FUEL Bistro & Coffee Bar

Happened upon this place like many others when the wait was an hour at both Petite and Tin Shed. No wait, got a table by the window. Ordered the French toast special and my boyfriend got an omelette. Everything was fantastic! Super friendly and quick service, delicious food, great mimosas. We plan on coming back.

I don’t eat out very much but when I do, I head for Fuel Bistro. This traditional Portland coffee shop still holds its character as a small town gathering place. They accommodate my special diet and make me a gluten free bagel, soyrizo, goat cheese, spinach, avocado sandwich. The coffee is great and you should try the Immune Builder smoothie. The staff is Very friendly.

we returned to fuel for lunch… we each began with a pbr, and i had the tuna salad, and my partner had the vegan pesto bowl with soyrizo… they ran out of soyrizo, so she had the tofu, and the server /​chef/​owner didn’t charge her… how nice… everything was grand, tasty, cozy, and the server is the best!

I almost hate to write this review as Fuel is the place I go for brunch, and I never have to wait! A selfish part of myself hopes not too many people start frequenting fuel, but they deserve honest reviews so here is mine!
I am shocked to see even one negative review about their service. I have always found the folks there to be so great on every level, friendly, efficient, and welcoming. I love the friendly atmosphere of the place, and the fact that they make such an effort to use organic, locally sourced ingredients without charging more than any other breakfast place in the area. And, even as an admitted coffee snob I love their coffee (which also turns out to be from a women’s coop in Guatemala).
I was suspect at first because there is never a line to get in, while you can wait an hour or more for breakfast spots nearby, but I also discovered that I love their food and the selection. I am not a vegan (or even a vegetarian!), but I love the options they have for all and have tried many. Everything I have had from their menu was great, from the heart killing meaty, dairy laden options to the healthy bowls. On top of that, I just got a card in the mail from them with some great deals! Leaving now for their yummy migas! Gotta go!

This corner bistro on Alberta and NE 14^th is great for breakfast. There are several vegan and vegetarian choices and also several choices for that carnivore dining with you. Affordable mimosas make Fuel a win/​win of food and fun.

Had the Migas. It was incredible. My husband had the biscuits and gravey. The gravey was some of th best I have ever had. Lots of vegetrian options. Friendly, attentive staff. Wile are visiting from the Bay Area, but will come here again next time we are in Portland.

The food is great, especially the migas. I’ve never had a bad food or service experience coming here for a few years. Today they made a 12 oz coffee drink by accident instead of a 16, but they made a 16 for us on top of the 12. I like walking straight past the line at Tin Shed to come here and not once thinking that I’m settling.

Fueled up here twice and had a delicious experience both times. The food was prepared well and my veggies were fresh and not overcooked. My partner claims they can’t cook an egg over easy but I order omelets so, that’s not my concern. Friendly and efficient service wins every time.

Food is excellent, service is excellent, coffee is excellent and hot cocoa is excellent!!!

Sun-​mosa (lavender lemonade + champagne) — perfectly balanced, delightful!
Bacon Benedict — righteous and proper, from the over medium eggs through the hollandaise right down to the from scratch biscuit.
Jalapeño cheese grits — spiced just so to make up for the flat heat of the chile.
Coffee — not too dark or light of a roast (neither bitter nor sour).
Music — mellow jazz, interesting enough to listen to without being distracting.

All-​American breakfast with scramble, veggie sausage, and grits cakes was awesome. Very dog-​friendly outside area that is big enough to enjoy a meal without encroaching on the sidewalk and having passers-​by stumble over you.
Servers work in a team, a constant rotation making sure coffees, waters, and mimosas are topped off.
Highly recommend when in the area.

Took them an hour to bring us cold waffles with out strawberries. Ten minutes later we are informed that they are out of strawberries. Another ten minutes to get blueberries. By this time waffles are soggy and inedible. The other person in our party got food poisoning from the eggs Benedict. Fuck this place.

I really liked both experiences I’ve had here so far. The first time I got a salad that had tuna salad on it. It was huge and sooo delicious. I was thinking about it for days after. Then today I got the hummus plate. Not sure if they make their own hummus or buy it but it was surprisingly amazing. Super garlicky and rich taste with a good about of stuff to dip with.
My only complaint is that the service is an absolute joke. Today wasn’t terrible except when the chick dropped off my check right when I started eating. But the other day when I went I had no idea who my server was, where I was supposed to order. With a counter business like this, there needs to be some direction. A «seat yourself» sign or somethiiiing. I sat waiting so long I almost left before I ordered. The dude who was helping me seemed very flustered so I kind of did feel bad for him but, you know, get other servers then.
They need to shape up on that end.

Very disappointed with our breakfast service. Visited on a sunny Sunday morning and the place was busy but not super packed. We should have known there was a problem when the people next to us got up to leave and told the rest of their party «just box up our food, you can have it — we can’t wait any longer.» We should have walked out right there & found another spot.
Took 15 min to order & we just ordered 2 sausage biscuits. Took another 20 min for someone to bring the biscuits out & they were dry & pretty awful. It’s sad when an Egg McMuffin tastes better than Fuel’s version.

Extremely good food. Extremely terrible service. Some people waited for seats, some people sat wherever (no signs to say either way). At LEAST 5 – 10 people walked out at tables around us and the waitstaff didn’t seem to notice. Each member of our party was missing items they ordered (never got my coffee, friend never got her Bloody Mary, girlfriend never got her side of bacon).
It took 20 min before a waiter came after we sat but at this point I was still giving them the benefit of the doubt. He took an awkwardly long time writing each order one at a time (which made it weirder that we were missing so much of our food). Once the order came it was awesome food. Totally legit good.
We didn’t see our waiter again, our bill never came, and when we went to the counter to pay they had so many meal tickets all over the kitchen, stuck on walls, by the register, that they couldn’t find ours and then we just told them what we ordered.
It’s worth the wait at the Tin shed. The only reason this place survives is 1) good food 2) it’s near the Tin shed and people don’t want to wait… You’ll still wait… We sat around 9:30 and left at noon (and there was no wait to be seated).
Don’t go here until they train there staff how life works.

I am a huge fan of this cute little breakfast place. Great biscuits! I had an amazing meal there — the all American plate, and everything was top notch. Homemade strawberry jam for my biscuit. Perfect portions — not so much that I couldn’t finish, not skimpy so I felt hungry after. Just right. Locally sourced ingredients, beautifully prepared. The rosemary potatoes were holy cow good! Also, crispy grilled biscuit? YES PLEASE. Next time I come, y’all just smother that with gravy, ok? Why don’t you have a biscuit/​gravy side? You need to make that a side.
We came here because we didn’t want to wait an hour at the other place half a block up. I’m so glad we did. It was much more to my taste, menu-​wise. This is definitely going to be my happy breakfast place in Portland when I’m in town this summer. Can’t wait to bring my fella when he comes to visit.
The only reason this is 4 and not 5 stars is that it really took our server way too long to get to us to take our orders, and then later to get me our check. We waited about 10 – 15 minutes from time of seating to getting menus and then another good chunk of time before having our orders taken. That’s a bit long! She was otherwise awesomely friendly and cool, though.
The only disappointing thing about the actual meal itself was that I didn’t care for their coffee, it was burnt.
Those are relatively small things held up against the amazing food quality, so if I could add half a star I would. Four and a half stars for Fuel. I’ll be back.

It seems like most people that end up going here for breakfast intended to go to Tin Shed and didn’t want to wait an hour. That was the case for me when I ended up at Fuel. The food was really good — I had biscuits and gravy and the gravy was on point. The biscuits were rather crispy which I enjoyed. My friend got a smoothie and didn’t get it to our table until I was almost finished with my meal.
For drinks, the Red Beer was perfect. The Mimosa was average.
The staff seemed very confused and we had 4 different waitresses throughout the course of breakfast. And they had no idea who had ordered what, which table it was supposed to go to, or if we had even ordered yet. They have some serious kinks to work out in their serving system. One of the waitresses spoke so quietly, truly a whisper, that we never understood a single word she was saying. That being said, everyone was very kind and pleasant. I would definitely come back next time the wait to too long at Tin Shed.

The staff was friendly and helpful and my omelette well made. The menu was a bit lacking and the fact that to order anything that is gluten free is a $ 2 dollar surcharge is a bit much. A little parring down of the menu to a few more speciality dishes would be great. I asked them to customize my omelette by pulling ingredients used throughout the menu. Grilled mushrooms & onions, goat cheese and roasted red peppers. Adding the spinach or some
Arugula would be killer. They were more then happy to do it! Thank you

We arrived just as they had opened on a Friday morning 7am. We were the only ones in the restaurant so naturally service was quick and attentive. I ordered the bacon eggs benidict.
My breakfast arrived in a reasonable time all considering, and was fresh and hot.
This dish is really just eggs benidict with bacon on top, but that was cool. The poached eggs were nicely done, the muffin was fresh and soft, and the hollandaise sauce was done right, much to my delight.
I will add that the jalapeño grits seemed one more pepper spicy that as I remember from last time.
I might be edging toward being a fan of Fuel Cafa.

Came for breakfast with the kiddo after weekend KungFu training.
Get the Migas. It’s a really filling bowl of wet nachos with a bit of a spicy kick.
The tuna melt has pesto and spinach on it. My boy liked it a lot, and I was impressed that he liked it.
Their coffee is good. The orange juice is average frozen concentrate stuff by the look of it.
Service was prompt. Décor is inviting. Restroom is clean.
I’ll go back with the whole family. It’s worth a destination visit.