Departure Portland Restaurant + Lounge

Reviews 4

A

A Private User

Good view without choice of table, good very expensive food, bad "service". I called two weeks in advance to make a reservation for my sisters bachelorette party with a party of *14* and called again a week before to ask for a good table, possibly on the rooftop which they said wasnt possible to reserve there, which was a little weird but... okay. I just wanted it to be a wonderful experience for my sister. Upon arrival at our reservation time, they designated us to sit at TWO different bar-like tables... after I called two times previously asking for accommodations for *14* people for my sisters bachelorette party. That wasnt exactly what I had in mind and it was exactly why I called them to see what they could offer. They seated our party but I was very disappointed and asked them nicely for another table which the waitress was reluctant to give. Finally my mother told them kindly that it was "unacceptable" and we were thinking about leaving when the waitress went to go talk to her manager. Twenty minutes passed and they came to take our drink order while we waited. Waitress became snooty when we said we wanted non-alcoholic beverages and told us they didnt have strawberry lemonade as another waitress gave one of our party one. Strange. So after twenty minutes they showed me a tiny cramped room where if you wanted to sit if you might have luck if you climbed over your chair and didnt use your arms to eat and didnt turn your head lest you kiss your neighbor. But, at least we would all be sitting at the same table. She then showed me a third option which undoubtably should have been their first. A U shape corner with tables that could easily be adjusted to seat 14 comfortably. After ten more minutes they had it ready and we were finally seated and then proceeded to have a great time. But, how difficult should it be to just seat a party of 14 without having to wait 30 minutes? Olive Garden could do it without blinking, why not The Departure where 14 people would EASILY make them some big bucks and a good review? Also, a side-note, they add on a 20% gratuity without an option. Maybe its because they knew they wouldnt get any tip because of their service or lack-there-of.

DE

Dennis Cao

This is a really hip Asian inspired tapas bar. We came here on our recent visit to Portland because we loved the food the executive chef prepared in the recent Top Chef reality show. Among the 3 of us, we ordered 7 dishes. Instead of the describing every dish we ordered Ill just highlight the ones that made the best impression. First and foremost, you have to order the Tom Kha soup. Its absolutely wonderful and it basically hits every flavor profile! The coconut broth is both sweet and creamy, theres a little acidity to it from the lime juice, theres heat from the jalepeno oil, theres a bit of saltiness to it, and a slight sour aftertaste. It is chalked up full of seafood; in every scoop, your spoon will be littered with a combination of shrimp, tender chunks of rock fish, or sweet lumps of Dungeness crab meat. This is certainly a must have if you come here. The second favorite dish at the table was the crispy pork belly. It must have been cooked for an extremely long time because I couldnt taste an ounce of fat on these golden brown square chunks of meat. I wouldnt consider the meat itself to be the juiciest pork belly dish Ive ever tasted, but it certainly made an impression with the tangy sauce comprised of pickled cherries and ginger. The hotly contested third place dish at our table was the Brussels sprouts. I absolutely loved the sauce these lightly charred, mostly broiled Brussels sprouts came dressed under. The sauce was extremely fresh and tangy with the use of chilies and vinegar. I will concede that it could get a tad bit too salty if you were to eat it nonstop, but in portion control it was lovely. The charred chicken, wagyu beef meatballs, scallops, and the special of the evening - Hawaiian snapper sashimi were all decent. Some of them I would decide to forgo on my next visit, but Ill let you decide on those yourselves.

KA

Kaitlyn Corry

This restaurant was a big disappointment. Recommended from several outlets across the internet, we thought we were in for at least a good meal and fantastic ambience, especially given the price. Although high price does not always equal high quality, there is still certain expectations that I feel must be met. My dining partner and I opted for the chefs tasting menu, which is 11 courses for $75. They started us out with 2 sushi plates, one a tuna sushi and the other a crab roll. The crab tasted like crab stick and the tuna was less fresh tasting than deli sushi and about ten times saltier. It went on in that way for most of the meal -- salty and uninspired. One of the courses was an overly salty and garlicky green. Again, for $75 I am not looking for a tiny bowl of depressed greens. They seemed to be trying to get rid of a ton of zucchini because it was inexplicably in several of the dishes, and each time it stood out in its blandness. Of the 11 plates, two were memorable: the deboned chicken wings and the bass. Our main waitress was very sweet and accomodating but on the whole the service left something to be desired. The time between courses dragged and even though we waited a bit, the empty plates were still there when the next full ones were arriving. The view was good but did not match up to the hype. Im not from Portland and was hoping to have a fancy and delicious dinner during my stay. Unfortunately I decided on Departure and am left feeling ripped off.

NI

Nicole Mommsen

I have to say I think this place is a little overrated. We were staying at The Nines and were really excited to have such a highly rated restaurant right upstairs. We had a reservation for 9:30 and asked for outside seating in the reservation, I knew this might mean we wouldnt get a seat right away. She told us if we wanted outside seating it would be 55 minutes so we asked for a seat inside at a window instead and were told that wait would be 30 minutes. That was no problem so we went out to the patio and got drinks to wait for the call. $19 for a plain lemonade and a cocktail seems like a lot to me but we had a cool view so I guess thats part of what you pay for. An hour later we still had not gotten a call about our table so we went inside to check and apparently there was a mix-up and our reservation had been given to someone else. I dont know how that could possibly happen because we dont have a common last name and they never called us to seat us so kind of odd. In the end we were seated at a normal table (no window, inside) and the food, while it tasted great, was so overpriced ($47 for literally 2 shrimp, a small scoop of tuna on rice, and a little bowl of noodles with beef). The best thing about the whole experience was our waitress who was so sweet and helpful to us and really if she hadnt of been such a great waitress I would probably give even less stars. Im glad we gave it a try but Im not dying to go back and probably wont. Sorry!