are super busy and don’t have time to work with you on a cocktail (which they would need to do because there is no cocktail menu.) I am not a mixologist. I can’t just make up my own cocktail.
I had a small order of castelvetrano olives (and I love them normally), and they managed to make them bad by adding some kind of citrus flavor. I couldn’t even finish them.

I’m giving this 4 stars pending two changes which, if made, easily bump this up to 5 star territory. This place is delightful. Very quiet, quaint atmosphere, delicious food, outstanding bartenders. The two suggestions I have are:
1) replace every chair in the place. While they’re nice looking they are easily the most uncomfortable seats in Portland. They feel like they’re going to fall apart at any moment.
2) Add a drink menu. The idea of a «call» bar is nice, but in this cocktail crazy town, a drink menu helps establish a tone and identity. It also prevents choice paralysis. The bartenders have the talent and character to put together an impressive list of house and classic cocktails, even changing them seasonally.
With these two tweaks, this place shoots up into Expatriate territory.

The drinks are awesome. The gentleman behind the bar had a huge amount of knowledge about spirits, and made really well balanced cocktails. As for the food…
–The tartare is one of the best I’ve had (and I try it pretty much everywhere I find it)
–The fish board is really nice (the salt cod and smoked trout in particular)
–The vegetable board had a great fava bean purée
–The œuf meurette is also really good (needed bread or something to dip)
–The oysters were not served on ice of any kind, and they didn’t have any of the liquor in them. Just unpleasant really.
–The fries were very good for about two minutes as they are served in a cone and become soggy almost immediately (limp flaccid sad cone). Also, ketchup doesn’t work with the french vibe.
The food took a long time to come out. There was a solid 20min break between each dish, and that’s really not a fun way to dine. It seemed like the kitchen was probably just disorganized and needed a better Expeditor. I was told by our friends that it is usually like that.
If they tightened ship a bit I would go here often.

This place is a hipsters paradise. For real though. They don’t have a drink menu. They have a menu with the wine, beer and small eats they have to offer. It was odd for me at first to not see a menu because I use to live in SF where they try and make «THE BEST DRINK EVER!!» Angel face lead me to trust the bartender to mix up a tasty cocktail that I could enjoy. Which was exactly what happened. I told the bartender what I was in the mood to drink and they totally delivered! It’s a bartenders job to make cocktails so let them do their job. This place is on point with their business style. Will def be back!

I’m so happy to have this darling little place join the neighbourhood, although I’d cross town to come here anyways.
The atmosphere is just so cute and charming (and I would expect nothing less from the folks that brought us Luce and Navarre), and the painted walls are beautiful.
The absence of a cocktail menu may be a little off-​putting or intimidating to some. To those I say «do not be afraid!». I have been here twice so far, and once ordered a standard — a manhattan — and enjoyed it thoroughly. But, it is much more fun to just put your faith in the skills of the bartender and just tell them what you’re in the mood for. Yesterday I just asked for «something with tequila that was fun and tasted like spring», and spot-​on that was what I got (see photo). And on another occasion I mentioned that I liked really floral drinks, and was also very pleased with the lavender drink put in front of me.
This is the kind of place you could take your mom, or a date, or a book, or a friend to linger over conversation. Five stars.
N.B. I haven’t tried the food yet, I’ll leave that for another time.