Henry's 12th Street Tavern

10/03/2008 Posted by harpooner

I was having a party yesterday for a fellow employee that was leaving. I didn't think it was necessary to reserve space, but realized that I needed to. I contacted Val at Henry's and asked if she could help. She provided 2 pool tables, and almost the entire Billiards Room for our party. The room was perfect for people to mingle and walk around to talk to others. Pool players had room to play without bumping into anyone. We had our own bartender. Thank you Val and the Henry's staff.

Pros: Willing to work things out on short notice

Cons: Only about 6 beers on tap in the billiards room.

09/19/2008 Posted by LadiesMan69

Though the happy hour is excellent, and the service fantastic, the real I go to happy hour at Henry's is for the ladies. The wait staff looks as if they had just come off a runway, who ever was in charge of hiring, god bless him! I for one will definitely be back.

Pros: Everything

Cons: Parking's a b!tch

06/15/2008 Posted by TheArtistPhenom

I went to Henry's this weekend for my friend's birthday. We made reservations, and the place came highly recommended for it's ambiance and great food. Upon arriving for dinner (9:45pm, Friday Night...not too busy) we were lead over to our booth, squarely planted in front of the kitchen. We looked at our menus, and were greeted by our server who at the time, seemed fairly friendly. After giving her our drink order she left the table, and arrived roughly 10 minutes later with our drinks. My friends and I ordered 3 separate selections: I chose the Blackened Salmon Grilled Fish Sandwich, the birthday girl chose a Teriyaki Bowl, and my other lady friend chose the Triple Stacked Club Sandwich. All three selections turned out to be most excellent. Now at this point, you're asking yourself- Why did I give it two stars? Well, the service was incredibly disappointing. During my 1+ hour stay at Henry's I saw my waitress 4 times. Once to take drink orders, once to take the food order, once to bring back drinks/bread and once to refill our water glasses. About 40 minutes into the ordeal our server disappeared into the deep dark corners of the Tavern...to do god only knows what. She disappeared previously during the evening after bringing our drinks for about 15 minutes...during which time I watched my piping hot food sit on a warmer for no less than 10 minutes. The food was finally brought over by another server, undoubtedly a little less fresh...although still quite good. While in a spirited conversation with my friends our server approached our table for the 4th and final time to refill our glasses. After the server left we never saw her again. We waited for about 20 minutes before we made an estimate or how much the bill was for, counted out our cash and left it on the table. We could have dined and dashed, we didn't see anyone come to our table for at least another minute after....I hope that our server turned up safe eventually... though she never returned to our table...

Pros: Good Food, great flavor

Cons: Awful Service... Snobbish

04/27/2008 Posted by sandalou

The husband and I walked up here from the Benson (who's staff recommended it) one night when it was late and we were tired and just wanted something simple and tasty to eat. He had a burger and I had the fish sandwich with halibut (you can also choose salmon). We were both quite happy with our food. Will definitely go back next time we're in town. The place was a bit noisy but that may have been because I was tired. I did wish someone would tell the oblivious women in the next booth that the staircase was not a playground for her bratty kid.

Pros: Good food, convenient to downtown hotels.

Cons: Irresponsible parents who bring small children to what is basically a bar.

04/06/2008 Posted by 9thSRW

You walk into this place and it is immediately obvious that it is owned and managed by some soulless corporation (Pacific Coast Restaurants); out to impress with style over substance – beer list aside there is very little about it which is unique or charming.. Visiting Hnery’s on a busy night can be miserable. Bar staff is overworked and hostile. They think they know a lot about beer, but they don’t – I have a degree in viticulture. Management is young and inexperienced, so you should expect them to make bad calls when the poor over-worked wait staff messes up. Recently, a friend and I waited in the bar 40 minutes for a table. When one finally freed up we sat down. The waitress walked over and said: “stop, wait, sit sit,” and abruptly turned around and walked away. 2 minutes later a manger walked over and told (not asked) us to leave the table because the gentlemen who were there before us had jus stepped out to smoke. However, I had seen them both sign credit cards, and the table had been wiped down. The waitress insisted that their entrées were on the way. The manager was more interested in exerting his unfortunate authority and “being right” per his own reality than acting rationally. He continued to insist that we leave the table, and did not offer to remedy the situation by facilitating the acquisition of an alternative table. But, the beer selection is impressive. Food is so-so broadly speaking, but down right bad for the Pearl district. The crowd is young.

Pros: See and be seen for a certain crowd

Cons: Service, obvious corporate origins

03/04/2008 Posted by friskymosa

I went there last Friday for the b-ball game and was not happy w/ the service from our waitress. My girlfriend & I had to wait a long time for service and that was even after the crowd died down. The male bartender was friendly and so was the busboy but she seemed rude & not very helpful. The female bartender did not have very good customer svc either. I guess maybe if we were male we would've gotten good service. ???

02/24/2008 Posted by preea11

one of the best dinner places in Portland! this is good for large groups, small groups, diverse menu, so you know you will be back to try something else next time. a large beer/wine menu. One of my favs is the crab cakes, steak and calamari. The price is good and they do not rush you so you can enjoy your email and you dont have to eat everything youve ordered in one hr. make this a place to go !

Pros: food of course/ ambience/ neighborhood

Cons: parking you have to pay or garage it downtown/ make reservations for weekends

12/17/2007 Posted by johnsondies

this place is a corporate dumper. the food is bad. it's not sustainable. the service is bad. anybody who loves this place or claims it is there food destination on there next trip back to portland needs an education in food. when will people learn that restaurants like this are a scourge on the earth. a skid mark on the underwear of the restaurant industry. oh well. order your self up a nice salmon or one of there cryovacked steaks they serve up and one of the many beers they have. don't worry about the money you spend im sure they're putting it back in the community

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

09/01/2007 Posted by meaganl

Service here is not good. I've been here twice in the past month. Each time the food was excellent, but the sevice was extremely lackluster. The first time was at dinner. Waited about 15 minutes to be greeted by our server, then another 10 minutes to have our order taken. Server was rather unfriendly; couldn't even pretend to care about our dining experience. Food took a long time to come out and when it did, our appetizer came only about 30 seconds before our entrees. The ladies next to us received their entrees and didn't get the appetizers they had ordered at all. They were then asked by 3 or 4 different people whether or not they still wanted the appetizers, a question to which each time the answer was yes. Clearly many timing and communication issues. On the plus side, the food was wonderful. I ordered the fish and chips and they were superb. Also, the calamari appetizer is a must. I decided to give them another chance and i returned about 2 weeks later for lunch. This time our server was friendly and greeted us in good time, but 10 minutes passed before she returned to take our order. Then after ordering, we waited for at least 20 minutes for our food. Nothing difficult, half sandwiches and caesar salads. Again though, the food was great. The turkey and avocado sandwich was perfect, and their french fries are so tasty. Also, the cornbread croutons in the ceasar salad are such a great addition! Moral of the story: don't go here if you're in a hurry or if you want stellar service. The quality of the food will probably be enough to bring me back, but not with any frequency. This is ALL due to the quality of service.

Pros: great food

Cons: bad service, too slow

08/27/2007 Posted by toyota_al

The service was ok. The waitress didn't understand that Iced Tea should be cold, not room temperature. We ordered the gorgonzola cheese fries which were tasteless. I had the grill chicken, gorgonzola, and pear pizza. What a waste of $11. The chicken was practically non-existent, the pears were not ripe and were in chucks which were unappealing to bite into and the gorgonzola was barely there as well. They have numerous beers to choose from and I selected the Black Cherry Stout but was disappointed to find out they were out. It seemed a little weird to be out of a beer going into a weekend. I don't plan on ever going back because it was a waste of time and money.

Cons: Poor food and service