Black Rooster Cafe

I am a fan because the guy that made my iced tea was so nice. I am big on friendly business owners and workers. Another thing I really liked about the Black Rooster was the seating area upstairs. I could see people getting together to study or just chat and be really comfortable up there. The tea itself was not the best tea I have ever had. I will return to try other things from the menu.

Visiting on vacation. Just a typical café. Good bagels and freshly made breakfast and lunch sandwiches. Nice atmosphere, but very small. Unfortunately it’s next to all of the food trucks which undoubtedly have better options.

I was on vacation in Portland last week & this little treasure was recommended to us by the Westin Hotel for a quick, small, healthy breakfast. Not only did we have delicious, simple, freshly made breakfast sandwiches, we enjoyed Stumptown coffee and free wifi! Service was friendly and efficient. If you enjoy smoothies, they make them with all natural ingredients. And if you’re planning on taking the Streetcar after, the station is right out front Black Rooster. We’ll definitely come back if staying in the area again.

New ownership seems to have at least turned the service around, nice, friendly, and goes the extra mile. I miscalculated the cost of my coffee and breakfast sandwich, the new owner was completely fine with it and let me have my coffee for 0.25 less. I know the previous ownership would’ve never done such a thing.
The food and drinks are not anything to write home about (yet) though I can see they are trying and at least have an idea of customer service!

The staff is cool and things have improved with the new owner, but I made the mistake of getting the egg salad sandwich the other day and got really sick. Stick with the coffee if you going to the Black Rooster.

I hate to hop on the bad review band wagon but there is a reason so many folks are riding this sad little train. Firstly, I will say that if it weren’t for a ravenous two year old with the frightening ability to morph into a wildebeest when she is hungry gnawing at my arm, I never would have been at this joint in the first place. Just one more thing I will blame on my kid. But they had grilled cheese on the menu and my arm was turning into a bloody stump so we walked in. With more flies than patrons during ‘the lunch rush’, I should have known. After virtually everything I requested from the ray of sunshine behind the counter was denied with shrugged shoulders and a down turned mouth (I was requesting things from the menu mind you), I went with the chef salad. My man girded himself and got the corned beef sandwich. My toddlerbeest shrieked her order for the grilled cheese. My salad was almost too depressing to describe. Wilted iceberg lettuce was topped with unsightly chunks of raw onion and framed by rolled up deli meat and sliced cheese. This vegetable tragedy was accompanied by two plastic medicine cups of «raspberry vinaigrette» straight from the bottle. Hubby’s sarnie? I was afraid to ask but, judging by the forlorn expression on his face as he studied the lonely pieces of bread (seriously, no chips, pickles, nothing?!) and the ‘where’s the beef?’ thought bubble above his head, I knew it wasn’t good. We got some coffee to wash away the horror thinking, as others before us have, that there is no way they can massacre Stumptown coffee the way they massacre food. We were wrong.
There are two reasons this place even gets a star at all, 1) toddlebeest devoured the grilled cheese and resumed her human form, 2) Unilocal won’t allow for less than one star.
Next time you are walking this cute little stretch of Burnside and feel hunger (or a toddler) gnawing at you, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT stop at the Black Rooster.

Our first morning coffee in Portland and Stumptown had a fifty-​person line up. The girl at the counter could have had a better attitude, the place was empty, but the latte was really tasty. Free wifi.

Pretty good sandwiches, terrible service. You know, standard for Portland, the City of Low Expectations. It also seems like every time I try to call in an order or go there within half an hour — sometimes a whole hour — of closing, they’re either already closed or the person working acts as though I am forcing them to endure unspeakable tortures in actually expecting them to serve a customer — their job! What kind of barbarian am I, right? — when they could be leaving. This former barista/​sandwich-​maker, who never, not even once, got to leave right at closing, has no sympathy whatsoever. Too bad they’re two blocks from my place, because it would really make me happy to never have to go there again. Sigh.

Oh BAD espresso… no flavor; waaaay too acidic.
How do they go wrong with Stumptown coffee beans?! Where go some basic skills of the barista? They can get better… please improve…
The Café is right next to a street car station, somewhat center of the business district of pdx, and with those lovely study tables in the back, they can reeeeally make us love them by raising their food/​coffee quality. Maybe open for another hour till 5pm too.
I really want to love this place. please improve.

The food is absolutely delicious… I work in the building and we all come down there fairly often, and its great every time…
Customer Service, not great all the time… but mostly pretty cool, down to earth Portland servers.
I always get wither coffee, breakfast sandwiches or cookies and the portion are phenomenal FOR THE $ 4.00 — $ 5.75 that they charge.
I do think what they say about about the eye rolling experience is true though… all clients are EXPECTED to tip… but I call in my order, so I think its a lot like tipping for drive through… IF your eating in. that’s different.

I have been going here for almost a year now ever since I started attending the Art Institute and I must say this place is more friendlier than your average Starbucks. I like all the warm cozy décor, the chill people that frequent the place, feels like home.
My only concern is some of the prices are a bit steep for what you get, but it is probably due to supply and demand. I mean this place gets pretty busy for such a small coffee shop.
All in all great place.

I definitely will not be going back to this place. I couldn’t agree more with all the one and two star ratings. Although I didn’t get an eye roll from the woman that took my order’ she wasn’t very pleasant at all. I order a ruben sandwich. Disgusting. Cold inside, cheese not melted, very skimpy in size and looked like it was just popped in the microwave for 15 seconds… AND it took like 15 – 20 minutes to get to me and there was no one else in the place when I ordered. The service is SO slow. While I was eating my gross sandwich I saw multiple people wait more than 5 minutes for their simple coffee orders to be made and also saw 2 people get out of line and leave the place for having to wait so long. I would not recommend Black Rooster Café at all.

The first time I went into the place I thought it was really charming but afterwards I was less than thrilled. They serve Stumptown coffee which is probably the only redeeming quality about the place. The day I went in I ordered a bagel sandwich and I was really excited until I saw the conditions under which the food was stored. The cabinet that the pastries and bagels are kept is filled with fruit flies and it is disgusting. After seeing that I didn’t want to even touch the bagel. I will NEVER go back.

OMG! In a moment of weakness and a rushed lunch break, I went back to the Rooster yesterday. Two older women were working behind the counter: one taking/​ringing up orders and one making the sandwiches. I ordered my lunch (repeating myself over and over), paid with my card, signed my receipt, and noticed that the one ringing me up rolled her eyes, crumpled up my receipt and tossed it to the side. Not sure what that was about. A minute or two later, another woman came in and ordered lunch, paid with her card and the same routine. I asked out loud «what’s with the eye roll?» and the one behind the counter said «it’s for you people who don’t tip.»
SERIOUSLY? Sometimes at little places like this, instead of adding a tip to my card, I’ll drop some cash in the jar on my way out after judging the experience. Rolling your eyes and insulting your customers is not the way for me to add on any tip to your already over-​priced lunch.
Peace out, Rooster place. We will never have a third time’s a charm moment.

This place is fine as long as you don’t order anything cooked and make sure to check what you got before you leave. In fact, I’m not sure why they bother making you fill out a slip for your order if they’re not going to give the paper to the person actually making the order.
The first time they messed up my order, I didn’t find out until I was at my desk and had to go all the way back because my sandwich had gross hummus smeared all over it instead of the avocado I had ordered. (I actually like hummus quite a bit, but this was some sort of industrial paste that vaguely tasted of garbanzo beans.)
Now I’m working my way through a Philly Cheesesteak that doesn’t have the veggies or condiments I requested. They did, however, include canned mushrooms — which are disgusting no matter what.

I stumbled across this place while walking around downtown Portland and was pleasantly surprised… I had a great breakfast sandwhich of a toasted onion bagel with scrambled eggs and bacon on it… simply superb… and the cranberry/​black cherry drink I had with it was excellent… I didn’t notice any bad service like some of the previous posters did, so I guess I got lucky… price was within reason in my opinion… would definitely stop in again cause I hate chain places like Starbucks and Seattle’s Best…

I have been to the Rooster a few time now because it is so close to work. Every time I walk out, I wonder why I went back.
Today I walked in to get a soda. How can you mess that up. The lady told me she wouldn’t run my card for less than $ 2 and told me I needed to buy something else. I said «That’s okay, I’ll just go somewhere else.» As I walked away she asked if I was going to put the soda she wouldn’t sell me back. I said nope and walked out.
Then she followed me out in the street to tell me how rude I am and started yelling at me for not buying something and being so rude. I will never go back and I urge you not to either.
Sad day…

After walking by this place so many times, so my boyfriend and I finally decided to stop in. I liked the dark, moody atmosphere of the little café.
There was only one blonde girl working the counter. She was talking to the only other customer in the store. I honestly couldn’t tell if she was finishing making his drink or just chatting. Either way, she didn’t seem acknowledge our presence. We waited for about 10 minutes for another person, who I think was the owner, to take our order.
I don’t mind if an employee wants to chat with friends instead of me, but I feel really awkward being ignored and more reluctant to spend my money there.
Needless to say, I doubt I’ll be back. I have no desire to return. Portland has tons of other great coffeeshops.

Personally, I have nothing against people with attitudes. I like attitudes, they suggest personality, opinions, deep rooted beliefs – none of those are bad things! However, when you have a holier-​than-​thou hipster attitude, I’m going to be a little upset.
I’ve been into the Black Rooster a few times, it’s close to my school. I think it’s a charming little place and I think their coffee is pretty alright. My issue here is really the fact that some friends and I have gotten some bad attitudes from the staff here. We got our coffee in a timely fashion and all, but every latte came with a side of eye roll. so much eye rolling!
I like to think we were nice, made attempts to exchange pleasantries, but may haps we are jerks? Or maybe the staff was having a bad day or two? I’m guessing that’s what went wrong because others seem to have had really great experiences there (reference first few posts). We all have those days so I’m going to breathe deep about this all and I’m not going to rant and flip out.
Black Rooster Café, you are perfectly charming and you have decent coffee. Of the 6 times I have been there, 2 times have been not so great due to attitude. I believe in you though, Rooster. I’m going to keep showing up until we learn to love each other.

A wise Unilocaler once Unilocaled: «Cock-​a-​doodle YUM»…and I find it to be wildly appropriate at this precise moment… as I am wiping leftover cranberry sauce from the corners of my mouth after devouring a turkey sandwich in 3 uncontrollable bites.
This unassuming café packs quite a punch… it took all the things I love about Portland and squeezed them into a tiny 3-​table-​joint right along the streetcar line.
–Free Wi-​Fi? Check
–Stumptown Coffee? Check
–VooDoo Doughnuts? Check
–Two ridiculously attractive and funny baristas? Check
–Close to public transportation? Check
–Tasty Food? Check
–Impromptu Dance Parties? Check
Nothing fancy or pretentious, just a hole-​n-​the wall soup and sandwich joint that you can now officially add to your «stalk Laura at…» list.
(Speaking of cock-​a-​doodle-​doo, I would highly advise you NOT to google «Black Rooster.» Luckily, it is subsequently the title of an album by the Kills… because further down on the list you’ll surely find some less savory options…)