Candy Ultra Lounge and Bistro Bar

Even though Candy has been closed for awhile, I still find myself looking for it whenever I’m driving around this corner of Couch and 9^th. It was beautiful, even somewhat pretentious, and clearly far from perfect, yet it was unforgettable.
The collection of random, yet memorable experiences I still remember like yesterday. Take for these times for instance:
* Too many drinks, too big of a bill: The usual story when it comes to big groups. Many people order and leave. Someone gets stuck wtih the bill and that someone was me. At least the drinks were stiff.
* Pizza Happy Hour: We ate our faces off and the pizza was surprisingly good. The service on the other hand, left something to be desired. Even the waitress came back to apologize, she was clearly having a bad day.
* Mini Photo Booth: I take a series of ridiculous selfies via their lounge photo camera. The food was cold and the drinks were way too sweet this time around. An unrelated fight in the parking lot resulted in my car being scratched and a lot of headache. The pictures turned out blurry. Meh.
* Dancing was an experience on its own. Music was good but it’s strange being around a horde of youngins who would get grilled for their IDs with just enough daylight. Our group of hooligans might’ve been tabbed for the same thing. Highlight was watching the whole joint fail miserably at doing the Dougie. Twice.
Now Candy has been reincarnated into Splash Bar (
), which has been lackluster at best. I suspect I won’t be making many memories there. Rest in peace Candy.

this place has its charm. back when touchscreen computers were hitting the market Candy put one in all their booths. yea drinks were $ food was meh but this place a thing going.
Candy did not make it into 2012. closed.

I don’t get this place and won’t try to.
Service sucks but with a smile.
Food is surprisingly good. We had a plethora of nosh and liked the sliders and hummus. Not together.
Atmosphere is club meets web bar with touch screen PCs at the booths.
We arrived Thursday evening to ¼ full and left at ¹⁄₃ full. I guess Thursday 8:30 — 10:00 is down time.
I’m not sure what you’re looking for and if you’re not sure either, then check out CUL&BB. It might be right for you. It’s not for everyone.

Ugh I guess it makes sense that ultra lounges have infected Portland as well… I ended up here because I’m directionally retarded and couldn’t follow my gps in walking mode to brix. My review is based on happy hour while it was pretty empty at 630p on a Saturday.
No food, just drinks — tried coconut cream pie and a pear something cocktail at $ 8 each. No clue what their regular prices are, but menu said happy hour was $ 6 in spring (slow season?). I didn’t get too much coconut, but it was a really tasty drink. Pear was my fav — grey goose pear w elderflower, sweet and sour. I’ve had a lot of grey goose pear cocktails but this was my fav ever. It was a strong drink, but didn’t taste like it, maybe the sweet and sour?
I didn’t get the attitude and service issues a lot of other people have mentioned, but probably because I was there early evening. I’ve never heard of a place that does ages 26+, weird since Portland isnt a college town, but whatever. Hot bartender guy whose name I didn’t bother getting was very friendly, greeting every person who walked in the door. He was nice to me and mixed some damn good cocktails, that’s all I need.

I think this place might be confused. It has no clear point of view.
It tries to be hip and trendy, but lacks some serious clarity.
I was confused to say the least. Is this place trying to be a club, bar, internet café, or what?
They have lots of technology. Almost to the point where it gets in the way. They serve lots of different types of food. Really big portions and really well priced, but theres no way to eat them comfortably. If you are a bar, serve bar food. if you are a restaurant, turn down the music… and turn up the lights.
THe computers and TVs everywhere is cool but its almost too stimulating and you can’t hold a conversation. We aren’t zombies, give us a reason to eat and dance and drink, not stare at screens.
Our waitress was nice, but I don’t think is the place for me.

Years ago, the internet café was a good idea. Even more years ago, the nightclub was a great idea. At no point in history has mixing the two into an internet nightclub been a good idea. Candy disagrees. I don’t know who thought this was necessary, but if you walk by, you will almost always see either Facebook or porn. In both cases, I can think of better venues for your viewing. ahem. pleasure.
The rumor is that on weekends, it’s 21+ for girls and 27+ for guys. I’ve never bothered asking anyone about this, but I’ve definitely been there with guys as young as 22 and girls just as young. Of course, this rumor also fills the place with men in their 40’s who still love to show off their pecks and love handles in those oh-​so-​tight Ed Hardy t-​shirts. A note for said men: it’s funny when your clothes are more bedazzled than your girl’s. Oh, and you should not be going through an entire bottle of cologne in a week.
Oh, and the too short, too tight, animal print dresses are everywhere, stuffed thoroughly with surgically enhanced breasts (trust me ladies, we can tell), enough make-​up to overwhelm a sci-​fi costume designer, and an awkward mix of cigarettes and perfume.
It’s kept quite dark, even if you’re only their for happy hour, which is probably one of the few things this place gets right. The pizzas are pretty good and unless you get more than 3 or 4 toppings, under $ 10.
The whole space is oddly divided down the middle, creating 4 distinct areas. Walk in and you are looking directly at the first bar. Turn to your right and there is a row of large booths with internet. To the left of Internet Row, there’s a bar with high tables, and behind all that is the dance floor and DJ stage.
I’m quite sure I’m not the target audience, but this is one of few places where I won’t go even if friends want to. And I certainly won’t pay the $ 10 cover to get in on a Friday or Saturday night. It doesn’t have my vibe, my type of patrons, or give me any real ability to kick back and relax.
From my own experiences, I might actually prefer the Amateur Hour crowd that follows St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo. If you’re suffering from a mid-​life crisis, hit this place up. If you’re cool with yourself, you can do better.

I was here on NYE and the place was hoppin’. We had a great time, but that was more a result of the group we were with than the establishment itself.
Our server was downright rude and after the first round of drinks we started purchasing directly from the bar ourselves. Turns out… the drinks were less there. Not only was she snobbish, but she was also skimming off the top. Not cool!

NOT a good experience. Went out for a girls night. My girlfriend’s purse got stolen and our drinks were questionably drugged. No, we were not wasted. Only had the one drink the entire night! I won’t go into details but at least we made it home from the bar safely.
Pros: Not much. The Atmosphere was so-​so. The «older» crowd was better than going to your typical club downtown.
Cons: Pretty much everything else. The array of people there are… well…interesting. The drinks were nothing great. The music was awful.
One and done with this place. Literally.

We went here with our Living Social Certificate. Atmosphere is really cool. Literally a playground for adults. Awesome booths with touch screen computer monitors so you can surf the web.
We order five appetizers and they were all good, except the wings… they were GREAT! Next time we will skip the green bean fries and go for an extra order of wings.
Staff was awesome. Helpful and attentive. We are looking forward to going back on our next date night.

It’s the atmosphere of this place that makes it fun.
The best thing this club does, IMHO, is Live Music Wednesdays. You can go chill in a booth with some friends and listen to live music for free every Wednesday night. It’s great for sampling new music and enjoying a low key night out in the middle of the week.
Another great thing about this place is its 25+ age limitation. I can go chill without some 21-​ish chick screaming «woo hoo» at every drink or some drunk 21-​ish stud grabbing my ass. Definitely one of the huge plusses about this place.
If you’re looking for food, however, this is not the place to find gourmet anything. The pizza is OK, and that’s about the nicest food comment I could make. Literally, there are about 8 items on the food menu (not including appetizers).
The drinks here are average, but creative.
This place has a more upscale crowd than a sports bar, but it’s not necessary that you come decked out either. A nice pair of jeans and something fun on top will do the trick.

Candy has a great happy hour menu with stone oven pizzas, thick patty burgers and fresh salads … all coming in gracious portions with customizable options. Their drinks are good and most always on the strong side. Christian (at the front bar) is the guy to go to, with friendly efficient service.
Wednesday nights they have live music, following the acoustic genre. It’s a great way to unwind and refresh for the rest of the work week. Perfect for a small party or large group. The artist line up changes weekly from local performers to out of town guests.
Candy as a night club is fun, with well dressed people and good music. It gets busy though, so don’t expect to sit down and get fast service on a dinner order. It’s transforms into a dance club on the weekend evenings. So eat before hand and then dance the night away!
My only complaint (and one that other Unilocalers have also remarked upon) is that sometimes you’ll get slow service. Often times feeling ignored. I’ve only experienced this with the same server (not sure why she is still there) but if you happen to get her, just speak up and Candy will make sure to rectify anything/​speed things up.
Oh yeah, and try the green beans … they are addicting.

Came here on a Wednesday for the first time, for happy hour. with friends and it was Not packed but just enough people that made it a «great» atmosphere… Had a good time, had pizza, which was good :) and a drink. can’t remember what I had that night. I didn’t get drunk im sure though.
My advice NEVER go on a SATURDAY it was so packed and no one cared to help us find a seat, and so we took off–
This was my second time and had a bad experience. will I come back? Maybe on a NORMAL wednesday: People here on Saturday were in their mid 30’s.not always the case but it was on Saturday!
Hope your experience is better than Mine!

Took a half day trip from Seattle down to Portland to see the Blazers vs Thunders at the Rose Garden Arena with a good buddy of mine. Left Seattle about 245pm and arrived in PDX around 5pm and was hungry and craving BBQ type food. Game started at 730pm, it went into OT and didn’t get back into Seattle til 2am. I only did this which was a test to see if I was too old to do these types of trip. It turns out, I still got the energy to do it. And yes another trip like this is being planned again as we speak. Candy will be one the stops we will make to please our appetite.
Messaged a buddy through FB who lives in PDX to see what places are good to eat. I totally forgot that he’s be ranting and raving about the great happy hour and drinks here. Now I know why. The prices are reasonable. the food was GREAT!
Love the décor… each booth had their own TV, never seen and was unheard of until I walked inside. We sat at the bar and we noticed our bartender was new from the looks of how someone had to put in our orders and asked questions and was learning on the job as the night went along. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. newbies gotta learn somehow right? So I wasn’t expecting tremendous service but I can say I was happy. The guys training him did a great job and let the newbie do his thing and he ask questions but that’s a given.
Now onto the food and our orders:
We had to two orders of the BBQ pork sliders (3 per order), deep fried green beans and the jalapeño poppers. I tell you the sliders were awesome. It came out with the buns (as in the mini burger buns and not the buns as in buns of steel =P) being warm and tasted GREAT.
The deep fried green bean was recommended by the bartender who was training the new guy and I’m glad we took his recommendation. It was dipped in a Japanese batter and deep fried (henced they call it deep fried green beans).
The next plate was the Jalapeño poppers which tasted great but I was disappointed that the jalapeño wasn’t bigger. I think they need to lighten up on the cream cheese it was too much but was still edible and tasted good.
Overall I was happy with my first visit to Candy. The food was GREAT! I was satisfied with the service due to a new employee was getting on the job, hands-​on training. He did good. What more can you ask for, right?
I’m definitely coming back to try other dishes and especially the $ 4 pizza during happy hour. Candy, I will see you next time I’m in PDX!
BTW, I gotta rub this in… I’m a Thunders fan and yes they won by 1pt in OT. Go THUNDERS!!! I didn’t know if my buddy and I would make out of PDX let alone The Rose Garden Arena alive and we did.

So, there’s nothing hip or stylish about this place except the decore. The service is slow, the food is better than average bar food and their drink special well not all that special.
The bright spot is their happy hour, which is decent in length (4 to 7) and their pizza is huge and cheap. which is not words i often use and say it’s awesome. $ 4 for a 1-​toping during hh and $ 6 at another time is really not so bad. but when you’re there watching a ducks game with all your college pals it’s pretty awesome. I’ve had their other menu items and their decent, the gringo nachos are just that, coming in at about $ 4 for a giant plate of chos is pretty cool. tempura fried green beans oddly addicting.
The thing their greatly lacking is any creativity in their cocktails and their drink specials are blarg.$ 8 cosmos are so 02. and their whole mojito stuff i dunno, maybe I’m too old to be excited to go there except to be food rude and yell at the tv.
In the evening it’s a different beast entirely.
perhaps I’m not scene enough to get the appeal of waiting in line to get into a bar. I also don’t believe in covers to bars, that’s just stupid. The clientele varies dramatically. from my mom to pearl cougars to mid 20’s pearl-​ites. i suppose you can make up your mind when you walk in, you’ll get the picture pretty quickly.

Well I went out last night to Candy with a girlfriend. It is a very nice Bar/​Lounge in décor. They have computers at each of the seating stations for people to play on. I learned later that some people were watching porn, so I guess anything goes for surfing there. The bartenders were nice.
There is a dress code to look «sharp». I dont mind that since I rarely get to get dressed up… so I think it is ok, and I notice that people just hold themselves a little higher when they look nice. We looked great… just a little nervouse to get out there and party.
The bar is 26 year old and up… since I am in my 30’s it is kinda nice. I do not like to deal with the very young 20’s and their drama. Yet, there was still a lot of drama even with a little older crowd.
Last night for drinks and dancing was really BUSY! Lots of ethnic men and women there too… italian, asian, arab… just so you understand what crowds are there.
I was not «hit» on a lot… the men seem to wait for the women to agress to them. I am old fashioned in many ways so I didn’t really appreciate this mentality. Let’s get back to respecting women… PLEASE!
I met some new friends! So it was a good experience in many ways. When a venue includes making some new friends… it is good!

I actually kinda like this place — but to clarify — I have only been here for Happy Hour. It looks like it might be more of a meat market at night but happy hour it rocks.
The seating is comfortable. They even have touch screen HP monitors at the sofas so you can play, surf the net, and enjoy. THe hh menu is very appealing especially the fried green beans. THe drinks are just right and the service has always been friendly. I have been there 2x and I am sure I will go again when looking for a comfortbale, not crowded, atmosphere.

Now.
I finally get to be there for happy hour.
It is decent from that looks of it. I did not try any food but the drinks. The menu looks pretty good. There are also drink specials and the windows are open.
They are probably airing out the douchiness that got trapped from the previous night.
Imagine walking through the streets of the Pearl District one afternoon. You’ll smell the breads baking from the Pearl Bakery then next block it reeks of Armani Mania with a hint of Drakkar Noir. Hmmm.
BUT! Come night time, read my initial review. It remains the same on most weekends.

Came back to Candy, and I’m pretty happy that I did–
The bartender was great, so were the bouncers (who were good-​looking, btw), and the dancing was a lot of fun– I must have come on a good night, because the crowd was younger than usual, meaning the dance floor was filled with less cougars and more… cubs?
One more star for you, Candy!

First of all, I just have to mention that Candy is located on a street named Couch. After 6 months of living in Oregon, I finally learned that the correct pronunciation is «Cooch,» by far the best street name I’ve come across.
Anyway, Candy was my third stop of the night and I am 300% certain that I will never come back. I felt like I was watching my mom and dad grind on the dance floor. Im not hating on the older folks, I think its cute that they can get their groove on at the club, but its just not my scene.

S.U. wanted me to see this place. She had been here for a happy hour dining with a group of friends and thought I should see it. We needed a place to munch before a mostly cocktail event at Andina so here we were.
I arrive (by bike of course) before herself and poke my nose inside the modern, screen filled space. Since she wasn’t there, I spent a moment reading the signage outside. What struck me right away was the Dress Code on Weekends. For Men above 25 yo, No shorts, ‘nice’ jeans only … Bad signage in my book. I’m wearing a t-​shirt and cargo shorts. This is Portland. Even though it’s a weekday and I know I’ll be granted entry to their establishment, this says to me, go away.
S.U. arrives and in we go. Nice pour on her $ 6 house chardonnay. I’ll have a beer. What! No beer on tap! I never understand this. THE beer capital of America and not one fresh, local beer on tap. I do understand that, wrspct to inventory control, bottled beer is easier for the ‘Company’, but this is Portland. We both had excellent $ 4 burgers, she with fresh made potato chips, me with batter-​fried green beans. Very nicely prepared and presented. We split a $ 3 salad that was huge. Service was attentive and our server very nice. All the servers (female) wore push-​up bra’s (Of course, S.U. pointed that out, I hadn’t noticed.)
The interior of the place was full of active TVs and computer screens. The booths had touch screen computer access, you could check your e-​mail, go to IMDB to find out who was the actress who was in that movie with Buscemi about the, you know ??? Very modern, very hip/​lounge-​y.
Summary critique: Inexpensive happy hour food, (pure Sysco). Could be anywhere in America. A vague uneasy-​ness at the corporate, L.A. style exclusivity. S.U. was right, I should know about it’s cheap happy hour. Now I know.