Laurelwood Public House & Brewery

07/16/2008 Posted by smizz

I have been to the NW and Sandy location many times and was always greeted with a great experience and delicious "pub fare". Most recently, my brother's family was in town and Laurelwood came to mind, because they cater to children. Throughout the duration of their week long stay, we actually visited Laurelwood twice because of the convenience and kid friendly atmosphere. I have always found the food here to be consistent. I am particularly fond of the pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Also, the beer is always tasty. I am big on making a good impression when I have friends and family in town and I was pleased that my brother and his family like Laurelwood. Also, I am a food snob, so I don't return to places where the food isn't good. Again, the food at Lauelwood is very delicious "pub fare". Not for those expecting gourmet.

Pros: Pulled Pork sandwich, Organic Beer

Cons: Parking can be a bit tough, if the lot is full

07/15/2008 Posted by lovepdxbeer

Wow, funny when I went to look at reviews for Laurelwoods new location up the street from 40th, I saw a strange consitancy. People either gave them 4 or 5 stars or 1 star?!? Maybe they're (Laurelwood that is) a little like Neil Diamond, you either love'm or hate'm?!?!?!? Being fair......most 4 or 5 star reviews word the good and bad things, but apperenttly all one star reviews are extremelly one track minded?!? So, after reading most of these reviews, I decided to go myself. I decided to try and take all things into account to make my decision for rating these guys. First-service,Second-quality on products, Third-enviornment to consume products. I will give each criteria possible 5 out of 5 stars thaen average my rating over the three criteria. This is how I think you'd make a fair rating, right?!?!? First, I parked in the parking lot in back. I felt actually lucky to get a parking spot on a Friday evening after I walked in the front door. Wow.....this place was packed! If people were'nt sitting waiting for a table, they were packed around the bar. Dad's with there Families had gotten beers already if they had to wait. Generally, most people seemed happy. There must be a good reason these guys get packed?! After about 20min my friend and I got a small booth. Did take a little bit to get server to us. After server came things satrted flowing like the great beer always made @ 40th St. We ordered some food after a few pints. I had they're blue "type" burger , friend had the Southwest chicken salad. Took a bit to get food, but they we're a bit busy. Food was decent, we come for beer first and food second, hence the name. People forget they make Beer and Food I think. The food was as good or better than many brew pubs in the portland area. Finally, the enviornment was very cool! I can see kettles behind the Bar!! Large open space!! So, in conclusion Service-3 out of 5, Beer quality is a 5, Food quality is 3.5 out of 5 and the Enviornment 5 out of 5!! Total 4 out of 5

05/29/2008 Posted by izokv

you have to go to this place.it is very kid friendly so if you dont llike kids dont go cause they will be playing and having fun while the parents drink and have a wonderful time.food is always wonderful but be ready to wait forever......1hr plus sometimes but very worht the wait.....everyday happyhour rocks cheap food cheap pints...the staff here are the best in town..

Pros: the best beers in town......

Cons: the drive home and oh yeah parking and waiting forever

04/16/2008 Posted by boxerbuddy

We went in on a random Wednesday night at about 7pm when it wasn't that busy. The host was super friendly and quick, but the waitress couldn't have been less attentive and slow if she'd tried! We'd never been there before and the menu is fairly extensive so we took a few minutes to look everything over and decide. While we were pondering the waitress came by three times and was visibly disgruntled that we hadn't made up our minds. Had we known that we would have to flag her down to get her to come back we would've taken it more seriously! We saw her maybe one more time before we had to just take the check up to the host. In the time that we waited to have it collected EVERY table around us had paid, been bussed and had new patrons seated. It wasn't like she was busy- she was chatting it up with other servers! Ugh. Don't bother- the food wasn't even that great.

Pros: Decent food

Cons: Service bordered on avoidance.

04/05/2008 Posted by bethana

I haven't been to the original location, so I can't compare the two. But I would agree with the other reviews that atmosphere of the new place is bland. The decor isn't interesting and doesn't reflect anything about Portland. I knew ahead of time that Laurelwood is a family friendly place, and I guess that reputation is well taken advantage of. There were lots of kids and babies, even outside of the "family room". The bar really isn't separate from the main dining and the noise makes conversation difficult. The waitress was friendly and responsive. I ordered the black bean chili, which was really just black beans with spices, not sure what was supposed to make it chili-- not very impressed. However, the garlic fries were very good. Main complaint: We got to the bar at 5:50 during happy hour, and weren't able to order until 6:02, and the bartender didn't give us the happy hour drink prices. I think this was kinda cheap. We probably won't be going back any time soon-- maybe when we have kids.

Pros: parking, decent beer, good for kids if you have them

Cons: high priced bland food, stiffed us on the happy hour

03/07/2008 Posted by daddies420

I was really stoked that Laurelwood was moving up the street into a new building. We tried it out with our two girls about 3 weeks after they opened and it was very busy and noisy. Granted I am used to the previous establishment and all the kiddos, I think this is great. This time we could not even hear our own kids it was so loud. Nuts. Anyways, my wife stated that all the food tasted like Sysco products and we had a good laugh over the terrible food. So then I came across these reviews and see that everyone seems to find some Sysco love in Laurelwoods food. I laughed so hard, I couldn't resist not chiming in and sending review. Anyways we can only hope the owners read these reviews and get some decent food and better beer.

03/02/2008 Posted by lord_humongous

Driving past the Laurelwood Public House I yelled at my friend to pull in so we could have some beer and lunch. Neither of us had ever been there before and this random choice for lunch proved to be excellent. We sat at the bar and sampled their beers while we ate an amazing lunch. I was blown away at how good my sandwich was. While the bartender was a little rude, even in a good mood, I will definitely try to go back because the food was outstanding and the beers were delicious.

Pros: Amazing Food, Great Beer

Cons: Unfriendly Service

02/14/2008 Posted by mmb97212

When you first walk in, you immediately feel like you've accidently stumbled into one of those large chain restaurants, with the generic wood decor and no personality, that you find out in the suburbs. To bad you'll soon be wishing you were actually in one of those monstrosities instead of at Laurelwood. First off the beer is excellent and all of the varieties are well described on the menu. Good luck getting your server to bring a second one without any attitude. Several of the servers waiting on our large table had no problem expressing their annoyance with having to take multiple drink orders from our group. Somehow it was very inconvenient for them to get our orders to the bar which was literally feet away from our table. Oh and then the food. The food is just terrible for those prices. If they were half off, you could overlook the blandness and enjoy the decent size portions. But that's not the case. If they're going to use all frozen and premade products from Sysco,it would be nice if they actually took the time to add some flavor to these generic base ingredients, instead of serving them straight out of the 5 gallon tubs. Unless you're going for the beer, don't waste your money here.

Pros: Great beers!

Cons: Bland overpriced food, and terrible service.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

12/20/2007 Posted by manschief

me and my friend had lunch he had meatball sandwich it was good i started with the mushroom soup it was wonderful then i had the ham and cheese sandwich it was very skimpy on the meat paper thin two slices the tomato was sliced thinker very poor sandwich

Pros: thumbs down

12/17/2007 Posted by jaja999

I agree with the guy below who also gave this place only one star. I have been to Laurelwood many times and have always been dissapointed so I finally gave up. It's too bad because it's a nice pub with a extensive menu it's just that they really need to work on how the food tastes. It's pretty much disgusting. The wait staff is also not the greatest. And no I don't expect people to kiss my feet as one of the reviewers stated below who gave this place 5 stars. I also find it funny that the same reviewer stated how hard it is to pull the shifts these guys pull. Are you kidding me??? I use to be a waitress and no it's not easy but there are alot more jobs harder than waiting tables. I work 12 hr shifts and when I was a waitress I worked 4 hrs and a occasionally I pulled a double which consisted of 8 hrs. So please do not listen to that particular review because clearly he/she is just protective of this place. Maybe they'll get it together because the ambience is nice they just need to improve on everything else.