I and 2 other lady friends went to The Tillicum specifically to hear Jim Mesi and his band. We were pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere and the quality of the food. The wait staff was very energetic and attentive. The new owner is a vivacious Irish Lass who makes sure that her customers needs are met. We will be back. Finding a nice place to listen to live music is great. I recommend this Pub as a friendly place to go.

My husband and I came to see a blues band on Sat. night being the first time there. We weren't too impressed by the exterior and the interior wasn't updated, but were pleasantly surprised by the great service and good food. The waitresses were both bubbly and sweet and kept our drinks coming. The drinks were good, however a little pricey. We enjoyed the band a lot and danced on the somewhat crowded dance floor with a lot of older people, but we had a really good time and will definitely go back. We are 49 and 52, so not looking for a meat market type bar scene or younger crowd, anyway.

Hi,

Stopped by there on Sat, Feb 20 with some friends. Got the best service and the new owner is really nice and tried really hard to accommodate her patrons.

Cheers

My friend & I hadn't been to the Tilly for about 8 years... we used to go all the time until we moved away. Well, we were in town for business & thought we'd stop in to re-live the place. We discovered the Mairead (the new owner) had acquired the place about 9 months ago (the place had changed hands 3 times since we'd been there last). We ended up having the best time! Food was excellent, as she has recently re-hired the husband/wife cook team from the old days! Mairead gave us the best customer service I have ever received in my life. She is trying her darndest to make this place the best she can. What's cool is it will only get better! If you have been to the Tilly & had bad luck, I strongly suggest you give it another try... tell Mairead about your concerns (if you have any) & she'll take it to heart. We had the best time & will return even though we live 3 hours away!

Robbie Laws hosts one of the best blues jams I've been to on Thursday nights. I didn't receive any weird attitude or vibes from the servers but I was mostly there to make music. Rockin' time on Thursday nights.

I think the new owner is the BOMB ( nice funny and quite as hell !!! ) Shes the reason i started going out again.The food is much better now as well.If you have not been there its time you do. or go back.Its much nicer now that all the BITCHY bar tenders are gone!See you there.

I don't get it. Am I missing something? I went back again last night and the atmosphere was great, the service was great pool was free! as I found out it was 7 days a week.I will continue to frequent the Tillucum. It's a friendy place in a time where thats some what hard to find.

This place is not even a shadow of it's former self.My friend and I went there & we received the worst treatment ever.We were rudely asked for our i.d."s by three different people ( WE are in our mid 30's) and then waited 10 more mins. before even being approached to ask what we wanted to drink.My friend wanted a fruity drink with rum in it and asked for a suggestion.The rude waitress "did'nt know so she went to the bartender to ask.We were at a table directly in front of the bar so we could see the both of them talk about us and stare at us in a very condisending way.When she came back after confering with the "so-called" bartender she suggested a rum & coke ... seriously ? How fruity is that !?! The new owner must be crazy if she thinks she will be succesful by treating clients very rudely & making them uncomforatable.On a side note : I was working an event @ Nike and two women (mid 40's) where talking about there horrible treatment aswell.They said they will never go back and neither will we .

We've been going to the Tillicum Club almost every Friday for the past 10 years. The place was perfect. It's kind of run down and definitely not preppy. It's what we liked. The music was great. Now there is a new owner - Maurade. She seems to know nothing about running a restaurant/bar. First thing she does is let all the Servers go and get new ones, and certainly not enough of them. Then she changes all the bar prices, some food prices, and removes items from the menu. The Happy Hour used to have a great food and drink selections for cheap - no more. We went again on a Friday, place was busy, and only 1 Server. Took an hour to get our food and it wasn't very good. We complained but Maurade was defensive about it and didn't want to hear us. When the music started, it was COUNTRY & WESTERN. This has been a Blues Club for years. WTF! Anyway, we don't want to stay because we hate Country/Western music. I then find that my Margarita's were $9.25 each. Absolutely ridiculous. I never paid that much in Downtown PDX at even the finest bars.

Funny we looked at our American Express history and averaged over $2500 a year spent at the Tilly. Now, we don't plan on going back.

Maurade - YOU SUCK. TILLY NOW SUCKS

I've gone to the Tillicum off and on for a couple of years, I personally think the new owner is right on track. The servers and bartenders are very personable and the entertainment is well selected as is the happy hour specials. I continue to go back with NO COMPLAINTS keep up the GOOD WORK!!

We hadn't been in here in a long while because of the poor service but we thought we would try it again since there is new owners. To start with the atmospheric lighting has been turned up to a level that seems harsh for a small supposedly intimate bar. The music was so loud it was painful do we had to move to the back of the bar so we could hear each other and our waitress. The service has improved but that is probably because there was less that half the normal crowd for a Saturday night. Hmmmmmm..... Tillicum has always been known for it's great food but our sandwiches were less than stellar. I ordered a monte cristo sandwich and it came with white and yellow american cheese on it and one microthin slice of ham and one even thinner slice of turkey. My husbands sanswich was a ruben with white american cheese and very little meat. The manager (owner?) came to ask about the food and I mentioned the cheese and the discussion degraded into her becoming very abrupt and defensive saying the cheese was swiss (it wasn't) and american cheese is supposed to be on a monte cristo (it's not). I didn't dare mention the lack of meat...so what I paid $8.99 for is french frys, bread 1/20th of a pack of lunchmeat and some crappy cheese. Skimping on ingredients is not going to keep existing customers who are used to high quality food (judging by the lack of customers) The rudeness of the manager was the topper. We won't be going back!

the hostess/owner is someone i would love to have partying with me.

amiable, smart, fun, pretty. she gets it. across the board.

go there with you friends and shoot some pool and hang, its a great place to feel at home with friends.

i moved to portland almost 2 years ago and found this place very much like my hometown, and NYC pubs. sweet.

and yes. the owner is really smart and way cool. have fun. gordon

The new owner has her shit together, and for those of you who have your info wrong let me clear it up for you. The over weight blonde some that some of you have mentioned, never worked for the new owner and does not work there anymore. Infact no fault to the new owner, done of the old employee's work there with the exception of the cooks & prep cooks, The food is good and the prices have been lowered on some of the food and drinks. The blues & Jazz bands are normally top notch and the owner ( the nice looking slim blonde) is very personable and will from time to time even set down with you and ask how everything is. For me that is important, I run a large company in Portland and I can tell you the key to success is getting to know your customers. So people give the new owner a break and get to know her she is nice and is going to make a go of it. In saying that I hope she brings some more 80's Rock & Roll bands in. Big Mike

The old people looked to be having a blast. So if you're old, this is the place to be. I'm not old, so I'm not a fan. I felt extremely out of place, like a little kid walking in on his parents going at it. Flirtatious old people, everywhere. I'm only 26, but I felt 12.

I remember having a really good experience here a couple of years ago, but the last 2 times that I have recommended going there to eat with friends, it has absolutely sucked. That guy who reviewed the food below has got to be a plant by the bar itself. Get it together folks, it USED to be good.

I used to hang out here quite a bit and have no complaints about the bar scene itself. In fact, seriously stiff drinks and much better since they went no-smoking. But the food??? Yikes. Reminded me of UofO cafeteria. It amazes me how many people praise food all around this site from the various bars. It makes me wonder what the hell happened to Portland's palate.

Walk in and most of the bar is regulars. "Hey Norm" type of atmosphere. (You remember Cheers!) It's about that type of age group. Dont be discouraged though, the Tillicum has really good food for breakfast, lunch and dinner at all times that they are seriving. Although not regular bar hours I enjoyed my experience listening to the live blues music for no cover charge and pour to your arm hurts kind of drinks.

hi there, my name is leslie, and I actually work at the tillicum. I want everyone to know that we are super aware of the small dance floor and I agree with the above you definitely have to try it a few times before you get the whole "tilli" experience. The crwod is on an average 45+ but, normally people are happy about that. Please come and join us for a fun evening love to see you on that little dance floor!!!

Nice place for a relaxing "date" drink, very laid back. Good music, but they're off in this strange little room by themselves with only a few tables on a higher level giving one the feeling of a voyeur rather than a participant . . . and there is no dance floor other than squeezing into this small room with the band. Weird. BUT if you like to just watch and listen to a good band while getting to know your date, or want to toss a few back with some guys from your band while checking out the competition, it's perfect.

Well, I'm new to the area and thought I'd try it out for a Saturday night...everyone was nice and all, but every person in the bar was 45+ years old, not what I was looking for. The food was pricey, and the music was, well, some sort of jazzy-country-80s mix. Only three beers on tap...I left pretty fast.

You have to go in there a few times friday or saturday nights. The music is great I know this for a fact, and there is no cover! The food is pricey, but a dwi is more. Have fun!

I went in there once with expired ID, and this waitress "Tammy" - I think her name was - kicked me out, BUT she said she would buy me a beer when I come back with valid ID...pretty cool...I think I will...