
Chopsticks Express
2651 E Burnside St.Portland, OR 97214
503/ 234.6171
Located in: Northeast Portland & near Southeast Portland
BarFly's Review of Chopsticks Express
Ignore the name. Chopsticks shouldn't suggest food any more than, say, The Galaxy references a planetarium. Wannabe frontmen and their patient friends crush Chopsticks for stiff drinks and the best karaoke jockeys and sound system 'round Portland. If the crowds tend less toward the rocker contingent of yesteryear, there's still a welcome tendency to avoid the American Idolatry in favor of intriguing choices performed with heart and style.
Happy Hours
Okay, yes, this place has a long wait for Karaoke when many people are waiting to do Karaoke. Go figure. It's like how you wait in bad traffic when there's a lot of cars on the road.
I've had great times here. I've had okay times here. Earlier in the evening is better if you want to sing, I've enjoyed all the food I've eaten there.
As for the towing scam? I dunno, maybe car drivers should read signs about how parking lots work. Like it or not, a parking lot is private property, and if you leave the property, you might get towed. It's like getting mad at the cop for catching you break the law. Maybe it sucks, but you risk when you break rules. Me personally, my bike has never been towed from the lot. Ha!
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This place is a storefront scam owned by Safeguard Towing. At the very least, they are in partnership with them, because they have a bouncer watching at the back door and if you so much as move away from the bar for any reason throughout the night, by the time you come back your car will be gone! We were towed from their lot and even our cab driver said he's been towed from their lot! He walked across the street to use someone else's bathroom and when he came back he saw the tow truck hooking up his car. Everything must be terrible about this place because apparently they have to make their money by towing cars, not through legitimate business! Save your time and lots of money by going elsewhere - fast!
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This dump makes a business out of towing cars of paying customers it is a complete sham our car was towed while we were inside never again will we be back.
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Apparently karaoke is serious business. I tipped 5 bucks, and waited for three hours. It wasn't even that busy! But the goth tard friends of the kj (most of whom couldn't sing worth shit except for some stuck up diva girl named Autumn or Winter or something) sang at least three times. Oh, and the bartender was a pretentious dick too.
No thanks, I'll stick to somewhere else.
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Seems like you need to bring a razor because you grow a goddamn beard waiting for a shot at the mic. Next time I'll get there early and bring a flask, some canadian money to tip the KJ, and some prozac. This place sucks my asshole and I'll take my business to the hi-hat.
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This was my favorite karaoke place in Portland . . . until the night I parked in the parking lot, then walked across the street to grab dinner, and when I returned an hour later (planning to stay there to drink and sing all night), I noticed after I had ordered a beer that my car had been towed. My friend's car was towed the same night. The manager generously offered to knock $50 off the $235 towing price, but was unwilling to help any more, despite the fact that he could see I was a paying Chopsticks customer. . . we even had to pay for the drinks we had ordered before noticing our cars were gone, then didn't get to drink them because we had to go reclaim our cars from the impound lot. There are plenty of other karaoke spots in Portland, and from now on I will frequent one of them.
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You Said:
this place sucks
Went There last Mon., Bartender was a total dick, wouldn't come around the backside of the bar , where I was sitting, put a song in for karaoke, waited an hour and a half, no song, I left. Too cool for me I guess, I'm used to bars where people care about new business,,,,,,
-- Okay, um, bartenders are not wait staff. Bartenders are not cocktail waiters either. You were not being ignored or treated any differently than anyone else - new customer or regular.
The bartender is stationed on the BAR side, not the restaurant side. If you want a drink, you get up off of your fat ass and you go walk over to the bartender. They can get busy and have many other things to do rather than wait on you because you are simply lazy. Jesus.
Additionally, I've been going to Chopsticks off and on for 10 years. Though I know every single person that works there, including the owner, I receive no special treatment when it comes to getting up to sing a song. I wait, just like everyone else. When it's busy, I put in a song, often to wait and never get up. Get over it folks. It's karaoke. It gets busy. I've waited 4 hours to sing at the Galaxy when there were only 5 visible customers when I arrived. If you want to sing that badly, go there before the place is packed at like 8:00 PM and stop whining.
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This is the best karaoke spot in PDX. It's not much to look at(or eat at), but the crowd there is awesome! Everyone is very supportive of one another no matter what there singing talent is. The regulars embrace newcomers with open arms and make you feel like an old friend. The bartenders make stiff drinks and the service is super fast. Derek and the hot chick with nice knockers are on point with great customer service. This place is a great spot to hang on the weekend after a long work week.
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This place is completely awful. I went last night with my boyfriend who had never karaoked and he was really excited to give it a shot. We put our song in, tipped the dj, and waited. Waited for over two hours that is. Until the bar closed. While we waited we saw the same person go up and sing four times. I had heard from friends that the only way to sing here is to tip (we tried that and failed) the dj, or be good friends with the dj. Oh yeah, and the dj was completely rude to us also. I think I'll stick with singing in the shower.
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The measure of a bar is the people in it, I sing like nails on a chalk board. Noone has ever booed hissed or even mad fun. It is a great place to kick back, RELAX (very important) and have a few drinks!!!!
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Fun atmosphere; fun patrons...but bartenders seem to expect all the change from a Lincoln on a $3.50 beverage. Sorry, but the quarters might have to go toward a $2.25 beverage elsewhere. A buck a beverage is doing pretty good folks; earn your stripes and move up to Applebee's and then McCormick and Schmick's like booze-slingers before you.
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Chopsticks rocks my a** because its the only place in town you can find Icebox 7 nights a week making sweat love to johnny cash, merle haggard, and frank sinatra through the microphone.
Derek and Kim ar the best servers ever!
The Carptain and Winter are fu*king greatest KJ's in the wolrd
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I cant believe that everyone is trashing the best Karaoke bar in Portland! Yeah, you will have a hard time singing on a Friday or Saturday night, you have to get there early. And the washed up old hipsters look like complete idiots, but try talking to a few of them, and they really are not that bad of people in general. If you want to get a drink, ask a cocktail server, or go to the FRONT of the bar, not the back. It is easy. They poor em stiff too. Food is cheap and decent. Thumbs up!
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Not a fan. i hate this place. peg and davey. i'm not sure why you love it so much. food is sick. i mean it's cheap and all but it's also sick and will make you sick. and yes nathan does work there and he's cool and shit but really, do you wanna wait an hour to have a minute and a half of all eyes on glory? i mean, do you care that much? and the vibe is so fuckin like "i'm so cool and rock n roll and shit" gimme a break, all yous people are getting close to 30 and still trying to fuckin hipster dive your look. get over it. be yourself and fuckin accept the fact that either a) you really are cool and you're cool because you're cool or b)you just don't have what it takes. no need to start cokin out and not washing your hair.
fuck. this pisses me off. i'm down for cool bars and all but really, i mean really this isn't one of em. my fondest memories are when adam (you all know who i'm talking about) would sing ring of fire in monotone voice, bring a flask of liquor, puke under the pool tables and still not get kicked out. those were the days my friends. now it's just full of imposters. yes. you heard me. Basically, service is SLOW. can't get a song in for the life of ya. (even if you tip) and the people vibe is SO overrated.
i mean it's just my opinion. go there and see for yourself. maybe you yourself will have the ultimate chopsticks glory day. Good luck.
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Nothing more pathetic then people that take karaoke way too seriously and this place is full of losers like that. One guy came in late, tipped the dj to get on right away, sang that annoying song by Tracy Chapman perfectly w/out looking at the screen, and actually talked to the crowd during the breakdown of the song. Can you say embarrassing!!!
Food’s good and the song selection is impressive, but don’t expect to sing on a weekend night w/out a fistful of 20 dollar bills, which is just tacky.
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Went There last Mon., Bartender was a total dick, wouldn't come around the backside of the bar , where I was sitting, put a song in for karaoke, waited an hour and a half, no song, I left. Too cool for me I guess, I'm used to bars where people care about new business,,,,,,
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Chopsticks is simply the best karaoke in Porland. Why you may ask? Well, great KJ's who are never selfish and are always smiling. A truly eclectic mix of people - from 21 to 70. No kidding. Very "in" crowd later at night - this means a ridiculous amout of smoke, but overall they are not annoying. the sound system is the best in town as well.
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