River Pig Saloon

The wife and I were Visiting from out of state. We sat ourselves and waited more than 15 minutes to be acknowledged. I Finally flagged down a bartender. She seemed annoyed we were asking something of her. I Order an $ 18 shot of 14yr Oban, a beer, and a double vodka with a splash of cranberry for my wife. The Vodka cranberry was not great. I had to stand and flag down a different bartender for some simple syrup to make it palatable.
She Decided to try something else. I Waited another 15 minutes for the first bartender to see we needed help again. I Asked for a cocktail menu and she ordered the only vodka cocktail on the menu… A California widow. It Was interesting, but by then my wife and I were completely turned off by the quality of service.
My wife asked to use the restroom and was pointed to a locked door. She returned to the bartender who pointed her to a different door. An access code was needed (and, of course, not given). She went back to the bar to ask how to get into a bathroom. The male bartender was completely unhelpful with this seemingly simple and common request, so we bailed on this sorry excuse for a pub. Consequently, we had to walk 5 blocks to another bar just to use the restroom. To top it off, by the time we got to 2^nd bar, my wife was sick from the crappy California Widow drink from River Pig.

Stopped by here for a couple beers after my birthday dinner at Andina. Loved the atmosphere and the aesthetic. The view was perfect for people watching and just lovely in general. Great beer selection too. Can definitely see this becoming one of my go-​to spots.

What can I say… we like this place! Our small friend group discovered the River Pig this fall for NFL games on Sunday mornings and it’s become our default. It’s uncommon to find an upscale sports bar/​drinking establishment in downtown that has personality and feels like a neighborhood bar. There staff and management are extremely friendly, the food is great and and fairly priced and the place has a cool mod/​saloon style vibe.

Being a bar in the Pearl, I really didn’t think this place would live up to the hype. But after going almost every Sunday for football, I’m a huge fan. From the attentive, friendly service to the delicious food, this will be one of my favorite places to hang for games in PDX. Ramzy does such a great job at making you feel like you’re at home, he’s always there making his rounds, chit-​chatting with patrons. The two ladies that work football Sunday’s are the best! We’ll keep coming back!

They have PickleBack shots here. Great selection of Craft Beer, and Whiskey. Cool place, nice servers. Good experience. Thanks!

Stopped by again a year later. It was great last time and even better this time. The bar seems to have come into its own now that they’ve been open for a while. Food is even better and yet again they had new beers I’ve never heard of that are great. Coffee Pale Ale was the stand out. Service was fast and friendly too.

Some friends and I met up here for dinner– not even thinking about how it was a playoff game– oops. The place was busy, luckily my friends got there early and snagged us the last table by the door. Not sure if the games are always that loud or if it was because it was such a big game, but that’s something to think about ahead of time if you’re not a crowd or noise person. It was LOUD. People were jumping up and down screaming, definitely a lively place and more of a bar scene than a restaurant.
They had a fun list of cocktails, so I decided to try something different and had the «red headed stranger» I’m not a huge fan of ginger, but I decided to give it a try, our server told me that it’s a huge hit. It was good, definitely missing the point of it being a cocktail though. If I’m going to pay 10 dollars for a drink, no matter how pretty and tasty it is, I expect to get a biiiit more alcohol in there– just a suggestion!
They had some great beers on tap, a good mix of things. My friends that got there early had ordered the basket of pickles– too darn chewy! Lots of breading. We ordered the nachos which were so so good! We had them with pork– they do have some spice on them– which was really great!
We had a vegetarian in the group and her options were pretty slim, I told her to ask if they do the mac and cheese without bacon, but she got the Oregon Bowl– a salad of sorts that you can turn into a wrap! My boyfriend had the bison burger and really liked it. I had the pig melt, which was meatloaf, wrapped in bacon with provolone and mushrooms.
They have a cheddar, jalapeño hot dog, topped with chili. A couple of my friends had that and loved it, but both of them complained that it wasn’t on a plate, served with silver wear, it was in a basket. If you want fries or tots or a salad to go with it– it’s an additional 2 or 3 bucks. What! I saw that written on there, but two of my friends didn’t and they didn’t realize it was going to be extra money until the bill came. Oops. The fries (curly fries with lots of salt) and tots were good, but I think these should be included or at least the server should mention it’s basically considered a side.
I’ll definitely be back and I would suggest this place to friends and family! There was either street parking or paid parking lots a couple blocks away, so that was an easy find, which isn’t always the best in downtown portland.

Do you know what the worst thing is ever? Worse than asking for a well hot toddy and being charged $ 9 for it? The response to not being happy about your bar experience. That is the worst thing ever and that happened today at your establishment. Your idiot dark– green haired bartender explained to me that the price is because of your fancy lemon syrup. Fuck your fancy lemon syrup. She also closed out the wrong persons card when closing out to us. But the worst thing is your response online written below. I will never go back to your bar.
After telling river pig saloon about our bad experience, this was their response: «You are the sissy that resorts to posting on FB instead of having any balls to say something in person. True douche! Look in the mirror you pussy!»

River pig is pretty got damn awesome. I’ve been here a few times, and have yet to be disappointed. First time I ordered the Buffalo chicken wings, and they were gigantic. Dry rub, so if you like your wings swimming in sauce, these are not for you. The beer selection is decent, and wait staff is knowledgeable. Props to Lisa for taking good care of us. Prices are what you’d expect for the pearl, but everything was delicious. My personal fav was the meatloaf.
Definitely come here on Tuesday for bingo, it’s five bucks to play for the entire night, and is loads of fun.
One con is that it’s a little loud, and can be hard to have a conversation, it’s a sports bar so it’s to be expected.

The roomie and I came to the consus — River Pig is a cute, mildly divey sports bar by day that’s a relaxed place to grab a drink or two, have a bite, and just unwind overall. At night, however, I get the impression that it turns into the usual macho-​loud sports bar that I tend to avoid.
OVERALL.
+ Fairly solid hand-​crafted cocktails
+ Large, delicious menu with organic, vegetarian friendly menu options
+ Ample seating (at both individual tables and the bar)
~ A less-​than-​clean bathroom (probably more the fault of the patrons, let’s be real)
We dropped in to kill some time, and I don’t think we’d seek River Pig out in the future, but it’s a nice enough place to pass the afternoon!

Breakfast burrito is good but the potatoes are a bit too chunky for my taste. Cute and friendly bartender. Small brunch cocktail list but plenty of TVs for the football games. Expect to spend $ 15 on a plate and drink. Juices are from a local company. Good location near a lot of action.

Pretty nice joint. I’ve never had a great experience here but it isn’t awful either. Usually crowded on weekends. Food is ok. Staff are pretty nice. Vibes are kinda bro-​ey. Drink list is lovely though.

I went to River Pig last night to enjoy a few beers and some food with friends. The atmosphere is casual, comfortable and hip. The mac n cheese was delicious and a bargain at $ 8. Having said that, the best part of this place was the service! Deborah knocked it out of the park! I never had to wait for her to come around with an empty glass as she seemed to know just before i was ready to order something else. Not only was she effective at making sure our table was taken care of, she was friendly and made us want to come back in the near future.

There is definitely a dive-​y, saloon-​y feel to River Pig. I made it with 5 minutes to spare on their happy hour, so I ordered the boilermaker deal and a chicken Caesar salad. The salad was good enough (although the extra charge for adding chicken seemed high) and the bartender was friendly. I would stop by again for the happy hour deals.

A fie to false expectations. Fie and double fie, say I!
*shaking futile fist at the indifferent pantheon*
I came to River Pig with high expectations, you see, based on name value alone, apparently, and very little else. Before setting foot in the door, I had already conjured up all sorts of BBQ/​faux Cajun-​themed possibilities. Besides, with some of the very best cuisine of many different pedigrees in the immediate vicinity— Oba, Piazza Italia, Yama Sushi, Andina, Mediterranean Exploration Company, Seres, Irving St. Kitchen, &c &c — I was already aware of a local truism: if you have the stones to open a restaurant in this zip code, it better be pretty freakin’ terrific.
River Pig struck me for its subdued tone and the subdued, «less is more» menu. Pretty near every night of the week, there are throngs of cheerful party-​goers clogging the streets of the Pearls, in a never ending orgy of eat-​drink-​be merry-​rinse-​and-​repeat. At about ¹⁄₃ seating capacity when I took my cheer-​seeking behind to da’ Pig Saloon, I was at once mystified by the rather, shall we say, somber ambience permeating the place. But what owner/​mgr wants THAT kind of descriptor, knowing the throngs of Roman food-​orgy seekers abound in the streets?
There is nothing wrong with pub grub, and indeed, mega-​cliched pub grub is what you’ll find at River Pig Saloon, w/​no apologies offered, nor any brooked. So go on then, have their burgers and buffalo wings and saloon dogs and nachos, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. It’s not that the grub is bad here, be it ever so clichéd, and maybe you won’t be plagued by thoughts about all the unrealized potential of this bar, of what it could be… and yes, I daresay, what it SHOULD be…
It occurs to me that River Pig would probably do just fine, as is, in many other, perhaps less lofty neighborhoods? They might be making a killing now, as it is in the Pearl and indeed, I hope they do. Indeed I hope they do… but if business lags or suffers, it would be no mystery to me why. If you’re gonna assume a truly awe-​inspiring name like «River Pig Saloon», live up to it, y’know? EARN it!!! Don’t settle for being a novelty act, a low brow site-​seers attraction. Bring the funk, bring the joy, and by all means, bring some BBQ/​Cajun love, build it and they will come! Don’t worry about putting off any of your well-​heeled neighbors (like the nearby, Cajunesque Parrish)– unless of course they are co owned/​managed/​operated by your people!
It’s the dream of my life that you bring your game up to such a level @ ye olde RPS that I will somehow, someday be mentioned in a news item, something about «Frequent patron of local saloon medically evacuated from premesis… was last heard muttering unfathomables: «Too much awesomeness… can’t take it… just… tooo… much… awesome – ness… arrrgggghhhhh…»

Beer is good. Very strange service at the bar. 1. They dump a pitcher of water on the bar top and expect you to pour it yourself. 2. They take a credit card to «start a tab» before serving you food. Seems a bit paranoid. Beer tastes good though.

First time at the River Pig. Would definitely come back. Located in the heart of the Pearl on 13^th street, River Pig is a casual bar with a great beer selection and very good food, with indoor seating to permit sports themed television and outdoor seating if you prefer a more casual seating arrangement. The Saloon Bison Burger was very good, and served with a nice aioli, cheese (I opted for cheddar), pickles, tomato, onion, and two strips of bacon. Add fries for $ 2 and a side salad for another $ 5, and you’ve got a huge but excellent meal at a very reasonable price.
Many different beer options, and I chose the excellent River Pig Lager and was definitely not disappointed.
Seating is inside or, on a beautiful Portland summer evening, out front on one of 13^th street’s elevated walkways away from traffic. We chose the Pig because we had our mentally unstable dog who cannot be left home, and this was an al fresco dining option that accommodated the dog – and, it turns out, so much more.

Delicious food. Our waitress wasn’t terribly friendly. Several tv’s, including a big screen, for watching sports. Bathroom is dark and dingy (1 of 3 lightbulbs working). All in all, I liked it better than other nearby sports bars and will be back for football season!
Food:
My fiancé had the nachos with pork. Very tasty with layers of melted cheese throughout instead of dumped on top.
My fried chicken sandwich w/​side salad was even better! Huge portions for the side salad– was almost a meal by itself.
Drinks:
Rip tide was excellent with the perfect amount of alcohol. I also ordered the daily punch for $ 5, which was barely drinkable. Wish I had just paid an extra $ 3 and gotten another cocktail. My fiancé stuck with beers, which I think were $ 6.

We were headed to a nearby restaurant and decided to give this place a try instead. So glad we did! Small spot — but great at lunch. Unique atmosphere and lots of beers on tap. We ordered the fried mac n cheese for an appetizer. These were sooooo good! Highly recommend.
For lunch, hubs ordered the Cubano Grilled Cheese sandwich. I ordered the river pig nachos (no meat). The portion of nachos is LARGE — we could have easily split them. Really good food. Will be back!

I have never been inside the bar for more time than it takes to use the bathroom, and during my limited visit indoors, I observed very little because it’s incredibly dark. There are stuffed animal heads on the wall wearing comically oversized medallion gold chains, think Run DMC circa 1986. There are projection screens, presumably for sporting events. I can imagine this is a different bar when a game is on.
So, you may be wondering how I am enjoying this establishment if I don’t even enter it. Oh, my, let me lay it on ya. Hitting up the River Pig and finding a stool on the loading dock is where it’s at. It’s your own little perch on which you will enjoy people-​watching first and foremost, but also Portland’s Finest Bowl, a Pickle Back, and the stiffest drinks this side of the river.
The Portland Bowl is the epitome of a good warm weather meal. It’s light and packed full of flavor. It’s the right amount of perfectly healthy food to curb your appetite for something tasty while simultaneously allowing you to consume more booze calories guilt free. Which is good, because the barkeeps here really do sling stiffies.
As for the Pickle Back. It’s yum. Trust me. I am a pickle fan. I am an even bigger whiskey fan. Combined, the two develop an almost super power. Delish.