Sellwood Public House

Excellent service. Great beer. Good soup, not too warm, really delicious. Okay salad. Nice crisp lettuce. Grilled chicken quite flavorful but dry, overcooked. Caesar salad portion is generous. Dressing is not a good or a true Caesar. Tasted like a basic mayonnaise and sugar without much flavor. No hint of garlic or anchovies. I would eat here again, and I’d venture to choose something else. Willing to give it another try because the staff are so all around sweet and attentive, and the food wasn’t bad. I’d like to see them add a fruity beer that isn’t a stout. Yes I will be back! Shooting for four stars next time!

Awesome brunch! Cheap drinks! And tons of bar games (pool, darts, shuffle board, etc.)! We stumbled in here a few weeks prior and just keep coming back! The main guy (I’m assuming either owner or manager) is really nice and all of the bartenders were attentive and offered great customer service!

We have been here about 4 times since moving back to Portland. The beer selection is good and the food is ok. The service is awful. One bartender (beard and ponytail) is about as personable as a wet mop. He asks you what you want to drink, throws coasters on your table and walks away. Never cracks a smile, asks how you are or anything. When you get food, they never come back to see if you have any problems or if it’s even good. Ugh!
Sadly, we may not go back.

Food is fantastic! Drinks are great! Service is genuine! This is a place that we frequent and we are never disappointed. The largest space in the bar has pool and darts, and the bathrooms are always nice clean. We love the pizza (they bake it with the sauce on top of the cheese), wings, mozzarella sticks, and onion rings. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by!

Love this place. Service was too notch. Food and drink were perfect. $ 1 happy hour oysters.

Just ok. We had great service on a sunday evening but drinks were woefully weak and tiny pours. Food was pretty good — had fish and chips and fries that were really pomme frites (not crisp) and a fresh salad.

I love SPH. I moved out of the neighborhood over a year ago and the handful of times I’ve been back they still remember the beer I always order! Is the service always perfect, no, sometimes they get busy and don’t have enough staff or the bar staff is doing more waiting on tables. But it’s a bar, it gets busy. The food is 100% reliable. My best friend loves the burger, and he is kind of a jerk about his burgers. best grilled cheese i’ve had in portland, with no close second to be found… butter, challah, and you can get cooked mushrooms AND cooked onions on it. So good! and they make nachos over tots or fries… just, why aren’t all nachos over tots or fries?
It almost became a running joke that every time i ordered a salad they would minorly screw up the order (bring me the wrong size, the wrong salad dressing). But they always happily fixed it, and quickly, and often didn’t charge me. The salads aren’t the most inspired thing they make, but, they are real and fresh and you can get them late at night! and if you ask for extra dressing, they just give it to you, no explanation needed (this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but recently two other establishments gave me the side eye when i asked for extra dressing, i.e. not what i want from wait staff. no, i am not wrong, this salad IS underdressed i order it 3 times a week here, now give me some extra dressing and never ever question my tastebuds again!!!)
And, the pool/​table tennis/​darts/​shuffleboard are great. You can easily get a big group here and play games or not, and drink and eat, or not eat, or not drink, and it’s totally casual. One of the best things about Sellwood.
Last but so far from least… they always seem to have Ft. George Vortex IPA on draft. This beer, with the nacho-​fied tots… forget it, there is no better indulgence than this combination. i love this bar!

It’s very rare that I update a review but I went back tonight and it was completely different. That same beared dude that was unpleasant was super friendly and attentive tonight. Perhaps he was having a bad night that first time. Perhaps he had a change of heart. Regardless of the reason, he was so nice tonight and I understand, having worked in that industry throughout my 20s, that shit can happen. So I forgive and forget.
The food… I’ll stay away from for now.
The drinks… You can’t really mess up beers on tap so that remains awesome.

So the food is great, the location (3 blocks from my place) is great, the atmosphere is calm and non pretentious but the only thing keeping this from a 5 star rating is the service. Generally the bartenders are rude and seem like you’re a bother to them, even when you tip well and are a regular! Seriously, this place could use a coach in good service or new people who at least don’t act like you’re the scum of the earth for asking for a refill.

One of the best bars in town, hands down. Great local pub with a great selection of beers. You probably won’t find better pub food either. The specials are consistently good and you can’t beat ping pong, shuffleboard and darts in the back. My fave place to watch timbers and blazers games, too.

Awesome pizza! Great Drinks! Great place to party. The Ginger Fizz and Bloody Mary and the Fi Mojitos are the Best. The Pizza we got was the Single Guy. It had roasted garlic and pepperoni with salmi and to finish it had pesto. It was Awesome. Just take a chance and Go.

I really wanted to love SPH as it has so much potential to be a great local bar. They have Stumptown Stories (oral bits of local history) every second Monday of the month and I made this my reason to give SPH a try last night. Aside from the story portion of the evening, I was overall disappointed after this inaugural visit.
It started out cool enough. We took a seat at an empty table (about half of the 12 or so tables were empty) and waited for someone to swing by and take our order. We watched two waiters/​bartenders float around for 15 minutes without stopping by our table before we decided it must be a place-​your-​order-​at-​the-​bar kinda place (a sign would be nice or a heads up from the staff). So, we went up to the bar. And waited for another five minutes.
Keep in mind, this place wasn’t jumping. There was no crowd. It was closer to empty than it was to full. Which leads me to say that it is so off-​putting to see a pretentiously aloof person in a service position. And it’s so rare to see this variety of ostentation in Sellwood that it felt infinitely more objectionable.
Eventually we ordered the roasted veggie tacos, a side salad, and a ruben with tots. A beer for him and a vodka drink for myself and back to the table we went. The tap list was great (12 or so beers available, nice variety, maybe a bit too hop-​centric). The mixed drink was tasty, but not as stiff as I expect from a good pub (and reliably get elsewhere in the area).
The food arrived quickly (salad delivered simultaneously, which just ain’t right) and was mediocre. If I return (likely as this could have simply been an off night), I will definitely order the pizza as it seemed to be the house specialty and looked delicious as I watched a few go by on their way to be eaten.

This review is about the drinks only. They do infused alcohol, anything you can imagine, from ginger whiskey to cucumber gin. I got the «Fruit Tart» which was absolutely delicious, try it with the raspberry infused vodka, yum! My boyfriend got the «New Deal» which he enjoyed as well. Ambiance was nice, typical funky SE place. Looks a little sketchy from the outside but then once you are upstairs in the bar area, you realize why it’s popular. There were a lot of stairs, fine for us but worth mentioning if you’re going with someone who has trouble with stairs or is in a wheelchair. Happy hour is $ 1 off the whole menu, pretty reasonable. Don’t know how the food is because we were going to a friend’s place for dinner afterwards and didn’t order anything but it sure looked good! We’ll be back next time we’re in the area.

Updated review. Two words: FISH TACOS.
And always great wait staff and games on tv and game room and variety of crowd and judgement free zone. One of sell woods finest.

I have now been here for dinner and brunch and Everything we’ve tried had been delicious. Pizza wings fish tacos and the SPH hash was delightful. Service is always happy to be here.

A little better than your typical bar good. The pachos nachos are amazing: its French fries topped with black olives, cheese, sour cream and salsa.
I ordered a burger and it came out bleeding. I called the waitress and she said it was supposed to be medium rare. .this was not medium rare (I love medium rare)… the bun was soaked in red. It seemed that the waitress might be afraid of the chef. I took the burger home and cooked it the rest of the way. :-\
Interesting drink selection like bacon infused vodka.

My kind of place. Dark, divey (in the best of ways), friendly and beer-​loving bartenders, and the food is awesome. If you like cards, darts, or pool, the brightly lit back half is perfect for you. If you want to drown a few, eat some grub, and casually watch a game in between squinted reading of Willamette Week, then sidle up to the bar and enjoy a night for under 20 bucks!

I was looking for a spot for brunch while visiting the area and found that SPH has brunch according to Unilocal.I was just blocks away and it was a gorgeous morning so off I set.
I was a bit surprised at the entrance and scary stairs to the second floor location. Mostly because there were some boxes stacked at the top of the stairs. It just didn’t look inviting as I trudge up. But I quickly made my way through the ‘tunnel’ and into the place, grabbing a window seat.
The brunch menu isn’t huge but there were enough options that I settled on the SPH Monte Cristo. Challah French Toast stuffed with bacon, eggs, cheese, and Canadian bacon. Oh, and served with home fries. Yes, please!
I started with SPH Bloody Mary. Mind you, I like spicy. So a drink made with pepper and bacon infused vodka, spicy bloody mix, and pickled veg sounded right up my alley. Yikes! It was spicy! Just a bit too spicy to be honest. Next time I’ll have them add a bit of tomato juice to tame it a down.
The food arrived and I was not disappointed. The sandwich was amazing! Beautifully cooked french toast, thick cut bacon… I was in heaven. And the home fries??? Perfection.
I would definitely recommend trying their brunch menu. But if you’re not a football fan, you might want to wait until after the Superbowl. This place had at least five screens with football on each one. I happen to love the sport so was in my element.

Our first experience (brunch) was hit and miss but we gave it another shot and were pleasantly surprised. I am raising my rating to 3-​star and it may even be worthy of a 4-​star and I’ll report back after we try their dinner entrees.
Darts, ping pong, pool, and Foosball! Oh my! On our brunch visit I was not paying much attention to the second room which provides all sorts of indoor gaming.
Lemonade
My wife opted for lemonade and the waiter suggested the bartender muddle her one. OMG! It was fantastic.
Pizza by the slice
For me, this pizza may make my top 10 list of pizza joints in Portland. I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered the Canadian Bacon + Bacon and if you read my review of the Monte Cristo you will know I am a fan of their bacon. My wife had Canadian Bacon + Olives and thought it was decent. This was our third time eating pizza this weekend so keep that in mind.
Nachos
Just how I like ‘em. Real cheese, no meat, and plenty of salsa and sour cream on the side. We were having a slice of pizza as well so we substituted chips for the fries/​tots. I can’t wait to try the fries or tots versions.
Brunch:
Huevos Rancheros — Barely mediocre. The tortilla was hard for 1″ around the edges.
Monte Cristo — Pretty decent. Notably good bacon, syrup, and the use of texas toast.
Biscuits and Gravy special — Just okay but the hash-​browns were nice and crispy.

What a strange place! It’s like ½ local bar, ½ brightly lit bingo hall/​elementary school cafeteria.
I stuck to the bar half, which offered a good selection of beers on tap. Be aware you will have to climb quite a flight of stairs to get in/​out, so you may consider stopping here early in your evening rather than late in your bar-​hopping.