Chart House

UPDATE: We went here again for my father and I’s birthday this year and they printed custom menu’s saying Happy Birthday and also had a birthday card for us waiting at the table. The service and food was wonderful yet again!

Haven’t been here in years, had an opportunity to go. Food was not good! For the price, you expect better quality. With all the great food in Portland, it sad they can’t keep up!

We went for dinner on Mother’s Day — the server was quite gracious but that’s the best thing I can say about this over-​priced, tasteless meal — Not worth it.
I ordered the Peach-​Bourbon Glazed Scallops & Shrimp (skillet fried corn with bacon, asparagus, red grape tomatoes, roasted red peppers) at $ 37.50
Nothing was «glazed»; it was a paltry 3 pieces of barely steamed scallops and shrimps. The corn was right out the can, no tomatoes and the 2 slivers of red pepper were slightly sauted — NOT roasted. Terrible, tasteless meal.
Another in our group ordered an end-​cut piece of prime rib. She received a more center cut that was clearly more rare than even medium. Our waiter was gracious to replace it, however, it came after the rest of us had finished our meals — very uncomfortable.
The other order was for a medium-​rare filet mignon; that was well-​done gray!
Don’t waste your money on this place — the view is just not worth it.

I’ve been here a couple of times and I must say the view is stunning. But sadly that’s all I can really say about it.
It was about a minimum of half and hour passed out reservation time before we got seated. The service was extremely slow! Our meal took over two hours. I’ve been here a couple times before and it has never been that slow. The food has never ever wowed me either.
The food was okay. No one in my party finished their entrée, and we were all a starving bunch. This didn’t mean that it was a big entrée portion either. The dessert and the view were the highlight of the meal. Oh, and of course, spending it with good company. And I forgot that the waitress had knocked most of the desserts. Presentation is key and all we saw were a bunch of lopsided lava cakes. I couldn’t salvage a good picture from mine so I ended up stealing a pic from my friend’s dessert.
I would say, wait for Portland Dining Month if you’re planning a trip here. There’s 2 stars solely on the spectacular view.

The main dish mahi fish wws with no taste at all. The soup was with no salt. The volcano dezert was ok. Not worth the money spent there.

Great brunch ~ the kids ask often to eat here. I’m a fan of their house coffee…
Also great date night dinners ~ we love coming here for the view of Portland, her rivers, downtown, & of course Mt. Hood, while we enjoy our dinner. Pre-​meal walks along the Terwilliger trail are beautiful. The menu is always fantastic, and we enjoy the special catering to birthday dinners. Everyone is pleasant and kind, a pleasure to communicate with.

This was the first time that my family came here and we will be returning customers. We were having a family reunion in memory of my grandmother’s birthday. It was a wonderful surprise that the restaurant had special menus printed out for our party that had «In Memory of…» At the top of the menu.
The waitress and other staff were wonderful and very attentive. The food was fantastic (my Mahi was amazing) and the atmosphere was beyond beautiful with a clear blue sky day looking at the river and Mt. Hood.
This was a very special event that I will remember always.
Pam L.

If you’re successful enough to ditch work a few hours before happy hour starts this is the place to be.
My suggestion is to grab a table in the downstairs bar way before happy hour and leave before all the horrible thrift seekers show up clambering for 2 dollar off fish tacos and a view of the Ross Island cement factory.
It’s a nice place when you want to feel special and you can do that when none of your least favorite Portlanders are there.
Food was okay. Drinks were strong. Upstairs was full of what I can only assume are young wealthy soccer moms and their retiree parents.

Spectacular!
It was scheduled to rain but luckily Mother Nature was on my side. Enjoyed dinner and their special drink.
Food — amazing!
Service — very attentive
Drink — strong enough to make me go mmmmm!
Parking — free valet
View — window view = score!
Thank you CH!

This place is beautiful and the views are spectacular. The cocktails are amazing and the food is great. It’s pricey but worth it. They lost a star because the service was a little dicey when we first sat down. But they tried to make up for it but by then the damage was done.

The reviews were correct read them, read them all. It all started with cocktail hour prior to our dinner; bartender was closer to rude than helpful. We had to sit at the bar since all the widow seating was taken, luckily a seat became available when we told her she demanded we close out with her first. I waited at the bar to close my tab when I heard her complain to a coworker that she had to walk over to the window seat to deliver our drinks only to turn around and see I was still sitting there at her request waiting for the check.
We moved to dinner; first course… wet almost translucent salads, maybe previously frozen lettuce? Next lobster bisque-​not bad at all. Next prime rib a little chewy but decent for prime rib considering the cooking method. The New York strips my friends had seemed better, side fat could have been lightly seared for looks and pull out some flavor. Another friend had the shrimp trio looked like it should only cost $ 15 since it had coconut shrimp-​gross! Possibly frozen? I did surf and turf and my shrimp were over cooked and had that rubber texture; I would substitute large prawn for the tiny shrimp if I was cooking. Back to the steak plate, the mashed potatoes were cold with seemingly store bought sweet potato chips stuck in it. My bro got the scallops, cooked decent not an adequate sear for looks but flavored pretty well; about the size of a Kennedy half dollar, I would have got bigger. His side was the ratatouille, with dude… canned tomatoes! This was the last draw! They had a molten lava cake for dessert, uh is this the late 80s, early 90s? Didn’t try it. We did close the dinner with a nice banana cake though… moist with fresh banana and an excellent sweet cream filling. Later I found out my friend brought it in from QFC. Ha!
There are many nice restaurants in Portland, save money and eat better food and more pallet challenging dishes. You can get this same view by parking your car or bike and packing a lunch. All in all, if you are into traditional American dining, losing taste buds, have money to blow, and prefer to pay top dollar just because you can? You will love Chart House. Otherwise, think twice. Maybe QFC?

Loved this place!
First and foremost, what an incredible view! There is no bad seat in this place. The view is just… Incredible!
I went here for a lunch meeting during the work week. We made reservations and were seated upon arrival.
The waitstaff was very formal but very friendly. The atmosphere is social but by no means loud.
Everyone at the table ended up ordering the fish tacos for lunch, they just sounded too good not too. We were all very satisfied and plates were cleaned. The portions are very large for an upscale establishment, no complaints of course! The French fries are very fresh and well seasoned and the sweet potato fries were some of the best I’ve had. The tacos though, were just splendid! The fish was fresh and moist and well seasoned.
We also ordered two orders of the spring rolls to share. Those were delightful. Very light in flavor but very good.
We enjoyed a cup of coffee after our meal and it was probably one of the best cups of coffee I’ve had in a while!

*READ THE BAD REVIEWS — THEY ARE ALL TRUE*
Where to start. Very VERY expensive for: bad service, chewy rubber steak, *NO* vegetarian choices — had to make 11:30am reservations on Thanksgiving and was told there was at least one veg friendly entrée — after grumpy waitress took orders came back, she said they were «out» of the pasta dish… really? Before noon? Didn’t see a single person eating that.
Everyone there is elderly, which is fine… no judgement… but that speaks to how little Chart House cares for a modern chef or customer service.
Waitress was noticably rude to everyone at our table. This is our 2^nd bad experience and will NOT return. Really awful. If you want a nice view, eat at The Nines. At least they aren’t rude and the food is edible. This place is terrible.

Amazing view. Outstanding service. It’s pricey but worthwhile.
The food is mostly good but I got a bad cut of prime rib tonight. Was rubber-​like. The staff went way out of its way to make it right, but I’d stick to fish next time. They’ve always been very good but just ³⁄₅ tonight given the rubber meat.

Came here on a Saturday around 9:20 pm. The place was pretty quiet as they were closing in an hour.
We were seated right away and our waiter came to take our drink order. He was very helpful and even gave us recommendations in what was delicious and what to avoid.
He mentioned that although the kitchen was closing in 40 minutes, we can stay as long as we would like after we order, which was nice and he didn’t make us feel rushed.
I ordered chicken ceased salad and my friend ordered salmon.
While you wait for your food, you can enjoy the panoramic amazing views of the Portland, since this restaurant sits in a hill with breathtaking views. That was a big plus in my experience.
The food came quickly and I expected it to not be as good since they were closing and probably made it hastily. But to my surprise, it tasted so fresh and definitely very flavorful and delicious. I really enjoyed my salad, even though it was a simple dish, it blew my mind. The salmon was very fresh and flavorful and tender.
I couldn’t believe I never heard of this place before!!!
Our waiter was amazing and so professional, I will most definitely be back here!

This place was such a treat! We went out on double date with my parents and even got dressed up!
I ordered the steak, big surprise, NOT! It melted in my mouth it was so tasty. I also got a berry deliciousness cocktail (I don’t remember the name, I believe it was similar to a Moscow Mule). For dessert, we share a ice cream cake slice and it made me want to lick my plate (never in a fancy restaurant or I mean as an adult!).
The evening atmosphere was very enjoyable and could be romantic if on a date. Downstairs their places were aglow and quiet pretty.
While making my reservations, I had asked for a window table but there weren’t any available once there, which wasn’t a total bust because we could still see the view. Might I add, beautiful.
To top off the night, free valet, oooo la la!

The conversation inevitably goes «alright it’s so-n-so’s birthday, where should we do dinner?» well a safe crowd pleaser is Chart House. I’d especially recommend this place for college kids coming home to get a free dinner out of the parents. It’s not cheap!
In general Chart House tries to hard to be a Portland institution. The food is good I had the coconut shrimp (pretty basic… Gordon Ramsay would have started yelling but my taste buds were receptive). The highlight was the shrimp, crab, avocado, and mango stack. The lava cake was also good… just good. It did not live up to the hype.
The bottom line is that Portland has so many great places to eat that are not chains so why waste a meal out here? Let me answer my own question: because you need a non hipster/​edgy crowd, a PG environment, and a place with name recognition to ease the suburbanites.
So if you only care about the view and want to ignore the great local eateries of PDX go Chart house.

It was my parents wedding anniversary and we’d been here before. The place was super busy on a Saturday evening. The valet guy was running his tail off. BTW, complimentary valet. I was hoping at the conclusion of the evening — my car would be upgraded to a newer model. ha!
The initial greeting and presentation from our waiter was polished. It took a little long for our beverages — and they were just beers.
We selected appetizers and entrees at the same time. I’d say the appetizers — presentation and overall flavor outdid the entrees. But the value was a bit questionable. At least it was a pretty day.
Shrimp cocktail and Crab Cake — the crab cake was very flavorful and was a bit messy to share among five people. Shrimp cocktail — we each got one shrimp and it was good with a spicy cocktail sauce.
My entrée was the NY Strip — I asked for it to be prepared medium. The server said okay it will be pink throughout is that okay. I said yes. It wasn’t — the steak was acceptable but wasn’t prepared how the server confirmed. My mashed potatoes — and my Dad agreed on his, tasted a bit old. My description was as if you’d had them for leftovers and then reheated.
My family all seemed to like their entrees.
Draft beer line up was Mediocre — like maybe what a chain restaurant might offer, but that’s okay.
Our service was really good and the servers all seemed happy and helpful. The view is cool — we did not get a window seat, but it was still a nice evening.

My husband recently surprised me with dinner at this place for our anniversary. The valet was nice but not entirely necessary as they have their own lot. The view though was spectacular and the reason I’m sure they are able to charge as much as they do for the food.
So, let’s talk about the food. Overpriced and not a lot of flavor. I was disappointed for sure. For appetizers we had some spring rolls which were good and the lobster bisque which was also good. For the main my husband had prime rib which essentially just looked like a huge slab of meat on the plate with mashed potatoes that were completely tasteless. I ordered shrimp pasta which had 5 small shrimp and pasta that was also tasteless. I actually sent it back and got the coconut shrimp which was better but still not amazing. The presentation was pretty wacky with this large «shell» of some sort and black rice in a pyramid shape. Like I was nervous to touch it because I thought it would fall over everywhere. For dessert we had the lava cake which was good, very rich but good.
Overall, this is a pass. The saving grace of the experience was the service and my husband. The waiter didn’t bat a lash when I asked for a different entrée and was very attentive, but not overly. We paid over $ 100 for the night which wasn’t worth it. I’d check this place out for happy hour with better prices, drinks and you still get the view.

I find my experience was thankfully a much more pleasant one than many folks seem to have had dinning here.
1. Service was excellent. Our server was the bartender who some how managed to keep up with the bar and our table. A
2. The food was good although a bit expensive for what we received. B+/A–
3. These guys make a terrific martini so much so that I would have a 3^rd one if not for the evil eye of my wife which strongly suggested a 3^rd one was not in the cards. A
4. Atmosphere is dominated by the killer view. I found the Chart House warm and cozy. I can imagine it as a great place in the winter if they have their fire place going. A
Overall a nice experience.