Ruski’s Tavern

If you want to eat mediocre food served by a bitter crone, you’ll love Ruski’s.

As usual, this place is awesome! Always great quality food, drinks and crowd. Would highly recommend this place to anyone that comes to Maine! I’ve never had a bad experience since coming here.

This is my favorite Portland dive bar. They make a damn fine burger. Great chili cheese fries and onion rings. Fantastic shabby ambiance. A place to relax and unwind. The bartenders work their asses off too. Truly a gem and a place I hold near and dear to my heart. If you ain’t been here, you need to go if you’re in the mood for a dive that serves unpretentious vittles.

I think I still want to marry your burgers. I actually contemplated divorcing my husband for them. Love this place always wish it was bigger but at the same time I don’t the feel of seeing the regulars makes me feel at home. Anyone new to the area or even not go here!
Burgers fries whole menu fantastic. This is a hidden gem Sunday’s are my favorite

Ruski’s is an experience that you have to have at least once. You think you’re in a Polish bar, but there are Irish flags and rugby memorabilia all over the walls and ceilings. Don’t expect frills here. This is a dive bar on the edge of the West End that will be full of medical staff early in the mornings and a really interesting mix of people at all other times.
I’ve never been here for anything other than brunch but I highly recommend that you come try it out at least once. If you are a Mimosa or Bloody Mary fan, this is the place for you. They are $ 5.50 a piece and sometimes if you go on Sundays, they will do the Sunday brunch special and take off 50 cents for each drink. I don’t personally like Bloody Mary’s but they are the main attraction here.
You can expect that if you show up after 9:00 am on a weekend, you will be waiting for a table. Ruski’s is not a large place and there aren’t a ton of tables. When it gets packed, it gets hard to hear and hard to move around. Either come early or be patient and drink.
For brunch I ordered my standard, biscuits and sausage gravy. You can choose between home fries or hash browns depending on your preference. I think it’s pretty rare to see a place offer both options, they usually go with one over another. My food came out pretty fast even though the place was packed to the gills with people. I’m not ashamed to say that I cleaned my plate. The biscuits were fluffy and the gravy was the stick-​to-​the-​ribs thickness that I like. I was stuffed by the time I left and didn’t really eat much for the rest of the day.
I highly recommend you come try out this Portland institution. They’ve been around forever and you can clearly tell just by walking in the door. It is a place steeped in history and full of nostalgia.

The kind of bar that smells like lobster, even when no one’s eating lobster there. A true Maine dive.

This is a Dive Bar through and through with dark wood paneled walls, stained from previous generations of tobacco smoke, and the decorations have been displayed for numerous decades, a bar stuck in time. This is not a restaurant for your kids, but a joint to have a morning drink after third shift with a stick to your ribs greasy breakfast, or to chill with friends over a Miller High Life or Schlitz. This bar doesn’t just have sub-​premium cheap beers, but a good selection of local and domestic on draft. Also, with a digital jukebox in the corner, and a plethora of clientele who are willing to drop tens of dollars in one sitting on 80s hairbands, this will help complete the atmosphere of this bar.
The food is good and greasy. They have homemade, fried food, and great daily specials. I have never had anything here I didn’t like. The calzones are huge. The big hot dogs are large. Are you looking for a corner, local, dive bar? Ruski’s is your joint. Ruski’s is not trying to be ironic for a certain crowd. They have just always done their thing, and it has always been a spot where my friends and I can grab a beer, some thick food, and enjoy the show.
This dive bar is high up there. You like dark corners of the local neighborhoods, where you can feel safe. Ruski’s!!! For what it is, the local, corner bar, Ruski’s is number one!

After a long night of festive behavior Ruski’s is the place to go to begin your slow climb back from the doldrums of a hangover. Burgers are solid… fries are huge. Perfect amount of salt and grease, Breakfast is the same as lunch. Bloody Mary’s are amongst the best I have ever had. Two thumbs up from this guy. It is in a rough neighborhood and while there almost witness two guys get into a fight. Your dressing up in your «Sunday Best» eat there. A Metallica Concert T and jeans would certainly be the norm…

Fun place. Went in today, loved the bartenders, and friends sharing the bar. Like a family!

Awesome neighborhood bar with a great selection, amazing memorabilia. Too small of a space, need to get a bigger spot! Plus that review, service and local info pushes this to the 5

Four stars because its an awesome dive bar that you feel right at home in even if yer from out of town. The food isn’t the greatest but it’s cheap and tasty.

Whenever my husband and I visit my hometown we plan our trip on the places that we go to eat. And its always the same places (which are also amazing because Portland is a huge food city!) I am so glad that we tried something new! Great food and drinks! Both of our eggs were cooked to our liking (His sunny side up and mine over hard). And they put your toast on the grill making it yummy and crispy. I can’t believe it took me so long to find this gem. Thank you again Unilocal and your reviews!
My only tip is not to salt your home fries. Try them first :)

This is a great divey local neighborhood bar/​restaurant. Great bloody Mary’s and mimosas. Better than average bar food and good breakfast menu. Best breakfast sandwich in town, according to my husband. We waited about 15 minutes for a table and it was worth it. Have a drink while waiting.
This is a very casual restaurant with equally casual service. The ladies are a bit «salty», but super nice, so don’t get sassy with them. Just be prepared to go with the flow and enjoy the locals.
Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The best bloody in town, not overly garnished and just the right kick. This is the perfect place to sit at the bar and meet all types of locals. Never a dull moment; perfect for people watching.

For a place literally steps from my house, Ruski’s is such a trip.
(That’s my one and only dad joke for this review, I promise)
But seriously, this place is something else. They have been here since the beginning of time, and I’m pretty sure they’re not been closed once in all those years. Their decoration scheme is sort of «yeah, just put that on over the other stuff» leading to a delightful mishmash of beer promotional items and dart boards and who knows what.
When it comes to service, have patience, for what is your momentary need in the face of all this history?
The food is worth the wait in that bar-​food-​bad-​for-​you kind of way. The grilled chicken sandwich with buffalo and blue cheese and the classic burger are both solid bets. And the onion rings: damn. Not to mention: breakfast all day. The bloody mary is the proper pairing there. But if you’re having a burger? Skip the $ 2 drafts and pick up something local. If you can afford to, I promise it will be better.
I always leave Ruski’s feeling both satiated and as though I have perhaps trespassed on the Portland of another era. But I try not to disturb the ghosts and so far we’re cool.

Please don’t go here… Haha Because I don’t want to wait longer for a seat at the best place to spend a weekend morning.
Ruskis is official portland. Good food, better drinks. Probably not the place for a traveling foodie who wants rare food options and to be checked on every five minutes, but that’s why we love it. Oh, and yea, there’s a jukebox.

I’ve been driving past Ruski’s with my fiancé for a year now. Each time, I practice saying its name in my finest Maine accent (I’m from VA). Just went for the first time on a Saturday and I can say without a doubt that this place is MUCH better than my Maine accent.
The intangible character of a bar this old immediately strikes you when you walk in. Then, when you see the serious menu, you know this isn’t just a popcorn/​beer/​darts neighborhood dive. Rather, it draws you to the staples and makes you wonder about items that don’t seem to fit (Mexican food… really?).
On our maiden Ruski’s voyage, my fiancé ordered the Hangover Special and I went with the West End Burger, opting for the onion rings. The West End Burger comes out looking insurmountable. Yet, all of the fixings are tucked neatly away under a blanket of melted mozzarella, holding the massive burger surprisingly in tact. Additionally, the bun has just the right amount of firmness to soak up the juices without compromising the architectural structure of the burger. WELL DONE!
For some reason I didn’t order a beer (went with coffee instead), but there were plenty of nice, yet cheap beers on tap.
Pro tip: carve out some time after eating/​drinking for a nap. I was out cold for an hour + afterwards.
Enjoy!

Love.
Great eggs Benedict and bloody Mary’s.
Cozy neighborhood feel.
Burgers are quiet yummy as well! Try the west end burger!

Ruski’s was recommended to us by our cab driver while out for a night of drinking as «the best place for brunch in Portland». With so many options, when we were driving up to this little hole in the wall, all I could think of was «OMG what have we done»… but I am SO glad that he made the recommendation. Our breakfast at Ruski’s was one of the highlights of our Portland trip.
Our waitres (Beth?) was awesome. She was a perfect diner waitress/​bartender. Really good sense of humor, the type to give everyone a hard time (in a good way) and she really made us laugh the whole time we were there.
Ruski’s is a divey dive bar that has delicious food. Totally unexpected.
The food is nothing fancy but it’s GOOD. Pancakes are fluffy, and my eggs were perfectly runny. The group was happy with their hash. Everything came out quickly and the coffee was also really good. And everything is really cheap! I would very much recommend Ruski’s to anyone, and hope that the next time I’m there it’s for beers!

Update on my review– I tried breakfast!
Gigantic pancakes and so cheap! They even do poached eggs– and do them right. Homefries crunchy, greasy, salty and perfect for a hangover. If you’re looking for a great, cheap, classic breakfast in Portland where you’re not going to have an hour wait, try Ruskis. Bloody Mary was good although nothing special, I did enjoy all the snacks they put it in. Coffee hot and fresh, servers still sassy, equal amount of people drinking at 9am as 9pm. What more could you ask for? Loving Ruskis more and more…