Utopia Cafe

Doesn't Recommend

pdxcupcake

Joined 5 years ago

Yikes !!. After telling the waitress of my food allergy, I had to send the food back twice because it was ignored. When it came out the third time with the same ingrediant that I can't eat, the owner/manager became indignant and insisted it was not there. I asked if my allergy could be accomodated before I came in and was assured it would not be a problem. Poor customer service.

Doesn't Recommend

mycroft

Joined 5 years ago

Decent food with stunningly bad service.. I went to Utopia Cafe on a Saturday Morning around 10. The place was clearly understaffed and disorganized and should remedy this, however this is no excuse for the incompetent and openly rude waitress who partially served our table. After several requests, we were able to get menus, but the waitress seemed to believe that the cost for menu access was our newspaper which she tried to take. From my friend's (not cold, dead) hands. Several more requests resulted in coffee, however we had to steal water from the busing station. Our waitress, a woman wearing a remarkably unfortunate beige sweater with ugly pink flowers, had to be coaxed into taking our order after three requests. When I asked to substitute something for which the menu offers substitution options, she snapped at me and condescendingly explained that the substitution was not allowed. I asked to see a manager and she rudely refused claiming he was too busy but I could return 4.5 hours later when they were quieter. Instead I opted for note on the bill explaining my decision not to offer a tip. Our meal, scrambled eggs, turned up half an hour after we finally managed to order. Best part? They probably would have been very good - if they were still hot. Needless to say, without some sort of assurance that the shrew who took our order has been summarily dismissed, I will not be returning.

Recommends

dancontra

Joined 5 years ago

Visitors. This place is Portland. We were visiting from out of town and asked the bartender at our hotel where to go for breakfast. Without hesitation she suggested Utopia. The menu has great variety for a small place and the feeling you get eating there is what I expected of Portland. CORN BEEF HASH.............The best I've ever had, giant chunks of corn beef. My wife had their blue corn pancakes, awsome.

Next time in Portland we'll be back

Recommends

LLBarton

Joined 11 years ago

Great Sunday morning spot!. This was our first time at Utopia Cafe and we will be back! Excellent breakfast scrambles, good portions, and creative specials. Blue corn pancakes were a surprise find, and the substitution of the day's special potato cakes for sauteed potatoes were the perfect side for my scramble. One of our party gobbled up banana bread French toast. Utopia offered a 2 or 3 slice option -- not something you find most places, and a welcome opportunity for portion (and price) control. Tasty sausage, excellent coffee, and relaxed atmosphere equal the perfect Sunday spot for catching up with friends. Don't tell anyone, but there was no waiting line even at the peak Portland breakfast hour of 9:00 AM! The restaurant was steady but never slammed. How nice is that?

Recommends

40spinupgirl

Joined 5 years ago

Ingnore that bad review! This place rocks!. From the moment I stepped in the door, I knew I was in love! This place has a really homey feel to it! It smells wonderful, it looks cute, and they always have some sort of interesting art on the wall. The servers were superior (try other breakfast places and you will see what I mean), my coffee was always full, my water never ran out, and the food came quickly. The breakfast here is AMAZING!!!!!! Try the potato cakes on the weekend with a biscuit! DELISH! I have also returned for lunch during the week, and it is less busy and just as good! In fact the servers remembered me and gave me the upmost attention! Bravo Utopia! I have sent many a friends your way!

Doesn't Recommend

orfoodie

Joined 5 years ago

Not what it used to be. I would recommend thinking twice before returning to Utopia. It has been my usual weekend spot but the last few times the food was not good. There were several mistakes in our orders each visit and the customer service in correcting it was less than stellar. It used to be a place where everything was consistent from the coffee to the food and the service, unfortunately all of these failed. The quality of the food has gone downhill too. I find it unfortunate that things have changed but before you spend your money here, there are too many other places that do not disappoint.

Recommends

tsivah

Joined 5 years ago

Breakfast critic. In our regular routine of Sunday breakfast out we finally tried Utopia Cafe. Highly recommended. Nice atmosphere, casual, but efficient. Good variety of breakfast foods.

Recommends

BelaC

Joined 5 years ago

WOW. I didn't know you could do so many different things with Eggs. Take a look at their special board. Very interesting scrambles. Venice-proscuitto, artichoke hearts and parmesan and the Barnyard-chicken apple sausage, tomatoes, zucchinin and goat cheese.

We ordered both and loved them.

We'll be back

Hard to find but worth it.

Recommends

retoop

Joined 6 years ago

Neighborhood Cafe. We were visiting Portland for the first time and looked this place up on City Search (of course) and decided to give it a try as it was close to where we were staying (downtown) and easy to get to. What a pleasant surprise. Small local cafe with great food and a warm friendly atmosphere. None of that mass produced foods like the chain restaurants. The servers/cooks were very accommodating our special requests. The servers turned into our tour guides and gave us lots of ideas on what to do and not to do in Portland. Besides the great breakfast we were totally entertained by the "local" street traffic in the Belmont neighborhood.

Doesn't Recommend

hurdree

Joined 6 years ago

Vibe has changed. This used to be a great place to get breakfast and my husband and I would wake up early on Sundays to get there before the huge waiting list formed. However, since the change in ownership we've been back twice and it is not the same restaurant. The food is the same (wonderful) but the vibe is horrible. At our first visit since the change in ownership, we sat by the kitchen and were dismayed to hear some very loud 80's pop rock coming from the kitchen (Mr. Mister just doesn't cut it for us at 7:30 on a Sunday morning). We were incorrect in thinking the music was coming from the kitchen though because on our next trip back we sat in the front of the restaurant (away from the kitchen) and the 80's pop rock was so loud and distracting that we couldn't carry on a conversation and we've decided we just won't go back. There are so many great breakfast restaurants in Portland where we aren't subjected to someone else's (horrible) taste in music at 7:30 AM. It's too bad because we were regulars...and at both visits we noticed there were less people waiting than under the previous owner so I have a feeling we're aren't the only ones who've noticed the change..