Skyline Tavern

Awesome sunset. Hot cider. Heat lamp and games. Great after hike in Forrest Park. Beautiful Tavern, new neighborhood favorite.

This place rules! Horseshoe pit, cold beer, and good vibe for miles! I think about this place often, as I ponder the pitiful bars of Los Angeles.

This has quickly become one of my favorite spots to have a beer when I’m in town. Nice view, rustic, friendly bar tender. Most patrons are friendly and engage in conversation.
The menu is very limited. You can have scratch/​made soup which changes weekly.
You can also bring your own steak and charcoal and cook on the outside grill free of charge.
Beer and wine only. But you gotta love this place.
Sunshine is the best!
This place will remind you of a saloon from back in the day.

A great place with amazing outdoor seating. New art driven programming is great. The food is tasty and they have great beers and wines. Sky Tav is an excellent place to arrive after hiking or biking through Forest Park.

The new owners are doing a great job creating a relaxed place to hangout and have a great local beer. The food is also much improved. Here is their new website:

Loved this quaint watering hole at the crest of the ridge.

We drove up from Sherwood to meet some friends. We missed them but sure enjoyed the laid back atmosphere and sense of community. Recommend this for something more rustic and neighborly.

This place is awesome. Based on the overall rating I was quite skeptical and thought about heading straight to St John’s for higher rated joints. So glad I didn’t. Great country vibe. Akin to the mcmenamins rock creek tavern except way less pompous. Real deal… And I don’t do crusty dive bars. Get here and enjoy the sunset!

I wish I could say something about the menu, the tap list, the service, the atmosphere. Unfortunately, we were turned away at the door because we had our 15-​year-​old, and there is a strict no-​kids policy. It’s not that we were coming outside meal hours: it was 4 pm on a Sunday, and we were there to hear friends perform in a band on the back deck. We couldn’t even sit at a picnic table. Very disappointing.

Great!
I’d driven by Skyline a bunch but never went until I heard there were new owners… and that they now took plastic, finally!
Order at the bar, relax inside or out, and there’s a lot of out. I go for the relaxing view, but there’s also horseshoes outside too. The selection of craft beers is always kept interesting, and there are bottles for non-​craft drinkers. There food is good, but fairly simple and really just for snacking and not a meal (chips/​salsa, hummus, sandwiches). The staff is very nice and down to earth, and the patrons are a good mix of life; young/​old, blue collar/​professional, tall/​short, heh.
The only con… Smoking is allowed outside. But don’t let that stop you, it’s a nice place for a beer or a glass of wine.

Good beer and friendly service. Has a very down to earth humble country bar vibe. Great patio. No overlook views unfortunately.

Great location. Great food (limited menu but not the typical run of the mill offerings). Try the Taj Mahal sandwich.

Great place to enjoy a killer sunset on a perfect spring evening: totally chill vibe, killer kale caesar salad, good brews, super friendly staff.

Okay. If you want a casual, nicely crusty place that is in-​city, kind of, yet feels like you are in a country pub in the woods with a great view to hang out with a friend or friends. Skyline Tavern is your place. Such a relaxing atmosphere, almost lodge like.
Very good selection of micro-​brews and wine, with delicious salads and sandwiches to go along with the view, vibe and friends.

I’ve been to Skyline three times now, and am going back with a group of friends this evening, and I’ve got to say, I don’t understand the prevalence of super-​low reviews. I mean, what are you guys expecting from this place?
The times I’ve been I got exactly what I expected: friendly service, a cold beer, and some bare-​to-​the-​bones food, all while sitting in a blast-​from-​the-​past building in the middle of the forest.
I mean, what’s not to love?
Add the fact that there’s free pool tables, ping pong, darts and horseshoes, and throw in the rentable BBQ and Ipod docking stations, and you have yourself a winner.
A big, fat winner.
To the naysayers, if you can’t appreciate the Skyline Tavern for what it is, perhaps you’re more suited for something on NW 23^rd street. Or in Beaverton.
Because as far as I’m concerned this tavern is as close to perfect as I can imagine (it reminds me of the Bambi in Butte Meadows!), and I’m excited to show my new favorite bar to my new favorite friends.

A hidden watering hole, new owners, new life? Sadly, this place is getting some good press which means, more people will be invading my quiet sanctuary. That’s good and it’s bad. Thankfully I am free to enjoy during the off hours!
The good is that there will be some menu updates. The fire pit was ready to be cooked on and I think in the future they will have burgers and brats for the DIY cooking. I am digging the idea of cooking my own burger up there, without planning on doing so. The panni sandwiches looked good. I stuck with chips and salsa, from Hot Mama Salsa outta St John’s.
The beer selection was lacking an IPA when I was in there, not a deal breaker but certainly not a five star review. It was refreshing to see Black Butte Porter on Draft. Well Played Skyline, well played.
Cons– that the hipster quota that is certain to come will be unbearable. I love when people ask if a porter and a stout are the same thing … And then they tell their friend «I am not a high maintenance customer» after sampling everything.
I will enjoy the space and the patio til then– you should too!

This place gets two stars simply for the venue, as the location and quant lodge feeling are the only thing this place has going for it.
We had been here a few times in the past and hated it – terrible beer and food, and unfriendly staff. We recently read an article saying the place was under new ownership, and that the food was transformed and the beer was now quality. As a result, we decided to check this place out again…
…and we found that little had changed. The person working the bar was not friendly to us, the selection of beer was not good (and still $ 5/​pint), and the food was still not good (unless you consider nuts, chips and salsa, and ice cream sandwiches a meal). The only actual meal-​type item was a panini, but what kind of selection is that? The area inside is small, and crowded with a large pool table and video poker machines, instead of more seating.
This place should focus on getting some decent taps, and more of them. And instead of trying to serve some basic no-​cook menu items, or in addition to it, they should bring in a couple of food trucks to provide dinners to guests.
We’ve lived in this area for 6+ years now, and we’ve wanted to like this place so badly. It has so much potential, but it’s what it could be is sadly not being realized.

I live nearby and have been going to this place off and on for 15 years.
I heard about the new owner and hoped it had changed.
It has not changed much.
Surly servers who seemed downright pissed off when anyone (not just my party) wanted a beer, wine, chips, etc.
When it came time to pay there was nobody at the bar, yet neither server would make eye contact or take our $$.
This place could be great, but it is far from it.

Stepping inside Skyline Tavern is like walking back into a memory whose geographical and historical location could be in one of a dozen places: some backwoods Tennessee town in the late ‘90s, Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park ten years ago, canoe mecca Ely any of the last thirty years.
Except that it has Terminal Gravity IPA on tap. That, my friends, is the reliable mark — even in a fever-​dream — of a dive bar that can’t be anywhere other than Portland.
No wonder that familiarity flits around the edges of your awareness from the first time you walk in the door. The tried-​and-​true formula of wood paneled walls, a cash-​only bar, bagged potato chips lined up on their rack, and a no-​nonsense yet wisely human bartender work anywhere (anywhere that’s worth going, at least). The perch on the west side of Skyline Drive, and the accompanying grassy backyard all benched and studded with low stone walls for sitting, commands a visit and a view for summer afternoon drinking and taking the air along with a pint. Throw in a little ping-​pong at the outdoor table, and you’ve got all the entertainment you need.
When it isn’t summer, sit inside on the graciously standard yet perfectly swively bar chairs and look out at the rain and the early-​evening green of the fog, listen to the quiet of the room and the chirping sounds from the games in the corner, and just, you know, be. Renewed, haul yourself out into the downpour and the dark and head down the mountain, to home, back to the sleek scene of the city and the places where cocktails come in each their own precious glass. Skyline will be waiting up there for when you come back, as if you never left wherever it was you can’t quite remember being before.

Oh Skyline. You silly old thing.
Does this place have mixed drinks? The few times I’ve gone I’ve wanted to ask but don’t want to embarrass myself in front of the no nonsense bartenders. I imagine her saying «No. Obviously.» and giving me this look akin to a slap in the face. The reality of the matter is that the bartender is a nice lady. The kind of lady who has seen life and can call me «sweetie» — a pet peeve — without me automatically disliking them.
Needless to say I just choose from there meager beer offerings. This place is no frills and really, that’s the charm. When I walked outside a burley man was showing off his gun to a friend which just so happened to be pointed towards me at this point. The very friendly man was hugely apologetic and I didn’t feel at all as if I was unsafe, it was an honest mistake. In fact I felt more safe knowing if any bullshit went down, this man would come to our rescue. ‘Merica! But this is the kind of joint it is — a bar for a mans man looking to have a cold one. They have a crockpot behind the bar and chips for sale for christsake!
But let’s be real here, I’m not a mans man. I am a lady who loves a nice game of horse shoes, pool or darts. I am also a lady who loves porch chillin’. Skyline has an amazing back patio. Every time I’m here I have this horrible thought «If they just cut down all these trees, they would have any amazing view». You can however peek between the trees to enjoy a breathtaking view.
As others have mentioned this bar is Cash Only — talk about no frills. If you’re reading this Skyline, don’t you change a fucking thing. You keep it real, and I like it.
What am I saying — Skyline doesn’t go on the internet. You’re such a badass.