Penguin Pub & Eatery

This is my Saturday night karaōke spot. Joe and DeAnne are amazing. Brennan and Izy the KJs are the best.
However, the new female KJ on Saturdays is TERRIBLE! She can’t even spell any of the popular artists names. Like Adele or Sam Smith. She doesn’t know how to download new songs. She also called me twice as the person next. There was a total of 9 people that sang in that time period of me being «next». She is just a spaz and seems like she is in way over her head. She doesn’t know how to modulate the sound either. It’s just terrible. I’ll have to switch back to whatever night Brennan is working. No wonder Saturday’s nights aren’t as packed as it used to be. This is the girl with the scraggly ponytail and the blue tattoo on her left forearm. Not Izy with the glasses. She’s legit. Just avoid the other girl like the plague.

Its a bar. The beer is very cold as the advertise. I dont know what kind of date night it would be.
The drink prices are reasonable and the food is a little better than most bars. The fish and chips being their specialty. Dont know that it is all that special but the price is good and the service is friendly.
Not a place I would say would be a lets go out to eat place. But to have a couple beers and watch the game place.

Good service and not busy at all. Go for karaōke Saturday and hear a bunch old music.

Driven past this place for years. Not much into bars… Was told they had great burgers so I stopped in for lunch. Owner was serving and was very friendly and filled us in on the history of his parents owning the place 40 years before. The burger was great! As good as Mikes across the street which I love. I have a thing for Reuben’s and I’m told theirs is amazing too and noticed at last pass their advertising their famous Reuben Next time through I’ll be having that! Have added this place to my lunch rotation.

Me and a group of friends started going here for the taco Tuesdays and the food is amazing the service is great. It is a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere I would recommend all my friends to go to this bar any day of the week! I’ll be going back very soon

We live within walking distance of Penguin and have avoided going in there for some unknown reason since we moved to Sellwood in July. Last Friday night we figured, «Ah what the hell, why not?» and we were so happy we went in.
We love divey places like this! The older couple (I assume they’re the owners) that tend bar are SO genuinely nice and make you feel so welcome, like you’re at grandma and grandpa’s house.
There was a karaōke session going on. The female KJ was nice, fun and full of energy. We don’t sing karaōke but we love watching it. The diverse crowd was so much fun and so happy! I’m upset we avoided this place for so long but we won’t anymore!
P. S. If you don’t want ironic shirts made about things you say on the internet, maybe you shouldn’t purposely offend people by calling them a «putz» .after calling them «nice» … like by calling him nice first it’s supposed to make it okay that you’re also calling him «a stupid or worthless person.» Just flat-​out rude.

Apparently the KJ I mentioned in my original review of this place has his knickers in a bunch about my comment on him, to the point of having a T-​shirt made with a quote and complaining about it on his FB page. To him I say: Get a life, man. And maybe a new job, if you’re still working at this dump, four years later.

I love The Penguin! Yes it is a dive bar but very homey rather than scary. The taco’s are fabulous and they go great with the exceptionally cold beer. I have noticed a couple reviews referring to the owners as not being nice… Well, sometimes you run out of nice when you are dealing with disrespectful drunks.

Ones the lowest I can post. It amazes me an owner could be so disrespectful and care so little for a paying customer. Hmm. I dare you to try to order tacos to go. Experience a head spinning Linda Blair. No peas came out though; although it might’ve been amusing!

I was very unsure of what to expect. A friend told me about this place so when I was in town, he came and picked me up to show the place where shares my name. I thought it might be scary enough that we’d have a drink and then get a decent meal elsewhere.
Nope. I was wrong.
This was a wonderful place for a decent meal. The fish and chips were very good, the fried cheese was crisp and gooey. The Ruben sandwich was one of the better I’ve had outside of New York!
What’s more, the owner (or her husband, perhaps more accurately) came over to talk to us and show us photos. Upon hearing my name, he almost wanted me to take home some of the penguins from the pub (and I thought he could have used more!).
I loved the slice of history and nostalgia of hearing his stories (they’ve owned the place over 40 years).
I wish I lived closer so I could come back and enjoy this place much more often.
Thank you, Penguin Pub!

Went for lunch because we heard the fried chicken is good. The owner was a complaining witch about everything under the sun. Something was always broken or a mess. We gave it another shot on a friday night. Don’t even bother with the women’s bathroom. Piss on the floor and remain there for some time before she got around to it. You’d figure she’d hold off on pouring a beer to get a sanitary problem solved right? Drinks are watered down also. I won’t support a business that is that lazy. FYI if you’re a ducks fan… it’s not for you!

Currently sitting in the best dive bar with REAL food. ESPECIALLY the JoJo’s… Met Joe who apparently doesn’t work the bar often, but he’s filling in at the moment… PLEASE, PLEASE make sure Joe works the bar more often… Friendly character, good attitude and can even make a good skinny girl Margarita… Thanks Joe!
Love, your friends from Seattle

If you don’t like dive bars, the Penguin isn’t for you. However, if you like cheap drinks, friendly people, and karaōke (Friday and Saturday only), lots of fun.
Make sure you go with people you want to hang out with, because it isn’t very busy. When I’ve gone, I brought the party with me and we sang the night away. Short karaōke lines, nice KJs, and cheap drinks. Win, win, win.

Good friendly service. The owners are wonderful people. Come in early and talk about your wild fishing stories or hang out late when it’s busy. I’ve always enjoyed myself at the penguin. Cheers Penguin.

Awesome dive bar. I’m not sure of the food but I have been there on a night when karaōke was happening which was very entertaining I have to say.

Far and away the best bar in the neighborhood. Great food, staff, and atmosphere. And no sports on the tv!
Get the jojos: 9

Who closes a bar at 9:45pm??? Aaaand turn away customers because of it?
They doooooooo!
Ugh, seriously… I was so looking forward to hangin out and having some of their yummy fish n chips but was sooo disappointed that Amber wasn’t there and to top it off, the bartender that was working last night hollered out that they were closing in half hour? WTF…
I usually like this place because some of their food is secretly awesome and it is just over the Sellwood bridge to my house. But after tonight it made me pretty mad. So my Husband and I hurried to finish our beers and had to find another dive bar close by.
Lame.

It’s funny reading the other reviews because it seems like everyone has fun here but nobody wants to give a good rating… what is up with that? Yeah, it’s a dive… so what? Penguin does it right! Five stars!
This is a crowded neighborhood dive that doesn’t serve PBR. They have a top-​secret food menu and usually have off-​beat shows on the TVs like cops or Nascar crashes.
But, wait, what did I say? There’s no PBR? Whatever shall you drink? Try one of the other drafts, you’ll probably like something they have. This is not really a hipster dive, which is one thing I enjoy because so many dives on the east side cater to that crowd.
The women’s restroom has one of the stalls chained off. I think that’s funny, and I am also very curious as to why. WHY? There’s never a long wait to relieve yourself, anyway, so don’t you worry ’bout that.
Karaōke is going on Friday and Saturday nights and it gets busy. Lots of fun to be had by all. And, yes, you must crane your neck to see your song lyrics for karaōke. I personally like that the karaōke monitor is up high because then you don’t have the singers staring down or hiding behind a screen — it definitely encourages you to be more outgoing.
The tacos and fries are yum. Order them. And some jello shots.

Penguin Pub hosted a viewing party for Portland Men’s Roller Derby last night and prior to arriving, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I live in Milwaukie, easily pass by this place easily a dozen times/​week and hadn’t heard feedback from anyone who’d pass through here before.
I was pleasantly surprised! They have a great beer list and a pretty good menu. I’d expected our party to easily overwhelm the bartender, but she was a champ! Between pulling all of the short order duties, she was hustling to make sure the 20 of us had refills, extra fries and the tv remote super fast. Tipping 50% was no mistake.
I’m eager to go back for a happy hour and check out the rest of their menu.

I like all of the penguins everywhere.
A alright selection of beer and etch.
The food was very cheap, but they really piled it on.
The down side is that is a bit small.
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