Christopher’s Gourmet Grill

This place has excellent food. They use a dry rub style for their ribs but compliment them with a side of fantastic BBQ sauce if you prefer them wet.
I personally had the collard greens which were the best in the city that I’ve had so far. However, granted this is Portland, I”ve had them on three other occasions here?
Atmosphere isn’t much, nor is the beverage selection, but if you solely want excellent food Christopher’s does it exceedingly well.

What a great burger place. They have a wonderful staff, clean establishment, and delicious food. The burgers are always fresh and made to order and cooked exactly the way I like them. They have a pretty good variety on the menu, but I would recommend their burgers. They have a good price for the quality and it is a rather enjoyable experience every time I come here.

Everything on the menus is great and has been since forever. So sad to see it closed, I can only hope it’s reincarnation will be as authentic in its creation of the soul food.
Hipsters have got their bacon bloodymarys down but good soul food is takes more than skinny jeans and some fake glasses.

If you need a fatty fix just go here! I have gone a couple of times and each time the service was pretty quick and the food met my expectations if not exceeded.

This little shack is a solid OK. Nothing great or memorable, but my cheeseburger did hit the spot. The cheese was slightly burnt, not sure how, and I wish they didn’t chop the onions up so much. Again, nothing great and almost instantly forgettable.
Compared to all the other hip, delicious places to eat at in Portland, Christopher’s Gourmet Grill ranks last on my list of restaurants to hit up. The inside definitely needs some love, it looks like the inside of my great aunt’s living room. Yikes.

I love Christopher’s. Burgers and fries the way they are meant to be. Love hanging out there. Wonderful escape from trendy.

It was just that… OK. Was bummed wanted rib tips, but they were out so had the ribs which were very tender and nice and peppery, but the bar b q sauce on the side was average. Had mac and cheese and fried okra for sides, my daughter loved the okra and the mac and cheese was just average. The man who took our order was professional and friendly and the food came fast.

I was on a mission to find ribs and have always been curious about it as I live blocks away and drive by it every day. I was not let down. I went in and asked for just a few pieces of ribs with no sides. they were great about letting me do a special order. the ribs were smoky and tender. The bbq sauce was smoky sweet. Delicious. I tell everyone about this place.

Mostly pretty good with a few caveats.
I dropped by yesterday when I found myself 40 min from home with two ‘hangry’ (hungry/​angry) toddlers.
I had the rib bones basket w/​mac and cheese and my twin boys split a cheese sandwich. The quality of the meat isn’t the best I’ve seen, but it was good enough. Maybe slightly more fatty than I’d like. The rub is fairly simple, but it works. I suspect that they boil the ribs for a while (which IMHO diminishes the quality), but it manages to succeed pretty well and the level of smoke is fine. The sauce was passable if perhaps a bit overtly ketchup-​y. The mac and cheese was extremely creamy, the cheese itself quite mild, and the pasta very soft.
A couple nits to pick:
1. I was asked if I wanted to put a tip on the bill. This is awkward for a few reasons. There’s no wait service to speak of, so little reason to provide a gratuity. Also, this was asked before I had tasted any food or received any service. Seems like if you’re looking for this, you need to provide some wait service and then allow the customer to pay at the end and decide a gratuity. Putting your customer on the spot for a tip at the beginning of the dining experience feels a bit classless.
2. Service was a bit slow considering how un-​busy the place was. I think there were three other tables besides mine (total of 6 – 7 other people) and it took 30 min to receive food. Since we came at lunch, ribs and mac and cheese should’ve been at the ready under warming lamps and the grilled cheese sandwich wouldn’t have taken long. I had to do a good measure of distracting my sons to keep them from having a hungry freakout.
Despite these caveats, when I find myself in this part of town I’ll go back and see if they represent a pattern or an anomaly. For this visit, it was irritating enough to keep me from adding that 4^th star.

OMG !!! This place is great. I had the Crispy Wing Dinner with Potato Salad and Candied Yams, it was to die for. The dinner came with Cheese Toast and Ranch Dip but the Chicken Wings were so perfectly seasoned and crispy that nothing else was needed. Hubby had the Cat Fish Dinner with Macaroni & Cheese and Collard Greens. The Catfish was perfectly seasoned and crisp and the sides were delicious.
Hubby couldn’t keep his hands off my candied yams. This place gives big portions for the price and everything is made to order. Real Home Cooking. We will definitely be back soon for this real home cooking.

N side of NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd just S of NE Shaver
I was hoping this would be a winner (especially with their burger,) but found that Christopher’s came up a little short and just not enough to make me a fan with all of the competition in Stumptown! It wasn’t bad… it just wasn’t great. I think at this point the 4 solid stars is a bit high for them, but they must do really good Q!
I started off with a small order of their Hushpuppies:
and they were ok. They weren’t bad, but they were anything but memorable. The just did not have that aggressive flavor that Hushpuppies usually do.
I also ordered their Bacon Cheeseburger Combo:
which obviously comes with a choice of fries to which I opted to try their Steak Fries. All components were present, but I just felt the food in general fell kind of short and was a little bummed as this food consumed valuble stomach real estate!
Service by the gal working was very friendly. The food was ready quite quickly and she checked on me and the other patrons a couple of times.
Their prices are pretty fair to average for what they offer.
They have fountain drinks and canned drinks.
The venue is large yet still has a certain homey feel about it.
They have plenty of parking in their dedicated lot.

Came here for the Cheesesteak. Which is forgettable. Smallish, tough, and bland. The bread was really sub-​par. I prefer white american cheese over provolone any day. I omited the sauce. I don’t know what all the hype is about.
Wings are pretty good.
Watch your step on the way out… that is a bad accident waiting to happen.
I would like to come back and check out a few more things. Looks like burgers, ribs and fried chicken are next.

HECK YEAH CHRISTOPHERS!
This is pretty much the burg zone for sure, plus they have awesome sides that are for once at a burger place worth getting. Rib tips are off the chain, but I’m most into the DJ’s Backyard BBQ Burger, nice and sloppy and delicious.
It’s the best, really.

The burgers here remind me of what must have inspired McDonald’s to be created– Christopher’s serves up a decent simple burger that is simple and good.
Not a fancy pub-​style burger, but a mustard-​pickle-​iceberg-​lettuce-​softbun styled one with a skinny patty.
Steak fries too.
The atmosphere is always nice & clean, the place exudes a sense of pride of ownership. Though it’s counter service, we always get checked on at our table to make sure we are doing ok.
The tvs are always on– which I’m not a fan of, but it offers a learning experience wrt what music kids are listening to these days :)

Picked up my Son-​in-​law at the airport on Saturday, got held up at baggage claim and customs since he was coming in from Scotland. Had plan to stop by Christopher’s for lunch but do the delay didn’t get their to two o’clock. Son of a gun they were all out of barbecue. But they were so nice and friendly that we decided to have Philly cheese steaks instead. BONUS, the Philly cheese steaks were awesome. But we didn’t let the fellas off the hook and teased them unmercifully about running out of barbecue just because we were late.
We promised to come back today early so they would have no excuse. Well the ribs were outstanding. Certainly worth the trip from Scotland, and on a par with other places my son-​in-​law has had very good barbecue, such as Memphis Tennessee, Cincinnati Ohio, Virginia, and even Argentina. You see he travels quite a bit and being on an expense account he can eat at some of the finer places.
I asked him how Christopher’s stacks up with other places he’s experienced around the world? His answer was it was incredible. I guess that means we may have to go back before he returns to Scotland and give him a second chance. Because the one thing we didn’t experience were the rib tips. And of course there’s a lot of other stuff on the menu that we haven’t tried yet like some awesome looking barbecued chicken.
We had the distinct pleasure of meeting Christopher himself. I teased him and said I thought that was a made-​up name like Betty Crocker. He has a giant sense of humor and is just one of the friendliest guys you’d ever want to meet. If you’re ever traveling around Portland looking for a good place for barbecue this would be my recommendation. The place is very unassuming, and you can tell it’s a favorite because most the people there were local.

We wanted a burger last night and I had eaten one here before– it is very good. I had the burger with EVERYTHING on it (egg, bacon, cheese AND hot link). Girlfriend had the basic burger. Both with awesome, thick plank fries.
But the real star here tonight was the wings. We ordered a few to nibble (BBQ style). Keep in mind you wait a bit for these. It advises 15 – 20 minutes on menu, as I think they make em fresh.
Soooooo good. The sauce on these were great. Sweet, but not overbearingly so. A little heat.
Next time, we’ll probably be getting BBQ. Or maybe Philly Steaks. Both looked awesome.
*Oh and I almost forgot the dessert! We were stuffed, so we took a slice (BIG) of the Snickers Choco cake home. Delicious and moist.
We were fighting over it like rabid dogs later!
This place is PACKED on a Friday night for a good reason.
Super nice staff here, too.
We will return soon.

Damn. Damn. Damn. I grew up in North Florida eating bbq my whole life. This place is real, fresh and perfectly greasy. The philly is amazing. The ribs fall off the bone amd have this great burnt flavor from the rub.
The collards are perfectly cooked.
My husband and I took the food to go and thank god. The moans and groans from our eating would have been embarassing at the restaurant.
Come here and try… whatever!

I have not been this soul food happy since Bea’s in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This place is all that with some secret cheese sauce. The ribs were huge and dank, mac & cheese was killer, okra was crispy, corn bread was sweet and moist.
The big bonus is the staff– everyone is super nice!

I’m so glad I came in a group and that my group’s likes plate swapping — because I would’ve had a hard time not ordering everything.
We ordered the ribs and chicken wings dinners, and got all the sides they had to offer: fried okra, red beans and rice, mac & cheese, greens, and cornbread. There were three of us, and this place kicked our ass.
The ribs were melt off the bone tender, and came naked, so you could actually appreciate the deliciousness of the meat (or dip in the side of sauce if that’s your thing). The wings were giant breaded drumsticks slathered in a sweet-​spicy sauce, and were juicy, messy, and so so good.
I lost it when I tried the fried okra — THAT is good fried okra. I hate stringy wet over fried okra — these tiny gems are light and fluffy and buttery good. SO good. The red beans and rice came rather soupy but one bite in and slop be damned, the perfectly cooked rice, tender beans, and greasy flavors had me hooked. And then I tried the cornbread. A better slab of butter-​filled cornbread you’d be hard pressed to find. I’m pretty sure the ingredients that went into making it were butter and cornmeal. Also, delicious.
I didn’t like the mac — if you like Velveeta texture cheese, you’re going to love it, me, not so much. Also I didn’t try the greens.
We left happy and food drunk. The leftovers we brought home didn’t make it in our fridge more than 3 hours.

This place rocks!!! I was taken here by a great friend for the phillie steak sandwich and was awsome. I took my son here to try the burgers and wow I was not disapointed. He got the Man up burger and it waas huge and good has two burger patties cheese between the meat patties and a hot link sausage with all the goodies check out the picture. Highly recomend this place for a burger experience.
Big Mike