Pine' Street Bistro

04/13/07

They serve small portions and food is microwaved

by portlandpersian

I had the displeasure of going in for a late lunch. The place was bare-bones empty. The older lady serving was not shy in displaying her oversized solid gold cross around her neck. She was obviously proud to be Christian, more so than any other Portlander, and without regard to having her more secular or non-Christian customers feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. I order from the lunch menu and to my astonishment I suddently heard the microwave being turned on in the kitchen and then the food was prepared in 4 minutes. I simply could not believe it. At least she could have waited 15 minutes to pretend the food was actually being cooked fresh. To top it off, the food portions were so absurdely small that I had to fill myself up with the entire basket of bread that accompanied my food (no butter or feta cheese included). Despite the lack of customers, nobody once asked me how the food was or if my water should be refilled. I will never return to this place and I recommend that you don't waste a dime eating there, given the other choices in town. One word: horrible. Chili's or TGIF would have been better.

• Pros: Very nice paintings on the walls.
• Cons: Microwaved food (not fresh), tiny portions, and no service at all.

02/22/07

Good Stuff

by vlcgoddess

We had a nice date night here. We were seated promptly and attended to by a nice older man--he could've been a manager or even the owner. We ordered the labne, a Lebanese cheese spread appetizer, and it was creamy and delicious with the pita that accompanied it. My husband had the lamb cabbage rolls, which he thoroughly enjoyed. They came with a killer tzatziki sauce with huge chunks of cucumber. I ordered the a la carte mezza platter, which included hummus, baba ghanouj, tabouli and falafel. Good falafel--not too dry, the hummus was good and the baba ghanouj was amazing. It had a really great flavor. Tabouli isn't my favorite, and it was fine. Homemade pita would've complemented things better--the bread we had tasted store-bought and was average. Baklava and pistachio pudding completed the meal, and while the baklava was stellar, the pudding was so-so.

Our service was quite friendly, though a bit slower after the restaurant filled up. The live jazz was a great accompaniment to the meal, but I wish we would've been seated further back from it--it made conversation difficult.

All in all, we had great food and service here. Definitely recommended!

• Pros: Friendly service, great food, decent wine list
• Cons: A bit small

07/05/06

Simply Charming

by persianprincess

Wonderful date atmosphere, yet kid friendly. Knowledgable staff speak many languages and on certain evenings one can enjoy live music. The food was perfect. I wouldn't change a thing.

• Pros: Beautiful place, Friendly staff, Romantic
• Cons: Parking