PartyCart

The name is very deceiving. When my friend told me we were eating here… I said… what…we’re eating at a food cart? Okay…
Food:
Food was fresh and locally sourced. I was very impressed with their menu and the way they made their food. Their menu changes often I can tell. I recall doing a set meal where it was pretty much a surprise.
Service:
Very attentive, polite, professional staff.
Environment:
Simple clean décor. Very modern day cuisine type of feel.
Price:
Not exactly low budget food, but the quality makes it worthwhile.
If this is the best Eugene cuisine has to offer… then they’re headed in the right direction.
Food: 4
Service: 5
Environment: 5
Price: 4

I wasn’t impressed. The people behind this restaurant clearly want to help make Eugene a place where you can find good food and have a contemporary atmosphere, but this is food I could make at home — for MUCH cheaper, and with more flavor.
Service = pretty slow
Food = small portions, flavorless
Drinks = not impressive
Prices = not worth it
Their menu is on the wall and in chalk.
Maybe this is the «party» part, but I didn’t get it. It’s hard to read the menu and a big F U to you if you CANT read it because there is no printed menu. For a Eugene restaurant there’s a surprising lack of vegetarian or vegan options. This is my least favorite battle to fight, because their solution is just to leave off the meat and give you the fillings if you want it to be vegetarian. Wow, thanks a lot. I get a side salad OR the toppings from these other meals. Epic choice.
It feels like eating in someone’s basement where maybe there was a funeral last week, which would explain the weird vibe.
Went here for dinner and it was pretty empty. The tables are cheap and small. There was clearly no interiors expert hired for the job, but hey, it’s a party so whatever right? No. Lighting is awful and depressing. The sconces were obviously bought from a 7^th grader with a booth at Saturday Market.
Please, don’t go here. They don’t deserve your business.

To all out-​of-​towners and folks under rocks: ParyCart is now partying downtown (
).
This expansion means that the Cart menu is bound to change. I hear that burgers (both garden and beast) are to be the staple here, but we shall have to see…

These folks are incredible. Some of the most gourmet food I’ve had from a Eugene cart. I’ve heard rumors that they’re looking for a brick and mortar location downtown. I’ll follow them anywhere they go, but I hate to lose them from the Friendly Neighborhood! Who’s gonna fill the void???

The lamb sandwich I ordered had a large piece of chewy fat that could not be swallowed without choking and they don’t give you a fork and knife to cut out bad pieces of meat. You would literally have to open the sandwich, check the meat, trim the meat and close the sandwich before you eat it. Isn’t that the chef’s job?
Apple cider was good

OMG!!! Just got back from an AMAZING Brunch wiht a friend, Rose. It was Perfectly portioned and so incredibly delicious! The Tiny bisquits with BaconHoneyButter were cute and perfect, the pancake with appleButterSauce was Amazing, Local Greens in all their simplicity were devine, RadhicioBruscetta was Incredible, BrocolliFritatta… Perfect…, I Love Party Cart!!! =D

Wow. This was impressive.
Finally tried PC for a quick light lunch. GF & I split a lamb gyro and greek salad (it’s Greek Week, guest chefs Alex & Kaisa while the owners take a Stumptown break). Outstanding! The gyro was the best I’ve had in Eugene — toasted pita, very flavorful seared-​tasting lamb, and out of this world crisp fresh tomatoes and cukes. I’d order extra tzatziki sauce next time’cuz I like it so much, but it was great just the way it was. A little small, we could have eaten two happily. And the salad — perfect. Again, a little small (this time I DID order a second, it was so good). Each component tasted excellent — red burstingly ripe tomatoes were the stars, but the kalimata olives, feta, oregano and yellow peppers were each strong, distinctive contributors. All held together with a savory tangy red wine vinegar and olive oil — ambrosial! The best Greek salad I’ve had outside of Greece, five stars.
I want to go back with friends and order every dish, just to revel in their greek perfection. Exciting, genuine, delicious food. All locally sourced, perfectly ripe, beautifully cooked. This is as good as it gets. Friendly folks too.

An amazing little gem. The food is phenomenal, local, and organic. The menu is always new. I really lucked out living so close!

Here’s what I tried:
Pork + chard tiny pie: my favorite item. The pickled chard really made it.
Wheat berries + cheese: Interesting but good flavor.
Yogurt potato salad: Tasty but not remarkable. Reminded me of good pot luck food.
Meatloaf sandwich: Not bad but overpriced.
Green salad: boring.
Braised squash: boring.
My overall impression was healthy gourmet food that had small portions for the price and a lot of flies buzzing around the tables. It didn’t seem that clean either. Besides the aforementioned flies, some of the silverware had big chunks of dried food particles.

I ordered a main dish and a side salad from their small, but intriguing menu. The $ 4 watercress salad was very, very good– so yummy I wanted more. My boyfriend described it as less than a dinner salad, but more than a garnish. Main dish was $ 7 and consisted of 4 small pumpkin-​spinach-​feta «sausage» rounds– served w pickled sliced onion, tzatziki along with 2 very small rounds of obvioulsy well-​made stone ground pita bread.
When I picked up my «to go» boxes I was perplexed… they felt nearly empty. When I opened them up I had to chuckle… they could have easily put both meals into one box, w room to spare. I even took a picture! I am a woman, so I don’t have a huge appetite, but after spending $ 12 ($ 1 for the tip jar) on take out, I grabbed my $ 6 jar of organic Kim Chee from Holiday Market and ate about ¼ of it to feel satisfied.
I understand that organic food comes at a cost, so I don’t want to discourage others from enjoying the interesting food on their menu, but I know I could not take my boyfriend or brothers here and feed them w/​o spending more $ than I feel is appropriate for sitting outside and dining from a cart. How much more could half a potato, a cup of rice or pasta cost to offer a more fulfilling meal? I would return for another try if they offered larger portions, even at a slightly higher cost.
If you want to visit a local cart that gives you fresh food and generous servings try Drumrong Thai on 6^th… completely different kind of food, but a very good value for your money.

Edit here for 2013 — visit the downtown location on Broadway for out-​of-​this-​world-​yet-​local cuisine… Review for original Party Cart here:
Fine dining. What do you want out of a meal? The Party Cart delivers damn tasty rustic comfort food. Party! This is one of the most fun spots in Eugene. Party Party!!! Take a date! Come for a light nosh! Today I ate Goat Sopes on Corn Masa and Pumkin Beef Brisket Soup. Whaaaaat? That’s right! And it is all super-​fresh-​made-​from-​scratch-​tummy-​satisfying-​soul-​nourishingly good.
I fear sometimes when I give a place 5 stars that some Unilocalers expect to walk into a restaurant or other business and have their lives changed, become enlightened, find a golden toilet seat or something. It ain’t gonna happen.
If you want a great local meal made by creative (sometimes eccentric) Party people, I don’t see how you can go wrong with PartyCart! I Love it!

Pros: Taste. The food tastes really great. Obviously, there is some expertise in the cart-​kitchen.
Cons: The quantity to price ratio is off. For instance, today I paid $ 8 for their excellent tasting Pork Loin meal, and it was really good. But, it wasn’t even enough to consider it a light snack. I think if the Party Cart included bread or even mashed potatoes or some «filler» to their great food then I could walk away feeling like it was a fair deal.
So, overall; its like eating at a really nice restaurant, except its a fast (er) food cart. I agree with a lot of the comments about it being really good. I know that sourcing things locally costs money, and local meat /​vegetables can be more costly, but despite all that, I know it could still be possible to serve some filler food with the meal too. When that starts happening, I’m happy to upgrade this review to a 4 or 5 star!

How lucky are we to have little food carts pop up in Eugene neighborhoods that utilize the bounty of our amazing available local produce to its fullest potential?
The Party Cart scores big for local flavor, a wide range of items offered on a rotating menu, and quality seasonal ingredients. The offerings are varied, delicious, and leave you feeling satisfied and eco-​friendly. Even better than the fact the talented proprietors are making (nearly) everything from scratch, is the fact they are teaming up with other local purveyors for beverages and desserts.
Their vegetarian dishes are spot on and offer a nice change from typical veggie fare I’ve had. Thanks to Party Cart, I have discovered kale chips and wheatberry salads. Their meat-​based proteins could use a little more seasoning, but the accompaniments/​spreads/​preserves provide a nice boost to overall flavor of the sandwiches or lunch plates containing meat.
All in all, who would’ve thought such a delicious experience could be found in a pet store parking lot?

I love living in the Friendly neighborhood, with only two complaints: 1) there is no place within a short walk to eat and 2) there is no place within a short walk to get an (adult) beverage. Scratch number one off that list – my residential enclave became a whole lot better when PartyCart opened up shop.
PartyCart is single-​handedly changing how I think about food. I’ve always sneered at places who describe themselves as ‘local’ as I feel that this has nothing to do with taste and, let’s face it, isn’t going to save the world we are living in. I don’t know how else to put this, but the food at this cart actually tastes fresher than just about anything I’ve ever had. The folks making this happen are deeply committed to, and enthusiastic about, local sourcing. I don’t know their specific backgrounds, but they have some serious culinary chops – they know what the hell they are doing when they are putting their dishes together. I have tons of respect for the growing food cart scene in town, but PartyCart is the first place that I would feel 100% comfortable sending my most snobbish yuppie-​ass friends.
The menu changes every week (if you don’t want to risk a drive-​by or, in my case, a walk-​by, you can find them on Facebook, where they make updates) with a couple of ‘large’ plate items in the $ 7-​$ 8 range and a couple more ‘small’ plates in the $ 3-​$ 5 range. They aren’t strictly vegetarian (which arguably would make a much larger difference to our world and ‘environment’ than being local) but always have at least one item in both large and small categories that is flesh-​free. I’m not even going to mention specific things that I have eaten, since it depends on what ingredients they have, except to tell you that I’ve tried a handful of items and every single one has been 5-​star worthy in my book.
They serve Indie Pop soda (most recent flavor: carrot. It was damn good.) and they partner up with Red Wagon sharing the parking lot space on Thursdays. What else? Oh yeah, they are two of the nicest people you’ll ever talk to, and they clearly love what they are doing.
Now, if only the neighborhood could lose the ridiculous pet store whose parking lot PartyCart operates out of.. .get a decent watering hole in there, and I’ll never have to drive a car again.

I love these guys. In my opinion they not only serve the best «cart» food in town; but they serve some of the best food period. They are perfectly small enough and still a bit under the radar at the moment; and I selfishly like that. The menu changes every week — and they always have 5−6 – 7?options that all make you wistfully wish that you could order everything on the menu at one time.
So far my fave has been the corn cakes w peppers, topped w a poached egg. The egg ran down perfectly over the cakes forming a terrific little sauce. That would be closely followed by many of their sandwiches — recently and specifically, the braised chicken sandwich, served w sweet/​sour spinach on blue cheese foccacia bread. The bread is to die for. I also had to try the BLT tart; and the Kale chips (a present side item) were also lovely if not addictive. I’d never had Kale chips quite like this before but they are so tasty; and the the integrity of the kale leaves are somehow preserved in an imperfect way. Other highlights of the recent past include the morel mushroom & pea soup; prosciutto & egg biscuit w wilted greens; pork belly chile verde; short rib & soba noodle soup; and fried green tomatoes w cracklins & roast tomato vinaigrette. Every week it’s something new and awesome. If you follow them on FB you will easily find a delicious upcoming menu — and food pornographic (is that a term?) pictures.
Lastly the couple that are Party Cart seem like great folks. Very down to earth — and using all local stuff; great prices and portions; and fine sometimes fancy food that is completely unpretentious. And — I think they are teaming up w Red Wagon Creamery on (i think) Fridays now; and Party Cart makes these little pies that beg to be topped with delicious ice cream of that ilk. :) Almost ridiculous that this all happens in a small cart off Friendly St in the Healthy Pet lot. Yet perfect. I get the feeling they’re justvmaking food they’d make at home.
Party.

I love good food. I like good people. Party Cart combines the two, with owner/​chefs with serious culinary credibility and great dispositions.
I eat here at least once a week, and always enjoy Kale Chips and Tiny Pies, regardless of what else they have on the menu. It is, without a doubt, the best food you will ever eat in a parking lot, and some of the best you’ll eat NOT in a parking lot.

This is where my girlfriend and I come when we want good quality food. We eat out at restaurants 5 or 6 times a week and this place always tends to be at the top of our list as favorite carts and just good food over all.
We were out of town one day and both were craving the food from here. When we got back to town, we came straight here before going home to drop off our stuff. It hit the spot just as expected.

Local ingredients made into delicious food! Love it!

Great people and tasty, local, interesting food. Love it!

the best choice to grab a bite. friendly owners, locally sourced organic foods, unique gourmet at an affordable price.
Food for foodies and all other walks of life :)