Brasserie Montmartre

Perhaps it is coincidental that I went the same week that Elizabeth Taylor died. The gods may have been trying to point out that all things of beauty fade away. A sad lesson for my birthday, when I have to commit to being forty-​something (41).
I remember this place in its heyday, back when Art Nouveau was Hip Retro. It was the premier French Brasserie and Jazz Supper Club. Elizabeth Taylor was just finishing her second stay at the Betty Ford clinic, and the Berlin wall fell from the sky to the ground along with our hair.
Things haven’t been the same since.
On the surface, the bar looks inviting, but the restaurant is having an identity crisis. There are still notes of the black and white checkered floor in the lobby, but then there are dark carpets and curtains a-​la-​steakhouse, mixed with the exposed broken bricks of a trendy coffee house, along with chandeliers and pillars. It rather looks like Falco bought The Central.
That didn’t really bother me when I arrived, though, as all of these elements could be made to work, if they were intentional. But the illusion was soon to fail, when it came to the the service.
We were made to ask for everything we wanted. The waiter was in a hurry and did not take the time to describe anything. I asked about a dish with a French name I did not know and he said, «it’s chicken on the bone with mushrooms and tomatoes.» That was it. I flinched when I heard Julia Child scream. Not to mention they were out of a couple of items, though he let us know when we were ordering. No specials; nothing special.
The cocktail menu looks nice, but at $ 9 and $ 11, I should be impressed. The drinks were already sweet, but they still added a sugar rim. I had a Hemingway that a child could have enjoyed. Though, this review may be a lot better if I had sat at the bar.
The dinner was good. Apparently the cooks are still holding it together. I had a lamb shank and others in my party had pork tenderloin and steak, all of which was very edible. Unfortunately, I could get these items anywhere, and pay less for them, so they cannot serve as a prop.
If they want to stand a chance of surviving, they need a new Front of House manager, with new waitstaff, and a commitment to the Jazz Supper Club form, but it may be too late. Elizabeth Taylor was a legend, in part because she knew when to exit showbiz and move on to charity. Perhaps that’s why the gods sent me here. To teach me that I’m way past remodel. It’s time to reinvent.

It’s supposed to be a swanky first class place, but there are some issues.
First of all, I suspect that the employees aren’t treated very well. A place with so many reviews talking about the slow service and rude employees is sad — it’s probably not a great place to work or they’re understaffed. Each time I’ve eaten here, the service has indeed been quite slow and the bartenders or servers seem very tired or on edge.
Food: Usualy good but not spectacularly outstanding, and it often takes a long time to come out even if it’s just a salad (how does a salad take 25 minutes?). I would stick with appetizers in the bar with a cocktail which seems faster. Overpriced for what is delivered.
Wait time: I’ve never had to wait
Has an old-​school swanky lounge feel with live jazz music. Décor is somewhat upscale with a bit of rustic touch. Nice bar. The live music is always way too loud and distracts from your experience… I mean, it’s really freakin’ loud.

Brasserie Montmartre has a modern French feel with a rustic tinge from the brick walls. Chandeliers, french lounge music, and unfortunately smelly candles. We went for lunch so the traffic was slow. The waitress was very kind and attentive. Unfortunately, we waited a good 25 minutes for our food, with a party of 12 who arrived after us being served first. To make up for it the waitress brought us bread, and gave us free dessert. The restaurant is surprisingly large and very open, with a mini bar and lounge downstairs and full bar upstairs. Lunch appetizers ranged from $ 8 – 12 while entrees were $ 10 – 25. Our meals (lobster mac and cheese) were very good, with plenty of lobster. However, the wait for the food detracted from the meal. This would probably be a better place to visit for cocktails and dinner later in the evening.
~Sarah & Hannah
xoxo

Went here last night, 1÷16÷2011 on recommendation from hotel employee where we were staying. We had been out to see a play, had a late night dinner at Biwa (AWESOME) and ended up in the Pearl for the hotel… weren’t quite ready to pack it up for the night so we wanted a few drinks within walking distance of the hotel.
It was about 11PM, the hotel employee said they were open until 2AM. We walk in and the bartender at first ignores us (there were 3 other couples in the entire bar). We sat at the bar, he came over to say he’s sorry but they’re not serving anymore food. No biggie, we wanted drinks. We order, he grumbles a bit and makes the drinks. I thanked him and we had our drinks. I finished mine, the bartender comes down and sees the empty glass, doesn’t say anything and pretends it’s not empty. So I ask if I can have another. He actually looks at the clock (my husband still had half a beer to go) and sighs… My husband says, «She’ll have it finished by the time I finish my beer…» The bartender makes the drinks, I thank him profusely and he doesn’t say a word… The absolute only reason this got a second star instead of the 1 star rating for horrible service is that the guy actually made a wonderful kamikaze… sigh.

On our stop into Portland, we had setup a meeting with some counterparties we deal with in the Northwest. They recommended this restaurant as it was close to our hotel. Arrived to find a uniquely designed restaurant which I thought would be good based on the modern design. We were early so headed to the bar for some cocktails while we waited for everyone to show up.
Seated towards the front of the restaurant and quickly ordered a few more drinks and some appetizers (charcuterie plate, fried risotto ball, fried artichoke). Wasn’t too big on the fried artichoke but then again I really don’t like artichokes. It seemed as if the restaurant was trying to put a twist on the idea of frying pickle chips. Unique and creative but not for all. Risotto balls was basically just risotto rolled into a meatball like shape and fried. Again creative but I thought that the risotto was too wet. Charcuterie plate was so so, I think the best part of this was the pickled items items in the center. Ordered their arrugula salad which was very good. It had fried shallots and shaved cheese which complimented the arrugula, a definite must try. Ordered the steak frittes and was very disappointed. I know I can pick a better cut of meat out of the local market. The steak was extremely tough and could not even finish it as my jaw was tired after eating 4 pieces. Not only was it tough but it also was flavorless. I should’ve asked for some A1 sauce! The fries however were very good. Didn’t even want to bother with dessert but they did bring out a brownie served with ice cream as it wad his birthday. I know Portland has better restaurants than this. I can see why there are so many bad reviews of this place. Won’t be back here and there are tons of cheaper French restaurants here in LA that blow this one out of the water.

3.5 stars. rounding up for the killer happy hour deals.
Stumbled on this place by sheer luck when walking around downtown.
An employee kind of «woo-​d» us in. It was around 3pm on a weekday, and the place was empty completely!
It was happy hour, and the prices were cheap for the happy hour food.
2 of us had the burger, and it was actually pretty good, and a great value for the price. I think it was around $ 6, and was on par or better than a $ 12 burger counterpart you’d see at a place like Morton’s. The biggest complaint though is the service was slow for our party of 4. It seemed to take longer than average to get all our food.
The atmosphere was nice, the place looked brand new, and they have a full bar. The regular prices look expensive, but this place has almost everything you can think of. I can’t comment on the quality of
the steaks.
Overall we weren’t disappointed, and there’s worse nearby, like Daily Grill next door.

Went for happy hour with a friend. sat outside. In general, I wish Portland would do more with outside table ambience but I understand that it’s a short season and all. You are basically sitting at a black metal table with an uncomfy metal chair out in the street. The only reason for doing this of course is because we need the sun.
Their happy hour food is a-​ok. Had caesar salad and their artichoke hearts. There were 5 little hearts on a plate. whoopie doo. that was a little disappointing. So I had to order their rosemary white bean dip. Very rosmaryish. yum!
Only went inside because I had to use the ladies room. It looks so shiny and pretty from what I could see. They definitely cleaned it up from when I used to go there. They still had the wonderful black and white tiled floor. I’ll be back once the weather changes to listen to some music and cozy up inside while it’s pouring outside.

A friend and I went to try out the Brasserie since I have not been since it reopened. We went on a Tuesday night about 6:30. The place wasn’t very busy although it did pick up after we were seated. We got seated in a booth towards the back, by the stage which had me a little concerned.
Our waitress came right out and asked what we wanted to drink. We weren’t quite ready so she came back to check on us, and was very nice. She told us about the special for the night and I was sold!
We each had a glass of wine and started out with the Rosemary White Bean Dip, which was very very good! My friend had the boulabaise and I had the special which was salmon with zucchini, portobello mushrooms, bacon and fried polenta cubes. I didn’t try her meal but she said it was very good, and my salmon and polenta was also good. Of course we couldn’t stop before dessert! We split two desserts, the chocolate rum soufflé and the warm cookies with dipping sauces. Both came out warm and ready for us to dive in to… I was not disappointed at all!
Before we left a gentleman started playing the piano, which I was worried meant we wouldn’t be able to continue our conversation, but he played at a decent level and the music was pretty good.
Overall I would come back anytime. The prices were reasonable for the portions of food you get. Our waitress was really great and checked on us frequently enough to keep us happy, but not to the point we were feeling annoyed. I know I’ve seen some bad reviews but I didn’t have anything bad to say other than the back can get a little bit warm at night because of the A/​C not staying on constantly. It’s an old building, it happens, and when I said something to the waitress she was nice enough to make sure it kicked back on.

I’m leaning towards 1.5 stars but I’m feeling generous & rounding up to 2. Their posted menus looked acceptable but once we were seated, we only had the option of their small, unimpressive brunch menu. My croque madame was on some super thickkk bread and was dry and the «over-​easy» eggs were more like over-​medium/​hard. Bummer for someone who likes runny yolk and as some kind of food lube for that bread that otherwise had to choaked down. :-(
Service was inattentive even though there was maybe 3 other tables in the whole place. Also, I was charged the wrong amount and had to call a few days later to be sure that the charge wasn’t going to go through as I saw it on my checking statement… I was trying to be nice to say that he undercharged my card and to re-​do it but he never showed me the void and that makes me skeptical…
This place could have some cool ambiance with the décor but I’m just not feeling it. The one pro I will mention: a pianist playing some chill jazz at the back of the joint for the first 30 minutes of my meal was quite nice. After he left, all hope was lost.

Total Train Wreck! No longer a proud brasserie, nor even a humble but self-​respecting bistro (think Le Pigeon), and barely worthy of being considered a restaurant. Live music venue, maybe, if you can bear the indifferent, clueless and s-​l-​o-​w service, and have no need to talk to your companions over the din of the live music in the acoustically horrid space (I found the remodel to be more garish, a la «Real Housewives of New Jersey», than tasteful). Why do I say such terrible things about a once proud house?
In a really good mood after making three great scores in the shoe department at the Nordstrom’s Men’s Half Yearly Sale, I was excited to revive an old tradition of following a Nordie’s spree with a couple nice drinks and delectable bites at BM (the initials now sadly fit all too well) with the friend who helped me not make all the wrong shoe choices. I figured it was too much to expect that one of my old favorites, the Langostino appetizer in a white wine butter sauce, would be on the new menu, and it was not.
Tuesday evening, around 7:30, place mostly empty, except for a large table of office workers, quite tipsy from unwinding from 5:00 presumably, way in the back where I noticed a band setting up. Hmm? Hostess seated us at one of the orphan 2-​tops against the wall in front of her podium.? We asked to sit close to the front, to enjoy one the first sunny evenings we’d had here in weeks and were gladly accommodated (good thing, as that extra distance made it JUST possible to hear my friend over the (bad) band when they cranked it up at 8:00.)
It had to take 8 minutes for the waiter to appear to even take our drink orders (my friend had the Don Draper, which he said was poorly made; I tried to order a Citron lemon drop. After articulating «Citron» 3x, then explaining it was a lemon flavored Absolut vodka, server claimed they no have-​?. OK, just get me a lemon drop, then.) And the bacon wrapped dates for a starting app, we’re hungry. (Isn’t that app kind of 1960’s, or is it so retro its hip again?). It did turn out to be the only edible item we ordered, even it it was cloyingly sweet and had a bunch of pointless squiggles on the plate of what I could only identify as molasses.
Even though the place was empty but for the drinking office workers, it took nearly 15 minutes to get our drinks, although we did get a «half-​time report» from the server that he was sorry for the delay, our drinks would be up shortly. We had a clear view of the bar, and the bartender was nowhere in sight, and had not started them at that point.
The new menu was underwhelming, and, it being a warm evening, we decided to have a light meal of additional app’s and salads. Yum, Salad Tuna Nicoise, described properly on the menu as oil «poached» albacore tuna, with olives, egg, tomato, etc. I also ordered a side of their frites from the steak frites entrée, to compare their offering to the great ones coming out of the kitchens at Laurelhurst Market and Park Kitchen and the many other places around town doing them so well recently.
But first the appetizers. Friend ordered the French Onion Soup, for which he had been hankering, and I selected the «Crispy Artichokes». After too long a wait, the waiter delivered to my friend ESCARGOT, and my ‘chokes. As far as I can tell the crispy artichokes were either a frozen product that was overcooked, almost burned, with a semi-​rancid remoulade, or canned artichokes with corn meal, overcooked.
The waiter was vaguely embarrassed and conciliatory, but in replacing the escargot with the FO soup, brought all the remaining items at once: his soup and both our tuna nicoise, destroying any sense of pacing. I never saw a frite the whole evening, as he obviously spaced that part of the order totally.
The FO soup had to be a salty stock from a powdered base, or a can, with a mat of soggy limp onions smothered under a grease ball of cheese with a couple soggy croutons completing the mess. Inedible.
The tuna nicoise was, I kid you not, nothing more than a half-​can of poorly drained canned Bumble Bee tuna (CHUNK, NOT EVEN SOLID), dumped over what had to be a bagged salad mix to which had been added: 2 small canned pickled asparagus tips, 2 more of those canned artichoke hearts, and 2 cherry tomatoes, cut in halves. Absent were the advertised eggs, and the requisite olives (WHAT DO THEY THINK MAKES IT A SALAD «NICOISE»?) Whatever the dressing was, was indistinguishable from Wishbone Italian).
We were not about to eat that sorry salad, made polite but appropriate comments on the proferred items, (by that time, over the loud, bad music), and quickly paid for the drinks, dates, and FO soup. Remaining items were removed from the bill.
This might be OK for happy hour, or drinks, or if you know and like a particular band that is playing, but, PORTLAND, the Brasserie Montmartre we remember from years past is DEAD AND GONE, replaced with a clueless operation.

I ate here with a friend during Dining Month (
) — 3 courses for $ 25! Unlike other participating restaurants, the Brasserie let us choose our appetizers and entrees, which we really appreciated. (Ten01, for instance, has a set menu created for Dining Month patrons.) So, big points there, Brasserie. *ding!*
I chose the green salad to start, with the chicken entrée to follow. My selections were very flavorful, fresh and moist. More points, Bra. *ding!* Plus, big portions; no skimping because of the $ 25 special! *ding ding!*
My friend ordered the lentil soup and clam linguine. She was less than impressed. In fact, she even called the linguine ‘flavorless’. *bong!* A couple of points removed. Sorry, Brasserie.
Her Manhattan was amazing, though. *ding!*
But the service was sloooow. Almost 30 minutes elapsed before our order was taken. *bong!*
Our server was sweet as honey. *ding!*
In fact, almost too sweet. *bong!*
The desserts were brought out by some random guy –not the bartender, and clearly not a waiter– and when I asked him what it was he said, «Uh… sorbet.» «What kind of sorbet?» «Uh… let me ask.»
*bong!*
It turns out it was raspberry-​rhubarb sorbet, served on top of a chocolate sauce accompanied by a thin, crisp butter cookie. Easily the most delicious of the three courses. *ding!*
We were told which band would be playing the night we made our reservation; when we got there someone completely different was on stage. Which is neither a *ding* or a *bong*, because the piano player who ended up performing was really fantastic and even took requests.
So… overall I walked away from my dinner reasonably happy. It could have been a better experience, but for $ 25 I figure I got more than what was coming to me. My friend could not say the same thing, however; she was disappointed with her meal.

I too had the mad crush on this place before they closed, but it’s just not the same. After a rather long wait to place our drink and snack orders one of our appetizers eventually showed up. The last we saw of the waiter he professed that the salads are up and «I’ll be right back with them and bread» and he was gone. The server who took over for him was a bit more competent, who had to bring us both the salads and the bread after we were pretty much done with everything else. We were there for a birthday party and no one wanted to really say anything, but the vegi only people who ordered salads as entrées were certainly unsatisfied. A few appetizers never even showed up, maybe waiter number one was having them for his lunch.
Still it’s the only place for snails in P. town, so I am sure I’ll return.

Generally I find the collective wisdom of the Unilocaler community is accurate. In this case I question the aggregate rating. After experiencing a long lunch here I was impressed with the service, the food and the atmosphere.
When we first entered there was a jazz group playing which required a bit of effort to speak above the music but not so much that it is distracted from the experience. The music by the way was great.
Drinks are generous with some interesting combination such as a really well done French 76. The food was excellent. I had a Croque Madam which was ham, cheese on toast bread topped with a fried egg. Soooo good. Service was excellent. Very nice place.

We popped down for Happy Hour early evening on Saturday. While the options for HH are limited, oh god are they delicious. I had the Mac and Cheese, which rivaled the Montage for creaminess but without any gimmicks. My husband had the hamburger. Both were divine. And yes, the portion sizes are traditional a la carte sized, but I prefer it! It’s nice not to feel heaving after leaving a restaurant.
The real wins here though were the service and the cocktails. I had the Nicatini, which is complicated and delicious. This is an invention of the bartender, who came out to ask me what I thought. I also had a Corpse Reviver, which was even better. Wonderfully professional bar staff, you can definitely get more than a gin and tonic here!
Our waiter was delightful, friendly and timed everything really well. No interruptions, nothing too fast, nothing too slow. All in all, I’m thrilled it’s back and living up to its previous reputation. Welcome back!

The only thing that is preventing me from giving this five stars was the portion size. I mean, we are paying top dollar for some good food, I really don’t want to feel like I’m at Weight Watchers while I eat.
That said, this place is awesome! We walked in on a busy Friday night and were seated within minutes. The staff was super-​friendly and not pretentious, the food was perfect (not gonna bitch about the portion size again… oh, whoops) and the atmosphere and band were just what we needed to relax and have a great night.
The music was at the right volume so the place felt alive, but you could still have a conversation, the band played some upbeat old jazz standards and sounded great. The crowd was a little bit older, but nobody was overdressed and the overall environment was a nice blend of upscale food with a low-​key vibe.

I can’t wait for them to work out the bugs so I can update my review to five stars! They have a great beginning. It’s wonderful to see the Brasserie return.
1. lighting was a bit too low to see the food as clearly as we wanted
to.
2. our server was green and not ready for prime time, could project his
voice a bit more and learn the wine list or be able to make
recommendations. he seemed a bit scared.
3. professional musicians should know how to distinguish between a
performance where they are the focus, and a performance where they are there to enhance the dining experience. The musicians that night were a bit loud, and leaning a bit towards the former concept than the
latter.
4. food: all excellent, if a bit overpriced… each entrée was about $ 2 – 5 more than similar entrees at Lovely Hula Hands or Belly Timber, but I think people expect to pay a little more downtown, due to the convenience factor for pre-​theater dinners and business lunches.
All in all a great time and I hope they continue to improve.

First visit was simply for drinks and snacks. The atmosphere is a bit different, certainly much less of a cosy feel, but I like it. The happy hour food was good and reasonable priced. If you can’t take the price of the drinks then you should order some form of ethanol on the rocks. They make those very strong. Just booze and rocks. Yum.
Live music is well met. Mmmmmm jazz.
My first impression left me looking forward to a dinner there. Particularly the Navarin caught my eye. I too am sad to see the kermit shanks gone, but hey, I know it was me and 5 other people eating those things.
Also, something of note for Portland restaurants occurs here. Do you see those hours of operation, oh ye restauranteurs? That is when a restaurant should open and close. Open for lunch, stay open all flippin day, and don’t stop the fun till the world is asleep. I’m happy to eat, drink, and be merry at 3pm and at 2am. It would be nice if someone was around serving me, cause the local hobos don’t share their swill like they used to.
Two things need to change right off the mark, however:
First, get WiFi, please. Cell phones have never worked at the brasserie. When I’m in bar stool mode and 4 hours has gone by, someone might need to know that I’m still alive.
Also, the menu, that should go on the web site please. More to come when I’ve saved enough pennies for a trip back.

Well they certainly classed up the joint with the remodel: Chandeliers dripping with crystals, brick exposed walls, gold framed mirrors above the bar. It’s beautiful. But they lost me with my first (and only) cocktail.
When a waiter finally arrived at our table, about 10 minutes after our arrival, I ordered the Don Draper, described as an old fashioned made with cherry infused bourbon. The drink I received was so freakishly weak that if I didn’t know better I would be forced to declare Don Draper a pussy for drinking such a ridiculous concoction. But we all know that’s not Don, at least where his booze is concerned.
The food was good. And expensive. Too expensive for what it was, but probably not too expensive for the typical Brasserie clientele. It was a very well-​dressed, older crowd that probably manages their money, or retirement portfolios better than I do. If I’m spending over $ 100 on dinner for 2, I want that to come with cocktails that numb me before I part with my hard-​earned cash.
I actually couldn’t get out of the Brasserie fast enough when I realized that they were starting to set the stage for live music, and we were sitting at a table mere centimeters from the stage. The aisle space between tables is so tiny that each bongo drum that was carried past our table to the stage scraped the edge of the table. I had no idea that there would be live music, and if I had, I never would have accepted that table.
This is not the Brasserie of days past. It’s a new, fancier version of itself. Gone are the crayons and paper table toppers, as well as the sense of humor that goes along with a place that provides crayons and paper table toppers. Hell, Don Draper wouldn’t be caught dead in this place.

If I didn’t have such a mad crush on the Brasserie from my younger days, I’d have rated this only 2 stars. It was nice to go in last night and see the familiar décor, the crayon art on the walls, etc. That being said…
Our group was amazed at the poor service of our waiter. He could not seem to remember our orders (repeatedly), forgot to bring our water several times, and disappeared for long periods of time. Furthermore, there were all kinds of miscellaneous charges on the bill for our cocktails — i.e., a chambord kamikaze was charged $ 1 extra to have the chambord (after repeated questioning as he couldn’t initially explain the charges on our bill), and other strange charges. Y’all this is besides the fact that their cocktails, which were good, are running primarily in the $ 10 – 12 range. He brought over a plate of 4 cocktails and one was wrong, so instead of handing three of us our cocktails (which we asked him to do), he wouldn’t and returned back to the bar to fix the one drink). Our chins dropped, it was very strange to watch his behavior. I guess in a place like this we’d expect someone with more experience, and hopefully a sense of humor — that last part, even if you make mistakes, is what gets you good tips. Also, my friend ordered the lobster tail appetizer at $ 14 and it was two langustinos, the size of 2 prawns. The French Onion soup was lacking and the menu was freakishly expensive. Never was asked how my food was or if we wanted dessert. But on food, as far as I’m concerned in a recently reopened restaurant, can all be forgiven if there is good service. One of the servers stopped by our table and had a great sense of humor — wish she was our waitperson. Music was great — Will West & The Friendly Strangers. The acoustics/​speakers of the restaurant however need vast improvement — it was hard to clearly hear the great music we were listening to. Great doorman and nice host staff, however when you come in there is a giant curtain you have to fight your way through — kind of comedic in a way. One thing they did not have on the tables by the way was the paper & crayons — pleeeeease bring it back :)
This all being said, I am looking forward to returning, but hope they will pay closer attention to providing great service that the original Brasserie was known for along with the killer atmosphere.

Attended the invitational pre-​opening dinner this evening, which means we got a real deal price-​wise. Tell you what — I’ll review as if I paid full menu price for what we had.
The space is delightfully classy. Love the bar and dining room. The lounge downstairs has comfy couch seating and looks to be a good spot to chill while listening to the live music from above. A trio by the name of Boy & Bean were crooning some great tunes while we were there. The huge gilt framed mirrors over the bar are from the previous incarnation of this venue — alas, before I found Portland.
They don’t officially open until November 3, but I think they did a great shakedown job tonight. there were lots of (dressed with class) servers all trying their best to serve.
The food? Oh My God. I started with a frisee salad with pears and bacon lardoons — simple and yummy. Followed with steak frites. Flat iron is one of my very favorite cuts and this was a great one — perfectly medium rare. I’ve never had better fries — thin and crispy without being dry. Not sure what the fried green things were, but they were in the onion family. Chives? Thin strips of leek? Whatever, they were very tasty. Ronda had pork cheeks with flagolet beans. Oh so tender and flavorful. Apple tart for dessert, and the apples were tart (that’s a good thing) on a French pastry. I tasted some lemon in there too. Excellent.
I know I’ll be back to this classy joint. I think their pricing is very reasonable for what they offer, and there are lots of offerings I’m looking forward to trying.