Paley's Place

01/30/09

Perfect Evening

by pdxrick at Citysearch

Thanks

Great Food, Great Service, Great night, Warm Hospitality, Great Decor

Escargot & Crab Salad were excellent.

Glad we came.

Company Catering!

01/20/09

Terrible service - So many wonderful restaurants in Portland - you can do better than Paley's Place

by bachman at Citysearch

I went there last night with a group of 9 people. Our server was curt and unfriendly. Portions were small and I didn't care for the fact that I had to shell my own prawns. They just don't look that great heads and all on a plate not to mention there were THREE of them. Once shelled there was barely a bite. I won't be back.

• Pros: Nice hostess
• Cons: Poor service/bad presentation

01/14/09

Amazing restaurant--believe the hype!

by PDXurbangirl at Citysearch

I'm shocked to see so many recent negative reviews--I love this place. I have lived in New York for years prior to living in Portland, and I've had plenty of so-called "foodie" experiences. When booking my reservation, I let them know ahead of time that my sister is vegan, and was there something special that they could do for her so that she didn't feel left out during this amazing meal with the typical salad/pasta fare usually available at non-vegan restaurants. Paley's went above and beyond, tempting even us non-vegans with amazing tastes of food! The service was fantastic, and the food was other-worldly. I can't wait to go back.

• Pros: Amazing food, accomodating staff, great atmosphere
• Cons: People who don't know the difference between half and full orders.

10/04/08

TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE

by foodadmirer at Citysearch

I thought the customer service had little to be desired. The waitress was very rude and was very unwilling to explain the menu to me. I specifically told her that I wanted to possibly share a meal because I didn't know if I could eat an entire meal by myself and I wanted to know the size of the portions. She never even mentioned that they have half and full portions. She was very curt. The menu just shows 16/32 who in the world is supposed to figure that one is for half portion and the other is full portion and the full portion is so small it looked like a half portion. It tasted good but barely filled you up. When I got the bill 100 dollars for 2. I was shocked because I felt the fish plate I ordered was a half portion and was only 16. I asked for an explanation and the manager's best waitress said that she did not do wrong in not telling me about the half portions because it is clearly evident on the menu. She said it with such attitude. The manager backed up her rude employee and even stated she was one of the best waitresses and that they are not supposed to explain to customers whats on the menu because that could offend customers. They don't even know the first thing about customer service which is the customer is always right and you don't justify errors made by your staff. I had the worst experience there. They belittled me for not reading the menu correctly. It was very very poor customer service and due to this I would never return.

• Pros: FRESH FOOD
• Cons: TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SMALL PORTIONS

09/17/08

Eat here if you don't mind gambling

by candy7800 at Citysearch

Dining here is sort of a strange experience. The hostess is kind of a one woman fashion show - twirling about the dining room every 10 minutes asking if everything is okay. With the exception of her interrupting, everything was fine since we only had drinks. One appetizer was excellent, the mussels, the other over seasoned crabcakes on buns (called sliders, but they should be called gaggers due to the awkward size). The tuna entree was cold and tasted fishy. Totally unappetizing. On the other hand, the halibut was delicious as was the vegetable cassoulet. The wine list and desserts were average. The bill was pretty steep for the quality.

09/07/08

Didn't live up to its acclaim

by vipaka at Citysearch

I ate there shortly before they closed for remodeling. The food was good, but nothing special. The service was the usual Portland substandard. The meal for two of us was more costly than it was worth.

The waiter could barely focus. He forgot to bring the wine I ordered for my entree.

07/08/08

Did not live up to the hype - the service was terrible.

by lehmanwj at Citysearch

My wife and I moved to Portland several years ago from NYC and we are continually impressed with the quality of Portland restaurants. We went to Paleys last Sunday and were very excited to experience this so-called Portland institution. From the outset, we were disappointed. The hostess is pathetic. We arrived at the restaurant without reservations and the hostess told us it would be a 11/2 hr wait - despite the fact that there were 4-5 open tables in the restaurant. When I asked about the open table the hostess said that they were expecting those tables to be filled momentarily. We understood and went to the bar for a drink. There the bartender was equally disinterested in providing any service. We waited at the bar for 45 minutes and 3 of the tables never filled and the hostess was not interested in seating us. After 45 minutes, we left and went across the street to Wildwood. At Wildwood, we had a wonderful meal with a waiter whose passion for food and wine made the meal memorable (in a positive way). It was a stark contrast to Paleys.

• Pros: open on Sundays
• Cons: everything else

05/19/08

Poor Service, Will not go back

by CrockerBikeNut at Citysearch

My wife and I went to Paleys Place on May 2nd. The appetizers were decent, nothing exceptional, the salads came about an Hour after we finished the appetizers, and the meal arrived about 45 minutes after we finished our salads and had finished a bottle of wine. The special pork dish the waiter raved about was tough and inedible. It was only the 3rd time in my life that I sent a meal back to the kitchen. The waiter apologized and said that the kitchen agreed there was a problem with my meal and would I like something else. I ordered the Halibut, which tasted fine but it was lukewarm. Again, it took about 20 minutes and my wife had finished her meal by the time it came. From that point on, we had a different waiter for desert, one for coffee and another one to bring us our bill. Our original waiter could not be bothered with finishing out the service. I don't think we'll be back. I don't mind spending the money if quality and service comes with it, but Paleys Place was very dissapointing. BTW, if you want a truly exceptional meal and great service, go to ROUX. They could teach Paleys Place a thing or two.

05/04/08

Great wine, and service but that's it

by dw13 at Citysearch

The wine and service were great, but other than that not worth the expencive price. My husband and I went there for our 14th anniversary. It was recommended out of National Geographic as the best restaurant in Portland. I love GOOD food, when I travel, I search for the best restaurants, I can tell you, Lorenzillos in Cabo and La Cala in Zihuatanejo are a MUST!!!! Paleys in Portland not a must. The wine was exellent and the 2 waitresses, great and fun! I had 1/2 order of the crab dish and 1/2 order halibut, these had no flavor. My husband was recommended the pork appitizer and told it would melt like butter was tough, and was not happy with his steak, he came home and made himself dinner. $240.00, not worth it. Last, did not like the setting, tables to close, not romantic.

04/03/08

Nice Choice for more "not your everyday" dinner fare

by BuddingFoodie at Citysearch

I'm only a "budding foodie" as my username suggests so I'm just starting to make more adventrous culinary choices. And Paley's Place was a great place for me to expand my food horizons. Even my more reserved husband partook in the feasting. We tried dishes such as marrow, sweetbreads, and escargot (among others). Many of the dishes come in half portions so we ordered quite a few dishes and shared everything. It was a while ago that we went so I cannot comment on the tastiness of any particular dish. But in my opinion I believe all of them were probably executed well. However, my lack of comparisons is limiting to my review. There were some dishes we really enjoyed (I do particularly remember the american kobe beef being excellent) and others we did not care for (the escargot). But overall we were both very happy w/ our experience there. The service was good; nothing spectacular, but certainly not sub-par. We took our time and as stated earlier tried numersous dishes in succession (not all at once) so our experience there took about 2 (leisurely) hours. We left hoping to someday return and try more of their offerings. We did make reservations for early in the evening, right after opening so when we arrived we were some of the only patrons. But by the time we left, the place was very crowded so I strongly reccommend reservations especially if you prefer to dine later that 6 or 6:30.

• Pros: Good food and service, decent selection
• Cons: parking could be an issue but we parked in the hospital parking