Matchbox Lounge

Went there last night and experienced slow service at 8 pm!
I thought maybe they were closing since it was very obvious they did not want us to order food. The staff seemed more interested in busing tables and lighting candles. I have been there before and had good service.
We were up for spending money last night but ended up taking our
business elsewhere.
Won’t be back as there are many options in the neighborhood!

Don’t listen to any haters out there. This place is legit. I’ve always had very friendly service and their food is some of my favorite bar fare. The burger has received a lot of praise and I will back that up by saying its one of the best I’ve had in portland. Not to mention, I am a bit of a burger connoisseur. I mean c’mon, perfectly cooked fat ass patty of savory juicy beefy goodness smothered in Spanish Manchego and panchetta. You can’t go wrong with that. They properly utilize their slightly limited tap selection and carry really choice brew. For what it is, matchbox kicks ass. Definitely a huge fan and recommend it to anyone.

Matchbox always seems to have the perfect beer selection on tap, which always pair well with their burger. The burger, by the way, is the main reason I go and is one of my favorites in Portland with its smoky pancetta and manchego cheese. It’s also never come out dry like so many burger joints, but juicy and full-​flavored.
It’s also a great spot for conversation over a couple drinks; the music isn’t loud and the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming.

OK the bartender made me a fantastic drink based on flavors I described to him! thanks! and yum! Wow if you can do that and actually make it perfect then I will definitely be returning here! The atmosphere is more on the quiet side but i guess it depends on what time you are there… overall good place to sit and have a drink!

Had the lamb sandwich with a salad and those little pickled hot peppers. Great meal made even better by our waitress, Summer.
Thanks guys!

It’s true what they say about Matchbox. They have one hell of a happy hour burger value. I can’t exactly remember if it was 5 bucks flat, but at least darn close to that, and it was delicious! You get extras such as pork belly and a variety of cheeses. Other small plates with cured meats are also affordable, and help inspire one to linger, say with a date despite the fact that the environment is a bit sparse in here.
Regardless of the under-​designed interior, Matchbox still manages to have a cozy «thursday after work» date level of ambiance… not Friday night, or Valentines, just mid-​week cozy.

Great Happy hour! I recently had one of the best martinis I’ve ever tasted for only $ 5. The bartender was super accommodating and made my martini stocked full of olives the way I like it– a good man. The beer rotation always has great variety and the menu holds some shockingly tasty dishes.

Little big burger opened on Division and the line was out the door for free burgers. Hoping matchbox had happy hour, found out not only do they have happy hour, but it’s all day Sunday for an excellent cooked to perfection medium rare painted hills burger. Hipster hangout, tables far set. Burger alone is worth it for HH. Nice full pour by the bar tender of my chianti. 5 dollar burger during happy hour. Third pound.

I haven’t experienced this bad service people speak of, and I have been here off & on throughout the years.
Great food, fresh & tasty. We’ve have the burger, various sandwiches, cheese plate, salads, etc. Pretty much anything is good.
Good drinks.
Not too crowded or loud– which is a really good find in this neighborhood.

Best veggie burger I have ever had. Heck, best BURGER I have ever had, period.
Granted, I mostly eat hamburgers, but I do like to try a good veggie burger every now and then and this one but all of them, and every meat burger I have ever had to shame. Go during happy hour (ends at 6pm I think) and you can score one for $ 5.
While the veggie burger scored 5 stars, the rest of the experience was a solid 3. I place a lot of my rating on atmosphere and the atmosphere was bland and I can’t see myself ever sticking around for anything as soon as I have polished off my veggie burger. But ohhhhh, that veggie burger! I will be back for that…

My friend was passing through Portland, and we had just left the kava kava place. We were looking for something open before 5 in this area. Matchbox Lounge was.
We sat down and I ordered their fizzy lifting drink –sparkly wine/​and berry, and friend got the aviation/​maraschino cherry/​lemon. You have to have a stir stick for that one, otherwise all sour face. Split a smoked salmon dip/​crostini appetizer.
Before we knew it, we did not have the waitress all to ourselves any longer and the chairs all filled up. It was friday after work, after all.
No hype, atmosphere-​no pressure. Cozy and small, easy chill place, prices just fine.

I agree with Jessie B. Snooty service with so many better options surrounding it.
My wife and I were walking around division, wanting to stop somewhere and get a beer and maybe something to eat. We saw a majority of positive reviews for this place on Unilocal,so we gave it a try. Walked in and stood at the bar for 5 minutes before being acknowledged, and had to ask for some menus since we were sitting outside. We were told a server would be with us shortly.
We went outside and it took the server over 5 minutes to come to our table. She didn’t introduce herself, say hi, or even ask how we were doing, just came out and said «What would you like?». We each ordered a beer, and it was another 5 minutes before we got the beer. It wasn’t super busy, and if you’ve ever been here you know it’s small. As we were waiting for our drinks my wife looked across the street to the Whiskey Soda lounge and said «We should have gone there!»
We got the beer, sat there talking and relaxing for a while, and both finished our beer. We hadn’t seen the server since we got the drinks initially, and waited a bit longer. I had to go inside and walked up to the bar to pay the tab. Our server saw me and said «Oh, hey. Didn’t mean to neglect you guys out there.»
It’s really too bad, the beer was good and the atmosphere is pretty decent as well (thus two stars rather than one). Due to the service, we won’t be going back.

Best cheeseburger I have ever had. Hands down!
Service was a bit slow though by the time 10pm rolled around.

Nope. Snooty service in an area that has so many places to go? Nope.
First off — this place reads more like a coffee house than a bar, which was kinda odd but oh well. A good selection of beers to be had & full bar.
Their Happy Hour menu is kind of weak, the main draw is their much touted burger. And you know what, that burger is pretty tasty. But it’s $ 6 just for the burger — any toppings like cheese is another dollar… so that really ruins the «happy» part since it’s easy to get up to $ 8-​$ 9 in a hearbeat.
The main reason for the two stars was service — there were 5 of us trickling in at once. The 3^rd person to show up advised the waiter we’d be on separate checks — and to this, the waiter demanded his credit card. Well what he said was «So you wanna give me your credit card then?» like it was a threat. It was just… weird.
Come time for the bill, he’d only split it two ways. So we laid out what to charge on each person’s card and dude was PISSED. He didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t. He flounced off with our cards & took 15 minutes split it. Not because he was deliberately taking his time. Rude. If you have a problem with it, make a rule about it. Like a rule on splitting checks, card limit per table, that’s fine. If there’s NOT that rule, don’t be a jerk.
UNDERWHELMED.

Came in here last night for a few drinks with friends. Atmosphere is not too bad. It is a little warm inside as there is no a/​c to keep the place cool. They do have outdoor seating but its very limited to only two benches. The décor is nothing out of the ordinary. You got some artwork by some local artists and the colors inside the bar accentuate the low lit light very well. The bartender here is really slow and I think from what I have gathered is that is his hook on how he treats his customers. Not that its a bad thing just that he takes his time with everything and is not ashamed of it.
I like the fact that this venue is near a lot of things. You got the whiskey soda lounge, Pok Pok, and a pod of food carts within a one block radius. This would make for a cool stop on a crawl along Division st. I would come again cause I want to try the burger that I’ve read so much about but for 9 – 10 dollars its a bit steep considering the demographics of this venue.

Portly bearded guy here = laziest bartender I’ve ever encountered*. I’m not whatsoever a stickler for service – my scores of other reviews should be a testament to this – but this was extraordinarily bad. Dude pretty much hung out in back or confusedly messed with electronic ordering device with his back to us the half the time while friends and I patiently tapped our feet at the bar for 5 – 10 minutes waiting to order. Later, homeboy glowered at me menacingly when we called him from the back after my buddy waited for ten minutes to cash out. To his credit, he was gracious enough to succinctly explain what it meant that this espresso stout I had was «on nitro,» and all in all, this is a chill little bar with cool stuff on tap, but I sho nuff won’t be back.
* Wednesday, July 20, 2011, ~9PM

Best burgers!
If you’re looking for a casual, sweet little date spot, or a good place to grab a DELICIOUS burger, Matchbox is your place. Seriously, the burger never disappoints (get it medium rare). We’ve had other sandwiches there, also very tasty, but we come back again and again for the burger.
Also, we always have the same server when we go, and she is so very nice.
As I said in my review of the Press Club, why the hell isn’t this place more crowded?

Matchbox totally nailed it today. They have Happy Hour twice daily, early shift and late shift, plus all day on Sundays. That menu has a $ 5 burger (¹⁄₃ lb, Painted Hills), a $ 5 house-​made veggie burger, and great snackies like a white bean dip with baguette ($ 4), soup/​salad (choice of from-​scratch soups always include a vegetarian option), empanadas (beef or vegetable), and others.
My favorite was the cheese and crackers plate ($ 4) — seriously good sunflower/​rosemary crackers, very generous slices of Grafton white cheddar, and green apple slices. Those crackers were awesome. Our super attentive and sweet server told us everything but ketchup at Matchbox is made in-​house, and if there were more hours in the day, they’d probably make that, too. Happy Hour also offers a nice selection of top-​shelf drinks for $ 5, like a classic Stoli martini, rye Manhattan, and a house red/​white wine.
My Manhattan was solid, with one of those super-​fancy candied cherries. Not like C Bar Manhattan-​solid, but pretty good for $ 5.
Regular menu has most of the snacks on the HH one, with a few full entrees like lamb tangine, gumbo, and the Portland cheesesteak. I spied a few pizzettas coming out of the kitchen and those looked excellent.
All in all, great experience, will be back to try more food for sure. Those HH deals can’t be beat. I remember thinking a few years ago that their menu was a tad too big for their britches to pull off in a bar at that time. Seems like now it’s a perfect mix of comfort/​fancy.

I visited the Matchbox Lounge in search of what has been said to be one of the best burgers in Portland. I had heard many claims from both Unilocal and offline about the burger at Matchbox. I had decided it was time to see for myself what all these folks are talking about.
Now don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not calling anyone out or wanting anyone to take this personally…
I was not impressed.
$ 10 should make for an amazing burger. Especially one that is served in a place out on 30-​something and Division in SE, where the rents are lower than downtown. This burger was not amazing. It was ok. Not huge, not overly flavorful, not impressively garnished. It was a uniformly thick patty (thicker than many), grilled just as ordered, with some cheese and garnish. It was a solid gourmet burger, but not one I will run back to pay $ 10 for again. Not in this town, with much better burgers being served at Slow Bar, The Maiden, Higgins, and the like.
The service was VERY friendly. The space itself was really spartan… just a big open space with a few tables and a bar at the back. The beer selection was decent, with a tasty Walking Man IPA on tap. The bartender made a mint julep from Buffalo Trace (nice form, brother!) for the girl next to me and she said it was amazing, but then again, she couldn’t even remember the name of the drink when she ordered it, so I’m guessing she’s not a regular in the infield at the Derby… who knows…
$ 14 for a burger and a beer (pre-​tip) is only worth it when there’s something special going on. Sorry. Maybe if I had made it in for the $ 5 version I would have been more impressed. Maybe a good place to grab a cocktail or brew before Pok Pok or a great afternoon HH spot street-​side, but lacking décor or any real sense of atmosphere, I can’t say why I would come back here.
My quest continues.

Now THIS is my kinda place… they have the slightly snobby food menu, great décor, a great comfortable feel, and for the most part decent service. They have wine and beer that is quite drinkable (don’t know about the booze-​filled drinks since I’m a beer/​wine girl), and it’s fairly close to my apartment. Sometimes I walk, sometimes I ride, but I have been to this bar the most often since moving to Portland a couple months ago.
After moving to my apartment, I was in dire need of a burger — and we ended up here… and I was oh so happy to receive my RARE (yes, agreed — it really did show up rare the first time) burger and cute and tasty side salad. It was a damn good burger. I was with a vegetarian that actually had some things that I was reaching across the table to try. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some veggies, but come on — I had a burger sitting there talking sweet nothings to me! The second burger-​visit did not produce a rare burger, but there was red there — and that’s better than most places. But why is that so hard? I digress…
The third burger, and all subsequent visits make my life worth living… and for this, Matchbox gets the upgrade to the full 5 stars. Every time that I think about heading somewhere different, I end up here — and end up happy. And what’s better than that?