by Jaime Vázquez for pdxguide.com
February 2007

The McMenamin’s family of restaurants is a happy contradiction: chain restaurants that Portland welcomes with open arms. They’re locally and independently owned, though, and while the menu doesn’t vary much from restaurant to restaurant, you can count on local staples like Oregon Country Beef and a wide assortment of ales to keep the quality consistent.

Blue Moon is one of their outposts in the northwest neighborhood, and easily the most recognizable with its massive man-in-the-moon billboard keeping an eye on the intersection of NW 21st Avenue and NW Glisan. When you walk in, maybe they’ll direct you to a seating area, maybe they won’t. Blue Moon is about as informal as restaurants in the northwest ‘hood come, but there are plenty of places to sit (and rarely a wait), so “please seat yourself” does just fine. If you walk to your left, you might be one of those lucky enough to sit near their massive stove—a toasty treat in the colder months—and if you walk to the right, you can sidle in to one of the booths lining the windows that face the 23rd Avenue sidewalk. In the summers, they keep the windows open, and even have outdoor seating, so that makes from some interesting people-watching.

In the back half, a bevy of pool tables and a well stocked bar are perfect for the meat market—ahem, I mean singles—crowd. And let’s face it: the northwest crowd is darn good-looking, so no matter if you’re looking for a mountain man or a missy, you’ve got a good chance of finding them here.

My dad and I sidled in to a booth for our monthly catch-up, and both resolved to try something besides our usuals. He went for the grilled red snapper, I opted for the halibut fish-n-chips. He’s a beer guy, so the Terminator Stout was right up his alley, and I couldn’t turn down an RC cola (seriously—it may be the Ross Perot of soda pop, but it’s still the bomb). We had the whole thing planned out for about fifteen minutes before our server showed up.

And that right there is the Achilles’ heel of the McMenamin’s chain: the service is universally lax to a fault. The Blue Moon staff in particular is generally friendly, and knowledgeable, particularly when it comes to beer, but getting their attention is like trying to catch toilet paper in a windstorm. It’s the same situation whether the place is hopping or you’re the only person in the joint, and I’ve yet to find an explanation why. (Maybe the staff is too busy eating in the back. If I worked there, I could see not being able to resist the food either.) A burly, smiley dude took our order. A perky munchkin blonde delivered the drinks. A scraggly hippie brought the food. I don’t mind a change-up, these things happen, but it’s a shame that what could be a perfect anytime restaurant is held back by wait staff that don’t take their work seriously. We didn’t know who to flag for refills, and had to interrupt our conversation any time we needed anything, to make sure we had the time to get someone’s attention.

The flip side of the coin is that Blue Moon affords privacy, and the food is ultimately worth any wait. They’ve got all of the bases covered: appetizers like the hummus plate are savory, basics like the burgers are to die for, and the just-off-the-beaten-path offerings like their fish or gyros are all safe bets. This is why the U.S. loves its chains: consistency. So just keep in mind that Portland’s version of a chain restaurant is like our fair city itself: as casual as they come…take it or leave it.

The opinions expressed within are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of pdxguide.com or The Columbian Publishing Co.