Paradox Cafe

I am not a vegan or vegetarian but for health reasons, I am eating less flesh of a dead animal.
Service was friendly and prompt. They have counter as well as table seating. It is very casual in this café, as you seat yourself, «at a clean table» as the sign said. Silver and paper knapkins, along with a pitcher of water and glasses are already on your clean table. They have fast wifi.
I ordered the Rogue River hash with tempeh and toast, and my date had Hog Pile with a side of Field Roast apple smoked sausage.
Everything is vegan or vegetarian here.
Oddly, my soy for the cup of joe, didn’t mix well and seemed to curtle. Not sure what was up with that. It still tasted fine, just an odd visual.
Portions are large, well seasoned, and tasty.
My hash was really very good. Our waitress offered a few condiments and I got katsup. I tried a bit on my hash but it simply didn’t need it. My tempeh was full of sunflower seeds and yummy.
My date’s Hog Pile was sauteed onions and mushrooms with tofu and chucks of bread with a veggie (mushroom?) gravy over the top. Satisfying comfort food.
The side of sausage was okay, as it had a sweetness, and then sage flavor that grew more intense as I chewed.
Overall experience was great and the curtled soy creamer is not enough to knock a star off over.

I ate here 17 years ago when I traveled here from salt lake city. I think I may have only been back once. I was young and drunk then and apparently forgot about it. Went back a couple weeks ago and then a couple days later for breakfast. Old school (for me) vegan diner food. killer cheese sauce, tabor taters were great and the pancake. It reminds me of a place I used to work, Sages café in slc. good shit, Im glad I went back.

Okay I need to give them a bump.
Stopped in and had biscuits and gravy and a side of veggies and mushrooms. Still my favorite vegan biscuits and gravy by a long shot. They replaced Aardvark with their own house hot sauce and it was for the better. Grilled veggies were nice and more healthy than just biscuits and gravy. Great vegan comfort food and after all these years consistent and affordable. No wonder they are still around plugging away at it.
The staff that have been there for 5+ years have always been great. The server I mentioned in my last check-​in has moved on, thankfully. Service is not everyone’s bag and I hope he has found his. Another recent visit was ill-​planned… I thought they closed at 4 but that’s only on the weekend. Still I was welcomed, seated and kindly served. As I was wrapping up I apologized for showing up in the last hour of service only to learn they were closed when I arrived! Don’t expect this level of sweet hospitality but it speaks volumes.
Overall it would be a very solid 4 star kind of deal. Because of the kitchens consistency over 10 years I’ve visited and the warmth of the current staff I’m going full hog on it.

Just finished up my breakfast. Good place for fatty vegan comfort food. Breakfast is served all day! The healthier selections are on their lunch menu.
The waitress who served us was rude. I wanted information on their smoothies because there wasn’t an ingredients list for them. She asked me ‘which one?’ I responded with, «well all of them please.» This seemed to perturb her so she quickly ran through the list. So that is why they get docked a star. She also wasn’t attentive. It’s 11:00 AM on a Thursday. There’s hardly anyone here. When we got here she was wiping down the windows. She didn’t check up on us. Didn’t fill out waters. Clearly wasn’t happy to be there. I understand having bad days. It happens. It just sucks when you’re getting the brunt of their bad mood.
I’m going to try this place again and I’ll give it another review.

I would have normal given this place 5 stars becuase i have been coming here for years and love the food. I had signed up for their email club years ago, and get monthly emails with coupons for 15%off meal and deals like that. I Usually come to paradox once a month, for about 5 years, and always use a coupon on my phone. I have even called before and asked if it was okay to just show the coupon on my phone and not print it out (waste of paper!) and they said that of course thats fine. Last time i was there, i was paying for our meals about $ 22 bill, and i showed the waitress the coupon on my phone, and she said she couldnt accept it because it wasent printed out. I explained to her that I am a regular customer and it has always been ok for me to show it on my phone, and she said that she couldnt accept it and talked to owner who wouldnt accept it either! I asked if they could do it this once, and from then on i would print out the coupons and they refused. I think that this is just bad customer service. It would have been a few dollars discount, and they were stubborn and rude…
other than the customer serivice, the food is good. Traditional breakfast (vegan!) And big portions!

This is my favourite breakfast place in Portland. Extensive vegan breakfast menu, large portions and hard-​to-​beat prices. Service can be a bit lackluster, but it’s usually okay. My personal favourite is the Veggie Bento, with tempeh and mixed vegetables over roasted potatoes, with a curry sauce. Can’t recommend this place enough.

This was the first vegan restaurant we ate at in Portland and it remains my favorite. Their Country Comfort dish is amazing as well as their Poutine. Desserts are so yummy. Also recommend the pancakes and french toast. They also have a lovely kids menu with many options. The servers are alway friendly and on point. It’s a nice relaxed atmosphere and I really enjoy eating brunch herr with the family.

With breakfast being the most important meal of the day, this plea hits the jackpot. With so many options of delicious vegan choices, it’s no wonder it was busy in a Sunday morning! I had the Tom Bomb special which had all of the veggies and flavors I needed in the morning. Great environment and people!

Horrible service. Mediocre food. In a town with so many great restaurants, why bother?

The food is good, which is nice, because basically everything else is awful. As I write this it’s been 46 minutes since we ordered, and we have no food. There are at least three other tables also waiting, also playing on their phones because they’ve been waiting so long they’ve run out of things to talk about.
There are basically four things I want in a breakfast place:
1. Coffee early, fast, and refilled once or twice during the meal.
2. Food in a reasonable amount of time.
3. To have normal things (silverware, napkins, cream) brought to the table without having to ask.
4. Not hand a 3-​year-​old a steak knife.
Paradox does none of these. In fact, it seemed like a burden to get coffee fixings, and when we asked for a refill we were told the wait staff would get it «when she had a minute.» When asked for the second time for honey, our waitress — who we watched walk around empty handed and check on several tables — said she could «only carry so much.» Apparently that means nothing heavier than a pen.
For some reason they decided that a kid’s order of French toast and sausage should be served with a steak knife. We disagreed and decided to have an adult cut the sausage. Call us overly concerned.
I used to like everything about Paradox but the coffee… this time may be the last time I go.

The service here was really terrible. The waitress was the hostess and for all we know, could have been the cook. She was very nice, but way over-​stretched.
The food was average. Good veggie options, but nothing amazing.

Great simple food. Casual local diner. Cheap tasty food, fast mostly friendly service, family friendly, and super vegan friendly!
They only serve breakfast and lunch and close at 4pm.
Also in a great part of town.

I’ve been in and out of this joint for the past 15 years and have seen it go through change of ownership and staff, as well as quality of food.
There are only 2 reasons to currently dine at the Paradox: 1) corn cakes, 2) not having to wait for a table/​seat. Other than that, the quality of food is so inconsistent that there’s no reason to drop dough here unless you really want to roll the dice.
Here’s one important piece of advice for the Paradox… a store bought dinner role is NOT a biscuit, nor can it pass for a biscuit. When you are only open until 4pm and mainly focus on a breakfast menu, you must have a proper biscuit. There is just no excuse.

This place really confused me. The board said «eggs or tofu». We stopped here based on a website that said they served breakfast all day. Or in this case, they did serve it for two hours after every other breakfast place closed. Anyway, when we ordered a scramble and a benedict, we believed we were going to get eggs. But maybe we needed to specify? Although we were surprised by the tofu instead of eggs, the food was tasty and the coffee was nice too. The potatoes were especially nice.
I took away one star for service. The server didn’t have many tables. it was a little over an hour until closing time. I don’t need much attention, but when I’ve given up hope of someone returning to the table and am actively seeking to get attention and someone looks right at me and then looks away and ignores me, I am a wee bit annoyed. The server did appear with coffee five to ten minutes later. The server was still a bit grumpy when we paid our check.
I also took away one star for cleanliness. The two vents at the back of the place were blocked with black stuff, lint or who knows what. One of these vents was partially cleaned but it seemed that bits of the black stuff had been blown out and were stuck to the curtain and wall. If they can’t clean the vents, what else don’t they clean?
I probably won’t be back because I’m not a huge fan of vegan food, but if you know what you’re getting, I say try it out.

This place is unbelievable, writing this review has my mouth watering for their very delicious food! Don’t forget to try their Mac and cheese!

Breakfast potatoes are the key to evaluating any breakfast spot, in my view. If the potatoes are bad, the restaurant is bad. If the potatoes are awesome, the rest of the meal is likely to be great.
The paradox café is a paradox. Their breakfast potatoes are fantastic. However, what they bill as tamales, are not actually tamales but corncakes. To me, trying to pass off a corncake as a tamale is like trying to say chopped liver is pâté de foie gras, same ingredients, wrong recipe.
That this well esteemed restaurant can pass off corn cakes for tamales without anyone seeming to object, is really quite
tells me that this restaurant does not expect nor does it cater to the Latino community which is in shouting distance of this restaurant location.
Hey paradox, little things like this are important. Get your tamale groove on.

Big vegan breakfast. Been here twice so far and had an awesome meal both times. Not what I would call healthy, but just what you would expect from a breakfast diner. Yum!
We are hoping to make it out here for non-​breakfast at some point.

This place is ggggreeat! We are always so let down when we eat vegan brunch in portland. No restaurant seems to be as creative as this one.
Our rule of thumb is, if we can make it at home and for less, then we aren’t going to pay for it by going out. And no, hashbrowns tofu, vegetables and black beans don’t count for a great vegan meal! And not for the prices these places charge!
Paradox is affordable and has amazing options from pancakes, French toast to ggggreeat hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy and much more! All for legit prices!
And, Megan our waitress was awesome!!!

Expansive menu with a huge variety of vegan and vegetarian choices. Almond gravy and house made veggie sausage are great.
Very casual neighborhood diner vibe. Very easy going, usually never a wait. Always been able to accommodate strollers and kids.

Lots of options on menu so even though I read it online I still studied it inside. Nacho cheese sauce is ok, poutine cheese is so so but the gravy is great. Potatoes tasty. Fries soggy. Love the bathroom art. I made sure I used both to check it out.