Gigi’s Cafe

My wife and I have been trying a different place for Sunday brunch each weekend. This time it was here. Promptly seated and promptly served. Good choice, very good food. Prices are fair for the quality of the food.

They have the best waffles I HAVE ever had! So good and they melt in your mouth. One of my favorite place to eat at in Hillsdale.

The food here is delicious and while your waiting for them to bring it out, they bring you mini waffles for your table to share. The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because it gets really busy and the staff has yet to learn to keep up with the rush. I found myself waiting a long time for certain things. Other than that, a good place to go but beware of the long wait and crowded, loud, dining area.

I’ve been wanting to check out Gigi’s forever, ever since I learned of Gigi’s from a PWCL event last year. Not only does Gigi support an amazing organization as the Portland Women’s Crisis Line, but they also serve deeeelicious liege waffles. They provide you with a complimentary sample after you place your order, which is such a nice touch, and the fried chicken easily rivals that of screen door (and that’s not a statement I’d make lightly). I ordered the spicy goat waffle and there was not a scrap left over. Great brunch experience and food, I only wish it was closer to east Portland!

I love this place so much. The service is friendly and fun, and really helpful. The café was super comfortable and unique, and I love the business story behind the place. The menu has tons of options, especially for gluten free people. They even have gluten free chicken and waffles! :D
I came here for lunch before heading to work, and I am so glad I did. I ordered the Porklandia and a Iced coffee and both we’re beyond what I was expecting. Hands down, the best iced coffee I’ve ever had. And it’s not even a coffee shop. What is this. I don’t know what they did, but I could live off it. And the Porklandia was insaneeee. I mean, a huge jalapeño cornbread waffle, topped with sweet apple chutney and pulled pork, AND covered in barbeque sauce?! For $ 9?! What’s not to love!
Anyways, will totally come back here again, I am in love.

So good! There are so many great menu options that it has been hard for me to choose! The gluten free chicken and waffles has been my favorite so far. The waffle was delicious and the chicken was cooked just right — juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside. When we decide to go for brunch, this is always my first choice! We generally wait to go until 12:30 or later to miss the crowd and have not had to wait for a seat so far.

To go place for a perfect brunch — must try on the Elvis waffle and the smoretastic ., topped with hot chocolate and u are all set for a perfect day. A must try if you are in the neighborhood.

Delicious!!! We came here for Sunday brunch. There was a little bit of a wait, but not as bad as if we had gone into Portland.
So amazing to find a breakfast place with gluten free options that are actually tasty. We ordered gluten free chicken and waffles and the creamy polenta. It was so good and definitely a big portion. $ 5 mimosas with many different flavors, such a treat!
Service was good even though they were busy.
Will definitely return!

In elementary school I read a book called «everything on a waffle” — central to the theme (as you might expect) was a restaurant that served everything on a waffle. The waffle is an under appreciated plate substitute in my opinion. Gigi’s does a marvelous job of providing a cozy waffley experience in a comfortable atmosphere.
Definitely a worthy replacement for four square that used to occupy the space. Keep it up! Great OJ too.

Maple bacon liege waffle with French bacon «lardons», and chicken n’ waffles! So delicious!

I was looking for a caterer for my wedding and stumbled upon Gigi’s Café/​The Gaufre Gourmet. Their catering choices seemed endless and they were very flexible in what I wanted to do with the smaller budget I had for food. The waffles were amazing the day of, and all the guest had rave reviews about how good the food was and how fast they got through line. I would definitely recommend them as great, experienced caterers who do a great job pleasing you and your guests.

5 stars all around. Super tasty. Super good service and just an overall fun atmosphere on a cold Fall morning. We were inspired to eat here by the stunning story in The Oregonian profiling the amazing owner of this business. Wow! Thank you to the owner for sharing your incredible story. You have inspired an entire city and you deserve all of the success and happiness you seem to be achieving. Thank you for a terrific waffle breakfast and your inspiring story.

Eating at Gigi’s really made me feel wholesome.
It was relatively early (before noon!) on a Saturday, there were inspirational quotes hanging in the bathroom, and most tables were liberally sprinkled with children.
I got the gluten-​free chicken and waffles, because GF chicken & waffles!!! The waffle was a little crispy but the fried chicken was absolute heaven.
The gluten-​eaters got a chicken and waffle sandwich, biscuits and gravy, and the house-​made scrapple – their first foray into Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast meats. The biscuits and gray and sandwich got rave reviews, and the scrapple was deemed tasty, if different.
The coffee was delicious and strong – so delicious I had like three cups and so strong I felt jittery three hours later. The servers are super friendly and knew the menu super well, which my gluten allergy super appreciated.
The pens to sign the check have little flowers attached to them. I mean, seriously. The whole thing was so wholesome we had no choice but to go on a spontaneous hike immediately.

Waffles… Waffles…Waffles!
About 6 years ago started my love for what Mike & Charline have created.
I can’t say enough about their style of waffles, research that went into the base recipe paid off. Producing a unique waffle that makes all others in Portland seem like they are coming out of a pop up toaster. Love their creativity and new twist they bring to the scene.

I am so happy I finally got to try these waffles! I didn’t realize Gigi’s Café was an expansion from the Gaufre Gourmet waffle cart in DT Portland! I used to work downtown and every time I would try to make it here it was always closed so you can imagine my excitement this morning lol. My friend and I ordered the Smoked salmon eggs benedict on a cornbread jalapeño mini waffles and the liege milk and honey and waffle. Both were very delicious! The hollandaise on the eggs benny was perfect! (Sometimes I’m iffy about hollandaise sauce cuz it’s so thick it reminds me of mayo and i loath mayo!) but this was the best hollandaise I have ever tasted. I wish there was a tad more smoked salmon since it kinda got lost in the dish couldn’t really taste it but the dish was still great and they serve it with a very well seasoned potato/​sweet potato medley. Ok so the waffle … First of all presentations very nice. Also I’ve never thought of make a chèvre whipped cream to top waffles with but it was amazing I love goat cheese and pistachios so the fact that both elements were included I was sold. Btw the Gigi’s coffee blend super good also. Super cute place. Once again Portland you are a food win!

Yum! I had the French toast and it was delicious. Brought out super quick. The waitress even gave me a little waffle sample which I will have to come back for next time! The only thing that would be nice is if they had lattes or espresso.

What a fun little treat in the heart of Hillsdale. I was pretty surprised that a genuinely tasty restaurant was in the burbs of portland. Hidden gem located!
I ordered a blackberry mimosa, yum! And everything I tasted was delicious. I also ordered a salmon scrabble and oi vey! So tasty, my mouth is watering now as I write this. It came with a gluten free waffle, WHAT?! This can taste good! FACT!

Sweet and Savory waffles… and the Scrapple. have both.
We rarely go to this part of town and our friends had mentioned a few hidden gems for us to explore here. So, we finally brunched on a rainy Portland Sunday afternoon at this place and we were not disappointed. The ambiance was nice, homely, cozy/​friendly and the line was not that long by the time we got there. We tried the Milk and Honey Waffle along with a side of Chicken and the Spicy Goat Salami Waffle (which was one of the specials). The Spicy Goat Salami was full of flavor and the salty salami was gong very well with the slightly sweet taste of the waffle and the pistachios. That one was my favorite. The Milk and Honey was also wonderful but what can beat salami. The Fried Chicken was also wonderful and I would order that again.
The Scrapple: They say it is a Pennsylvania treat made using a 100 year old family recipe (made with pork). It had an amazing taste and tasted slightly like a kebab made with pork, in a very very good way. I completely loved the scrapple and am happy that I don’t live close to this place as I would just stop by and pick an order of scrapple every weekend otherwise. Try the scrapple for sure…

Excellent food. Excellent service by every human in the place.
I had the Hillsdale Hullabaloo. Perfect breakfast, perfectly balanced… delicious.

When: July 4, 2015 10:00 am, Party of 3 Adults
For a non-​resident, this restaurant would be hard to find, in the SW PDX neighborhood of Hillsdale, if it weren’t for my daughter driving, who is a resident of the Portland area.
This is a nice little cozy café/​restaurant café in a strip mall, that I recommended to my daughter to try out (I was a Kickstarter participant for this restaurant). The wait was a short 5 minutes on this July 4^th Saturday morning. This place has a cheery hip modern coffee café vibe… the perfect receipe to start your day.
My daughter had the Applewood Smoked Bacon & Eggs dish, my wife had the Crème Brulee French Toast and I had the Banana Bread Waffle… Bingo Bam Bullseye… these dishes were definitely on target. My Banana Bread Waffle tasted exactly like Banana Bread coming fresh out of the oven. My wife said the Crème Brulee French Toast was light and tasty. And what is there to say about Applewood Smoke Bacon… hmmm
This is a definite recommend for residents and any visitors who are adventures enough to test out there GPS…

Absolutely godlike. This was my 3^rd visit, and they have it dialed in. Best waffles (2 styles of Belgian waffles that I didn’t even know existed) I have ever had.
Food portions are ample. I had the Hillsdale Hullabaloo, which is kind of a everything-​but-​the-​kitchen-​sink scramble. It was awesome. Love their gravy.
Their coffee is gutsy and of great quality. The OJ is good.
Their bacon is thick and solid. I love it.
Go early, or go late, or be prepared to wait.

It gets very crowded here on peak days and hours like the brunch weekends but with very good reason, the food is excellent. I have had the Porklandia (shredded bbq style pork on a liege waffle) and the simply Belgium waffle with fried chicken and although both were very good I particularly enjoyed the latter. The waffle was excellent, so light and yet tasty, and the chicken was cooked perfectly with just the right amount of spices (the maple spiced better added much flavor as well).
The service is friendly and overall the place feels bright, modern and open.

Hubby and I decided to give this new place a whirl on a Friday morning. The parking lot is PACKED and the spaces are small, so glad we did not drive the big truck.
It is a pretty small place and tight. Luckily it was not very crowded this morning.
The coffee was good, a local brand I am fairly sure, the delivery guy came while we there but I could not make out the brand name. Service was good, it seems like they are getting the hang of it. Water and coffee right away, lots of refills and our order was taken in a timely manner. The sample waffles our server mentioned never came so that was a little disappointing. It did take awhile for our order to come, but good things come to those who wait! It is not a fast food restaurant after all, relax and enjoy yourself!
I ordered Ham and Eggs, it came with greens which were AMAZING. The Potatoes served with my breakfast were delicious although a little cool when my plate came. In fact everything on my plate was a bit cool, I am a slow eater so that was OK with me. They only have white or wheat toast, FYI. I wanted to try their Liege Waffle, plain so I ordered on on the side, it was cute and small, but very good!
My eggs were perfectly cooked over medium and hubby’s soft scrambled eggs were perfect, so they know how to cook eggs.
Hubby ordered the Maple Bacon Waffle Liege style, he liked it, but I tasted it and it was not for me, too sweet. I am more of a savory gal.
Some nice soft background music might be nice, if nothing else to drown out your fellow diners, we got lucky and had a super annoying woman, her friend and children next to us.
Overall I liked it, however the parking situation is going to be a problem for me. It is not worth getting a door ding to eat there, so we shall see if we risk going back. There is a very busy Starbucks a few doors down.

We love waffles. In taco form, in savory form, in just plain crunchy form, in pearl sugar form, in doused in syrup form, in pretty much any form.
So the fact that you can substitute your toast with a mini liege waffle. Well, that’s right up our alley. (We saw a lot of customers super confused by this option, but we hope it doesn’t go away!)
We never had a chance to go to Gaufre Gourmet in food cart form downtown, so we are excited to have this place nearish us now!
A got a coffee and the sausage and egg breakfast. I got an OJ (they didn’t have decaf tea) and the corned beef hash. Both with sides of waffle for toast at $ 1 extra. We also splurged on a milk and honey waffle for dessert.
It did seem like a long wait for food (as others noted), but not 45 min long so I think they are working on it! The servers were friendly too.
The corned beef hash was delish! It’s one of my always-order-if-it’s-on-the-menu items so I know me some corned beef hash. It’s homemade and it’s filled with little crispy and salted delicious bites. Drizzled with sour cream to take off the edge. It reminded me of my old favorite at Wild Abandon without the horseradish. The eggs were perfect cooked. It had a little side of chard that was yummy too. A’s sausage and eggs were just what he wanted too. A side of spicy potato and greens came with.
The milk and honey was way more complex than I was expecting! The chevre cream was almost like a whipped cream with a touch of chevre flavor. The balsamic caramel and crunchy pistachios paired perfectly. Like another reviewer said, I think it could use a touch more caramel to cut through the creamy chevre topping. It was still a wonderfully not overly sweet dessert though!
There is a wait because it seems people have already caught on after a month of opening, but we are definitely going back to try more! Or maybe to also stick with our favorites already!