Vendetta
4306 N Williams Ave. Portland, OR 97217Phone: (503) 288.1085
Located in: North Portland
BarFly's Review of Vendetta
Lively neighborhood bistro and bar keeps its prices and pretentions low, offering enlightened pub fare in stylish environs, not too snooty to accommodate a shuffleboard table along one wall. On nice days, two of four walls roll up, and the entire space is open air. Landscaped modish back patio-cum smoking lounge is semi-climate controlled, for year round use.
Hours: 3pm-2am all 7
| Vendetta's Happy Hours | |
|---|---|
| Monday | $3 wells all night $1.75+ doms, $3 wells, $3.50+ micros 3-6pm |
| Tuesday | $1.50 tallboy cans all night $1.75+ doms, $3 wells, $3.50+ micros 3-6pm |
| Wednesday | $3 micro pints all night $1.75+ doms, $3 wells, $3.50+ micros 3-6pm |
| Thursday | $1.75+ doms, $3 wells, $3.50+ micros 3-6pm |
| Friday | $1.75+ doms, $3 wells, $3.50+ micros 3-6pm |
| Saturday | $1.75+ doms, $3 wells, $3.50+ micros 3-6pm |
| Sunday | $1.75+ doms, $3 wells, $3.50+ micros 3-6pm |
Unless you're a regular, be prepared to wait forever for a drink. Besides the fact that the staff are mostly lazy, hippster wannabes with "I'm too cool for you" attitudes who clearly don't get that their job is simply to serve drinks, they will always allow regulars to cut right to the front of the line. That would explain why the line is ridiculously long and slow. Even when I was the only person waiting behind the one customer being helped one day, the servers completely ignored me to help two other people who had just walked up next to me after I'd been politely waiting for a couple of minutes. And this all just contributes to the regulars thinking they own the place and the rest of us can just go to hell. Skip the aggrevation and go to a bar with a real portland spirit, not one populated by hipsters from CA and the east coast who read articles about how cool our city is and are now ruining it.
Not sure what people are complaining about. Staff here is awsome. VERY friendly, always engaging and happy. I come "many" wednesday all day happy hour nights and always have a good time and get great service from the staff.
Though, when it gets real busy, the line at the bar can get long. But the staff work through it and try to keep you happy.
I also like the cool different funky music they sometimes play. Check it out. You won't be dissapointed.
I checked in here to get the address of this place before meeting a friend, and couldn't help but notice the awful reviews of the service below. But after spending a fair chunk of time there this past Friday night, I just don't see it. The two people working the bar were both pretty cool, treated me well, were quick to get to me, and pretty damn friendly. So, there's that.
There's also a patio that might be the best in town and a real shuffle board table. No complaints here. I dug the place and looking forward to going back.
I recently ordered food at Vendetta. I told the bar tender/server that I would sit outside. He wrote "outside" on the order ticket. Vendetta gives you a number to put on your table, so that the server can find you. My server never gave me the number. I sat outside, had my drink, and my food never arrived. When I left, I asked the server to take the food off of my tab. The server told me that Vendetta's policy provides that if you forget to take your number to your table, then they just leave your food at the bar, and they make no attempt to look for you. I explained that I never received a number, and that I did not realize that I needed a number. He told me that I would need to eat it cold, and that he would not take the food off of my tab. When I left, he just smiled and said "how did you like your cold food." My recommendation: don't go to Vendetta. If you do go, do not order food.
Only went once..and that's all it took. Was convinced they were raising the cow for my hamburger (took almost 2 hours to arrive) and despite the long lines at umm, all of two places to order drinks (no table service) the staff was nonchalant and decidedly unhurried. This wasn't even a particularly busy night! I'm all for dive bars but this requires a new moniker, perhaps Slacker Bar. On the plus side, it's wide open and in the summer has a really large patio, shuffleboard is a nice bonus. But I can get Shuffleboard elsewhere and not wait an eternity for a simple 'burg.
Great shuffleboard. Great patio. Great cheap beer specials. service is slightly aloof, but fine. Clientele half my age, but that's all good. Jukebox mix is pretty good. Nice atmosphere for a cement box. I visit a lot.
I was really excited to find out that I have an alternative to the Crow Bar, which is also the only other actual bar open till 2.
Besides the decent .50 off happy hours (which I can almost never get to since I work till 11pm), I really have nothing to say about this place. Its nice, but not unlike a lot of places in town. Its got decent beers, but most of them are unremarkable. The liquor pours are decent, but the prices are not competetive with the beer prices, making it tough for me to actually want to pay for liquor.
When your good beer is 4$ a jack on the rocks shouldn't be 6.50. Especially when there's really nothing that stands out about this place thats making me want to go here over somewhere else in town.
I think I will though, because the people here are less obnoxious then the folks at the Crow Bar.
The only reason to go here, for me at least, is cause there is only one other place to go, and I'm already dissapointed with that place.
Some of my friends and I have been frequenting the patio at Vendetta lately. The space is very cool and a nice change of pace. The space is well segmented and planted to provide different seating options. The bar itself is industrial chic and they have some great art work. It's a nice addition to the area, as I live pretty close.
I have a couple suggestions regarding the service: You need some one to work the patio and have one or two people work the bar. The service is painfully slow and no one wants to walk in from the patio to see 15 people trying to get a cocktail at the well.
Don't be such a douchebag. Vodka Press? Stop trying to impress all the gays. This place is charts. Shuffleboard great drink/snack combos and one of the best patio situations for scouting new darlings that this town has ever seen. This is my kind of place, not yours.
your friend, Brandon W. Swarthout
don't order a mixed drink here - twice that I have been, they have no idea how to make something as simple as a vodka press. (p.s. hiring your cute but dumb friend to bartend is just a bad idea!)
With Oregon bars becoming non-smoking imminent, Vendetta has already established itself for the future. It's a very comfortable, sparsely decorated locale with fairly inexpensive cocktails and a good beer selection. And the SHUFFLEBOARD. There isn't a better bar game. And it costs nothing to play here.
The service is kind of hit and miss and the food is pretty average, if not below. My friend likes the sloppy joes, though. The menu does need some work.
Anyway, the back patio is great, too. With the heat lamps under the awning, you can stand out there on a nasty Oregon winter day ... in a T-shirt.
A great addition to NoPo, as Williams Ave. is gradually turning into a great place to eat and drink.
I'm just glad a place like Vendetta finally moved into my neighborhood. Thank god I can finally walk to a non-smoking bar with some style that doesn't try too hard. And honestly, the patio is tops! I also like the diverse crowd that hangs out there - I still don't understand the name, though.
