Recommends

brycesarah

Joined 9 years ago

Old Wive's tale. A great resaurant to take your toddlers. It has a great separat playroom which is easy to see into. The only way out of the restaurant is past the tables and the doors in plain site so you can let your kid's play without any safety worries to them.

The food is adult and child friendly. It is a very casual atmosphere.

Recommends

versatile

Joined 11 years ago

Fabulous Breakfast. This is a place I'll go back for breakfast. I had been before and had an ordinary experience, but the breakfast was superb. There are so many interesting choices on the menu. The poppyseed pancakes with lemon curd are delicious. An interesting and tasty item was the East Indian Huevos Rancheros. I never would have imagined a mango chutney on eggs would taste so good. The breakfast potatoes were a little disappointing, since they weren't cooked with salt. No post-cooking adding of salt could save them. All in all...an enjoyable experience. I'm looking forward to try more items on their menu.

Recommends

papavress

Joined 9 years ago

Beautiful Brunch. I have heard nothing but good things about this place, and, in spite of the bad reviews on this site, we decided to give it a try. We went for a late morning/early afternoon Saturday brunch, and it was a wonderful experience! The cafe-style atmosphere was pleasant, the server was helpful and friendly and the price was quite reasonable (22.00, including dessert). I found it surprising that so many people have had bad experiences here - we enjoyed it a lot!

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Adults can bank on a relaxing meal--kids have a place to play and plenty of others to keep them busy.. In Short
Old Wives' Tales ranks among Portland's favorite kid spots. It's got a colorful playroom and plenty of dishes to please finicky palates--grilled cheese, noodles with Parmesan and cream, steamed veggies and burritos among them. Vegetarians can rejoice in having choices. In addition to daily specials, much of the lengthy menu is devoted to health-conscious and meat-free dishes. Best bets include Hungarian mushroom soup, spinach and potato omelette, poppy-seed pancakes, guacamole salad and the salad bar.

Doesn't Recommend

palimpsest

Joined 10 years ago

So disappointed. I have had decent food at this restaurant before but hadn't been in over a year. Was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by, but YUCK. I was looking forward to gazpacho, salmon cakes, yams, and marionberry crisp. The gazpacho was OK, but the salmon cakes were bland, bland, bland, the yams were OK with a little salt on them, and the crisp was-- well, I used to love this stuff. But this serving was soggy on top and textureless inside, too tart, and just plain mediocre. Waitress never asked how the food was, and the cashier listened to my very politely expressed opinion, but failed to offer to reduce my menu. Don't go. Just don't go. Not worth it at all.

Doesn't Recommend

leahkeeler

Joined 10 years ago

Waste of a dinner. While we were seated promptly, the waitress was surly and unhappy to see us. The food was forgetful and the kid's playroom was nothing to write about. Although the kids did seem to enjoy it, some of the other patrons did not supervise their older children. All in all, we are never coming back.

Doesn't Recommend

verydisappointed

Joined 10 years ago

Spoiled Mother's Day. I am sorry I took my mom here for Mother's Day! First, we made reservations and had to wait for quite a while anyways. Not a big deal.... When we did get seated however they sat us, a party of 7 adults & no kids, in the kid room section with tons of screaming kids. Couldn't even hear each other talk. The food was BLAND BLAND BLAND. The service was forgetful and appeared obviously stressed out. We won't be coming here again, that's for sure.

Doesn't Recommend

ravenroost

Joined 11 years ago

bad choice. Only two of the seven people in our party liked their food. It was all sloppily prepared and lukewarm to cold. The grilled cheese sandwich was white and soggy and appeared to be microwaved vs. grilled. We have had mixed results eating here in the past and only agreed to go back due to one of our party's insistance that we try it again. It made our "memorable worst eating experience" list. The prices were also much too high for the quality and quantity of the food.

Doesn't Recommend

native_OR

Joined 11 years ago

Patrons pleasant, employees unbearable.. I took an out-of-town friend and his three children to Old Wives' Tales despite bad reviews from friends. Bad idea. What are described as "kid-friendly staff members" by the restaurant owners are nothing more than skinny indie rock kids who consistently glare at the amazingly behaved children in their establishment. 20 minutes passed before one of these staff members even approached our table; my friend asked me innocently, "Do you suppose we just serve ourselves?" The only highlights were the friendly family sitting next to us (with whom we shared kid-watching duties) and the older woman (employee) who kept snarling, "Use your inside voices!!" at the group of children in the playroom (her audacity was entertaining). If the food had been fantastic, I might be able to tolerate this kind of service again. Needless to say, I'll be joining my friends in giving Old Wives' Tales an enthusiastic thumbs down.

Doesn't Recommend

riverall

Joined 11 years ago

Disappointing Dinner. We have been for breakfast twice, however dinner was terrible. My husband ordered chicken enchiladas and they were dreched an aweful sauce. We told the waitress that we couldnt eat it, and she said "oh" and took his plate. Our server never came back to the table, we sat for quite awhile and someone else brought us our ticket Some service for $23! We'll never go back.