Gemini Lounge

I miss this place :(I miss the owner too. Big dude, that could look intimidating from far away but once he greeted you with his warm smile, made you feel so welcome. He was a teddy bear, a true gentle giant. I miss the awesome sliders, the awesomely mixed drinks, the funky atmosphere. Also the cook/​bar back, the little dude, so friendly and genuine.
Now there is some LAME ASS WANNA-​BE BIKER BAR in it’s place. I live close by, I am sad everytime I drive by. If anyone knows what the owner/​bartender has going on now, please let me know!
R.I.P. Gemini. You are missed.

I went to the Gemini for the first time tonight with some friends who live in the neighborhood for happy hour, and I have to say, this bar makes a very good first impression, starting with the excellent house made potato chips, and the cucumber and lemon infused water station. You rarely see details like these, even in Portland’s best bars. So, I liked the place before I even had a drink in front of me. Speaking of which, the cocktails were great, particularly the «American Mule,» essentially a Moscow mule with bourbon in place of vodka. I always like to see deep fried pickles on a menu, and the Gemini’s version is solid. The shoestring fries were nice (though I’m more of a steak fries sort, myself), and the sliders, which come two to a plate, were excellent. I had the Sagittarius, with Painted Hills beef, caramelized onions, blue cheese and brioche buns. You see «brioche buns» on menus all over town, btw, and they’re rarely the real deal; these were legit brioche. The bartender with the sleeve tattoos, who I believe is one of the owners, was charming and accommodating (I had him talked into making me a cocktail out of horseradish sauce, pickle juice and vodka before I chickened out), and the décor is just spiffy enough to take the place out of dive bar territory, without becoming pretentious. To sum up, the people who run this place clearly give a shit about what they’re doing, and it shows. I like this place a lot. Even though it’s a bit far afield of my hood in Northeast, I will be back, sooner rather than later.
And, they’re friendly to the MC crowd, which makes for good people watching…

We’ve visited this establishment a few times now, each time very impressed! Their house vodka is Monopolowa — awesome! Food options are great too!
Last time was for my partner’s birthday; the owner took great care of our group, and the evening ended with a marching band serenade across the street! It was fabulous!
We hope to get back soon!

My review would have been a solid 4 however the patrons (all locals I presume) and even the staff didn’t seem to take too well to us. At best, they tolerated our presence but at least we still got our booze and they were prepared right.
This place is small, intimate, a great place to sit, grub and schmooze with your friends. They have an interesting booze and bites menu which I would have gone for if we didn’t have reservations at pok pok.
We sat at the central, communal table because we were a larger group. Granted, we were probably louder than most that came in that evening, but c’mon it was saturday night.. Two girls who were at the communal table as well situated themselves elsewhere after we sat. Oh well, we still enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed our tasty libations.
After about 3 rounds, when the staff had warmed up to us just a wee bit, we figured it was time to leave the nice people alone and head over to Pok Pok.
Let me just say, however, we weren’t obnoxious nor did we bother anyone else. We kept to ourselves and cracked a few jokes with the bartender.

The beer is local, the food is decent, and the atmosphere is a nice mix of tasteful and dive bar. The owner is a hoot. I recommend happy hour specials, especially the fried pickles.

The building has a lot of character, and it’s nice being in a bar that’s fun, but not too trendy or hip for its own good.
Pros:
–All the sliders were fantastic.
–Beer selection was solid.
–Nice, friendly atmosphere that wasn’t too loud or quiet
Cons:
–Service took quite a while to check on us, then a longer time to take our order. It’s always awkward when service takes so long, you don’t know if you have to go up to the bar to order.
–Everything is in slider size. I’m sure this makes them some good money, but I just wanted a big olé burger and fries. Again, the food was delicious, I just wanted more without spending an arm and a leg.
We will definitely come here again.

Super friendly staff, great food, service & drink specials! The house made chips are delish! I have had so much fun in this bar every time I’m here. It’s a mid century modern gem with an amazing swag lamp collection. Always a good mix of cool people, decent jams on the jukebox and smiles on the staff! And, I like that they cuss a lot!

I can’t say a single bad thing about this spot. The guys who run the joint are wicked friendly and clearly care about what they’re doing. The décor is cool, and definitely promotes that low-​key lounge feel, the music is always good, and not too loud to have a conversation over. The complimentary, house made potato chips are killer, the sliders are great and reasonably priced, and the cocktails are solid; often adventurous, but never overly ambitious. They sometimes run out of certain ingredients, but whatever. This place is no dive, but there’s nothing pretentious about it. This is a truly «Portland» bar at its finest. What Roscoe’s gives to me in a beer bar, this place polishes, and delivers in a cocktail bar. Please give these dudes business, but don’t corrupt it!

I love this place. The staff is very personable; they put a great deal of care and attention into what they do. The chef came out to ask my girlfriend and I about special requests we had for our food order, just to make sure we got what we wanted (score!). The bartender makes brilliant cocktails! I have yet to order anything I didn’t like here! Their sweet potato fries with cinnamon are fantastic, and I daresay their pulled pork beats Meat Cheese Bread’s. Tasty salads too! No crap iceberg doused in cheap dressing.
Being something of a localvore, I took note of their local domestic microbrew and cider list, all from within 8 miles of the venue. NICE. They have Aviation Gin, which is about the only gin I’ll drink. GREAT cocktails — I imagine it would be hard to find a drink I didn’t like on their menu.
Also, HOUSE-​MADE POTATO CHIPS. Who does that? *These* people, that’s who. And they are friggin’ delicious.
Additional bonuses: cool Gemini-​oriented art work all over the place, a small but cozy-​looking stage (haven’t seen a performance here yet), good selection on the jukebox, reasonable prices, and comfy décor. We plan to come back often!

Drinks are good, food is good and close to home. I will for sure make another trip.
There isn’t a long list of drinks, but the ones my friends and I had were all great. They were fruity, looked good and tasted great. They will provide you a bowl of chips to go with your drinks before/​if you order a meal.
The food list is quite good, and it was hard to choose what we wanted. The food is flavorful, not large portions, but it will fill you up. The food is worth the trip.
The décor might not be as inviting, and if you go on the earlier side, you might be the only ones in the bar for a bit. It can be nice if you are with a group, but also a tiny bit concerning if it is your first time there. Overall it is a wonderful place and worth multiple trips there.

So happy the Gemini is walking distance from my new place! The décor is fun, with colored lamps and all kinds of twin art covering the walls, and I was impressed by their lengthy cocktail list, which includes seasonal ingredients (Rosemary Rickey, anyone?). They also had a nice, dry cider on tap, which always wins you bonus points with me, and the owner was super friendly and happy to be there.
We had the sweet potato fries, but the slider menu is so adorable I want to go back when I’m hungry.

I love this place!
Really fun ambiance, with a twin theme and beautiful colored glass light fixtures. the bartenders/​owners are so nice and fun and make great cocktails! All their beer is brewed in Portland (I think I remember the guy saying that); they have tons of options.
Their sliders are delicious with two vegi options. Happy Hour deals are great!
Their live music on Fridays/​weekend is a little too loud for my taste, so I try to go during the week for happy hour.

Awesome Bar with a great vibe to it.
Both staff and patrons are friendly and it not uncommon to strike up a conversation with someone you have never met before. I never like to go to bars by myself but even if I don’t feel like drinking this is a fun place to stop in and see whats going on in the neighborhood.
The food is good and they offer free house-​made chips for a bar snack.
Lots of bars try to be as cool and put together as this place but often come up short.
Best bar in the foster area.

Nice atmosphere. Good drink specials. Strong drinks. Nice place to chill!
I haven’t tried the food, yet. I’m excited to try the sliders with gf bread!

TWO HAIKU REVIEW:
Your food is delish,
your cocktails are a delight,
cute zodiac theme.
Even service was good,
and a perfect location?
let’s just be twins, friend.
VIRGO (pro): Great drinks and food with varied menu, nice staff and quick service
CRAPICORN (con): Not much of anything that I could see… way to go!

Great bar. Great cocktails (and I know cocktails). Wonderful food with options for everyone. Atmosphere is classic chic, like having drinks at cocktail hour in the golden era of Hollywood, without being contrived. In fact, the whole experience of The Gemini Lounge is classic cool without being contrived. Definitely a place worth checking out one or one hundred times.

A lounge so dark, I need a 1000 btu coleman lantern just to see the menu. Really. The theme is all about twins. Twins on the walls. Twins on the menu. Gemini this, Gemini that. No hamburgers, but sliders. Two of them! In this neighborhood, it’s like being in a tittie bar, but without the titties. That’s because this lounge sits on the fringe of «felony flats’. The owners and servers go out of their way to please you, though. But not enough to bring me back. I do have hope that this place makes it. Felony flats can one day be of the past.

Small shitty looking bar in a shitty neighborhood. Once you get past that, this little bar is a diamond in the rough. The inside has a really cool vibe. Everything is red and black, which was cool for me being a SOU alum. The paintings were good enough to be cool, or bad enough to be cool. The music was an indy band that I really like so they score big points on that too. The zodiac themed drinks, food, and art was unique and really cool.
The bar tender was really on top of things. The drinks were cheap and the selection was pretty good. The tap selection wasnt that big, but for 3 – 4 bucks you cant really beat it. The mixed drinks were good, and the house special cocktails were very interesting.
The crowd was pretty diverse. Behind us were two obese older people. To the right were 2 hot lesbians. Outside were a bunch of college aged girls. At the bar were some tattooed up biker looking people. Overall the bar had my kind of people. Not too pretentious or overly sophisticated, but not trashy street bums either. The atmosphere at the Gemini seemed like everyone there would have no problems strking up a conversation and having an interesting opinion on whatever you could throw at them.
Overall, this bar is a cool little spot. I would highly recommend it for a quick drink or even a date.

Love this place. A really awesome couple own the bar and have put a lot of love into it along with a laid back, friendly, knowledgeable staff. If you are familiar with the Fo-​Po area, this location was a weird rotating sketchy bar for a long time before Gemini and finally it is the awesome place it was meant to be.
The décor is awesome, with damask wallpaper, beautiful hanging colored glass lamps, and a TON of amazing art from local artists. The atmosphere is really relaxed and usually nice and quiet. You can bring your drink outside to the little seating area where you can smoke and/​or watch the friendly neighborhood weirdos and charming scruffy transients walk by on Foster.
Great food! I highly recommend the fried pickle chips, truffle fries, and any of their delicious zodiac themed sliders. Prices are good and they always have a fun drink special to try. The drinks are strong and well made. Get a Greyhound or Salty Dog with freshly squeezed grapefruit. Sooooo gooooooood.

I was impressed. I rarely make it to anything on Foster, let alone anything decent on Foster. This gem made me forget I was in the part of town hookers go to die. I was amused by the decore and still adore the trend around town for people to actually create an image of some kind. This place has done just that and manufactured a great space.
The staff impressed me with their fast accurate service and follow up seriously though, save yourself a mouthful of nasty and pass up ordering their drink creations. Funny part is their other drinks were great, generous in pour and tasty. So stick with the basics and you will do fine.
The food was pretty awesome. I ordered the pulled pork sliders and, honestly, did so while rolling my eyes since Portland’s latest little trend is the slider action. I always feel like screaming, «just give me a damned burger». Well holy hell these were pretty amazing little nuggets. Their sweet potato fries were impressive enough but they serve everything with horseradish sauce of fire mouthed goodness as well.
Pretty posh and happening little spot…