Isabel

Quaint restaurant with stellar food and atmosphere. Food is to die for and reasonably priced.

I had the veggie sandwich on wheat bread, and it was basically flavorless. Many a foodie probably thinks that I got what I deserved, but veggie sandwiches are ripe for creativity, and can be the most delicious item on the menu.
I think brunch fare is the main event here. The lunch experience was pleasant enough, so I will give it another try before opting out of this place altogether.

Service is fantastic. We had Mike and he was knowledgeable, speedy, and conscientious.
Food was good but more like 3.5 to 3.75 stars. I had the salmon on an absolutely deserted night (1 other patron sitting at the bar by herself.) and a fantastic piece of fish came in overcooked. In their defense, we had a party of 7 and 5 of us ordered the salmon. So timing may have affected things. Otherwise, a great sauce and vegetables rounded out the dish. .
We also started with a few appetizers like the ahi wontons and the plantains with carnitas. Both were very good starters.
For desert, the flourless chocolate cake was excellent.

Moderately quick service, a bit pricey but nothing outrageous. I had the coconut french toast which was fantastic! He had the rosemary potato breakfast and enjoyed that!

Artichoke scramble that comes with rosemary bread is great! (I did have to add salt, but overall, great breakfast spot)!

On my recent trip to Portland, our friends took us out to brunch the morning after our arrival. Because I didn’t want anything too heavy, and because it was a Sunday meaning many places would be insanely busy, they recommended we give Isabel’s a shot.
After finding street parking, we put our name on the list and was informed of a 45 minute wait. We killed some time by visiting the nearby Sur La Table, and just prior to our table being ready, headed back. Once our name was called, we were promptly sat. Overall service was friendly and attentive.
What we ordered:
— Coconut French Toast ($ 11)
— Hash & Eggs ($ 14)
— Breakfast Quesadilla ($ 11.50)
— Avocado Scramble ($ 12)
— Artichoke Scramble ($ 11)
— side bacon
All the flavors were fresh and bright with an unmistakably latin influence. The eggs were all nicely cooked, not overly cooked. My dish was the artichoke scramble, which was good, but in my opinion, wasn’t anything special… well, except for the potatoes that came with it. My side of bacon, unfortunately, wasn’t so great. It was too limp for me. I like it really crispy. The real winner, in my opinion, was the Coconut French Toast. Flavors were great, with good coconut flavor, and wasn’t overly sweet.
Overall a great experience and someplace I’d return to again.

This is my go to breakfast spot. Never a long wait, and consistently delicious food! Healthy Spanish/​Asian fusion. The avocado scramble is my fave! I get a whole wheat tortilla instead of flour. The service is always top notch and everyone is super friendly. I think this is a chain restaurant, but that really doesn’t affect the quality — Isabel is always great!

We love this place! I have had delicious quality food every time we’ve been here.
They served breakfast until 3pm today. Not to mention being one of the few restaurants even open on NY Day!
The servers are always very friendly and pretty much stay on top of everything we need.
We’ve ordered 2 Bloody Mary’s on 2 separate occasions and both times have been pretty close to perfect.
The restaurant is pretty much constructed of glass and huge concrete beams and super chunky industrial style medal piping.
The walls open up to the outside air all summer long, and it’s pretty cool to hang out there when it’s warm outside.
I think our favorite part of Isabel is the busy atmosphere. Feel free to chitchat loudly and relax. Every time I’ve been there, there is a lively roar of people talking and having a good time.
Definitely NOT one of those awkwardly quiet breakfast places where you always drop your knife on you plate, and it makes a really loud «clank», and then you like slowly start sinking down and everyone’s staring at you…
Great for families, and even better for families like us with a small toddler.
Our little man is 1 and he can pretty much sit and eat with us, but he still likes to clap his hands and point and yell at random objects. Ha. You wouldn’t really need to worry about that kinda of stuff at this restaurant.
Love this place

French toast is delicious, a must try. Service here always good. Something on the menu for everyone. Open air vibe in the summer is cool. Get their Double Happiness, you won’t regret it.

The kitchen was fabulous as usual and another great salmon croissant sandwich!
The front of the house needs a little help.
My reservation was not recognized by the staff on duty until I actually arrived. I was then presented with the absolutely worst table in the house. I was then changed to a more suitable table after the occupants departed. I was not impressed with the trash on the floor but my server was excellent!

After a handful of visits to Isabel, I have to say this is my go to place when I want good food without the long wait that accompanies many of Portland’s best restaurants. Over multiple visits, I have had the coconut french toast, breakfast burrito, breakfast quesadilla, buddha bowl with grilled steak, dragon potatoes with grilled steak, and the grilled salmon plate. All of this was very good.
Some brief thoughts about each dish:
Coconut french toast — Very good but also very sweet. We split this and the breakfast quesadilla to avoid too much sugar for brunch. I don’t normally have sweet breakfasts but if I did, this would be my top choice from their menu.
Breakfast quesadilla — I wasn’t really a fan of this one. It’s probably the least favorite thing I’ve had here. It wasn’t bad but I’ve just had too many better things to want it again.
Breakfast burrito — Also good! Probably one of the better «bang for your buck» items on the breakfast menu.
Buddha bowl with grilled steak — I added the steak for $ 7 otherwise I believe this is a vegetarian dish. The steak was excellent but I don’t think there was $ 7 worth in the dish. $ 17 for the entrée seemed a bit steep.
Dragon potatoes with grilled steak — Another item where I added the grilled steak and LOVED it. This is definitely my favorite dish off the day menu. $ 16 is still a little more than I would ideally want to spend but the portion is huge and the blend of flavors is amazing. For $ 2 less I could have it with chicken which would make the price more tolerable but still more than I would normally spend on a lunch.
Grilled salmon plate — I have only been for dinner once but this was the entrée I chose and I am so glad I did. The sauce that is served with the salmon made the dish and complemented the coconut rice. I would absolutely get this again.
My overall impression of Isabel is that the food is very good but a bit pricey. The quality of the food is definitely better than average and I really enjoy the variety of food offered. I can never decide what to get. Even after visiting several times and trying something new on each visit, there are still several items that I want to try. Whoever is in charge of the menu really did a great job because I rarely have this many options that I’m eager to try.
I will absolutely be back. 5 stars.

Great, healthy, mex-​asian food. Portions are a little skimpy — left me hungry about 1 – 2 hours later, but satisfied that I ate a healthy meal. Nice trendy décor and service was very warm and friendly.

Goodness gracious! Goodness flows from their own farm in Sandy. It’s organic produce. Goodness flows from the kitchen and stacked heartily on your plate. It’s delish. Breakfast, lunch or dinner — a winner!
Today we did breakfast and it was total goodness! Delish! The eggs came from Draper Valley chickens. No GMO feed to chickens and they get to roam outside the coop. Like I said, this place is a real winner for us foodies.

Why do more people not come here?! Awesome location, vibe and food! The brunch is probably the most underrated in the city. For brunch try the coconut French toast (if you don’t like sweet stuff get the syrup on the side and you’ll love it) and if you’re grabbing lunch try the chicken Asada sandwich… Divine. For adult beverages, you must have one of their margaritas (everything else they have for drinks great too and always an excellent beer selection).

Met up with my parents and walked around the Pearl until we found a place to stop. The food here is WONDERFUL! For such a small little spot I was happily surprised. Love the modern look of the restaurant and the modern take on plating as well. My French toast was delicious. A very busy spot and small so plan on waiting a short while if you’re they’re during the weekend, it’s worth it though!
As always, service is where I tend to knock off a star, being a server in the industry for 6 years I am critical before leaving anywhere 5 stars. Not too stoked about the service but the place was packed and the food and my family made up for any lack of outstanding service. So 4 stars is as high as they can get until I have a wonderful server there!

Great food, solid prices, average service and a cramped space.
To begin, we merely ran into this little corner restaurant and decided we were hungry. The menu looked appealing, it was busy (always a good sign) and the restaurant itself had a modern downtown vibe.
The food was pretty damn good. Of course I managed to try everyone’s food — I’ve mastered this by now. I really liked the item I picked out best, breakfast quesadilla –you must try it. I don’t know why I haven’t thought about this on my own. Considering I love quesadillas and breakfast is the best meal.
Our server was average, we tip great regardless — I’m in the service industry, I know better — but I’m always looking for an upbeat chatty server, like myself, to share a few laughs with. Bottom line, she got the job done and that’s what matters.
The one thing I disliked was the amount of space you have to move around. Every table is within 1 ½ — 2 feet of another. To get to your table, you might have to plan a strategy and ask one or two other guests to scooch in a little closer to their table. That’s awkward, not a fan.
I’d still go back. Yum.

Took myself out for lunch on a lovely hot sunny afternoon and lucked in to an outside table at Isabel.
The wait? 5 minutes.
The staff? Super nice and really appeared to care about your experience. From the hostess to the server to the busser.
The food? OMG — I savored each and every bite of the Omar special. Seriously, I took more time than usual to eat so that I could sit back and enjoy each amazing bite! Egg whites scrambled with cheese, green onions and tomatoes. Topped with grilled chicken & shiitake mushrooms and served with brown rice & a drizzle of cilantro lime & avocado sauce on the side.
The price? $ 14 and worth every penny!
The bottom line? I enjoyed my experience and would happily go back as long as I could dine outside again.

This place was disappointing. We were doing some shopping downtown, and when we were done, we realized it was lunchtime and that we were super hungry. At that point, we started walking back to our car and just perused menus of the places we happened to pass by, and this was the winner.
We were seated quickly, but service was S-​L-​O-​W. I tried (and failed) to make eye contact with our waiter a ton of times throughout the meal. It took forever to order, it took forever to get our food, and then it took even longer to get our check.
The poor service might have been redeemed by delicious food, but I thought it was really bland. I had the Crispy Dragon Potatoes with Chicken from the Breakfast & Lunch menu, and I was not impressed.
I won’t come back here. There are too many better places around.
The dining area was nice with big ceiling-​to-​floor windows.

3.5 stars– including additional bump for service
While there may not be a specific gluten free menu, what attracted me to Isabel was the fact that the are 1. a scratch kitchen and 2. source their food locally, including many of their ingredients from their own farm, Stargazer Farm. As a result of these two facts, a good portion of their menu can be accommodate to be or is naturally gluten free.
Starting off diner with drinks, Isabel offered a small yet nice variate of cocktails. Their version of a Caipirinha was strong, but a bit too acidic. The lime to sugar ratio was a bit off.
For the main course, the GF roasted half chicken Latino style was presented well, but tasted just ok. You could tell the quality of the chicken meat was nice, and you could tell that it was free range because of the size and the lack of fat. The consistency of the bird seemed to vary. It was overly dry in parts, yet moist in others. The plantains and coconut rice were the highlight of the meal. The sweetness of the rice was a nice offset to the spice on the chicken.
During my visit, the server was extremely friendly and knowledgeable of what dishes could be altered and which could not.
Overall, the Isabel’s is a decent GF option when dining in the Pearl District.

[Portland Brunch]
Aimlessly meandered the Pearl district one morning in search of some good food, we stumbled along this cute little brunch spot. From the outside, it looked like a giant garage. The inside was a charming little eatery abuzz with diners from all walks of life. There was a wonderfully shaded patio which was full unfortunately but we managed to score some window seats.
We started thing off with pitchers of Mimosas (yes, it was that kind of weekend). These were especially delicious after an alcohol-​fueled evening. I ordered the hash and eggs which came with a generous helping of sliced steak. Yummy! I’m not sure if it was the hangover but everything was delicious. Most menu items have some hint of mexican fusion which I appreciate.
Service was just okay. The place was packed on this Saturday morning but our server was friendly and did her best to accomodate our needs.
I’ll definitely be back the next time I’m in town.