BEST MARTINI BAR IN TOWN BY FAR!!!! Service was slow so you have time to enjoy your drink and not be stupid drunk (which happens anyway). The drinks were strong and loved the variety for $4 during happy hour. When is Brazen Bean reopening. I heard they were negotiating a new spot but have not heard if it is reopened. I miss the Martinis and the GirlzNightsOUT.

Please stay in the NW... We need a cool spot like this. There's not much else on 21st worth going to.

This bar may be the best setting for a night of drinking in all of Portland. My friend who brought me to the bar said that it reminded her of Brooklyn. If all bars in Brooklyn look and feel like the Brazen Bean, then I like Brooklyn. Our bartender that night was both remarkably hot and incredibly nice. Until, after fifteen minutes of waiting, we had to remind her that she forgot our drink order. Then she became a bitch. But she was still hot. The scene won't be for everyone as the hipsters are thick and swarming. But outside of the heavy-handed pretentiousness that comes with any swarm of hipsters, I like this place.

Summary - waiter gave us lip, lost part of our order, only par martinis My buddy was leaving town for good, so we decided to start out the night there for some drinks and food. all of his friends are in the food/server/bar industry and thought so poorly of the service that we were actually po'ed and left as soon as our entire group arrived. Our waiter took our order fairly quickly, but it took 20 minutes to get my drink, and my girlfriend's drink was no where to be seen. He asked what it was, and said he'd get it. 20 minutes later, still no drink, and he said he'd go check to see what happened. At the hour mark, I asked again and he gave me lip saying that I clearly never ordered it or else he would have gotten it. We left, and I refuse to ever go back there. I have never been so po'ed at someone in my life. It also did not help that it was warm out and the window next to us was sealed shut and the ceiling fan was broken. My drink was ok, but nothing special. Several better places in town for the price (bartini, vault, pcg). While it was happy hour, there were also many empty seats, so it'd be hard to use "busy" as en excuse for the poor service. The tone of the waiter was also completely un called for, especially to polite requests to where a missing martini was. The tone would have been extreme even if he had been cursed out by someone with beer muscles.

This place has unfortunately joined a new portland trend - Fake infusions made with sugar water. Squeeze does it too. The onion "martini" which lists onion infused vodka as its only ingredient is like 1/4 vodka and probably very satisfying for the sorority girls that hang out there. Those of us who know what a martini is, however, will come up wanting. I agree with lidia s. The owner is a very good business person.

Loved it there went there for the first time last night had a wonderful time, staff was great and martinis excellent...new to Portland love everything about it now I have a new favorite that I can take my visitors to:) Cheers!

I like the BB! We have a girls night out there occasionally. The martini's are so fabulous, get the coconut, and are only $4 during happy hour. The food is good, although i was surprised there was salad on my pizza, different... but it was way tasty!! Music is kinda too loud to talk in a group and it is small and crowded. People constantly asking if your leaving, as there are only about 10 tables, when your just going to smoke! Happy Hour is good then it just gets too crowded... standing room only. I don't like having a butt by my face while I'm sitting and drinking!

The brazen bean is an innovation that Portland should be grateful to have. There is a reference in these reviews toward the owner as a "A foul mouthed chubby blonde with a ratty little dog", and "The rudest employees". She has probably been driven to be be foul mouthed by ameteurs like you. Perhaps you should keep your barhopping attempts to more corporate haunts like Pazzo, where they will cater better to your emotional "Issues" and underpour your foo-foo drink. Huston works hard on her business and still undertakes new ventures like motorcycling, Martha stewart-esque home endeavors and running a creative bar beset by Pearlies that don't understand the principles of wise real estate purchases, etiquette in social situations and a pallate. Money doesn't make you smart.

the menu is vast and incredible. From vodka to gin to taquilla to rum. I miss the hell out of portland. others know me as(GEO).

yeah so you have to pay a buck more...the place is great! i've always had good service we just tip a buck/martini that we've drank. don't be a tightass!

Since when has the Brazen Bean been non-smoking? It came up when I searched for non-smoking bars, but the last time I was there I stank like Mickey Roarke's index finger for a friggin week.

drinks are expensive, clientele is clique. Frantic atmosphere. Classy poser types looked ridiculous

I love the Bean! I've been coming here since I moved here in '98, and have always had a great time. You can't beat the selection of happy hour martinis, and every flavor is a winner. If you've gotten slow service in the past, it's probably because the drinks here are not your typical (insert brown liquor here) and (insert brown soda here), and take a little extra time for maximum deliciocity.

the drinks were stiff but they ought to be when you wait 20 minutes to get it and pay out the ass for what amounts to a lackluster and piss poor boozing experience.

I love going to the Bean! The owner "Houston" is very friendly and a brilliant business woman, and she is also gorgeous, which doesn't hurt! The wait staff has always been perfect with me....Amy is my favorite! Maybe the naysayers should be nice to them and tip them......they might get better service, like in any other establishment! If you like going to the Bean, great....if you don't, great....it's already too busy anyway!

This place is still usually really busy for happy hour, but not as crazy as it used to be when martini's were $3. Service is a little slow, but just order your next drink when you get your first. Do yourself a favor, cut yourself off after 4. No need to be a drunken idiot before 8 pm.

I love this place! It's a cute little victorian house right off 21st, on Glisan, but I think it is definitely one of Portland's best kept secrets. The martinis are no longer $3 for happy hour though, they are $4 (but like one more dollar is really going to break you). I've had nothing but excellent service (especially the guy with blondish hair and bright blue eyes, yum), even during happy hour and every single one of their tables is full. Worth checking out! *And so not a gay bar.

I will not go back. I guess I was there on one of the bad nights they seem to so often have.

yummy martinis in a cool atmosphere. i didn't have any trouble with rude waitstaff or bartenders, and i was there on a busy friday during happy hour. i had been hearing good stuff about the bean for some time - and am glad we finally tried it out. the lavender martini was dee-lish

Just was there last night, making it my third trip there since I moved to Portland. I calling it a So-So experience because I had a crappy experience with one of the employees last time - it was issue where she should have remade the drink, but instead she was a bitch about it.

I don't mind the smoke, and the happy hour cocktails are nicely priced. For $4 I get nice and toasted after work.

i always have a great time at the brazen bean...the drinks are fabulous, the waitstaff friendly and the owner is very hard working and creative!

That bar has hands-down, the rudest employees, and the owner, a spoiled, foul-mouthed, chubby blonde with a ratty little dog, is not the kind of business person I want in my neighborhood. Never mind the whole martini thing is so played out, and cigars are so 90s. Sure the drinks are $3, but is the headache from Monarch gin and cigar smoke really worth it?

Ummm...dudes! Brazen Bean isn't a gay bar!

When did the Brazen Bean become a gay bar ? If people are dancing without shirts ... it's a gay bar .