Union Jack's
938 E Burnside st Portland, OR 97214Phone: (503) 236.1125
Located in: Southeast Portland & near Northeast Portland
BarFly's Review of Union Jack's
Boasting Portland's finest alterna-seductresses since before Suicide Girls were capitalized, Union Jack's goth ’n’ punk-tinged ladies shimmy to better-than-average tunes and the occasional band (twas a recognized venue of the old NXNW), while the rocker crowds, and relatively-female-friendly atmosphere (many drawn by the instructional pole dancing classes), loosen boundaries between performers and clientele. Not the best place for a lapdance, perhaps, and the surly-to-hostile bartenders make proper boozing a chore, but a small price considering the club's distinct, edgy charms.
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I used to come every weekend to see this girl and now she's missing?! What did you do with Ms. Gunn and where can I find her... Oh, by the way great job on the Exotic Magazine cover with her on it :o Best one I've seen yet.
its one of the best places in portland, however, the metalfence needs to be removed. you need to sit straight up to see something...
I used to LOVE Union Jack's. The girls were fabulous entertainers who knew how to work the pole, the stage and the audience. However, things have really changed in the last few months. Girls I LOVED are MIA(Paris, MaryJane, Dominique), and many of the new girls are cute - but just don't hold the crowd's attention. Also, what happened to the stage? I hate that metal 'fence' around the perimeter of the stage, that limits the girls' interactions with the audience and obscures the view for those not sitting front and center. I miss the Union's I knew and loved.
The vibe is exactly what I like in a strip club. Sexy, a little seedy, but not skanky/sleazy. Also, the patrons are not creepy old men, pot-bellied slobs on business trips, or arrogant "playaz". The girls are good looking and I have decent conversation EVERY time. They aren't scammers or fake-boob/colagen-lip/cocaine-thigh types. The drinks are pretty good too.
Dancers are awesome for the most part. Probably some of the best performances in town. Erotically, acrobatically, energetically. Bouncers however may occasionally use far too much force when throwing people out.
girls were fairly decent. The blonde bartender had a nice rack and was better looking then some of the dancers. I asked if she danced and she said she was to old. Not in my book baby..
Right off the bat, this was my frst experience in a club (as it was for my wife, who came too) so I don't have too much to compare it to. That being said, it was a great experience for both of us. The girls were very hot and the pole acrobatics made our jaws drop. The only down side was the smoke (we usually frequent a non-smoking environment like the Boiler Room). But on the whole, it was great.
Frequent traveler to Portland, first time to UJ's. I went early on a Thursday night around 7:30 - no cover. The bar service was fine, and the girls, wow. All the girls were friendly, smart and hot...not too much pressure for a lap dance, but if you're going to chat better pay up for a dance - don't waste their time. I met a little red head with curly hair - I think I was destined to marry her :) I wish I could remember her name...I hope to see her again before she leaves for Amsterdam
I've been here a few times before, but never late night. There is a cover (5 bucks after 10 and 3 bucks before evidently, that starts around 7 or 8PM).
Different vibe... not always bad, but the women hustle you to buy drinks there more than most places on the eastside (I guess I mean most decent places like Devils Point or Sassy's)...
One dancer kept bugging me to buy her a drink even after I explained that I was only there to see a friend... didn't want to take that for an answer and stormed off! It was mostly amusing more than anything else.
The dancer quality is above average for sure..
The crowd is diverse with biz types, scumbags,stripers wannabe boyfriends/girlfriends, hipsters, and suburban cruisers.
The drink service I received was pretty prompt but the alcohol content was weak.
All in all... I'd say a 6 out of 10 rating for me.
I worked at UJ's for about 6 months recently. I've danced all over the west coast and Nevada so I know how clubs can differ. This was a great experience. The clientele is fun, the place gets busy and rowdy, and the girls are very down to earth for the most part. I truly appreciated every unique style and look that the dancers here had to offer. The staff there are wonderful and I'm going to miss seeing you guys! I just wanted to tell everyone thank you for all the fun times, and I'll be sure to stop in and say hi now and then. To all of my regulars and everyone else I've had the pleasure of dancing for, thank you all so much and I hope to see you again sometime. You can always send me a message to bianca.boru@gmail.com to see where I'm at. Have a great year!
Went and had the best lap dance in PORTLAND?! with a girl named Judy, super hot 70s babe with sweet lil bush, thank god, it's nice to see a woman who known how to really please a man. I just wish she wasnt so busy. And get another bartender. & Kennidy had the best stage set ever, made it look easy. thanks girls ;)
I've been frequenting another club in East Portland for years, but went to Jack's for the first time last week. Great selection of girls, even on a weekday afternoon. All seemed friendly -- of course I usually tip a girl $5 per set on stage. ($1 seems almost disrespectful for what they do, and we started tipping strippers $1/dance 20 years ago or more. Time to catch up with inflation.) The only downer was the bartender. I got tired of standing there holding my $20 on the bar while she ignored me and shot the breeze with her friends. This happened repeatedly. I always tip the bartender $1 per drink, so that wasn't it. She's just rude and unprofessional. A bartender can determine the atmosphere of a place, and this one sucks.
The place is absolutely the coolest club in Portland... I'm from LA and I was so impressed to find such a rockin' club in Lil' Ol' Portland! Wow~ the girls were amazing, dances exceptional, the girls seemed so happy to work there... One girl did mention something about the boss/ owner.. I guess they are from Russia... she said it's the best company she's ever worked for, so whomever is running this place seems to really value their dancers (and as a long time stripclub patron I think that's very rare). Not to mention there was some famous band and their whole crew in the club one of the nights I was in (thought that to be kind of strange seeing as I wasn't in LA). Anyways... Thanks for the great time uj's! Next time I'm in Portland I'll definitely Be back to check you guys out!
Hottest stripper in Portland! Hands up! Yes Please! Though it's hard (no pun intended) to get a dance with this girl.. it's well worth it. Damn, I wish I wasn't married. So any ways the only nights I can go see her are always on Tues. nights (the wifey takes some kind of class)... but I'm pretty sure I've seen her on the weekends... Wouldn't be surprised considering she's the hottest one there. If you like the super hot Latin-type chicks.. She is it. Period.
Bianca won my heart and my wallet this weekend. I don't go to strip clubs often but after visiting Portland recently for a long weekend bachelor party I want to return to see Bianca move her sweetness for me again. Amazing woman, amazing talent! I want you again, Bianca.
I took some friends to this place last evening. They were fresh to this kind of place. It was fun to see them react like kids in a toy store. I had a great time to, even though I was the designated driver and I am kind of jaded to this kind of thing. To the girl who calls herself "Saphire". If you are reading this, please reserve a special place for me in your heart. You are cute. If you don't mind, I will be throwing bills at you in the future again. all the best.
I love the jacks. Possibly the best service of any club on the planet. Probably, your getting ignored because your tips suck. We are trying to make money. Don't want to be ignored? Tip ten dollars every round. The key to Rami's attention. But, what do I know, I just work there.
Obviously Union Jacks isnt that bad all of you who went there must have liked it enough to go to the website, why dont you say this stuff to someones face, if you wanna say it to mine go ahead ill be in and out of jacks all this week prettty much.
This is not for all of you but most with a negative response, yes the guy bartender can be alittle slow, but if any of you guys had a decent personality like us you wouldnt have a problem.
For all of you guys and girls bitchin about paying one dollar a song you shouldnt be there because obviously you cant afford it. you are gettin to see top notch dancer get naked for a doller quit complaining, its one dollar...
It doesnt metter where you go for a private dance it is gonna be 20 bucks. At least here you are getting a dance from a beautifull girl that knows what she is doing. Its not some run down dancers who does a special trick for an extra 5 bucks.
acrop for good steak...dolphin for plastico...stars for good mainstream. but i have to tell you, union jacks is really the best. It isnt about drooling there it is about watching some very artistic erotica at work. If you have a girl who is even remotely bi curious they will enjoy the talent there. The women there are seductive talented and just incredibly aesteic. A+++
I could beg to disagree. Not that I've never known a smart stripper but I have worked in a couple of local strip clubs and I'm sorry to say, most strippers don't dumb it down they dope it up. I know this leaves a tarnished image on the rest of the girls in the industry but unfortunatley, it's true. I give kudos to the girl that is learning how to operate xray machines but she is definately a rare exception. Oh yah I also worked at union jacks for some time in the past and I think I saw more dope go through that place than you could find in a rave. Some good memories though oh yes P.S. I know I am a horrible typer so save your fingers and don;t rant and rave about how bad typers shouldn't have an opinion
Hey now... I happen to be a dancer that is majoring in sonography.. There's no rule that states that strippers are dumb. Infact, most strippers have a higher than average intelligence level. Sadly, most men find that a turn off, so usually the girls dumb it down. For your sake, and for ours.
the dancers are amazing. And they're nice. And some of them are very smart. One i spoke with said she's a St. John's Wort girl (that it helps her health). When i asked her if she might just be experiencing the Placebo Effect, she jokingly said that the results were in, from "double-blind" studies. Imagine that... where else in the U.S.A. will you hear strippers talking about double-blind studies? The second girl i spoke with divulged that she has a vampire fetish. Then she proceeded to put in some fangs (which looked very fuckin' real), and showed me the scars on her arm where someone had bitten her to drink her blood. Creepy..... but i have to be honest, it was arousing. hmmm... Overall, i didn't want to leave. And the bartender was fine, and finally, no dick DJ's this night.
Anyone know what happened to a dancer named "Sin" who used to dance at Union Jacks around 2000? Heard she got a gig dancing for Marilyn Manson but maybe that was just someone pulling my chain. She was not hard to notice, she used to have countless face piercings and tattoos. She was one of the best poll dancers EVER! Is she still in PDX?
Yes, confirming that bar service sucks. But, the cover was cheap ($4 on a Sat night) and I didn't have any problems with the dancers, the doorman, or the bouncer... all very nice. Olive was my favorite dancer. Completely gorgeous, and very sweet to talk with. No complaints.
Hot chicks at Union Jacks, but nothing private about the lap dances- as I learned after the following exchange: "DONT TOUCH THE GIRLS!" "Hey fuck you, she was touchin me" "NO FUCK YOU" "Wait, you can HEAR me also?" "I CAN HEAR YOU, I CAN SEE YOU, SO WATCH IT" "Piss off, you peeping Tom, get your own damn lap dance!" Screw Union Jacks, take your money to the Caberet in China-town.
I think the stripers were pretty, they were nice too. The bouncer was a total dick, I am a super fabulous girl and was looking ab fab in my new dress. I planed a get together with a bunch of my friends. Right after the cutest boy ever showed up, I have wanted to hang out with him for ever, I got kicked out. They did not cut me off they just kicked me out. I was honestly not even being rowdy or any thing. I was the only person who was tiping the stipers. They would not even let me go back in to close out my tab or get my cell phone or tell my friends I had to leave. I will never go in there again. They suck balls
I never fit in at this place, but you gotta love the $2 pbr's, (shit beer I drank in high school).
Dancers are either cute and lushes, or hot and wont talk to anybody, or lots of scrilla with average bodies. This is why I prefer Aces High down the street bc Aces High has much HOTTER girls, even if there are only 2.
I dont mind paying covers, but a cover at this place is a bit too much, although the bouncer is cool and said I could hire him as a bodyguard if I needed it (he must know I'm a big baller).
Just another place I go to get wasted and dont fit in at, before I roll downtown. I usually have a decent time here, cheap drinks, always packed on weekends, and there are a few dancers who are fun to chit chat with.
went in with a couple friends, one of which had never been in there and neither had I. we stood at the bar for eternity as the bartender looked right at us and passed us by. when he finally decided to acknowledge us, it was to tell us we were standing in the wrong spot to get a drink! what an asshole. We will never go back
a few weekes ago,sunday afternoon, my girlfriend and i went to union jacks for the first time ...and we both fell in love with Chicago because she is really hot and has brains...and we got really drunk on gimlets.. and lapdances...
princess is bonkers and all the better for it... i travel from england collecting my boyfriend via seattle to visit this club as often as $£$£ allows and the pole dancing is incredible (and by god i've seen some crap out there) & set to some decent industrial / rock music (instead of the omnipresent hip hop these days) - seems the bar tending gets slower and slower - best to order in your drinks for the night when you eventually get served & i'd buy anyone a drink that could raise a smile out that bar tender... Rule is though. if you're sat at the rack get your $$$ out. why the hell not? These girls aren't just strippers they're dancers and pretty bloody good ones at that. Oh, and I'm told they have to pay $60 a night for the privilege of dancing there..... oh and if you want a lap dance i'd go for Tina at the Acropolis if i were you... serve pretty good steaks as well if you're hungry.
This place would be awesome if the DJ and Strippers were'nt all complete bitches!! I was there for a friends birthday the other night and was continually contributing money to buy everyone lap dances, but the rude ass stripper on the stage had the nerve to get on the DJ's Mic and yell at us calling us assholes for not tipping her. Anyway, all I can say is no one asked her for a lap dance.....
I've read most of the reviews on this site and would have to tend to agree with the majority of them. Basically the bar is slow, and the girls are attractive. Private dances run you $20 and have lasted anywhere from one to one & half songs. Good times.
I think shayla's text will now encourage search engines to hit this review when others are searching for the very things she mentions. Shayla was searching for topics LIKE the ones she mentions - or did she mean to say that she was searching for multiple topics simultaneously, and something drew her to select the link to "Union Jack's - Portland OR - BarFly Guide"? Does that sound like a link that would combine the problems of a continent with the sex life of the President (the affair with Condi Rice?) and the dismantling of our form of governance? BTW, Union Jack's is still an old standard in Portland, without the maximum-money-extraction attitude that prevails elsewhere.
I stumbled upon this shitty site while searching for important things like the problems in Africa, our fucked up President that is destroying the last ounce of democracy we have left and you pukes are writing about shit like this? Try making yourselves useful and writing your senator or congress person instead of mastubating at Union Jacks and writing about it when you get home!!!
The DJ actually yelled at us over the loudspeaker because we were "insulting the girls" by only tipping $1 a girl at the rack. We were the only ones at the main stage, and only at the rack so the strippers didn't feel completely ignored.
And "We," by the way, were three girls -- only there b/c one of our guy friends dragged us there...SO DON'T F-ing YELL AT US WHEN WE'RE SIMPLY TRYING TO MAKE THE NOT-HOT WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON STRIPPERS NOT FEEL COMPLETELY IGNORED.
We moved to a table, and then no one was at the rack. So the only thing the DJ managed to do was scare off the only tipping customers. What a jerk.
For once, though, the bartender was nice!
What in the world happened? Although the bar itself is great looking and the bartender knows his drinks what is going on with the dancers? I have been a few times this month and I am sad to say the quality is going down hill. Don't even dream of going in during the day. And as far as the night dancers..let's just say there are a few hot ones left but the standards are lower than ever. Who is in charge of the hiring?
Nearly even 50/50 male/female mix in the audience blew my mind, but hey, I'm from out of town and unused to your progressive west coast ways. HOT dancers, very beautiful, and not just in that Maxim/FHM boring way either. Good tunes. Enjoy your drink; you'll have to wait a long time at the bar for another one. Private dances an utter waste of money.
I love the club. The girls are super hot (with a few exceptions) and they are not fake in that overly tanned clear high heel way. The music is good and the DJ is great. One problem, where did Gia go? She was my favorite dancer and I have not seen her in a month or so.
The girls are the hottest! Top club of the 150 that are in Portland. The music is top notch... NEVER what you hear in any other strip club across the west coast really. The DJ sounds like he's radio trained and I notice, gets better the more he drinks. The bartender serves at a good pace but I believe could be a bit quicker if they didn't use a measuring system. Buy the free pours! The women... if you like exotic, tattooed, pierced, or just plain unusually beautiful (and fit) girls ranging from the petite to the large breasted... then this is your watering hole! The $3 cover's not too much to ask in my opinion. 5 out of 5 stars!
There was one hot girl of the six or seven we saw. A few of them were good dancers, but not all that attractive. The drinks were overpriced and took FOREVER to get. There was next to no service, but in her defense, there was only one bartender and the place was kinda packed. I might go back on a slower night when the service isn't so bad
union jacks was the first bar i went to whilst holidaying in portland last year,yea it took a while to get served a drink but come on lads theres plenty to look at whilst your waiting ,the girls in there are the hottest in portland ,and cool .no fake smiles and you can have a right laugh with them especially top punk chick rivit wot a girl,coming back this year to get another close up of that asss (julian) G.B
SERVICE: Yeah, the bartending situation is a bit challenging, especially when they're busy. Just get in line, and watch the stage, you'll be drinking before you know it.
GIRLS: By far, the hottest coolest girls in town. If you're all about the fake blonds with the high squeaky voices and fake boobs, this ain't your place. These girls are dark, sexy, in awesome shape, and actually seem to be enjoying their job. They choose cool music, do some awesome moves, and more often than you think, they'll sit down and chill with you, and not pressure you for tips.
PRIVATE DANCES: If you're looking for a great lapdance, go elsewhere. That doesn't seem to be their focus, and if you do get one its pretty unexciting. Now on the plus side, you don't get hassled to buy one either. Nothing worse than smiling at a girl and then have her gunning after your 20s the whole night.
Basically, check it out, its so entertaining, you don't feel like a sleaze for hanging out (regardless or whether or no you are)
I really enjoy this place. Only been here a couple times, and yeah... the service sucks. The gorilla behind the bar only notices you if you grunt and roar at him in his native tongue, but fuck it, whatever. I got my beer. Planned on hanging out for just a bit with a friend who was in town for the night... we ended up making "friends" with a couple of the dancers and stayed here for four hours getting shitfaced and talking about Egyptian archaeology and comedy improvisation with strippers. I like the edgy crowd and the darkness of the dancers. I hate silicone and bubblegum pop princesses. This place does it for me.
yeh that dude bartender has got to go.. is it really that bad looking at 20 hot chicks every night that i haven't seen you smile in three years?
other than that the place rocks
If I am a dumb ass, at least I can spell, and understand the challenging definition of "tipping", unlike you. And no one is looking for sympathy here, this is just a forum to enlighten bar patrons. Get it? Probably not... May be a dictionary could help you.
Thats a common courtesy rule - you tip a girl for every dance if your at at the stage, or go sit at the bar. You won't get any sympathy for bullshit like that in a strip club.
Sure you can argue the semantics of tipping, but it won't get you anywhere.
The dancing troll, much more suited for WalMart duty than stripping, demanded a dollar per dance which I felt that as a TIP, implied a voluntary gratitude which I felt was undeserved. She got loud and brought over the "manager" who pointed to a wall sign which in several languages said that "dancers work for tips only". So? "You should make that more clear", I tried to reason, "the dollar per dance requirement". So he pointed to the sign that said "we deserve to refuse service to anyone"! Hmm... It was getting more confusing. So, after being accused of being "rude to the girls", and asked to leave, I demamded, and got, my money back and left. Totally weird experience, a first in a strip joint.
good god I love this place. centrally located, cute AND hot girls (especially Marie!)and plenty of drink options. I do suggest having your money out when you go to the bar, though. Bartenders are quick to wait on you only if you flash the cash.
I look forward to my trips to P-town 'cuz I know I'm going to my fave strip joint around! I have been to U-J's 4 times & the girls are hot!
door charge for a small club. private dances are pretty much a joke. a couple decent girls, but it does cater to a mainly dark crowd. i loved getting ignored by the bartender after standing there for at least ten minutes, and making quick eye contact every so often, but never a chance to actually get my request in. he looked like a dickhead, anyway. also, the owner's girlfriend strips there (i believe that's the relation) - i should use the term "strip" lightly, as she doesn't usually show anything. i guess girls aren't pressured there to bare it all.
however, the very first time i did go there, a girl was doing more of a broadway show number to a song on the "chicago" soundtrack, which made it more interesting than typical stripper shit.
"Yeah, sure...I've been to Michigan" With the fervor of a forty-two year old ElectroLux salesman at the bottom of an old marble quarry (that nobody really goes to anymore), Kim stared at her chipped glass plate of wet lettuce and hot onion rings. Bob had confused her with his, well,what she felt to be, tireless verbal lambasting of the jews and his pitiless discursive regarding low-yield savings bonds from a made-up country. 'After last night?' a slow voice said in her head. 'After all we had said to each other?' His thick Mexican (or was it Armenian? She hadn't decided)body had been so warm and safe in that little motel room off of I-5.And yet now, she felt sick and helplessly conflicted. Like A little girl regarding her fancily-dressed Ken doll that has just been fished out of a 'full' toilet. Was this...thing in front of her the wonder she had truly known. Was it simply that now, the dreams were falling gently away from a very real nightmare ; a nightmare of hair and saying things she didn't understand? Was that undigested corn kernel she had mistaken for a twinkle in his chinese hand-painted blue eye, in reality, always been there? Nothing made sense anymore and, quietly between Bob lighting himself a 555 and pinching the frilly little ends of his moustache (pretending to know a great deal about Caravaggio's exile) she got up. Without a thought to anything else in the world she gracefully walked one confident foot in front of the other, stopped at the table five feet from the previous, pulled out the vinyl chair with a booster chair still on its seat and sat down.
there were so many girls there I couldnt even see a girl dance twice while I was there, I am left to wonder why I am paying a cover at the door to be ignored by the bartender and not even get to see the same girl twice on stage. oh and that bald runt of a guy was a huge asshole. and since when is a lower back tattoo alternative? I'm with "go elsewhere".
the girls are hot, but alternative so expect lots of tattooes and or piercings. Good conversations, and decent drinks. Recommend: Magick or Madigan..HOT
Too many strippers for it's size. Wanna-be Vegas decore, with a door charge? Non-attentive bartenders kill it for me. I hate haveing to ask for service.