Pied Cow Coffeehouse

10/01/09

Great place to hang out and drink tes

by jessikook

This place is one of my favorite places to go in Portland. It's got a calming environment, both inside and outside. There teas are great- they serve tea traditionally, my favorites are the kava and matte. They also have great dessert and great beer, although I think they took Hair of the Dog off the menu which was my favorite. I read a bad review above about one of the servers, but every time I've been there the staff was very accommodating. It's a great place to study or hang out with a few friends.

• Pros: ambiance
• Cons: doesn't open until evening

08/19/09

What ever happened?

by lackofstyle

Years ago I used to go to this place all the time. It was a great place to enjoy a relaxed vibe and have a good dessert. Now it seems to have completely lost its way. The food and drink have taken a huge dive and the service is HORRIBLE. This place seems to be resting on its laurels and now seems to depend on its fading, lackluster ambiance to propel people past the fact that no one around here seems to care anymore. The whole place has the feel of an aging beatnik talking about that one time he shared a joint with a roadie from the Grateful Dead.

• Pros: nostalgia
• Cons: everything else

06/10/09

10 dollars for saltine crackers:

by Happywhenwetalk

I JUST got back from taking my friend who is visiting to The Pied Cow. I went for the 16 dollar hookah (YEESH!) and she was hungry so she ordered "The Salmon Plate". We had this tall and unhappy waiter w/ a sunken face and slicked back black hair who was extremely unpleasant from the start. Anyways, her salmon plate was (not joking) a relatively small portion of cold salmon w/ mounds and mounds of cream cheese, slices of cucumber and a HUGE amount of those white saltine crackers that they sell at Safeway. Do you know which crackers I'm talking about? Okay, so, my friend tells the waiter that what she ordered isn't exactly what she was expecting. Which can happen, it's not entirely her fault. Who will honestly eat that many saltine crackers and cream cheese for 10 dollars anyways? He looks at her blankly and says in the most rude and obnoxious way that he has no idea what she was expecting b/c that IS the salmon plate. Well, duh, mister. Anyways, she tells our waiter that she was expecting something a little different; something possibly hot. Then he said to her in this horribly rude and unattractive way that "IT'S THE SMOKED SALMON!" After he said that I was like "You don't need to be rude to her" and then he looked at me in a horrible way and said to me loudly that he's "JUST STATING THE FACTS!" I told him that that doesn't mean he's not being rude to her and that her plate is just a plate of saltine crackers. Which, if he's stating the facts, the menu would've said "Salmon plate w/ saltine crackers for 10 dollars!". He took her plate and literally smashed her silverware into the wash-bin that was outside. He then came back and told me in front of everyone that I "shouldn't be complaining for food I'm not paying for!" and I said "Hey! Honestly? Honestly? Chill out!" and he said "No, nope! Don't talk to me." My waiter told me to not talk to him?

He then preceded to hang out in front of the window that was nearest to where we were sitting outside and stare at me. He also purposefully talked about us in front of us to his coworkers. I'm not kidding! I'm not a crazy lady, and I'm a pretty nice girl. This guy is insane! He refused to help us as customers, smashes silverware in front of us AND other people sitting outside and he tells me that I shouldn't be complaining? I feel that if we didn't have this horrible confrontation w/ him my friend never would've been able to order anything else.

Okay, so if you don't want to be overcharged for food/hookah and have undefinable service from an ugly waiter, don't go to The Pied Cow.

• Pros: It's on Belmont?
• Cons: Horrible, Horrible service.

04/07/09

Great atmosphere

by drmgrl

The Pied Cow is such a fun and funky place to hang out. I love the garden seating. Even though you're off Belmont, the hedges give it privacy, and it's great being able to hang out and relax. There's also a heated outdoor area, which comes in handy on cold days.

• Pros: desserts
• Cons: What are the drawbacks?

02/07/09

Like to be treated like a piece of ...?

by juris33

A group of us went to the Pied Cow for hookah and desserts. It was my second time here and I was hesitant to go because of the poor service I received the first time. Once there, the waitress told us to stand and wait for a table to open up and sit down when one came available. Following her direction, we sat down at the next available table. The waitress came over to our table and began to clean it, purposefully wiping the table debris into our laps. No joke, it was incredibly obvious. She then proceeded to overhear us asking each other if this was weird and then came over to us and told us that this should be a lesson, next time we should wait for them to clear the table. A member of our party went to discuss this with the manager who proceeded to give her a lesson in restaurant etiquette. He didn't apologize but rather told her that she was making a scene and that next time maybe we should adhere to the "unspoken rules" of the restaurant business. Wow, really harsh. No apology, no nothing - just a lesson that we were in the wrong. The guy was totally out of line and unprofessional. The service for the rest of the night was horrid. I will never return to this place and every time it comes up in conversation, I'll be sure to make note of this experience. If I ever get into the restaurant industry, I sure hope the manager of the Pied Cow and the waitress that served us patrons my restaurant. I'd be more than happy to return the fantastic service I got and teach them a lesson in "proper restaurant etiquette."

• Pros: Hookahs
• Cons: Really poor service from wait staff and manager, over priced hookahs

01/28/09

Great place to bring visitors

by zigstardust

I feel like this place is always a crowd pleaser, especially for out of town folks. It's kind of a 'Portland' place. The inside is really cute and vintage. The staff is cute and weird. And the garden is amazing. What I like about this place is you can get a really good tea and a plate of snack foods to share with your buddy instead of going out for a full-on dinner. My favorite snack to share is the salami plate. My favorite desert is the flaming banana nutella crepe. If you need an exotic beer they got it, you need a triple mocha they got that or if you want to do some smoking pipe thing you can get into that. It's also open pretty late (at least midnight) but doesn't have that bar vibe. If you're in Portland you have to check this place out along with dots, voodoo donuts and the farm cafe.

• Pros: intimate, unique, great desert
• Cons: sometimes crowded

01/21/09

Unique Coffeehouse

by rwixson

I have been going to the Pied Cow since I was in high school (over 10 years ago) and I have always had excellent service there. The coffee is good, the selection of beers is incredible and the food is excellent. The atmosphere is relaxed and charming. One of the highlights is being able to sit outside during the spring and summer, but the inside area is eclectic and fun as well. The Pied Cow remains my favorite Portland coffee house.

• Pros: Ambience, Desserts, Beer List
• Cons: Parking

12/13/08

Not all its Cracked Up To Be

by sweetberrysue

So, I had heard so many awesome things about the Pied Cow and so when I finally got around to going there I just wasn't Impressed. The prices were fine but it wasn't the best service and the food was just okay.

• Pros: Its quirky and unique
• Cons: Service and food

09/29/08

Terrible at Hookahs

by saravonb

I've been to the Pied Cow several times. It's true that the service is pretty much non-existent, even when there is more than one server "working" per table. Believe it or not, that isn't the worst part about this place. This last time I went there I was told that the Pied Cow has a one charcoal policy. They will only give you one coal per hookah.

A roll of hookah charcoals costs about $10 for a box of 160 pieces (my family owns a hookah bar in Texas, so I'm familiar with prices). A decent bowl of shisha can last through at least 2 coals with a good flavor. Yet they insist you not enjoy the entire bowl that you paid $16 to smoke so they can save about $.06.

Having vapid hipster waitstaff is one thing, but not getting to enjoy what you pay for is unacceptable.

If you want to enjoy a hookah the traditional way I really recommend Yasmen Lounge in Beaverton on the Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. Yes, it's Beaverton and therefore lame, but this place is about as authentic as you can get. You'll never ask for a coal and on the weekends an older dude jams out on the keyboard while 60-something Lebanese couples line dance with younger Middle Easterners.

Yasmen is what hookah- smoking should be. The Pied Cow is an exercise in frustration.

• Pros: outdoor seating
• Cons: lazy staff, failure to understand how hookahs work, overpriced

09/12/08

Excellent Ecclectic Desserts

by lesilly

The first thing i must say is: you CANNOT come here expecting good service. You will sometimes get good service here, and some of the servers here are actually quite nice, but sometimes i have gotten the worst service in my LIFE here. Despite that being said, i will still come back on occasion. Why? The deserts are awesome and unique, the Nutella Banana Crepe and Bernadette's Brownie Boat being exceptional examples. This place has super quirky awesome weirdo bohemian ambiance, think mismatched tiny chairs and tables, bizarre kitschy outsider art, and a staircase shrine. Its set in a lovely old converted Victorian house that has been painted all sorts of crazy colors on the outside. During the warmer months they have lovely outdoor seating in a back yard encircled and hidden from the street by bamboo plants and the sound of a trickling fountain. They have an excellent variety of drinks both alcoholic and non. The only other negative thing (other than the service) is that i have been coming here since 1995 and their items keep getting smaller and smaller and smaller. Maybe that's a sign of the times, or maybe they can just afford to do this since they have gotten more popular.

• Pros: Amazing Brownie Boat, Amazing Nutella Banana Crepe, cool decor, wonderful ambience, ecclectic, quirky, bohemian, awesome house
• Cons: poor service, sporadic service, cramped, slightly overpriced