Pal’s Shanty Tavern

Good riddance to the worst service!

Great place! My girl and I ate here on 9÷10÷12. As soon as we sat our server (Faedra) came to take our drink orders and give us menus. I know that doesn’t seem like much but a lot of times dining this can take 10 – 15 minutes. For appetizer we shared a small bucket (which was quite large) of steamed clams with drawn butter, as well as an order of excellent sautéed oysters. My dinner consisted of a bowl of fantastic chowder and a large (9oz) Fresh crab cocktail. The girl had the crab salad and cup of chowder combo. Our drinks (iced tea) were refilled twice without having to ask for it. That also is a small but important thing that goes unnoticed often. This place is not cheap but for fresh seafood you should not be looking for cheap. Overall great experience, fantastic food, exceptional service (thank you Faedra). We will definitely be back.

I’m starting to believe they are not going to open AT ALL. First, it’s
June, then August, October, now January !!! Explain the hold-​up !!

We miss you terribly, and can’t wait to sink my teeth into your delicous clam cutlets and raw oysters and fresh shooters, and the BEST clam chowder anywhere !!! and, and and…

I am 2^nd generation coming here. My parents used to come in the late 60’s. Now my wife and I come here once a month. This place has the freshest seafood in Portland. I am sorry to hear about the fire. There used to be a shuffle board years ago, hopefully they could bring that back! Hint hint!

Important Note! December 2013!
Pals Shanty is closed to remodel after a fire!
Go to the website for more info.

This place hand down has the freshest best testing seafood in town. It’s not cheap but not spend. Its not fancy or overdone. It’s seafood from a tavern and it kills it. Everyone at the table raved about how good their meal was and that rarely happens

I came here with my mom when we were starving after her 3 hour hair appointment in Portland. We split a special which was a blackened cod po’boy with coleslaw and chips as well as a large bucket of clams. These were both really good! I even enjoyed the coleslaw which I usually despise everywhere else. One downside is that they don’t allow minors during the daytime unlike many bar/​restaurants that I’ve been to. The other thing that was lame was that they only had RC for soda, which I am not particularly a huge fan of, but I suppose that they do want you to order alcohol. We ate all of our food, which seemed like a lot at first, but we were starving and it was the perfect amount. They don’t have a fryer, which is kind of awesome since it didn’t make me feel gross and bloated.
The service was nice and there were no complications. It wasn’t very crowded, but it was also a strange time of the day. The atmosphere was very… well… bar-​like; it was dark with dim lighting.

Great food, and nothing is fried. It is all made to order and I adore all of the staff that work here. The chowder is fabulous (both the clam and seafood chowder) and I love the Crab, Shrimp, and Cheese open faced sannie. It’s a tavern with a twist, and all of the seafood is freshly prepared and made to order. Lots of an older crowd go here, but they have been going there for decades and it is a friendly place, I love having it in my ‘hood. Just don’t be a douche and not tip the waitstaff properly, they will work their asses off to make sure you’re happy with your meal!

This has been a family favorite since the ’70’s! The steamer clams and crab louie are the best I’ve EVER had. The clam chowder is awesome and their beer selection is respectable too!

I had a good lunch here a week ago with some friends. i doubt i had been here for years. However, we had a great time and a very good lunch.
i ordered the crab and shrimp salad on avocado. It was better than i expected. There was plenty of crab and it was not over powered by the sauce. it had a bit of shrimp, but not much; however, that would be my preference, so I not mind. 2 friends got the razor clam sandwich and enjoyed it. Another had oyster shooters. No one complained about the food.
I had thought about ordering a crab Louie, but the price was too high. This place looks like a dive, which is fine; however, if you are going to charge $ 25.00 for a crab Louie, some money could be put into the atmosphere of the place.
One friend ordered a martini, which he liked. The others ordered beer, which was also good. I made the mistake and ordered a pinot gris, which was too sweet. I never understand a restaurant having good food, but ordinary to bad wine, particularly when the price is a bit high.
I assume I will be back and will not complain if someone suggests it. However, it will not necessarily be my first choice.

This is not your high dollar seafood house with extensive wine list. This is a good neighborhood seafood restaurant and bar. The razor clams are very good and the clam chowder is exceptional. There is a full bar now and don’t be afraid to ask your waitress what is fresh and looking best.

East Coast may have the best Lobsters in the World; but the Razor Clams are in a class of their own!
Pal Shanty is me Irish Shanty for the best of them all.

Pal’s Shanty has soul. I am always amazed by the disconnect between the environment and the amazing food. I usually order the pan-​fried oysters and they always always fill me and satisfy.
I am drawn to how this place has zero pretension. You can’t call it hip. It’s not even ironically chic. It just is what it is: an old bar with great sea food. That’s something rare and real.

Walking to the car after Killer Burger, we popped in here rather spontaneously to have a tasty beverage. They make a decent Bloody Mary drink.
Kind of a cool neighborhood dive bar.
Kinda grungy, with old furnishings and artwork. Looks like it could have been a soda fountain 80 years ago. with the swivel seats at the bar.
Reminds of the kind of place your dad used to hang out after he retired from the force.
A Bloody Mary costs $ 10, though?
That is bloody expensive for a place like this.

Fresh, fresh, fresh. This place doesn’t even have a freezer. Everything is fresh caught. The crab here is so amazingly fresh! That is the word of the review. The shrimp is so tasty. I love this place for fresh shrimp and crab Louie. Large portion salad with quartered tomatoes and egg on the side. Thousand Island dressing that is perfect. Honestly this place is so freaking good. The atmosphere is super old school dive bar meets cabin fever feel. Old wood. Old swivel chairs at the «bar.» They have a small selection of beers. No liquor.
They always have good specials. The clam chowder and seafood chowder is some of the best in town. The prices are totally reasonable for what you get. I usually leave here not able to finish all of my plate.
Been here about 4 times now and can’t wait to get back for some tasty seafood.
Thanks Pal’s for doing it right!

My husband stopped in here for lunch one day and said they had good seafood and thought we should go back. I split a large bucket of steamed clams ($ 21.95) which is really big for two people. Lesson learned. Think small. I did order the clam chowder to start and it was pretty good, nothing bad, nothing great. I did like that you could tell it was fresh clams and not rubbery canned clams, there just weren’t very many of them in there.
I got the Seafood sampler that had halibut, Cajun halibut, calamari, fried clams and grilled oysters. It was on the appetizer section of the menu and I knew I’d talk my son and husband into sharing it.
I didn’t eat the oysters but they told me they were pretty good. The halibut seemed baked/​grilled, it wasn’t deep fried, and even though some things said grilled, they were kind of greasy, which made it get heavy quickly. I wasn’t able to finish the calamari, mostly because there was plenty of it, but it was starting to really feel greasy towards the end.
My son had ordered a burger and a small bucket of clams. He said the burger was really good and seemed impressed with it. He knocked out a small bucket of clams on his own, but said he had a hard time finishing it.
We ate what we could on the clams before ordering dessert. My son and I split a slice of the chocolate cream pie, which was really large. It had a thick consistency. Very good pie.
The thing I was least impressed with was the service. We were right in front of the bar and our waitress didn’t come back at all. At one point she just left the entire bar and never asked if we needed anything before she went where ever waitresses go in the middle of serving people. My son went to the bar and got the other girl, who standing there looking at us and the two other tables, but not venturing from behind the safety of the bar. We had been out of drinks for a while. Please don’t make me choke on the grit of the clams.
I would go back and order way less food all the way around and try something that seems like it may have less grease and be prepared to wait for drinks based on my experience and other Unilocaler’s reviews. We were having fun with each other, so that is what counts in the end. I would have hated to have seen it if there were more than the three tables occupied like when we were there.

Chowdah. Oystahs. Lobstah. Lagah. Steamahs.
Okay, I am running out of Boston accent words.
What is not to like? It is pub grub gone seafood. My friend Big Joe walked in and went ‘This place looked just like this twenty five years ago.” I guess if it ain’t broke.
The bucket of steamah clams was large and filled past the brim. I had a seafood melt, and a bowl of seafood chowdah which was wicked tasty. Big Joe had cajun oystahs, which seemed to pass his mustah, and he is picky about his cajun seasoning. My buddy Shawn had a pastrami sammy which was loaded with fresh meat.
There were a bunch of seniors eating what was probably dinnah for them. Shawn made the good point that if the blue hairs are eating there it implies a good value, because they are usually on a tighter budget.
The place has charactah, and charactah goes a long way.

First things first: when I go to a place with «Shanty» in the name, I’m gonna have a bit of sticker shock when the bill for three (with tip) comes to $ 85.
Second: the salads that took up half the plates of all three dinners consisted of iceberg, pickled beets (those actually were pretty good) and frozen salad shrimp.
Third: The chowder is REALLY salty.
Okay, the good? The waitress was super sweet and quick. The beer list was adequate, and the beer was cold. Of the three dinners, Mister’s razor clam was best. By far. Also, they’ve got this funky little swiss chalet-​looking tiny building *inside* the place which I think is the beer cooler. Curious, and sorta interesting.
Final verdict? If we lived in the neighborhood maybe, but as is not likely to go back.

I first reviewed this place almost 3 years ago and it got it’s 3^rd review yesterday? This is the kind of place that Unilocal exists for. A hidden gem, unique, family run, anachronistic, a perfect manifestation of it’s type.
I had a breaded and grilled razor clam dinner last night served on hashbrowns with a shrimp salad and a couple of pints of Black Butte Porter. S.U. had a Salmon BLT (not a patty, a whole piece of the Holy Pink Fish). Next to us were two guys in auto/​racing jackets and their wives, the waiters wore pink, studs and frosted hair. Other customers included Big Hair-do’s, sexy Latina’s, cowboy boots. It was an incredible mix of all-​Portland.
It’s all straight forward seafood. Calamari steaks, grilled oysters, chowders, oysters, buckets of clams. Yes, it could use a bit more ventilation but hey, it’s not cigarette smoke. You’ll drive past this place saying, «no way» but, check it out!