Blue Diamond

What a disappointment! We were regularly going to the Blue Diamond to hear some good music and they do get good bands but that’s where it ends. Over time the service continued to go down, the food portions kept shrinking and prices keep going up plus watery drinks, so we gave up on it. Tonight one of our favorite local bands is playing there so we gave it another shot after 9 months and it was worse then ever.
Made a simple order of one whiskey on rocks, one sprite and a mushroom burger from the «specials» menu. Keep in mind this is an hour and a half before the band goes on and there is only about 10 people in the whole bar. Fifteen minutes later we got our drinks. We waited and waited for the burger and tots for 43 minutes and then we had to ask for napkins, ketchup and silverware. And no drink refills. Burger was meh at best. Wife said «it tastes like a molded patty from the freezer section at the grocery store».
Now our friends arrive to join us about the time we finish eating. They have to wait 15 minutes for the server and then they ordered 2 waters, one BD burger/​tots, one mushroom special/​salad and 2 orders of steak bites. Of course she doesn’t write anything down. They wait for 45 minutes for the two burgers and she comes out a BD burger and a BLT and no steak bites. He says, «no, not my order», she says «I will take care of it». 35 minutes later and finally the right burger but still no steak bite appetizers. She says, «I thought you didn’t want the bites because you ordered the burger?» «No, I wanted the bites too» Needless to say the bites finally came 15 minutes later. So, that’s one hour and 35 minutes to get appetizers, that came after the main meal.
It only gets worse. Server never came and asked if we wanted more drinks, never cleaned up our empty glasses. Apparently never noticed we had empty glasses.
Couldn’t even get the damn check. Had to go to the bar to pay.
We left 2 hours earlier then intended and missed ¾ of a great night of music because the bars service and food were so disappointing and upsetting.
We will never spend another dime at the Blue Diamond on Sandy Blvd.
Portland has so many other great bar/​restaurants why waste time at the BD.
BTW. The owner Steve doesn’t seem to give a shit whether his customers are happy. He is seemingly so busy schmoozing the big name local musicians that he never has time to talk to regular customers to find out if they are having a pleasant experience. His loss.

This was my first experience going to the Blue Diamond and it will be my last. I have never experienced such horrific service. The waitress brought menus asked if we needed a few minutes and never came back. We had to go to the bar to get drinks the only reason we stayed was because of the music. If I wasn’t honest I could have walked out without paying since I had to hunt down the waitress to pay my tab, absolutely ridiculous.

DAY CROWD: We eat lunch here 1 — 3 times per week working close by. Bev is the best! She is one of the owner’s and works her biscuits off Day Shifts. Being a family owned business always scores points with me… then to have an owner wait on you and bring you out delicious food? Jackpot! Everything is priced well and the portions are generous! I always have to take the rest with me to nosh on later at my desk. All of their soups are HOMEMADE! I cannot rave enough about the soups… Friday’s Clam Chowder is bomb! Not that the chicken corn chowder should compete or today’s Italian tomato soup… tasted like a bowl of spaghetti with all of the veggies and the broth?! I told her I will see if there is any left tomorrow =D Seriously it was THAT good. I forget the cooks name, but he is killing it on the daily. You can tell he loves what he does and everything tastes better since he’s been in the kitchen. If it can be homemade, they will do it… right down to her grandmother’s cheesecake. Apparently the staff is sworn to secrecy, but are allowed to make and bring it to get-​togethers, just not the recipe… I have NEVER had a slice of cheesecake as incredible as Bev’s. Even one of my co-​workers was floored (she has her own family recipe too and apparently Bev’s mom’s recipe is better than hers!)
NIGHT CROWD: If you like/​love Blues and Funk, THIS IS THE SPOT FOR YOU! It reminds me of the old CandleLight Room. If you are familiar with the old Candlelight, you will not be disappointed. Live music every night guaranteed to get you moving.
Treat yourself to a dance, a slice of heaven and some soup to take home. Call it a sweet and delicious night out. Seriously y’all.

This place was awesome. I am ALWAYS looking for a chill place to listen to some good music and jam w/​the locals. Definitely an older crowd. Food is surprisingly good for bar food — burger was awesome, waitress recommended the fish & chips we were super surprised it was that good. Like I said, music was awesome — live blues bands play most every night. Drinks were great too. Super reasonable and super secret. :)

To the one person who gave a low 2 star review, people don’t come for the food. They come for the live music, especially blues and jazz. In that context the food is good enough. They have a full bar including about 7 brews on tap. Not an outstanding wine selection, but good enough to keep you happy during the live music just about every night 9pm to Midnight. Also they serve a full menu I think to almost midnight every night. The crowd tends to be older but also plenty of 20 and 30 year Olds around. Dancing to the music too!

Great place to listen to live jazz and blues bands and people watch! The drinks are basic, the crowd is eclectic, the music is solid, and the dancing couples are entertaining. I love that they have music every night and the no cover charge keeps me coming back on a regular basis.

I’m not quite sure why all the rave reviews. I’ve been twice now for dinner and both times the food was mediocre at best. The first time I had the chicken tenders and they smacked of fast food. Granted, they are but they can be very flavorful. The last time I had the Cajun chicken breast with French fries. Expensive for what I got and it just wasn’t that good. The cocktails are okay.
The service is always pleasant. The place is relatively clean. I’ve not been for the entertainment.

I simply love this place!!! it’s a great place to go during the day for a quiet lunch to get away from the office. The food is Amazing and Bev, the owner, will remember you if you go in there more than once. My boyfriend and I go after hours for music and drinks and the staff is attentive but not hovering. I asked the bartender to make a drink she never had before and she did an amazing job!!! I am so lucky to only work a 5 minute drive from here.

The Blue Diamond is on my way home. The food, the drinks, the service – all are topnotch! And there is live music every evening. No cover, just spend $ 5 at least on something you will enjoy. I’ve been coming here since October 2012 and have witnessed the kind of consistency that keeps folks ready to return.

Haven’t tried the food, but the music vibe is terrific. Some of my favorite local bands perform here now.
Update: I tried the steak tidbits and fries. Yummy delish!

The Blue Diamond is very unassuming. It is so unassuming that there are only 9 other reviews on Unilocal about it. It is so unassuming that you’ve driven past it thousands of times as you are on your way to Hollywood along NE Sandy Blvd and probably never noticed it. I notice it all the time, but it took an article in a paper I saw within the last 6 months or so that finally prompted me to go check the place out. How happy am I that I know how to read? Very.
They have live music here 7 days a week. There is never a cover. The music is mostly (maybe all) blues. There aren’t many bars like this in Portland. The Blue Diamond is a diamond in the rough in this town.
Sue and I came over here on a Saturday night. The place wasn’t very packed when we walked in the door shortly after 9pm. The band had just started their first set, so we found our way to the bar, ordered some drinks (we found out later that there is table service) and found a seat at one of the communal tables near the stage. Most of the tables are near the stage as the place isn’t very big. As I said there is no cover charge, but you do have to spend a minimum of $ 5 if you want to stay.
Within 30 minutes or so of us arriving, the place packed up nicely. The crowd was very mixed. Young and old. I would say this is an «old man bar» if there ever was one in Portland, but there were plenty of younger folks here on this night as well. People were up dancing and just having an all around good time. The band was really good and it wasn’t too loud.
Later on we ordered some food. Greasy fare dominates the menu, but they also seemed to have a good variety of salads. There were only 2 bartenders. One stayed behind the bar and the other ran around the room taking orders while still mixing drinks behind the bar. Saying that, the service was very friendly and very good.
I plan to make my way back here again very soon.

I came here the weekend after my 21^st birthday with my parents and we had a blast. Lisa Mann was the live music for the night and she was incredible! The drinks were fantastic, and I was amazed at how pack this little bar was and how fast the bartenders were moving. Definately get there early if you are going to watch the music. It was PACKED! There was also a blazer game on that night that people were watching so I would recommend getting there an hour to 30 minutes early to grab a seat. Great service! I will definately be coming back!

Great live music! We went on a Tuesday and just so happened that Anthony Hamilton’s band, the Hamiltone’s, decided to stop in as well and they kilt it! Amazing. Just to be clear before they came on the local band was great too. Friendly atmosphere, great people, great bartender. Would definitely return.

Live music is great. The atmosphere is wonderful. Great little place on sandy blvd.
I am a Vancouver resident that rarely finds himself crossing the river for my entertainment but this place will be seeing me again. I came for the music and stayed for the atmosphere. Thanks Blue Diamond.

SUPER LOUD! Can you Hear me??? What did you say?
People on there cell phones. Learn some Manners when going out and leave your Phone in your Pocket.
Good Bar Food though.
Would come again… Maybe. Nothing Great!

Blue Diamond is your garden variety Portland dive bar with a little character. Apparently they are proud of the jazz scene here, but I might beg to differ. it seemed more like a band slammed in the corner playing a deafening keyboard solo that sounded like Max Headroom short circuiting.
Music wasn’t the cause of my visit though, was just there to catch up with friends over cheap drinks, that was a success. In a state of starving we decided to order some eats. Food is basic to be sure, I ordered a veggie burger and chowder. Veggie burger is as you might expect, but chowder was actually not too shabby.
Overall this joint is about a C, but the bartendress has enough character to warrant an a-​ok.

This is a great place that I discovered this February, and have returned 4 times since then. Superb live music each time from different bands. Also, it has some of the absolutely nicest waitstaff/​bartenders that I’ve seen in any venue.

Definitely not a fancy place, but definitely worth it to check out the quality blues musicians that blow through. The bartenders are great, too!

I came here Saturday night for a special event. I knew there was going to be a band so went a tad early to grab a seat. Well, was I surprised when I walked in and discovered that every seat in the place was filled half an hour before the band started playing. They were even setting up more tables and chairs in the aisles to try to offer up some more seating. I finally wormed my way into a free seat at a table of about 16.
The waitress (Barb I think) was amazing! She was waiting on about 50 people and though a tiny bit surly was super quick to offer service. The bartender must have had about a dozen arms as quickly as Barb was bringing drinks out. I was definitely impressed with the service. I ordered my typical Long Island Iced Tea ($ 6 by the way) and was told that I could only have two of these. I haven’t heard that for a while.
I was told by the man next to me that the Fish and Chips was great but I just wanted a little ‘snack’ so ordered a chicken quesadilla. I didn’t see the price but when I gave her a $ 10 all she gave me back was three quarters. $ 9.25 for a quesadilla? WTF? I have a feeling she might have charged me for the fries the lady next to me also ordered. The quesadilla was great. It filled so full of chicken, peppers, onions, cheese, and (bacon?) that I had to use the utensils provided instead of picking it up with my hands. Maybe it was $ 9.25. It would have been worth it even at that price.
I didn’t stick around for the second Long Island as it was so crowded you couldn’t even dance. I definitely want to come back here for dinner sometime and another of their $ 6 drinks! (I hear the steak dinners are killer)

I am a former Portland resident. When living there, I worked for a time within close proximity to Sandy Boulevard. I discovered the Blue Diamond, by happenstance one day. I wanted something different to eat for lunch that day, besides the Happy Teriyaki food, which is also on Sandy Boulevard. And, I was tired of my other lunch choices-​microwaved canned ravioli, or brown-​bag-​leftovers.
I hesitated to walk in, since I don’t really like bar and grill joints much.
But I was feeling bold that day. Once inside, I was tantalized by the smell of food being cooked. It smelled strongly of grilled steak, onion-​rings, and a hint of something garlicky-​perhaps spaghetti or pizza.
Being famished, I grabbed a menu from the bar, and sat down at a small, cozy booth in the corner. A waitress appeared quickly, and told me that they had daily lunch specials. On that day (Friday), the special was a grilled ham-​n-​cheese sandwich, with your choice of sides-​fries,
potato-​salad, or cole-​slaw. I said yes, and chose cole-​slaw for my side dish.
My sandwich was hearty. It featured thick-​sliced ham, and gooey, melted American cheese. It came with a few sweet-​pickle chips, which were a delicious garnishment. The cole-​slaw was in a small plastic cup. It was tasty, but a bit on the watery side. The soup of the day, was clam chowder, featured every Friday. I had a cup with my lunch, and was hooked from that day on. Their chowder is rich and creamy. It seethes with juicy, tender clams, and big chunks of vegetables.
The décor is a bit run-​down, but not seedy. It’s brightly-​lit for a bar, and
has some cheery wallpaper. This place has been around for a while, and the retro-​factor has it’s charm. No one could say it’s a flashy, yuppified bar-​it reeks of well-​worn, corner-​bar character.
The Blue Diamond allows smoking indoors, which I didn’t like. I’m a dedicated non-​smoker. So, after that first visit, I always got my food to go. Their food is above-​average, especially their clam chowder (which is way, way, above average). I recommend the Blue Diamond. But, you might want to get your food to go too, if you’re also a non-​smoker.