Jackknife Bar

Absolutely beautiful place. Love all of the dark, rich wood and central fireplace. Nice long bar where you have to order your drinks before you find a place to enjoy the ambiance. The drinks are nothing special. My LIIT had an artificial taste to it and I barely drank ¼ of it. Order something straight up, not mixed and walk around and explore all of the unique nooks and crannies. Order your drinks at Jakes and be sure and stay at the adjacent hotel, the Sentinel (formerly the Governor).

Terrible, told to go around to the front entrance after coming from a wedding that was in the Sentinel’s ballroom. This is a horrible policy toward customers that spend money to host an event or pay over $ 300 a night to stay at the parent hotel. I wish I could give zero stars.

I’m going 4-​star because they had vegan options… in a bar. Way to go Portland! The bar was attached to our hotel, the Sentinel. It was perfect because we didn’t feel like going out one of the nights we were there and ordered food from Jackknife. We had the veg burger and tofu banh mi. Both were good. I can’t speak to the atmosphere or vibe of the bar but the food was good.

Jackknife is probably my favorite newer bar in town. It feels very classy, they have a great beer selection, and the bartenders are very friendly. It’s definitely a great place to meet up with friends, and definitely recommend it on rainy days as it feels very warm & comfortable.

The only thing that didn’t suck about Jackknife was my company.
–Shitty bartenders, shitty music, crawling with bros.
If you aren’t a young 20something doucebag, look elsewhere to spend your precious time and money.

It’s a beautiful bar with AWESOME service. Me and my friend were traveling from Cali and stopped here for some food (which was really good btw) and we were lucky enough to hit the happy hour. I loved the music there as well. I would totally go back there.

WOW — just read some of the other reviews and I have to say I am NOT surprised… my first time here (a year ago) was ok, went in last Saturday around 4 for a drink with my husband and we walked out due to the lack of service.
Since they had just opened there weren’t many people there yet, so we went and sat at the bar, where there were only 3 other people at the bar (the bartenders friends) We sat… sat … sat … and sat while the bartender chatted with his friends just a few stools away from us… NO hello, didn’t even look at us and acknowledge us … NOTHING. We gave it a few more miunutes (plenty of time to tell his friends his funny stories) So we walked out disappointed and thirsty. I am shocked in this city of amazing bars and restaurants that the management would allow this. The «too-​cool for school» attitude is long gone, try normal and service orientated.

Had drinks with friends at Jackknife before going to dinner at Ringside. My main complaint with Jackknife was the service. There are no servers walking throughout the bar, you have to go up to the bar and order every drink. Additionally, my friends ordered a cheese plate appetizer, which was apparently forgotten by the bartender. We were at Jackknife for about an hour and it was never mentioned, but it also wasn’t on the tab, so that’s good.
Jackknife had a short list of some house cocktails in addition to about 7 or 8 beers on tap. They had more available by the bottle. I had a great Oregonian IPA. The bartenders were very friendly, so no issue there. But, it was annoying that the bar doesn’t have servers.
What this bar does right is comfort. We sat in a seating area with a large leather chair and matching couch. Additionally, there is a fireplace, or you can choose to sit outside as well. The restrooms were clean as well.
We had a nice hour at Jackknife before eating dinner, but the joint had some issues.

4 stars based solely on the interior of the bar. What a BEAUTIFUL spot. Dark, warm, and slightly sinister all at the same time. It doesn’t feel fair to give Jack Knife the 2 – 3 star review I actually wanted to give them – my problem with this place isn’t directly related to the bar itself.
The bar, like I said – gorgeous. Large, tucked-​and– brass-​studded leather couches and chairs lend a «whiskey-​swilling library of law» vibe. Hardwood floors make a great stomping pad for all of those designers heels clackin’ across the club. Bartenders were prompt and not snotty.
Obviously the issue I take with this place, is the crowd. Your basic bridge-​and-​tunnel, dressed to get screwed people, complete with the guy lifting his white t-​shirt to expose his abs on the dance floor. As long as you’re expecting all of this, it’s not a horrible place to spend a Saturday night.

I popped into this place a two times while I was staying in the fantastic Sentinel Hotel (the hotel that this bar is attached to) in Portland and what I got was an underwhelming experience both times… the final time being the final straw for me.
The first night we went was pretty packed and busy (weekend night). We tried to go through the hotel entrance only to be met with «bouncer» and her forearm. She has the nerve to get mad at us for not knowing this entrance was blocked off and that we had to go through the front. You just turn the corner with no signs or anything, just a nasty bouncer with an attitude problem. Protip: consider putting a sign as oppose to getting physical with customers.
It’s a full bar so the choices for drinks are only limited by the imagination. However, their personal cocktails are particularly unremarkable and pricey.
This was just my experience the first time.
The second time was in the middle of the day where it was significantly less crowded with no bouncer forearms in sight.
We go and sit at the bar and get our ID’s examined, typical of most places. Then the bartender walks off after we tell them we’re gonna look at the menu for a bit. She doesn’t return for 15 minutes (not busy at all!) and another guy comes buy and checks our ID’s a second time and unpleasantly asks us what we want. We ordered some food and cocktails.
Food choice is pretty standard for a bar, but even then, it didn’t taste that great either and the portions were laughable. We were ready to pay and the bartender didn’t return for another 15 minutes. Once we finally paid and got out of there, we instead went to the Clyde Common, another bar in Portland, where the service was breathe of fresh air in comparison. It was busy, but we were able to sit down, order two drinks, and pay all within 15 – 20 minutes. I hope the guys at the Jack Knife are taking notes.
Here are the facts summed up:
The staff leave a lot to be desired; they are unhelpful, inattentive, and unnecessarily abrasive. This was probably the most surprising fact considering every other place, bar or otherwise, had friendly wonderful people that were more representative of kind of people Portland exudes in droves. These guys felt like knock off «exclusive bar» types you find in Nevada with about half the quality and a third of the size. One thing I would like to add… These things didn’t just happen to us; I observed this happening to many individuals both the busy night and in the middle of the day… It’s indiscriminate.
As amazing as the Sentinel Hotel is, it’s a shame it has to share a space with this mediocre bar.
Save yourself the trouble and go to the Clyde Common or the Deschutes Brewery. They are superior to anything you’ll find here.

Some blonde jack ass bartender cussed me out because of a split check, yeah it was kind of busy, but I’m also in the bar and restaurant industry and its never too busy to split a check three ways and it’s never acceptable to cuss at customers. Thankfully there is a bartender there named Kelly (hopefully I spelled his name correctly) that turned the night around completely and will make my friends and I recurring customers. The first round of drinks tasted like water, and Kelly definitely had them tasting like they should for our second round. I mean how difficult is it to make a greyhound? Vodka, grapefruit juice, ice. Simple.
My only regrets were not demanding to speak to our first bartenders Superviser. I will never order from him again. I was so completely shocked at the fact that he said «f*ck» five times in a single sentence, that I literally turned around and my friend just handed him his credit card and said to put it on that, and to close us out. We wanted nothing more to do with his so called «service.»
Only reason it’s a 1 star review was because of the service from our first bartender, who’s name and Superviser I should have demented. If it was based solely off of Kelly, it would be a 5+.
Place has great food and atmosphere.

Part of me wants to let some of this absolute poppycock continue so that this place doesn’t keep getting more and more crowded on weekends, but justice needs to be done. And someone who knows needs to take up the sword and shield and defend this EXCELLENT DRINKING ESTABLISHMENT.
I am that hard-​drinking hero. Hold on, let me get my flask.
This is one of those times where I can almost appreciate why a lot of people in the service industry hate Unilocal.A couple of observations and rebuttals of other things I’ve read here.
One single incident involving a wedding party that took place awhile back seems to have dumped a truckload of bad reviews on here as the pissed off bride apparently included a reminder in her thank-​you notes for everyone in the wedding party to go online and neg Jackknife. I don’t know the details of what happened that night, but nothing even remotely close to it has ever happened to me at Jack Knife.
Same goes for these bizarre accusations of poor and/​or obnoxious customer service. Honestly? I say this with peace and love… I think some of you may be plebeians. If not, you’re definitely in the wrong place. The point here is that you can relax, reflect, and get a variation of that classic you love after getting the bartender’s attention and opinion.
If you’re expecting someone with a bowtie to hop over the f— bar and ask how your night’s going while ticking off margarita specials, bad news for you, you’re thinking of APPLEBEES.
And also I don’t want to drink with you.
That’s not to say I’m above drinking at an Applebees or Red Robin or… well let’s face it the list goes on unless you’re an amateur. The point is at least have enough engagement with life to know where you are.
Jack Knife is an oasis of class in a city where Whiskey Library is full and your other options are hipster-​microbrew-​only-​based crap. Damn right this place is dark, cavernous, and undefined. That’s the appeal. Or it should be. This is a place where you might find The Maltese Falcon hidden as opposed to framed Mumford and Son vinyls. How dare anyone accuse this place of being touristy. It’s 100% the exact opposite.
And again, conveniently located in central downtown PDX? God bless this place and its dark heart.

Tried this place for the fourth time this week for happy hour and I still can’t seem to get a grip on who they are. The service could definitely not care less if you are there and the space just still feels to big/​open/​cavernous — for my tastes at least. That said, the new cauliflower is very tasty and a steal at $ 3. I also really liked the crab cakes as well! It’s a neat space to have a drink and a bite… but then you’ll want to move on.

Didn’t even make it inside. It was my birthday and I had 6 friends with me and the extremely rude bouncer outside said only 5 of my friends could come in (even though I could clearly see plenty of space from outside). Was I suppose to ask one of my friends to go home? After I explained it was my birthday and asked if he could make an exception for 6 people, and said something to the extent of «my friends can be your friends!» he said «I don’t know you, I don’t care about you or your friends, I don’t want to be your friend — I don’t care if it’s your birthday, it’s my work night.» Needless to see we all left cause that guy sucked so much.
Heard the bar is fun but probably won’t be going back cause of that guy.

First of all, we went to Jackknife during lunch so it was totally dead. The food was incredible and full of flavor. The vegan crab cakes were probably my favorite, but the bahn mi was a close second.
It’s a beautiful place and would probably be great for late night drinks, but that’s just not my scene.
I will definitely be back for the food.

SHARE THIS! I don’t want this happening to anyone else. It is not a good situation to be put and involved in. Especially by people that think the way their employees do.
I can’t even give stars to this place. If I could give less then 1 star I would! LESS THAN –1 STARS!!! I am just going to say this. They rejected my REAL ID because I look different then when I was 16. DUH! Who wouldn’t??? They made me write my signature 6 times, and I also gave them my debit and credit cards, and they were like yeah that’s not you. Don’t go here for any reason, even if you thought you liked it. These ass holes. Change security, or educate them on how to spot a real ID not a fake.
This whole place should be evaluated. And someone needs to pay attention to who they hire, customer service is a hell of a thing. Also, racial profiling is NOT ok.
If you come to the conclusion that you had an awful experience there, don’t look for a phone number to call to reach the manager, because they don’t have one!!! They have an online area that basically says «please contact us before you give us a bad Unilocal review.» How will filing a complaint via online help me? They just do this so that they get no criticism right when something happens.
When I filed my complaint, all I said was that I wanted them to email me back with a real phone number so that I could talk to the manager.
How do you not lie about not lying? Honestly, if they had taken my ID, I would have called the cops and had them get it back for me just to prove a point. They made such a fuss, and just kept letting other people in while they made me sit on a bench.
They will…
— Turn down your real ID
— Tell you that calling the cops to check it would be wasting their time
— Very very obvious racial profiling (they won’t even pretend to hide it, just blatantly make you feel uncomfortable)
— Make you feel like you are lying even if you are not
This place needs to be shut down, or their staff and management need to be given a real good inspection. I am NOT the first person to be treated like this, and something should be done about it.

Jacknife Bar is where you go when you realize Multnomah Whiskey Library is closed for Memorial Day.
The ambiance is perfect for a date. It’s very dark in there with only candles and edison bulbs to offer any light. It has a lounge vibe with very tall ceilings and leather half-​booths, which are perfect for a group. There’s tons and tons of seating, so you’re guaranteed to get a table, which is nice. Also, there’s a photobooth.
Other than that, everything else is pretty standard bar fare. Cocktails range $ 8-​$ 13, so pretty standard. They have a lot of vegan food on the menu, so you can take your needy friends with diet-​restrictions here. They do a pretty solid cheese plate too.
If you find yourself needing a bar in this part of town, Jacknife will serve its duty.

RACIST PLACE and not worth the hype!!!
Do not go here.
The staff here is horrible!
First off why is there COVER to go to a BAR? it’s not a club.
While waiting in line for 20 mins and finally getting to the door, the bouncer with the shaved head and glasses let in all my friends but stopped when it got to me. He took a long look at my ID and started glaring at me up and down. He then radio’d over bouncer #_​2 (guy with blonde hair) with half witted glares they bent my id this way and that way.
All of a sudden I was being turned away at the door because they said my id was FAKE.
I am a 25 year old woman and I provided a Oregon STATE ID that wasn’t banged up, this has never happened to me before.
There was racial discrimination considering he let in all the Americans first and made all the minority’s wait. To top it off he he asked me why asian people are so short.
Instead of asking me to verify my id info the blonde bouncer simply asked me to sign my name 5 times and said my signature was inconsistent!!! Mind you, I was dead sober and wanted to try out this place from all the hype.
I provided bank cards and he said that wasn’t good enough. They ran my id under the UV light three times and it was fine BUT they still questioned if I was TRULY who I claimed to be.
He said he would not let me in based on this.
… This was after waiting in line for 20 mins and being questioned at the front of the line for another 15mins. Very unprofessional place!!!
What a huge disappointment.

Cute newer bar in Downtown Portland. Love the old charm, cozy atmosphere, and awesome fireplace. The unique menu boasts a decent amount of tasty treats along with some yummy drinks. Staff is great as well. In coming here mid-​week it’s a great stop for some Happy Hour or evening drinks. Come on a weekend however and this place is slammed. The space itself is not huge and can be hard to get a drink. Also as it’s attached to the hotel so to speak, it can tend to be a mixed crowd. And there’s a line to get in?! Where are we, in LA??? I’ll stick to the early evening time for this place.
My vanilla coffee liquor drink… A+

Jack Knife Bar is astonishingly close in resemblance to an LA lounge. The music, the crowd, the interior design, and the drinks; all are reminiscent of what I’m used to back home.
The only problem I had here was getting the attention of the bartenders. I waited for quite some time before any of them acknowledged me, it could have been the overly drunk old man standing beside me that they were trying to avoid. — He was a nice man, just had too much and was trying to have a good time.
Ultimately, it was a fun hangout while I waited to get a call from Multnomah Whiskey Library just around the corner. Make a night out of those two together, you won’t regret it. Also, go on towards the back and take some pictures at the photo booth for some fun memories.