Triple Nickel
3646 SE Belmont St Portland, OR 97214Phone: (503) 234.7215
Located in: Southeast Portland
BarFly's Review of Triple Nickel
Not a dive, exactly, though the drinks and beer (and chicken strips) couldn't be cheaper, and the video poker's eternally packed, but not really a neighborhood pub - too dirty, for one - the furnishings and the people. There's a hippie-ish element to the bar, that local breed of mouth-breathing bohemians and dredded laborers, who use the erstwhile Triple Nipple as their clubhouse.
The music tends towards Dave Matthews frat-soft-rock, and there's a steady contingent of blue collars ’round the dart boards, staring down trustafarians. It is, perhaps, an ugly bar - devoid of any semblance of style, defiantly proud regardless - that has attracted patrons to match.
Mondays: Tacos 2/$1 during football.
| Triple Nickel's Happy Hours | |
|---|---|
| Monday | $1.75-$2.75 pints 11am-6:30pm |
| Tuesday | $1.75-$2.75 pints 11am-6:30pm |
| Wednesday | $1.75-$2.75 pints 11am-6:30pm |
| Thursday | $1.75-$2.75 pints 11am-6:30pm |
| Friday | $1.75-$2.75 pints 11am-6:30pm |
| Saturday | $1.75-$2.75 pints 11am-6:30pm |
| Sunday | $1.75-$2.75 pints 11am-6:30pm |
We were here on Wed. night and all was fine, drinks were good and the bespectacled guy behind the bar had a good attitude. Then he went somewhere and stomp! stomp! stomp! A PISSED looking Mexican(?) woman asked us if we wanted anything and fumingly replenished our drinks, all the while glaring at us like we were on Maury and we were her 5th possible baby daddy. I sort of watched her after that and she was storming around and being THAT rude everywhere and to everybody. Um, wtf? Is she aware of how many out of work bartenders would love to take her place? How do people who act like that keep their jobs? Bad moods happen but jeez lady, you're at work, get a grip! To top it off we were sitting next to these megageeks who were loudly discussing IN DEPTH comic books and Simpsons episodes. I wanted to shove them into their lockers just on principle. I'm sticking to Belmont Inn, for obvious reasons.
The Triple Nickel used to be a great place, once it was The Red Robin, later it was Wizards, now it is just a place to go if you miss the bus, the owner is a complete jerk who is usually drunker then his customers, over all, it has become a complete waste of time!!!!!
I am going to be sad when I move out of this neighborhood and have to find myself a new local. Triple Nickel is a grimy little smear of paradise.
Me and a friend went there to play pool. Over the course of the night we played with three different pairs of girls. The first pair, well uh, one said she'd suck my cock if I sank the eight ball (I did, but she left laughing after the game and wasn't that cute, actually she was pretty skanky). The second pair of girls we played with were cute (your typical grils, not heavy and cute enough to sire them in bed) but were'nt drunk enough. The third pair we played, I got a phone number from a pretty hot blond girl, couldn't beleive it and she (upon refreshing her memory of the night before) went out with me a couple of times after, it's amazing how you can get laid if you just buy dinner and pretend that you do not want only sex from a girl. This story goes to show the range of people at the Triple Nipple-skank to hot. Drinks are great, good internet juke, strong drinks and yes the older bartender is hot, didn't know about the mother daughter duo though...giggety giggety goo
I don't know why or how I always end up at the Nickel. I suppose it must be related to the fact that I'm an alky and that place pours some of the strongest gins in town. I have been going into that place for years, and I can't help but admit that every time I go there it seems darker, smellier, and dumpier. What can I say, I still always go. The bathrooms are disgusting and so is the food (but the juke box isn't bad). They do have a couple of nice flat screens plus pool and darts. Great place really, if your an alky.
Let's face it: the Triple Nickel sucks in every which way but one: getting sozzled. I don't know if there is a bar that gives you more bang for your buck in Portland. When I used to go there (admittedly 5 years ago) you could get a mixed well drink for $2.25. And that mixed drink was generous - somewhere between a double and triple shot than a single shot. I used to take people there and they would watch amazed as the bartender's poured in a steady stream of bourbon or vodka and then, only then, topped it off with coke or soda.
The places has no atmosphere, a lot of obnoxious patrons, odd smells, ripped carpet, frightening bathrooms, an awful juke box (except for the odd collection of Dead Milkmen CDs), really nothing going for it all except the ability to get utterly and totally pissed for $10.
After reading reviews of his place and countless others on this site it never ceases to amaze me how simply going out to a pub can result in such an agonizing ordeal for some people.The bar staff are rude,my buffalo wings weren't hot enough,the duke box had cds pressed after 1978 blah blah fucking blah....!The bar staff are there to take your money and hand you your drink,you don't have to be socially compatible with them.As for duke boxes,internet duke boxes appeal to all tastes,not just people "cool enough" to share yours.The only gripe i have with place is the lack of effective airconditioning,it is incredibly smokey but knowing that,i just have to pick and choose which time of the day i go there.It is simply impossible for one venue to cater to all tastes and satisfy everybody and with so many joints in his city,there must be at least one place that every person could regard as thier ideal Pub.
You need to stop in to the Nickle on a Friday or Saturday night. They have changed things a bit. The place is rad.
I do not approve of this place. Two reasons: the crowd(choch, duff, jock, frat boy, whatever you want to call that kind of guy, he is there and he brought his friends) and the jukebox(a jukebox can tell you all you need to know about a place. If a bar has one of these new fangled electronic internet-enabled touch screen motherfuckers, what they're saying is, "I don't have personality and I don't want one. I just want to cram people in here any way I can." A bar with one of these jukes is like the friend you know who is always making choices and adopting styles and attitudes to please others and not being an individual. A bar shouldn't be afraid to pick 96 discs and let people know what they're about. A good bar is one with a "take it or leave it" attitude whose sensibilities suit one's own. This is not the Triple Nickel.)
Your average Ho-dunkin good time can be had here. Watch out for "curly sue" (normally on the right side of the bar) she is easy easy easy and gives the gift that keeps on giving. Food is ok but do not worry the drinks will make up for it in their stoutness and their price. Not the brightest croud but for the most part the people here are genuine and thats a big plus. Beware of the meat-heads they have been known to show up in droves. Check it out, you will be glad to have it as another notch in your belt.
to keep it short: if you were to own a bar with few amenities that lure the public, you might bank on decent, if not good, service and general accountability. woops! that is exactly what is missing from this SE portland dive bar. unfortunately, i had to deal with a drunk bartender assaulting my girlfriend because she was unable to distinguish between us (paying and ordering customers) and the other people waiting in line. sadly, lacey did not receive adequate reciprocation for her violation of personal space, as every bar is entitled to the rights of a private home. nevertheless, any hipster or anyone else who wants a drink should avoid this smokey belmont dive, as your safety and dignity are not assured or insured. there are plenty of other brilliant dive bars in the vicinity (such as the far more amiable Belmont Inn, right down the street) that will make you feel at home and forget your problems over a delicous brew as you contemplate the dissatisfaction that comes with ill-run places such as the triple nickel. If you decide to enjoy their drinks, please be aware that the bartender lacey is highly unstable and could ruin your evening at any moment. do not hesitate to assert your right to stand at the bar and drink, and do not shy from her abuse, as it is not only immoral but illegal as well. though, it is likely that by the time this is read she will no longer be tending bar at this establishment. nevertheless, management and ownership must be aware of these situations and be willing to remedy them, or this dive bar will fall under the blanket of the rapidly expanding gentrified portland community...one that cares not for bullshit and assholes and will kindly buy them out. again, i cannot stress enough how rude and innappropriate lacey was this evening and how she cannot be trusted in situations such as bartending or even stocking books. bitch!
i've loved this place ever since i got free shots of ouzo, sambuca, and tuaca from the bartender. she knew what she was doing, because i've come back so many times. i like it even more now that i know the nickname "nipple" trickle"
I meant this guy name Tim there I guess he comes in often, and now I'm going to, he is such a gentleman, not often do you meet an older guy who's still got it!!!!!!!!!!! A secret admirer... at least for now, don't want to rush it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Q: How do you get a Triple Nickel patron to suck your dick? A: Dip it in ranch dressing first.
Oooooooooooooh shit, if you want to see the best, and hottest mom, daughter bartending duo this is the place to be. Friday and saterday night the two offer stimulation for all of the sences they poor mean drinks, engage in witty banter, and look fantastic dooing it. The line is long but its well worth the wait. Dont worry neither are to pertective of the other.
Girls this is definitly a plce to find a good dog. the two male bar backs and cocks i mean cooks are not only astheticly pleasing but a sensable work out if you can get one to go home with you........but i stress this will not be easy with the hotties ording them around behind the bar...cum dressed in your best but dont worrie the lighting is perfect.
I always thought "nipple trickle" was the nickname. See how it wittily transposes the initial consonants? Triple nipple doesn't make sense, except as a dubious homage to an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.
Soft amber light, a weightless halo of gasoline teasing the nostrils and a crowd of faces like a roman mosaic at the bottom of a scottish pay-toilet. Drinks as cold, high and cheap as Keith Richards and a bar staff nearly as loyal as Richards'stage-side floozies. A careless whisper of this season's sporting events charms the ear as a wind over a Kansas wheat field. Behold the majesty of the pool-dorkdom as they scatter their balls about the floor and wack you with their sticks. Ofcourse, lest ye forget: don't mess with the Pam (Or the Mike 'll getcha)!
Yeah, Yeah, so what if half of the people who hang out at the "Evil Nickel" are kind of stupid and slow. The drinks are kick ass cheeeep, and it will cost you a lot less to get a girl naked there then it would a strip club. However, on the weekends, watch out for the 'jock' crowd. They will cut in front of you in the ever reachin' line that stems from the sidewalk to get a beer. Get two at once if you can, that should do ya. Oh yeah, and don't 'F' with the older hottie bartender Pam. She'll kick your ass out faster than you can say........well, whatever you say.
well, with the infinite songs on the juke box, four dart boards, four pool tables, and the strongest drinks in town...why not give it a try
until they took Moosehead off tap and replaced the Fun House pinball machine. Now it's just another one of the hundreds of SE Portland "working man" kind of places. The kind of place where guys go after work, or on the weekend to watch sports. It's not a "clubby" party bar you'd take your girlfriend to; nor is it a dive bar full of professional drinkers anticipating "the first of the month". Big screen TV, electronic dart boards, pinball machine, one or two video games, pool tables, good selection of beers, basic tavern food, spacious, nice atmosphere.