Matador
1967 W Burnside StPortland, OR 97209
503/ 222.5822
Located in: Northwest Portland & near Southwest Portland - Visit Website
BarFly's Review of Matador
The Matador's had a sordid history over its forty years on Burnside, and it recently changed hands once again. Hold on - don't shit your pants quite yet - the new owners are none other than The Matador's longtime barkeep and fry cook, respectively, Miss Rebecca Wolfe and Mr Casey Maxwell. They've cleaned her up and done some restoration on the old girl - repainting the back-bar's old school rockface, reupholstering the booths and barstools, fixing the diner's booths, etc. The best changes are the flocked curtains covering up the former cave's much resented newer windows, and finally putting the lady in ladies' room - it's actually cute (and clean!). Grande dame Lady Laura still prevails behind the bar, and most of the other faces are still the same. Most important of all, the drinks are still among the cheapest and strongest in downtown. Long live the Matador!
Happy Hours
I like this place enough to keep going back. I always meet a few women (even got in the photo booth with some), the beer is cheap, the drinks are stiff, and for the most part people are nice there. However, its a total divebar aka shithole. I stayed too late, it was closing time and they turned the lights on and its a dirty ass bar.
So if you are up for a little more rowdy crowd its a decent place. Last nite I got to see a guy have to be carried out of the bar after he puked all over the bathroom floor and stall, I saw a woman pretending to stand up piss in the mens urinals, and had some woman's thick ass on my lap.
I am not from Portland, I am a Brazilian guy who lives in Georgia, and I Think the matador the best place ever.........beer is cheep, pool is cheep, nice people............ I JUST LOVE IT...........
Write Your Own Review »
yeah.... anything goes at this bar. iv'e seen mike piss on the tables and i puked on the floor once right were i was sitting. needless to say. i couldn't make it into the bathroom... with the new owners though, i'm sure they cleaned the atmosphere up a bunch. GREAT people work there and also the regulars. i'd know. i used to be one! CHEERS!
Write Your Own Review »
Last Thurs night there was a great DJ at the Matador, I never got to tell him, but he was playing great stuff. The Shangri-Las' "Train From Kansas City" was a sweet closer for the evening. No, I'm not some ghost pimp for this guy, he really did have great taste, great enough that I noticed it from the bottom of a deep well of jack & coke.
Write Your Own Review »
Actually it was some old drunk slut's dog who kept coming up to me and trying to sniff my crotch when I was shooting pool. I'm pretty sure service dogs are trained. And on leashes.
Write Your Own Review »
Service animals are allowed in bars and all public places for that matter. It is against the law (federal) for the barhelp to ask what the diability is. Federal law always supercedes the State regarding rights to people with diabilities (visible or not). They can only ask if it is a pet. They can however require it be leashed. I know this because I own a bar and had to deal with some issues due to this type of thing. Service animals can be for invisible conditions such as medic alert dogs that alert to the presence of a medical condition.
Write Your Own Review »
I know its an s hole but I keep going. Mostly to have some drinks before baseball games to avoid the pge park prices. Usually a free pool table as well. Barmaid is strange but nice. But yeah, they totally overserve and its gross and with dog piss (isn't against health code to have animals in bars?)
Write Your Own Review »
HI THERE,
some of u may know who is writing..so let me say hello to everybody who´s ever been to the matador.. most of the times i liked it cuz most of the girls who work there rock! some of them are a little fucked up but isnt the same old thing? The Matador isnt the cleanest place and one special doorman isnt always in his best mood nevertheless he is a lovely guy . the owner´s sick.. but it was always funny to chill at the matador.
greetings to the italian girl alex to dager .(damn)..brooklyn...susi.. . charlie.. amber.. destiny.;)..ranch dressing ..lol ... ginger of course! .. my littel phillipine girl from the bitb. ;)
Sarah
made_in_rheinbach@web.de
Write Your Own Review »
There's just about always a good pool game to be had (bring your skills), The DJs mix up the genres and crowd is pretty diverse.
Write Your Own Review »
One of the best dive bars around. Some of the stiffest drinks ever served. Almost to strong (if thats possible). Bartender chick is a bit odd..sniff...sniff..., but seems to be nice.
Write Your Own Review »
by far the rudest doorman/server/visor-wearer I've ever encountered. If I weren't such a wuss, I'd waylay him after he got off work, then do something painful & unwholesome to the bastard (probably incorporating his namesake hat). but seriously, folks: unless you dig abuse and sitting at tables that have been routinely cummed upon, then he and this bar are not worth putting up with.
Write Your Own Review »
I regular the Matador on an almost nightly basis. The drinks are stiff, if ordered from Laura, the beer is cheap, the tables are decent, and the music is always rockin'
The crowd is friendly, and drama free, despite the many "cliques" that have developed.
The food is so-so, I try not to touch it too often.
All in all, one of the more comfortable bars in Portland.
Write Your Own Review »

