Uptown Billiards Club

The first time in this place I love it how is it inside but the bartender was so weird and aggressive shouldn’t be in that lovely place.
12÷29÷15 :(
10 pm time

Really nice ambience and tables! The food is exceptional although overpriced. That being said you hardly get a jigger pour for 10 bucks and there were 5 servers hovered around the end of the bar for almost 20 minutes I kid you not. For 12 $ per hour on their tables they should definitely have provided quality cues. I may come back in the far future but only to see if they made some changes because this place has real potential to be kick ass!

Never again. We arranged to meet 6 other couples there for dinner and pool. After drinking 2 small glasses of wine over a 90-​minute period and eating dinner, my wife was informed that she was cut off because she was «acting intoxicated», She is an elegant, gracious woman and has never appeared intoxicated in all the years we’ve been married. To be accused of that in front of our closest friends, and the new girlfriend of one of them, was humiliating for her. We have eaten at hundreds of restaurants over the years and she has never been treated that way. Interestingly, there was a group of young guys playing at several tables, downing a lot of beer, and using vulgar language when they missed shots, and this apparently didn’t attract the attention of the waitress, who then mixed all our separate checks up and told us we could «sort it out among ourselves». None of us will Ever go there again.

Classy & down to earth!
Stumbled upon this place one night during a wedding reception. The hostess was super nice and gave us free drink cards since they were closed to the public. The wedding looked like a blast, what a great venue.
Came back a week later and had several drinks, the grilled cheese, crab cakes, and caesar which were all wonderful! Played a few games of pool. What is awesome about playing pool here is there’s enough pool tables that you don’t feel like people are watching you (good for me, a not so great pool player ;). It’s an intimate and classy setting with old school comfy chairs! $ 12 for unlimited pool and darts, I think this is a great deal. & we went on a Friday night and not too crowded surprisingly!

First, I love the atmosphere/​environment, and I love playing pool, and it’s super close to me, so I’d wanted to make this my go-​to spot. The setup here is awesome. Unfortunately, it’s a bit too expensive for my taste.
Note that I’ve not eaten here so I can’t comment on that, and the wait staff at the bar were okay/​good.
My last visit with a date included about an hour of pool, an hour of darts, a Maker’s Mark bourbon, and three well drinks. This amounted to 60-​something dollars (after a discount was applied) so 70-​something after tip. That isn’t outrageous, but it is unnecessarily high. I think my night should have been maybe: pool 10, darts 5, bourbon 8, wells 5 each for a total of 38 or about 45 after tip. My experience wasn’t worth any more than that.
I realize 23^rd commercial rents are spendy, but if Uptown served at a fair price point, they’d have more of my money because I’d continue to visit. Instead, I won’t plan to be back and I’ll continue to seek my go-​to billiards spot elsewhere. It’s unfortunate, because I really do like everything else about it.

WISH I COULD GIVE THIS PLACE 10 STARS!!! My husband and I were walking our dog down 23^rd and noticed an open patio table and decided to give this place a try. You can sit down and they have a card with a phone number on it so you can call to let them know you’re there rather than walk in and find someone which is such a thoughtful idea. Unfortunately our server seemed rather annoyed with having to wait on us. nothing directly at us but just in general she was short and took a while to get us drinks/​refills etc. BUT all of that was forgotten when we got our food! We ordered 2 small plates to start the aranchini (sp?) and the deviled eggs WOW!!! I don’t know exactly what it was but the tomato sauce but was the best I have ever tasted anywhere and the crust on the outside of the risotto balls was unbelievable with such a soft delicious center. The deviled eggs had a tomato jam and bacon that was surprisingly so delicious and balanced. I’m used to basic picnic deviled eggs and these made me feel like I was in Napa at some amazing bistro. For dinner we got one of the burgers (Union creek) and the steak with potato salad. OH. MY. GOD. My husbands burger had bacon, Gruyère and smoked Apple and was cooked perfect. It was so juicy and absolutely everything you have ever dreamed of in a burger. My husband said its the best burger he’s ever had and by far the best one in PDX. I ordered my steak with their potato salad and a blue cheese compound butter that had melted beautifully by the time it was in front of me. It’s seems simple but it’s phenomenal. The steak was like the burger cooked PERFECT and it was so nice to have it actually seasoned which for whatever reason seems to be very difficult for most Portland Chefs. And let me first say I don’t really like potato salad but this is not like any you’ve had before. It’s so creamy but not heavy and surprisingly complex. The Chef even came down and asked us how everything was and talked to us for a few minutes which we really appreciated. After talking we found out we actually had eaten at another restaurant he had cooked at down in Ashland a few years ago, small world! We always feel somewhat disappointed the majority of the time we go out around here but finally we’ve found a spot we can feel like it’s money well spent. Definitely recommend this place. It looks very casual on the outside but we were blown away and can’t wait to try more!

On a random Saturday night, wondering what we should do, my friend suggested that we check out a billiards club that he likes, which is how we ended up at Uptown Billiards Club.
Now I’ll be honest, I am… not so great at pool, so when my friend suggested pool, I was not immediately super gung-​ho about the idea. I’ve been to a few bars that have pool tables, and my experiences there haven’t really been the most inspiring, to say the least. But my friend continued to rave about the place, so I was like, «Oh, heck. Why not?»
Uptown Billiards is ahmazing. It has a completely unassuming exterior, but as soon as you walk up the flight of steps leading to where the club is located, it feels like you’ve been transported to a swanky jazz-​era esque club. The interior is dimly lit, giving the entire establishment a more mysterious feel. There’s about 8 pool tables on the left side of the bar and a ping pong table on the right side. From the tables to the cues, everything seems to be of excellent quality. When you enter, you should head over to the bar and tell them you want to play pool. The host/​hostess will set you up with a table and take any food/​drink orders you have, which can be brought directly to the table that you’re at.
tl;dr: I can’t comment on the food, but the laid-​back atmosphere and attentive service here are on point. I had more fun than I expected to here, so I will definitely be back!

I thought the food was amazing! We had a great tasting menu, with an amazing wine pairing. Staff was friendly and helpful, but not in the way. I will definitely go back. To have really, really good food, along with a fun bar, and nice pool tables… that all makes for a really fun night!

This hidden gem above a cleaners on 23^rd blew my mind. Reasonably affordable upscale business with an air of being a towns concentrated treasury of class are unexpected in Portland.
Uptown Billiards is my attempt at grieving heartbreak in a classy way and picking up an old hobby again. Frank Sinatra has become my life’s rhythm recently and walking into Uptown evokes a flight of fancy, as if I am walking up to see a low-​key show.
The tables, cues, and general space is high quality and well maintained. The staff seem to love their jobs and it shows in the service and food.

We found this place to be just OK. To start with, the stairs to enter the place are drab and dirty — kind of a funky musty smell. When you enter the establishment you enter the bar area and we were greeted by a nice young lady who showed us to an empty dining room. We did show up on a night when the private pool table area was occupied by a large group who were quite loud. That really isn’t the problem because it is mainly a bar with a dining area, but the private pool room is located right next to the dining area, and it is separated by a half wall and drapes. Needless to say, the sound echoed throughout the dining area and it was hard to have a conversation at your table — just a poor design.
Our server was very nice and apologized for the noise, and said that she was hoping the group was rapping up in a half hour, which never happened. She was very attentive to our needs, and really there was nothing she could do about the noise.
The food was OK. I guess they are trying to compete as a gastropub, but in my opinion have a way to go. The pâté and pickled vegetables was nice — the pickle on the vegetables was very nice. My husband had the lamb and foie burger which was a little dry and medium, and my «sliver cut pork chop» was the thinnest slice of pork I have ever seen on the bone. The flavor was nice and it was cooked medium, but I could not believe how thin and measly the was the cut. The shepherds pie was one of the strangest I have ever had — it wasn’t horrible, but it was basically meat, gravy and melted cheese. I was hard pressed to find the pork belly in the pie as promised.
Overall, if they are really wanting to present themselves as a gastropub, they need to up there game on the food.

Food: ³⁰⁄₄₀
Atmosphere/​vibe/​décor: ¹²⁄₂₀. — only because of the poor design of the dining room to private pool room
Service: ¹⁸⁄₂₀
Value: ¹²⁄₂₀ — $ 95 for two persons for very skimpy main entrees and a drink a piece
Total: ⁷²⁄₁₀₀

Each month a different 5-​course tasting menu focusing on seasonal items is presented.
This month was a Panama Canal tour. Cuba, Columbia, Jamaica and Mexico.
The El’Cubano first course was AMAZING. Yeah, a cubano sandwich as the first course– — it was a fantastic opener. Check the website before this tour is gone.
Alsooooo see the website for secret happy hour offerings unlike those of any other restaurant.
Reservations for the dining room are a MUST. Git on it EARLY.
Get on their mailing list so you stay up to date on the monthly focus. Dont miss the hazelnut feature. I hope they do it again. They’ll do it again, right? Please say yes.
Attention: A stair climb to get up to the place.
Elegant décor
Comfortable surroundings
Personable staff
Bartender (Danny da Bomb)
Great old classic bar
Make a new habit and that habit should be Uptown Billiards Club

As we walked through the door I noticed the months theme written on a chalkboard… Chocolate
The long set of stairs leads you to the bar area. It is a large open space and open to some of the pool tables. It does is a large space but feels intimate due to the subdued lighting. We were greeted right away, but since we were early for our 5 course dinner reservations, we had drinks and waited for one more to join us.. . We saw a few pizzas go by and they looked very tempting. They make their own dough.
When the rest of our party arrived we migrated to the dining room. With two large parties of almost 20 each, and a couple of foursomes, our service was excellent. Two in our party paired their dinner with wine and I have to say the wine portions were very generous.
From the first course to the last, from the service and timing, our two hour experience was topnotch and definitely will be back.

I really like to meet friends here. They have a really nice/​warm décor and the food is delicious. I had both their bar menu and the 5-​course tasting menu and enjoyed them both. You have to make reservation for the tasting menu I think as you can’t order it on the bar side. If you want to feel like you are one of the lucky judges on iron chef, treat yourself to their 5-​course tasting menu with the special «secret ingredient». Neat and tasty!

I went to Uptown Billiards club on Saturday 11.22.14 for the 5 course meal where hazelnuts were the featured ingredient, and must say, not only was the food outstanding and expertly presented but the waitstaff, and specifically my server Roxanne, were amazing. It felt like we had at least 4 people tending to our table for 2, but without it being overbearing. Just the right amount of attention.
We got there a little early for our 6pm reservation, and had some excellently priced and delicious happy hour cocktails, and if it were not for another appointment to get to we would have stayed longer sipping drinks and playing pool and darts. You may think that there being pool tables that this place may be a bit noisy, but does not disturb the atmosphere at all.
This is on our list of places to come back to as the menu has quite a few items to explore.

We were there for a busy Friday night birthday celebration — which took place in the back room. The server assigned to our room was absolutely fantastic (hence the three stars) and the pizza was delicious, but I can’t say the same for the bar service. The gal at the bar was absolutely rude. I hope someone tells her to get out of customer service soon, because she is squandering potential tips for the other employees with her bad attitude.
My friend and I happily sauntered over to the bar to review the cocktail menu, and order a few drinks. We were greeted with a dull «what can I get you» response as she paid attention to cleaning glasses rather than taking our order. The menu had plenty of mixed cocktails, but I was in the mood for a gin and tonic (bucket with olives). She made my drink with a look of annoyance and promptly served me a glass that had a lime even though I’d asked for olives. My friend was about to order a cocktail off the menu, but decided she wanted something more basic. She asked the bartender if she could make a drink with whisky and juice — leaving it open to interpretation because she isn’t picky about the juice. The bartender looked over at us and said… «I’m sorry, but we’re not that kind of bar. We don’t have schnapps or any of that other stuff. «Stunned, my friend and I looked at each other and laughed… thinking — you mean, the type of bar that serves mixed drinks as advertised on your menu?! My friend ordered a MIXED drink off the menu that had whisky and some other juices, etc.
Needless to say, I will make sure to avoid that bartender if I ever get a drink at the bar.

Fun upscale pool place with full bar. Nice place to take a date or hang with friends. Tables are 12 $ an hour on Friday night and open until 2am. Music is fun and playful. Lots of classics and fun oldies.

Wow! Friends convinced me to come along to dinner with them, as this place has a regular 5-​course meal that gets swapped out periodically. The night I went had a menu inspired by Hemingway. The first two courses were fish, and I don’t eat seafood, so I sipped my cocktail while my friends ate my first two courses. Next was a burger, the bun had dill in it, and the burger itself had sauce integrated in the construction of the meat that was sweet and bourbony and so delicious! Next was a little steak with duck pâté. I’ve never had pâté before, it was stuffed inside of two little pastry puffs. Very good, but not as good as the burger. The dessert was really good too, but again, failed to compare to the burger. I asked if they could make one up as an entrée for me to take home but they didn’t have any left; the server said they were going to be putting it on the regular menu, so now I have to convince all of my coworkers to come here for happy hour just for this burger. Just like flying Qantas and Virgin ruined me for any other American air carrier, this burger has ruined me for any other burger.
But I’m ok with that.
Service was spectacular, and the décor and vibe is just amazing. Go up the stairs and the light and sound of the outside world fades away to something that feels like its from another time. Pool tables line one side of a big room, dining tables are in a smaller room partially hidden by a curtain, and the bar and plenty of bar-​height tables form an effective barrier between the sporting side of the venue with the dining side. If there’s music playing in the background, it’s so quiet you don’t even realize it’s there.

First time here, and it was during happy hour. Uptown has quite possibly the best Happy Hour menu I’ve ever seen, filled with healthy portions of upscale gourmet selections.
The happy hour items aren’t scaled down versions of the real meal; they are the real meal, just for super cheap! I had a wonderful burger with grilled onions and mushrooms, that came with a mound of seasoned potatoes. My friends had the pizzas… which is actually a whole pizza… and was also delicious.
Beer selection is very good, and the happy hour prices takes another buck off the pint. The bar also appeared to have a nice selection of liquor, if you’re into cocktails.
The service was excellent, with professional, friendly, and attentive staff.
Great atmosphere; like a dark old lounge where your grandfather may have hung out when he was young. Huge number of pool tables (it is called Uptown Billiards).
Will definitely come here again when I’m in NW.

I cannot believe I have never found an excuse to come here. I intend to bring a group here to experience a few rounds of pool in this gorgeous bar.
I attended a charity event here and the bar donated food and booze which was quite impressive. I will say the service was a bit lacking though. They were making a signature drink for the evening from fruit purée and champagne yet seemed ill prepared for it. The bartenders were just covered in it and trying to pour champagne as if they had never done it before. I ordered mine and the bartender only poured half a glass because he felt it was taking too long and still charged me full price — I would have been more upset if the money was not going to charity.
I would like to experience this bar with their staff under less pressure though the house may have been full but it was far from ridiculous. There were even four bartenders too who could barely handle three customers at a time.

I feel like this is one of the most under-​rated gems in Portland. For a town full of dive bars, breweries, hipster hangouts, and all other things Portland, the Uptown Billiards Club provides a nice dose of refreshing classiness.
I tried to come here first a few months ago, but they were having a birthday party me and my 3 others friends were unaware of. The hostess went to check if it was ok for us to hang out anyway (we were all dressed pretty nicely too) but she came back and apologized, but they wouldn’t be able to seat us that night. Instead, she gave us each a card to come back for a free drink.
So we went back a couple weeks ago. Not only did they honor the card, they gave us a drink up to $ 8. Typically if something like this happens, you have no idea if this supposed «card» that one person gives you will be honored by a different hostess or if they’ll only give you a pint of PBR. This must happen occasionally, or the hostesses are well informed, because our hostess didn’t even bat an eye or give us the run-​around.
We arrived decently early after a solid day of beer tasting (it was Zwickelmania that day), so our bellies needed some solid food. We sat in the bar area where we discovered they have happy hour until 6:30 EVERY DAY! Yes, this includes Saturdays and all days in between. Long story short, my philly chesse was delicious and so was everyone else’s food.
They also have a dining room for more formal meals and a huge pool hall with 10 – 12 (ish?) pool tables. It’s a very spacious place but doesn’t look like it from the outside.
So next time you’re walking on 23^rd and realize you had enough Papa Haydn or Escape from NY and the idea of drinking at Gypsy another time physically makes you ill, just remember Uptown Billiards. You won’t regret it.