Seres Restaurant and Xiao Chi Bar

I took some important people to lunch here yesterday. None of us had ever been there, so it would be a new dining experience. Mostly Seres lacks a soul, lacks a heart. We never felt valued as a customer. But, maybe more important, I would guess, is that their food is mediocre. I ordered my very favorite dish in the Chinese world, Sweet and Sour Chicken. I make it much better than they do! The chicken itself tasted okay but the breading is weird. And, to think that in 2016 in Portland, Oregon they need to use red dye in their overly-​sweet sauce! Ohmygosh! The eggplant and broccoli were good but not great and definitely over-​sauced and a bit amateurish. I usually don’t write negative reviews as I care about people and all that they go through to open a restaurant. However, the prices for lunch (and I assume dinner) are steep and definitely not worth it. Thus, this review.

Delicious food! Fair price for the area. Professional clean cut overall a relaxing nice place to enjoy a family dinner.

Sweet and sour soup was gross as too much beef stock in it and I have never seen any sweet and sour soup in almost black color, but the server recognized we are not having our soup and asked if we are not enjoying it. She took it aeay from us and served us egg soup. Nice move!
We ordered half roasted duck, spinach with garlic, and mushroom & chicken stir fried rice.
Duck was too greasy but tasty, and spinach was cooked lightly without too much oil so we enjoyed it.
The best part of this restaurant was stir fried rice.
I think it was the best stir fried rice ever for me.
I can taste the wok flavor (fire.), and I can feel each grain. (I know how to cook rice!)
It was lovely!
For Chinese food, it was little bit expensive, but our server was really outstanding and I loved thir rice so I would definitely come back!

Good Chinese food and surprisingly good customer service. They took an item off our ticket after they gave us the wrong order and we ended up with two tasty dishes!

We had Sesame Prawns and Crispy Prawns with Mandarin Sauce really loved those prawns but chose the sesame sauce over the mandarin sauce. It was a fine meal and we felt great afterwards — the food settled well and left us feeling terrific. Price is a little higher but the quality was unmistakably better than the usual at other Chinese restaurants we dine at.

Mixed bag.
Really enjoyed the General’s Tsoa’s Chicken. Quality chicken and tasty sauce.
The duck salad roles were also good.
The salt/​pepper scallops where hugely disappointing. It just tasted like eating raw onions – and not the sweet kind. The scallops were off to boot. Absolutely the worst salt/​pepper dish I have ever had. And that’s saying something. I’m a huge Chinese cuisine fan. I eat it every where I go and I’ve been a lot of places including London, Paris, NYC, LA, Chicago, Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Melbourne, etc.
Two stars because no place this swank should be serving a dish that bad.

Delicious fresh Chinese cuisine with generous portions and professional service. The textures, balance of flavors and presentation were all delightful.
Dined in recently:
Sesame chicken was amazing.
Soups were wonderful.
Pork and black bean sauce was oh so tasty.
Best Chinese food I’ve had in Portland, hands down. Everything else I’ve had in this town tastes like greasy cafeteria garbage. This place absolutely satisfies my Chinese food craving. I’ve been twice this month and plan to make it a habit.

The food is really good. Very traditional American Chinese food, great place to come if you want a mellow atmosphere and good food.

If it wasn’t for both rude bartenders, I would give this place 5 stars. I eat there often, and neither one of them are pleasant, or acknowledge I am a returning customer. I rarely get a thank you.

I mean the inside is nice but the food is way overpriced. Seriously one dish is $ 15, and it is just a pile of tofu in sauce… $ 8 for two tiny skewers of mediocre beef. (Nothing else comes with either of these. No rice, no nothing.) If you have so much money you feel like throwing it away, this is the place for you. I personally would rather give my money to charity.

Once again I am late with my review but honestly this place I have visited over and over. Now the food snob that I am it is really hard for me to even begin to find Chinese in this city that really does the food justice, however this place would be it!
I can’t begin to tell you how incredible the wonton soup is, the pockets hand made with shrimp and pork are delightful and that the Sweet and sour is so yummy and they make it in house no canned crap!
I honestly love the atmosphere but have taken the food to go many times and it’s just as good to go!
So, just remember there’s people that actually go to the ran down Republic restaurant and think that food is top notch and it can scrape by at best .
If you’re looking for Quality, fresh, and authentic than this is the spot.

Ate here for dinner a few weeks back. The food was terrible and the service was even worse if you could imagine that. We waited at least 15 minutes just for them to bring water and another 30+ minutes for our food to arrive. If it was busy I wouldn’t have been so peeved but there were maybe a dozen people there both inside and outside. We ended up sending back all but one of the three dishes we ordered. Definitely won’t be going back there. I’d settle for Panda Express over this place ANY day of the week. The only reason for two stars is the location and ambiance.

I want so badly to like this place. Nice décor and cocktail list but as far as food I can’t get past the level of quality you get for the price. I got take-​out General Tso chicken and jasmine rice for $ 19 before tip and it was honestly no better than what I’ve had at Safeway. I’d like to venture to see what else the menu has to offer, but I’m not willing to risk spending more money for something I don’t like.

I normally do not or will not eat Chinese food due to the fact it’s normally squishy and tastes horrible. This place on the other hand is the most expensive, delicious, non squishy Chinese food I’ve ever eaten. It’s a really mellow bar and restaurant. Definitely more low key. You are paying quite a bit of money for Chinese food but you are getting what you pay for. I wouldn’t drink here because it’s definitely too expensive for drinks. But the general tso chicken is my absolute favorite !

The dining atmosphere is casual and well-​done in the style of contemporary and industrial décor that you experience in many Pearl District eateries. Stained cement floors with track LED lighting having from open cement ceilings and 2-​story windows set the vibe for Chinese cuisine.
We gripped and fiddled around with our chop-​sticks and in due course feasted on Mongolian lamb (grazing on Australia grass), fried (like the crunch) eggplant in a tasty thick Gon-​Bön sauce, green beans (not over cooked with a good crunch), and very crispy vegetarian spring rolls. All these plates were excellent, a big serving, between $ 4-​$ 9 each at Happy hour. The IPA on tap was $ 3 too.
Seres also composts food scraps and recycles – love the sustainable attitude. A big variety of local grown and organics produce is served. On their web page is a list of all sources for fish, beef, pork, chicken, lamb and tofu. Seres is a «you-​have-​to-​try» place in the Pearl when your palate craves Chinese food! I was tempted to slap 5-​satrs on this review too – it was that good!

Would it kill you to say hello?
Confession, I live near here and this is my go to Chinese. The food is good, a bit expensive but nice. We get takeout here a couple of times a month.
Happy hour menu is nice and fairly extensive service is good and I have never had any issues until today. I came in at 6:30 to pick up my order, the bartender looked right at me, I smiled and nodded my head, he looked away. I stood there for ten min. No one came and asked if I wanted to be seated or anything. Several times the bartender looked over and when I would make eye contact or say hello he looked away. It was just strange. All he needed to say is someone will be with you soon.
Still love the spot, just odd

I went here for happy hour:
Cheap eats, not too busy, mostly attentive service and nice atmosphere.
I’d return again if in the neighborhood, but def does not earn a spot on my top ten happy hour list…

In spite of mixed reviews, we ate here for the first time. The primary draw for me was a fairly decent number of GF items. And I was excited to see the fried chicken was GF as well.
I can handle average food but cannot tolerate poor service. We had great service here. Staff was efficient and attentive. Ended up they were out of the fried chicken but our waitress was prompt to let me know and very courteous so I figured I’ll try it next visit. We really enjoyed the atmosphere — pleasant music that wasn’t too loud (a pet-​peeve of mine), the décor is modern, simple, classy. The food was very good — yes, it’s simple and not overly seasoned. You actually taste the food and it was good. I’ve had better salad rolls elsewhere but with all the other positives, I’m willing to overlook it (plus — I still enjoyed them.)
They lost a star for the price of their items. It is a bit high even when you figure in the generous portions. We will definitely be back for Happy Hour, the fried chicken, the scallop/​crab rice (VERY GOOD) and I’m looking forward to the soups.
So — good food, service and atmosphere. In spite of high prices, they offer a Happy Hour menu and reasonably priced apps that could easily be your meal.

I used to go to Seres when I lived down in the Pearl and it was fine. Expensive but fine. Not the best, not the worst. Super spendy for just average Chinese dining. $ 14 bucks for a lunch sized Spicy Sesame Chicken + $ 2 bucks extra for a tiny side of egg flower soup? You have to be shitting me.
Stick with Powell’s Seafood, or Taste of Sichuan, or really any other place.
It’s been years and I decided to order their food for the office through Delivered Dish. Their service has always been wonderful.
Not this time. We were promised our food at noon and it didn’t arrive until an hour later. I understand things happen and that’s fine, but I was also made aware that the restaurant didn’t see an entire page of our order and left half the order out.
I know now that I just won’t be eating at Seres again or ordering to go from them.
I had an office full of starving folks so I’ll just pass next time.

Went on Christmas for dinner. Started out great with appetizers and really nice waitress. She brought our (incredibly salty) entrees, asked how they were after one bite, then never came back. The next person was a guy who obviously wanted to get us out as quickly as possible, clearing our table and bringing our check without ever asking if we wanted anything more or acting even the least bit friendly. When you pay $ 100 for Chinese food dinner for two in the Pearl you expect at least civility, especially on the holiday. It was very weird, and we won’t be back.