Thirsty Lion Pub & Grill - Tanasbourne

Reviews 4

SA

Savanna Morrow

My boyfriend and I want to love this place, but weve had mixed experiences. I wanted to go here because I really loved their location in downtown Portland, so weve given it several tries. Here are our general ups and downs: *The scotch eggs are awesome. Hard to find a place that does make them, and Thirsty Lion always makes them perfectly. *Their burgers are generally awesome. I order one occasionally when I go there because I do enjoy them, but mamy times the fries have been both greasy and overcooked, to the point they were not really edible, so Im hesitant to order anything that comes with fries. Yes there are other sides, but not sides I enjoy. *They make a chicken Parmesan dish with capers and pasta that my boyfriend orders just about every time, because its only been messed up once and hes hesitant to try anything else. That said, he does thoroughly enjoy the dish, so thats cool. *Their beers are okay. My boyfriend happens to like Belgian and Scottish beers, so he finds their beers to be a bit lacking, and boy are they expensive. We would like to enjoy beers with our meals, but unleash you want bathtub brew like Coors, youre going to be paying a mint for that pint and its definitely a deterrent for us. They do have a pear cider that we both love so we will order those occasionally. *The giant pretzels with beer cheese fondue is lovely. I love the cheese fondue, its unique, flavorful and doesnt chunk up while cooling. The pretzels are large and not leathery, which I love. I just wish they did not precut them, but I get why they do and I dont mark this against them as they are still delightful and my mom often begs me to bring some home for her! *The service fluctuates. I know they get busy but lots of places do, so its hard to watch your server walk by half a dozen times when your glasses are empty, or you are clearly done and would like to pay and leave. We did have one absolutely delightful male server, I wish I could remember his name, but we left a really great comment with his name on the post meal survery. He was on top of everything and we had a great chat with him when we were done and he wasnt so busy. So that was awesome. *As I said before, the fries are a no-go. When they first opened they were fine, but now we dont even touch them because they are always greasy and overcooked. Every. Single. Time. *The hot chocolate is laughable. I received hot water and a hot chocolate packet. Seriously? Youd think as nice as the place is and what they charge for food and drinks, that theyd at least be bothered to make even half real hot chocolate. *Outside. Seating. Weve only gotten to wnjoy this once. Last time all the chairs and tables were set up and it was a really nice evening but were told that they werent doing outdoor tables. This is not the first time. At least stack the chairs up so we dont get our hopes up. When its busy it is so noisy outside that we prefer to enjoy the weather and hear each other talk. Last time between the 30 minute wait (on a Thursday?!) and the fact that we couldnt sit outside, we left and went elsewhere. That probably seems picky, but when youre paying for your food, youve the right to be, as long as youre polite about it. *My food quality fluctuates. What was good one visit isnt the next. There have been times I went home hungry because my food was so bad I couldnt eat it, and was put off by it. Fortunately, the servers have been kind enough to comp those dishes. When things are burnt or overly greasy for what it is when it shouldnt be, Im not going to eat it. Overall we still go there when its late or we want the cider with our meals. But its not our first choice anymore. I so want to love this place. Im hoping in the future, we have better experiences and can say we really, really love it. For now, its just good sometimes, and we tend to recommend other places to people.

ED

Ed Rex

Absolute rubbish. Staff - the floor manager especially - was a condescending ass-clown who had no business representing the company from a customer facing perspective. After dropping $200 one night and then $500+ the next night for an important business team building dinner, this buffoon refused service to one of our most respected female team leaders after 2 flavorless watered down tap beers. I say again, 2 beers. She was neither loud or boisterous, just quietly eating along with the rest of our party of 10. Meanwhile, the nearly all male party - of which I was one - were served martini after Long Island tea throughout the evening. I dont know if this simpering jerk was frustrated at his lack of ability to impress the opposite sex or just a plain woman-hater, but his actions were extremely discriminatory and ruined the whole evening. Absolutely uncalled for, I am still embarrassed for the restaurant as I write, and the poor victim of this treatment was mortified and inconsolable despite doing nothing wrong. When I asked the 83lb cartoon character why in the world he would pull such a callous stunt, he said to me in a blatantly flaming squeak " sir, the matter is not open for discussion" and flounced away. We entertain a considerable number of clients and in house traveling guests at the Thirsty Lion but no more. We will never spend another penny in this establishment. There is nothing they can possibly do to make this right. Stunned beyond words, we left the rest of our drinks and food, paid our tab, and walked out. Hideous treatment that will be reported to the corporate office.

RO

Robert Zahrowski

We were very disappointed. St Patricks day was packed as expected, so I had reservations. I only had to wait a minute before I was shown to my table. The server Crystal was just super nice and attentive. I noticed David Cox (the manager) was circulating around asking how everything was going, to each table. I was impressed. By the way, St Patricks is considered a holiday at this place so there is no happy hour. (Corporate does not have that in their web site). (Which I found causes many problems for the servers and management) Then our appetizer came our BBQ bacon wrapped shrimp. Absolutely fantastic, flavorful and cooked to perfection. Then came the main course, the special corned beef and cabbage. That was where the break down occurred. The main course was room temperature. When I let the manager know, he apologized and actually brought out another meal which was warm, but not hot. The manager again apologized and removed the main course from the bill. Bottom line was the service and attitude of management could not be better, but the quality of the food from the kitchen is lacking consistency. Probably need an expediter to check food quality. We would return for drinks and food, but not on a holiday.

JO

Josh Salaets

Went to dinner at Thirsty Lion tonight, got the bill, and saw an itemized "living wage service charge" line item on the bill. Manager said it was because of the recent minimum wage and mandatory sick leave bills passed in Oregon, and they decided to tack on a 2% fee versus raising their prices again (which they have hiked plenty in the past 5 years). Totally understandable, and I commend them for actually calling it out instead of hiding it by further price hikes. I responded by adjusting my tip accordingly, and if the wait staff is truly earning a living wage, theres no reason to tip my usual 20+%. The service and food was great, but instead of leaving my usual $5 - $6 on a $28 tab, they got $2, and I didnt even want to leave that. Keep this in mind when voting in more tax hikes this next election, especially Measure 97. If you want to become more socialist like Europe, fine, but realize there are trade offs, and none of us have unlimited funds; we will all will find a way to make ourselves whole, and generally that means less for everyone when socialism comes into play.