McMenamins Tavern & Pool

Huge improvements in cleanliness and staff! Nicely done. We have become regulars after all but writing this place off some time ago.

Perfect casual spot with quirky décor for some draft beer and shuffleboard at $ 5/​hour. So glad this is in the neighborhood! There’s pool too.
We sampled the Hammerhead Pale Ale, Black Rabbit Porter (very light & drinkable for a porter), and Kris Kringle Winter Warmer

Having arduously (wink) sampled what 23^rd has to offer it’s my bold statement that McMenamins Tavern & Pool is one of the most underrated spots in the area. The rotating affordable McMenamins tap paired with generally great service, ample indoor and outdoor seating, plus games and elbow room (as mentioned underrated) and McMenamins happy hour, makes McMenamins Tavern & Pool my default for a casual drink (rotating cocktail specials), snack (Cajun tots), or sporting event sip (Ruby).

Great place; and a typical McMenamins. This is a wonderful placed to just hang out. They have two shuffleboard tables, and at least one pool table (can’t remember if there were one or two; we were playing shuffleboard). Cajun tots are great; and the pizza is not bad either.
But let’s get real; we were there for the beer and atmosphere.

This place is trashy beyond belief and always has sketchy people hanging outside/​inside due to its location by the highway ramp at the end of 23^rd. This is probably the worst McMenamins in town.

I actually like Tavern & Pool. Like any McMenamins, the food is mediocre, but the atmosphere and ambiance is good. Decent amount of taps. Pool & Shuffleboard. Not a bad place to hang out and have a few pints.

I always enjoy coming here. The staff is always friendly and welcoming and their food is pretty damn good! I’m from Wisconsin so I tend to need my weekly Friday fish fry, and I’m very happy with yours, that tartar sauce is insane!

Thinking back on my great time yesterday (sunday lunch) I figured I’d write a review. Out of all the McMenamin’s locations I’ve been to — this one was the most relaxed and most fun to be at. Best staff I’ve encountered too. My server, I think his name was Joe (bald guy) was hilarious and really made our experience. Will definitely be back for more!

At $ 6.25, the cider sampler rocks! The seasonal blackberry cider had just the right amount of lambicky sour w/​o the carbonation.

Cool place, nice staff. After the last place not allowing minors, this McMenamins never has a problem with them. The Brothers that started the restaurant really understood Portland and it’s family friendly atmosphere. They have pools, shuffle boards and a great feeling. Thank you for another great experience.

The management addressed our previous negative experience very appropriately and apologized. I’m impressed with the care that he took to follow through. We will try it again soon.

The bar tender was awful to us. The place is dead and the music is bad. We ordered drinks at the bar and he scowled at us. Decided to go do something else. When he came back we canceled the order and went across the street where it was packed. Staff can ruin a business…

Another stamp in the passport and another McMenamins. This one is very laid back with plenty of pool tables and outdoor seating. The food is normal for McMenamins but the bartender was awesome. That guy needs a raise :)

Stopped in here for a quick beer while waiting to get into another place for dinner. Got the nitro stout which was a good beer. But what I didn’t like was we had to wait for 25 mins after ordering to get the beer.

Oh dear… where to begin? I work in the neighborhood and we often order in from this location for lunches. Someone usually winds up grossed out by their food, but the wide variety of menu items makes it a good choice for any number of bizarre Portland diets. But today took the cake on gag-​worthiness.
Today I ordered the Dante’s chicken sandwich with a gluten-​free bun. It possessed nearly indistinguishable amounts of the promised hot sauce, instead being loaded up with scoop after scoop of blue cheese slime. That gluten-​free bun is a whopping $ 2 extra, but don’t bother. Like me, you’ll just throw it away because it has soaked up the copious amounts of water released from the rubbery MICROWAVED chicken breast.
Two of my co-​workers ordered the «Timber’s Dog.» Perhaps the Timbers are huge proponents of celery salt, because both dogs were so smothered with it, all toppings had to be removed and thrown away.
Another co-​worker got the Wilbur burger and bit right into a sheet of the paper used to separate the RAW patties. If he gets sick, we’ll be sure to send you the bill.
Prior to this, I’ve also received an ice cold bechamel sauce with a handful of unmelted shredded cheddar thrown in to accompany a pretzel, and waited an hour for a whiskey on the rocks.
Bottom line: unless you’re ordering tots or Scooby Snacks, don’t even bother walking through the door. If you walk in by mistake or starvation, don’t worry you’ll have a good 45 minutes to make your escape before anyone even comes to greet you.

I’ve been to the Tavern and Pool McMenamins a couple of times before. It’s actually a pretty large space at the far north end of 23^rd. They have 2 regular sized pools tables and 1 larger table (for snooker i think?). In addition, 2 shuffle board tables are available as well. For us, games were $ 2.50 for a half hour. Service was nice and friendly, stamping our passports with no fuss and even though we only had a beer each and were there for a couple hours, they were cool. This McMenamins definitely has some of the more interesting artwork that I’ve seen thus far and is worth a gander when you visit.

Service here was better than the mcmenamins in hillsboro. Standard mcmenamins menu which is ok. Cajun tots are a good bet. Margharita Pizza was good but a bit too salty

Come here during happy hour and get some beer and snacks: you’ll leave with a satisfied tummy, and a little bit if a buzz.
I came here on a Monday afternoon and opted for the interior seating, although there are outdoor tables if you’re not prone to sunburn, and/​or have a dog. There are also pool tables if that’s your game.
We were quickly greeted and ordered the happy hour Cajun tots and a beer sampler.
Most of the beer was darker than I usually drink, but it wasn’t a regrettable experience by any means. And the Cajun tots were slightly spicy, and crunchy on the outside, but fluffy on the inside. All and all it was an enjoyable afternoon snack.

I’ve been visiting one particular McMenamins for years, mostly because my sister lived above one in Seattle for forever and so it was often an easy, convenient place for a drink and dinner. However, I’d never thought of any as a destination per se; often the beer and food weren’t worth a separate trip.
So I was quite impressed with my initial visit to this particular McMenamins. By now I know which beers to order (I haven’t cracked the liquor lineup yet, though there are some tempting cocktails on the menu), so disappointments there are fewer and farther between even though I wouldn’t put them in a lineup of Portland’s finest. (The Black Rabbit Porter was surprisingly good, however.)
The food here was worlds better than what I’ve had at other locations: the hummus plate was fresh, delicious, and piled high with salty feta and a bracing array of pickled cucumbers, onions, and green beans. Throw that on a buttery pita, and yum! The $ 9 Jamaican rice bowl was also fantastic; sometimes anything with brown rice is an exercise in self-​denial motivated by high-​minded virtue. But I wasn’t missing anything here, not with a few massive chunks of chutney atop a lusciously coconutty mélange of black beans, avocados, and little half-​moons of roasted squash. (You can add on tofu or chicken for an extra charge, either of which I highly recommend.) One thing that deterred me from other McMenamins in the past was slightly high prices; I don’t know if it’s a WA/​OR difference, but the prices here were a pleasant and less-​expensive surprise.
Plus, there’s a woodstove in the middle of the tavern area, and there are few nicer things on a cool rainy night than the periodic whiff of woodsmoke and the burst of warmth emerging from the momentary open door! The tasty food, the great little happy hour menu with specials on beer, wine, and whiskey, plus the welcoming, comfortable atmosphere definitely launch this spot onto my regular rotation list.

I’m part of a weekly group meeting here. I’ve been involved for a year or two. It has been meeting at this location for 15 years with $ 3 – 400 tabs each week. They informed us very unexpectedly last night that the space in which we met would be remodeled for shuffleboard, and last night would be our last. McManamens are certainly welcome to do anything with they like. But ejecting long supporting customers unexpectedly for something they have long planed displays a very very serious failure of customer service.
No longer a good place for meetings.
Best regards and thanks to the front line waitstaff who have provided great service over 15 years.
But hey, that shuffleboard thing might catch on and make some money!