The Lamp

An obligatory stop before an Aladdin show. Good food and drink before heading next door.
But this was the first time I’ve patronized the Lamp, not heading to a show.
Lunch is legit! They offer some unique fare, too. Sandwiches, Burgers, yes, but some nice pasta offerings and Shrimp Louie — how about specialty tacos or a Pizza?
Dive-​ish bar. About 5 local beers on tap, full bar, table or booth seating. Some TV monitors.
I had the Turkey Pesto sandwich — it was satisfying. Great ingredients, good flavor on a ciabatta bun. The crinkle fries were good, too (old school). I was eyeing the generous bacon on my friends BLT.
Don’t overlook this spot — before show or not, it’s a solid food experience.

We’ve always driven or walked right by the Lamp, and had never gone in. Today was the day! The bartender was the friendliest person, I’ve ever encountered it seems in the food industry, which was a pleasant treat.
I didn’t realize it was happy hour, until after we ordered our meals. I think the menu said between 2 – 6, which they have the burger on there for $ 6. Draft beers were $ 3, a definite bonus. I didn’t have a beer, as I was heading out to work, and had a coffee instead.
They do check your ID, even if you’re not drinking. I got the mushroom swiss burger, and it was pretty good. It’s a low key dive bar, that has board games and a big screen tv with seriously the friendliest bartender in all of Portland, or anywhere really. Cheap beers during happy hour!
We’ll probably come back for happy hour, to play some board games and have a couple of beers, or two or three!

I’m sure the food must be fine here, but plan on eating it with your hands and without a napkin. Horrifying service. With so many great little neighborhood haunts on the east side, you should skip this one.

While waiting for the doors to open at the Aladdin, I decided to order an old fashioned here. Aside from the twist of citrus overpowering the whiskey a bit, it was more than efficient in taking the ‘olé edge off. I found the service to be quick and attentive. I wasn’t feeling particularly peckish, but when I saw the words «jalapeño» and «coleslaw» together on the menu, I decided to indulge. I ordered a side of this, alongside a BLT + avacado. They use thick sliced, pepper bacon and sourdough, which is a tasty combo. Their coleslaw is one of the best I’ve ever had. The jalapenos gave it a nice zest, and the veggies remained crisp as the dressing was light (compared to the usual soggy mess slaw can be). Next time I plan to attend an event next door, I’ll be arriving hungry!

Fantastic soup, nice drink choices, nice atmosphere, but the bartender was obviously high and wasted on who knows what. And he went into the bathroom (men’s room) with a woman for a while, obviously doing drugs by his demeanor. He could barely take our order.

Got the turkey pesto sandwich with coleslaw on the side for takeout. Truly delicious and was enough for two meals for me.

This was the first time I’ve ever been refused service in a Portland establishment. My husband and I stopped in for brunch – we’ve been there a few times with his parents and the food is usually good, so we default there whenever hotcake house is too busy.
Well, right after taking our drink order (coffee and orange juice) he asks for our IDs, which has NEVER happened before in the four other time we’ve been there in the last year. He’s the only guy who has ever served us, so I was pretty shocked. I left mine at home since we weren’t going to a bar, just getting breakfast while the power was out in our neighborhood, and ended up there, per usual, since hotcake house was about an hour wait. He said he couldn’t serve us because we looked under 27 and I didn’t have my ID. To drink orange juice! As if OLCC would come in for an investigation at 10:30 in the morning on a Saturday. From my personal experience bartending in PDX, he could have still served us breakfast, even though his judgment of my youthful appearance grossly underestimated my age (was that supposed to be a complement?).
Maybe it’s because I’m a woman of color and usually have a minimum of 3 white people with me when I go out in Portland, so I’ve never experienced what many of my diverse friends tell me about until today. I’ve just never felt so alarmed at a business establishment – there were only 2 customers there, and the place is always empty. Now I know why. The people who do want to give them a reason to stay open get turned away for for no good reason. At least no good, consistent reason (again, in four times going there with my husband and being served by the same guy each time, never being asked for ID, and not having had any work done to make me look any younger than I did two months ago), since this is the first time it happened.
Well, I won’t leave home without my ID and hungry again, and I definitely won’t try to spend my money there anymore.

DO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’s COVER!!!
Words too live by!
This place is right next door to the Aladdin Theatre and I say this with the «Highest Respect»! But the place looks like and is a «Dive Bar»! But the food and service are EXCELLENT! I am not in this part of town that often… So I only come when I am going to see a concert. (Tonight is John Mayall and the Blues Breakers)
But if I worked or came out here for any reason… I would make this a regular lunch/​dinner spot!
And they service a good cocktail to boot!
Well worth your hard earned after tax dollars!!!
Enjoy West-​Morry

Great customer service. Awesome breakfast. Great food all round. Good times. Sports channels are a plus. I love the space and comfort of a laid back place.

The place is priced right, the service is good, and the food is great.
I didn’t know what to expect from this place because it’s a bar, but my friend and I came in for lunch, had a few beers and order the pulled pork sandwich which was the special for the day. The sandwich was huge and had a lot of pulled pork. It didn’t taste like Texas barbecue but it was damn good and the bread was nice and buttered. For a side we had the jalapeño Coleslaw. I didn’t think it was all that on its own, but I put it on my sandwich and it was delicious.
I definitely recommend this place!

«If you don’t like, we’ll fix it» was the theme. Excellent service. Killer food. Feel like a VIP. Waiting for a show. GF beer. GF tacos. Huge veggie wraps. Two tv’s playing sports.

Awesome service bartender was so nice!!! We came here to hang out before a show at the Aladdin theater and we had a great time my boyfriend had a burger and I had the tacos his burger was excellent however I wasn’t super impressed with the rock fish tacos it seem like the seasoning was a little bit too much but overall we had an awesome time will definitely visit here again. Great place!

I’m writing this review mainly for the nachos. It is my goal to find the best nachos in Portland and this place definitely does not have them. How can you charge $ 9 for a small bowl of chips with a dusting of cheese and some mediocre toppings! I’ve had nachos at other places for cheaper and they were heaping with everything that should be on nachos.
After sharing these nachos with a friend, we both were left still very hungry and neither of us were starving to begin with.
The beers were also pretty expensive. $ 5, for a beer, a little more than I’d like to spend, but it’s pretty normal, but $ 6, is going a little too high. It’s not like Portland has a shortage of beer.
The service was fine. Nothing extraordinary. He took our order and brought our crummy nachos in a timely fashion. I probably won’t be going back to The Lamp and if I do, I won’t order the nachos!

I’ve been a regular here for a few years as I always make it a part of my concert experience to enjoy a few cocktails and great food before a show.
They have the best BLT ever. It’s like your Mom cooked it except there’s no iceberg and they have thick bacon. The bacon is crispy, the greens are tender, the tomatoes are flavorful and the bread is toasted just enough to be crunchy and not so much as to shred the inside of your mouth. I LOVE the BLT.
The jalapeño coleslaw is not to be missed. I was a little wary that they would overdo it the first time I had it but it’s just perfect with the right amount of kick.
Last night, I noticed the carnitas tacos on the menu for the first time because the BLT always calls my name and I forget there’s an actual menu that includes other things! I asked if I could just have one. It was.interesting. Mostly in a good way. Two soft corn tortillas, a nice layer of the jalapeño coleslaw for bite and texture, an enormous mound of carnitas with a touch of sour cream. I would have loved it but for two reasons. I really do expect my carnitas to be more carmelized than I experience in most taquerias and there was a chili powder flavored sauce that kinda killed the whole pork experience for me. I really prefer my pork to come with a green sauce. If it comes with a red sauce, I’m not expecting a chili power flavor. That’s so.70’s? Straight out of a packet? It was just a touch odd. The carnitas themselves weren’t all that flavorful but the meat was good quality. I must reiterate, this taco was enormous. I can’t imagine eating two of them.
The staff are just fantastic. They are attentive even when super slammed and they just don’t miss a beat.
The place is really clean across the board — clean tables, clean bar, clean restrooms. Definitely a plus.
Last night, I did experience a small encounter with a grouping of fruit flies which grossed me out but luckily they weren’t too aggressive. I haven’t had that happen before — especially with the weather turning cold. Not many ins and outs. Again, haven’t experienced it before so I wouldn’t use it as criteria for coming or not.
Can’t forget — awesome cocktails. Always spot on and with the right amount of alcohol.
On a side note, Peter Murphy says the Veggie Burgers are to die for. Gotta love an artist who takes the time to compliment the food at venue.

Staff is super friendly (especially Cruz! First time we’ve met him FYI. Not a friend I’m just leaving a good review for). Food was so good! Definitely coming here again.

Sooo impressed by the food and service here! Seems like the kind of place that gets regulars — the customers knew the bartender’s name. The veggie wrap was UH-​mazing. Usually veggie wraps are bland and boring… this one was packed with flavor and wrapped in a flour tortilla that was made to hold heavenly deliciousness. But I’m getting ahead of myself. My first bite of jalapeño coleslaw blew my mind. I am not a coleslaw fan but this was impressive.
My husband got the burger and said it was really good.
The bartender/​server was attentive and funny. He even broke out the lunch menu early for us and was just the nicest guy about it!

This place’s Bacon Bleu Cheese Burg was off the hezzy! I went to a show for my favorite Sci-​Fi author Patrick Rothfuss (It was off the hezzy too) and stopped in for a bite since I didn’t see any other appetizing options. Brew and Burg hit the spot, makes the inner bro want to come out and high five everybody’s grandma. A little much? Yeah I’d say so. But I only speak so highly because I really wanted a good burg and The Lamp delivered. Although the choice of beers were not vast, but varied in selection.
–The Lamp– aka The Burg joint

As far as burgers are concerned, they get 5 starts for theirs. I even took my date here for Valentines day… because we consider hamburgers to be sexy.
Get it with blue cheese and bacon. You absolutely will not be disappointed.

Wholey Schmoley! This place had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had at a restaurant. They are certainly not the pre-​made patties you normally get at bars around town. It was well seasoned and perfectly cooked. I ordered the one with bacon, sauteed mushrooms & onions, and swiss. YUUUM! I will 100% be back with more peeps to catch a game on the big screen and have a burger/​brew.
I passed up the place a ton of times, as I live in the neighborhood, because I thought it was just a dive for the pre-​concert Aladdin crew… wrong! New favorite dive bar!

Came to The Lamp for one of the best ( Unilocaler’s think so) Burgers in Portlandia. Little did I know at 1:57pm on a Sunday, you can only get Brunch Items. By Brunch they meant Breakfast Only. So I stuck with a liquid meal. Not a big bar but it had several tables. A Full Bar. A Couple Taps. Video Lottery. Food. Best Bar Food? Every one does breakfast. It’s lunch time. I want lunch type items. Even fast food is done with breakfast by now. Maybe another time.
2:14pm. I don’t want Breakfast. The sign out front says lunch starts at 11;00am. So I am about to leave, when the bartender said it was close enough that they could accommodate a lunch order. so I sit down again. I’m given a Lunch Menu and the bartender leaves again. The waitress has yet to even acknowledge me. There must be some really good coupons in that paper she is reading. I have a menu. It’s been pushed to the side as if to say «I’m ready» & yet no service from the waitress. The Bar tender has gone off shift and I am left alone!
Oh great. A new customer. She is being taken care of. She was asked what she would like. Me… Nothing. I’m just sitting here. Hungry. Cash on the table. Fine, you don’t need my money or tips. So I will leave. After I walked up to the bar to pay (and I still left a tip. Why?)
The Bartender came back and is now giving me all the attention I should have gotten a long time ago but now… Little Late! I was told twice by the Bartender that they hope to see me again. That’s not going to happen! I better leave before i deduct all the stars“
It was acknowledged that I was forgotten twice. I was even offered a free burger. But by that time I was already outside looking at the sign that said lunch 11 – 5. I politely turned them down and went to another burger joint.
The Lamp Light may be on but ain’t no service!