Bare Bones Cafe

This place is great if you are looking for a quiet place to read/​study/​work. It’s also one of the best priced lunch/​brunch places around. The food is good, it’s not going to blow your mind. But I can stop by here and get a good quality breakfast bagel for $ 5 in an enjoyable atmosphere. I call that a good deal.

My girlfriend and I make Bare Bones a frequent breakfast date spot. Somewhere in between a coffee shop, and a café, they have a pretty simple breakfast menu, as well as offer a variety of different sandwiches for lunch. The staff is friendly and welcoming, and the atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable.
But the real winner at the Bare Bones Café, is their in house made rosemary and sausage country gravy. It is heavenly. It is to die for. I would highly recommend either the biscuits and gravy, or the chicken fried steak. Bother of which come with the gravy.
The only thing I would note is that sometimes when the space gets really full, it can get really loud.
If you are looking for a cute little place to study, and eat, but you want something a little more substantial then normal café fare, I would say this is the place for you.

This place was a complete mess from start to finish. The people running the counter were either rude or impossible to get ahold of, there was no silverware on the tables, no water at the service station, the bussing bins were overflowing, and the whole place was filled with thick overpowering smoke. The food was decently priced, but pretty underwhelming. Maybe they just had a rush? Either way the level of service was very poor.

I don’t know why this place is only four stars!!! The meat quality is super good, and both the guys working were total dolls! Great place for a good quality sandwich and a killer laid back atmosphere.

I wish you could give half stars for Unilocal because this place deserves 3.5 starts but not 4.
It’s a cute place and they have a great music selection playing.
I got the turkey sandwich. It was good but it wasn’t anything exciting.
My friend Matt got the kielbasa on a bun with sauerkraut and a side of German potato salad.
He said that it was alright but nothing special and That the sauerkraut was weak in flavor.
The potatoes were slightly undercooked in the German potato salad and still had a little bit of a raw taste to them.
There was only tiny nuggets of bacon where as he expected large chunks of bacon to be present.
My friend Tracy had the pepperoni pizza, which she said was pretty good and finished it all.
Happy hour beers were 3.50 but 4.50 normally so still pretty cheap.
The lady who worked there wasn’t mean but wasn’t the friendliest. She kind of seemed overwhelmed.
Overall it was just okay.

My favorite spot for a breakfast sandwich. Build it anyway you like, they are delicious! I brought my out of town guests here — they wanted to go back the following morning, and we did. It’s a cool café with local artwork and a different genre of music every time you stop in. A+++

We stopped in here on a whim while on vacation in Portland and we were happily surprised at the vegetarian and gluten free options they had available. We got a vegetarian patty with egg and cheese bagel sandwich and the smoked salmon eggs. Everything was excellent and the staff is very friendly. We will be going back to check out the bar as well.

I love the employees and the shop has got a great character to it. Relaxing music and delicious coffee!

Came here to get some work done midday, food and coffee is decent but the vibe is, in my opinion, way off base for a daytime café. The music is loud and super aggressive. Have to step out to take calls. Not a workplace.

I recently went in and had an off meal, and said something to the server about it. It turns out, that’d been prepared by the owner herself, who upon hearing about the negative (bacon) experience, sent along new and wonderful bacon! I feel bad about having commented about what was clearly an unusual event, but I appreciate how gracious the owner was. I’ll continue coming here just about every weekend as long as I live in the area, to be honest!

Stopped by here for breakfast and had a very enjoyable experience.
Lots of people were stopping in and hanging out. It seemed to be a local spot that welcomed everyone, which isn’t a bad thing.
I ordered their chicken fried steak and was not disappointed. The sausage gravy was plentiful and the steak itself tasted as though it was hand breaded and fried, not pulled frozen out of a freezer.
I dislike places that don’t offer fountain sodas with refills, so I can’t do a 5 star review… but there was plenty of water. The food, however, was beyond fabulous. I would have no problem stopping in here again.

Good place to get a bite to eat and work. Good biscuits and gravy, breakfast sandwiches, and pie. Solid wifi with lots of outlets. Friendly staff. Good coffee. What more could you ask for?
Only negative has been that the A/​C got kind of overwhelmed on a hot day recently, but it was still working so not a big deal.

First timer. Amazing food. I had what is most likely the most perfectly prepared BLT in my life. The quality fresh ingredients blew me away. Wish I’d gotten two. And there albacore tuna deviled eggs? OUTSTANDING. I can’t wait to go back and try their build your own breakfast sandwich. A+

I’ve been coming here for a few years every week for a meetup I help host. The people who work here play the perfect mix of music, and at the right volume — it’s ALMOST loud, very conducive to working here on the computer! The food is great and accommodates vegan and gluten free, and their meat-​ful dairy-​ful food is terrific too — their $ 5 oatmeal INCLUDES BACON! They just added a giant game room in the back with pinball, pool, and comfy couches, shared with Bare Bones Bar next door. I love the breakfast sandwiches, I love the standard breakfast plates with eggs, hashbrowns, & sausage/​bacon, and the biscuits and gravy is terrific.
The wifi has been getting more and more reliable it seems too — I haven’t dropped any connections in a long time. Hint: get on the Bare Bones Bar wifi instead of the café — the Bar wifi’s secured.
Love this place.

In spite of a screaming for no reason at all two to three year old that needed a good dose of reality, the pink haired do it all kept the remaining few customers on this afternoon content with their beverages and food. I was one of them on a fairly nice afternoon in the land of port.
I know many have ended up here or the bar next door, but I chose here because of the windows and I wanted to be able to see outside. A bottle of Sessions and a marbled rye Reuben were the choices that looked appetizing to me. Combined, a little over $ 12. Not too bad for the area. The sandwich was pretty standard but how can one really get a Reuben wrong? Thousand Island, kraut, Corned beef and bread. This came with a choice of chips and I went for some jalapeño ones.
It seems that breakfast is the main attraction for this place and I guess at some point I’ll have to get back and give a breakfast sandwich a try. The food I had was pretty good and in spite of the little wailing banshee, I will still come back.
Enjoy.

So impressed here. Was traveling alone and felt a bit out of place as it was my first day in Portland. Lady behind counter was very nice and sweet. Ordered the portobello olive melt with goat cheese and sun dried tomato. Omg. Would go back to Portland just for this sandwich! The man who made my food (I assume?) was teaching the bartender pours so he offered me a free Black and Tan which of course I accepted. Such a nice cozy atmosphere. Most people were on laptops drinking coffee but I didn’t feel uncomfortable with my grub and beer and old rolling stone mag!

I can’t comment on the prices of drinks because I literally just signed my copy without looking at a total but I came here for trivia most recently (uh, Thursday nights? Was that Thursday?) and it was fun! Cool bar with a couple of pinball machines and a few tvs. There were SIXTEEN teams of trivia when we were there.
I’ve been to Bare Bones a few times in the past because I used to live over here but it’s not the kind of place I’d go out of my way for. They do have other events, Bingo, off the top of my head but yeah, just kind of a regular bar. Not too noisy, not too divey or cheap. Just a nice Bell Curve bar.
I had a few Old Fashioneds (weird word) and the tuna deviled eggs. They were awfully fishy, I wouldn’t get them again but I LOVE deviled eggs. Just no tuna. I did find their menu kind of limited. It was okay though, a nice evening spent with friends doing trivia.

I come here a lot… it’s probably high time to give them the glowing review they deserve. Overall, Bare Bones Café (not to be confused with their bar next door) is a great place for a coffee, a casual lunch, a change of scenery while working, or even a beer/​cocktail.
First and foremost, these guys have reliable free wifi. Coupled with access to good food and caffeine, this makes Bare Bones Café a great place to hole up with a laptop for long periods of time. I’ve never seen this place filled to capacity, so I never feel bad about hogging a table for several hours.
The food menu is centered around sandwiches (which CAN be made gluten-​free). I’m a huge fan of the braised beef brisket, or the portobello olive veggie melt if I’m in a vegetarian mood. I recommend spending the extra dollar to get a side of German potato salad with a sandwich. Their soups change every day, and have always been delicious.
Then happy hour sneaks up on you (3 – 6), at which point you’ll probably have to switch over to beer or cocktails.
I can’t say anything about their breakfast or weekend brunch, but I’m a huge fan of Bare Bones Café for everything else that they do.

Came for brunch. It was acceptable, nothing outstanding. Felt like something I could make at home in 10 minutes.
Pros:
— house made veggie sausage was great
— toast (with breakfast) wad made with above average bread
— decent price
Cons:
— portions felt small
— hash browns were frozen, big box products.
— grapefruit juice from concentrate

I stopped here for lunch a week or so back and was very pleased with the roast turkey sandwich (with a mucho delish aioli) and soup I requested.
Though the day was cloudy, cold and drizzly, Bare Bones was warm and inviting on the inside. What I like too about Bare Bones is that it has a comfortable non-​pretentious ambience. Kinda like Division was before all the construction (and resultant glitzification) began taking place. But I would guess it is just a matter of time before the same forces that are transforming Division seep (or barrel) into Belmont and do the same number. Let’s keep Belmont Belmont.
Plenty of tables (and electrical outlets!) for those wanting to bring their laptops and use Bare Bones as a coffee house. And if all the tables are taken, there’s a bar where you can sit.
Overall, I would have to say that for sandwiches, quality wise, Bare Bones is just as good as Meat Cheese Bread.