Why bars go out of business...
I worked in the dueling piano business for five years. It is very expensive to operate such a club compared to other bars. The piano players are paid a salary in addition to tips and that adds a great expense that many bars do not have. What can get a club in real trouble is if players leave and the club is forced to bring in hired guns. This means usually paying double what a player on staff gets, plus the addition of airfare and hotel in many cases. Putting one such guy on stage can double what it costs to produce a nightly show. In addition many such clubs are owned by piano players who sometimes have no experience in bar and inventory management. This can be a recipe for disaster. Also out of controll players playing only for tip money and not to entertain as ML describes can alienate a loyal clientele by butchering songs and never playing a true good version of a song. Some song battles are entertaining by design and get large groups of people paying money to battle one another, but offering every request up for auction makes people wish they had never requested a song in the first place. I could write volumes on the subject. I am sorry your dueling piano bar closed. That sucks. It would be nice if every major city had one to enjoy. In defense of bar operators from coast to coast, those expensive drinks wouldn't seem so bad if you understood what it takes to be successful in the bar business. A business plan for a modest bar with live entertainment will show that a bar needs to sell around 16,000 drinks a month before they break even and make any profit at all. Remember your beer not only pays for the beer purchased, but the rent, electric bill ($10,000 a month at the bar I'm currently working for), employee pay roll, the paper towel holder your drunk friend ripped off the wall and the plumber to fix the urinal he broke his beer bottle in and then puked in, the frozen daquiris that get sent back because there isn't enough alcohol in them, astronomical insurance rates, interest on all the bar, kitchen and sound equipment purchased and yada, yada, yada. If you find a place that you really like, you should be happy to pay full price for each drink and be happy if it is still there in five years. It is a tough business and people are more fickle in their nightlife choices than they are at choosing almost anything else. I bet you exhaust more energy choosing where to go on a Friday night each week than you did on deciding which bank to trust with all the money you have to your name. God, when did I turn into my mother. I've gotten so preachy. But I speak the truth. I hope someone re-opens your dueling piano bar and can make it last.

what the hell??
why did they close? Regardless of all the high class people with some outrageous expectations on a downtown portland piano bar this place was amazing! We all had a blast when we went for the last 3 birthday parties and were hoping to enjoy another one tomorrow night dang it! It was a fun place to just have fun and not have to shake your ass like the trashy clubs...

its closed?
The drinks were really expensive but it was a fun time for sure.
Funny they closed, it was always really busy on weekends at least.

It closed it's doors
I'm not sure i would have recommended going to this bar
when it was open, but it's closed now ...

- Yamada

If you have any personality, whatsoever, you will enjoy this plac
Ive been to Wallbangers on two occassions, and enjoyed every minute of each. The people are charming and talented, the food great and the atmosphere inviting. Although the prices are somewhat high, the quality more than compensates. I cant wait to go again!

A great time!!
A great time! A bit -corney- but what dueling piano bar isn't? Head up to the bar...that's where we were...& had a blast. Much easier to let loose & dance! Plus, no wandering through a crowd for the next cocktail!! I have been to Wallbangers a few times now & the only criticism I have...change up the routine! Its great for the first timers....but, think about your loyal fans!! See you there!

Yawn
This place is so vanilla ... just needs a little chocolate sauce. If you've seen one dueling piano bar, you've seen them all. Actually the one in San Diego I went to is WAY better. That one felt more like a club than a sorority house. Everything about this place (except for the cool brick building) oozed CHEESE. Probably the lamest bar I've been to in Portland.

Happy Loud Bars Are Good
Hey! re Girlie Girl's review! "a bunch of dumb drunk average-looking guys & gals & after-work people jamming out to ... TWO pianos blasting Jimmy Buffett tunes" sounds perfect! I've been three or four times and loved every minute. Loud, sure! It's, uh, a raucous piano bar. The cheeseburgers are good, too. Drinks may be pricey, beer better value, but it costs money to run a bar and pay talented high energy piano bangers with vocal skills to rev up a Portland crowd. With Key West having to postpone Fantasy Fest this year due to Wilma, this is the closest we will come without air travel to a lovely, loud, rip-roaring good ol' wholesome off-color frat party in an adult setting. We are "mature" but have taken 30-something friends there, as well as out-ot-towners who loved it! Going back this weekend for an injection of "happy."

GirlieGirl-Ouch!
Looking for a fun place to celebrate my daughter's 21st birthday, I heard about Wallbanger's and decided to check this site. Customer reviews can be helpful, but comments by haters like "Girlie Girl" ought to be cut like an all-caps review. Her comments about "a bunch of dumb drunk average-looking guys & gals [gals? how old are you anyway?]...jamming out " are the worst form of lookism. "Girlie Girl" didn't post a photo, so we can only take her word for it that she is stunning. Lighten Up, "Girlie Girl." Even average looking men and women have the right to have fun and spend money. As for Wallbanger's, I haven't been there yet, but it sounds like fun.

Wallboringer's!
Went to Wallboringer's (oops, I meant Wallbanger's), and my take on the place was well, downright YUCKY. Not my type of place. "Dueling Pianos?" No thanks. Unless you like watching a bunch of dumb drunk average-looking guys & gals & after-work people jamming out to annoying pianos (even worse, TWO pianos) blasting Jimmy Buffett tunes & that horrible song "Come on Eileen" all night, then this is the place for you! (Don't get me wrong I love Pianos--they are a beautiful and wonderful instrument--but when I've described to you what it's like at Wallbanger's here, it just ruins the thought of ever going there again)..

Run Lola, run!

FUN FUN and more FUN
My office went here for a birthday party and we had a BLAST. Yeah they wanted money but it was well worth every dime we gave them( a few 20's too...) If you have a large or even small loud crowed you willlove it. If you just want to drink and talk this is not the place. We give it 9.5 stars(out of ten of course)

Fun, but not cheap
I went to wallbangers for a bachelorette party and it was fun. They really get the crowd going by playing songs on request. It's not 'typical' piano playing, from Britney Spears to Eminem to Def Leopard, they cover it all. If you want to eat, go early, the show starts at 8 and they have you up and down the entire time. After a while they practically start begging for money, and every song requested has a 'price.' They 'duel' two songs requested and they play whoever gives more money. I sw somone give them $100 for ONE song. It got annoying after a while because rather than play songs and entertain, they were simply telling you to give them more money. Definately only go there for a special occasion, i.e. bach parties, b-day parties, ect. It was fun, but too expensive for what you actually get.