Laurelwood Public House & Brewery

This place was PERFECT for us. We biked here from downtown along the esplanade and spring water corridor, and were tired and thirsty when we arrived! Our two year old loved the play area, which we were able to be seated right next to, the food was great, and the beer was quenching and delicious. Though maybe our opinion is skewed because we had a kid there, it didn’t feel at all like the zoo others have described; everyone was well behaved and cared for attentively!

Lovely outdoor seating and delicious salads. The kale salad with salmon is one of my favorites. The house salad is great too. The hummus plate is really delicious and a very good sized serving. Large selection of beers as well.

This iteration of Laurelwood is as described by other reviewers: loud, mediocre food, overpriced compared to quality
The space is actually quite nice – hardwood, abundant natural light, great location – but everything else kinda ruins it
Happy hour is terrible except for the discount on beers

We love this place. It has the neighborhood feel, has great food (huge menu!) and great beer. My boyfriend has tried every crazy burger of the month (seriously, they are massive) and I am now fully in love with their soft pretzels and fish & chips.
Sometimes it doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to be good. Damn good.

My favorite place in the neighborhood !! The food is always done beautifully. Love their IPA’s.Workhorse is my personal favorite. It is my happy place. Staff is awesome and atmosphere is great. Service is awesome too.

This place has AMAZING food and beer. I really wish they had an adult night or even adult hours so that we could have a shot at enjoying the food/​drinks without feeling like we are at the zoo on a Saturday, which is exactly the vibe you get here.

Gotta love the ones who go here knowing it’s family friend and complain. Yes, they have a kids area. Yes, kids make noise. Last I checked Portland has a lot of other options for grouchy people.
ANYWAYS.
Thankfully my kids decided not to act like crazy lunatics during dinner and played nicely. Mommy and daddy appreciated being able to enjoy a beer (or two), eat our dinner HOT and talk without having a french fry rubbed on my face.
Service was fast even though they were busy. Food was fast as well and I definitely appreciated them bringing my kids meal first… even if they didn’t even touch it.
Food was OK but look, I had a somewhat peaceful dinner, I don’t really care. Pretzels were stale but cheese was awesome and they took it off our bill anyways. Sandwiches were good, wings were good and beers were tasty.
Win, win. Now only if my damn kids would eat some dinner!

The food here is amazing! All of the staff are super friendly, and service is always exceptional. If you’re tired of waiting for hours outside of «trendy» portland brunch-​spots, come to Laurelwood for the best brunch of your life (and there’s usually no wait at all!)

I was stoked when Laurelwood opened a spot in Sellwood and it continues to be one of my weekly lunch spots. The menu has a wide variety to choose from and of course their beers are among my list of favorites in town. I usually post up at the bar and the service has always been great. My sister and I use to always go to the NE location when my nephew was younger so he could have fun playing in the kids corner. It was nice to have a place where my sister and I could catch up and my nephew not be board out of his mind.

Love this place! Everything I’ve tried is amazing. My personal favorite is the Pulled Pork Sandwich. Gotta get it with the loaded tots too.
Beer is very good as well, and dessert. Good vibe inside. Just don’t go if you’re in a hurry. Takes a while but well worth it in my opinion.

The food is OK, but the service stinks. The waitress brought our main course before our appetizers, then said she’d comp the appetizers, but didn’t. I understand that mistakes occur, but is the third time this has happened at Laurelwood. Eat elsewhere.

Great place to bring the kids and let them run around screaming and making the experience hell for the rest of the patrons.
Food is mediocre.
Service is sporadic.
Some of the beers are good (take it home to enjoy).

Ordered the margherita pizza and asked that they not fry the basil. The pizza was delivered with giant basil leaves just thrown on there in a mess. I know it’s not a big deal, but at the same time, I wanted to take the pizza to the cooks and ask if they even cared, and if they’d eat it like that.
The restaurant has no idea what a delicious (and simple) margherita pizza is. The dough was sweet, the tomatoes sundried (?), the basil usually fried, and the pie’s oily.

This place isn’t bad. Foods reasonable and the beer is pretty good. I’ve been to another location and enjoy the roof top patio in the summer. This place is family friendly — perhaps too friendly. Couldn’t enjoy my food and beer without the sounds of kids losing their damn minds and mom and dad not giving a rats ass. Note to self: don’t come to this location. So if you have kids, this ones good for you, if not — steer clear. More of a personal preference in that aspect so. now you know and can make an appropriate decision. Oh parking is also crappy but not their fault.

I don’t k know. I really want to love this place. It’s in a great part of town, the beer is good and the food is decent but… it kind of feels like it’s trying too hard to be everything to everyone. Is it a family restaurant? Is it a bar? A gastropub? Nope… it’s just confused.
Flew in and my best girlyfriend and I stopped here for a bite, thinking we could relax and catch up but… there were tons of kids everywhere!!! Now, let’s be clear… I have 3 kids. I’m
Pro kid establishment if that is what you market yourself to be, but I think family friendly is different than kid friendly and this rides the line.
I might come back for late night but happy hour did NOT make this PDX girl happy.

Laurelwood SE is a good brew pub in a city with lots of great brew pubs. If it were anywhere else, it would probably deserve a 4 – 5 star rating, but the fact of the matter is that Portland has a dozen other similar businesses that do what they do better. Here’s a quick rundown of what Laurelwood has to offer:
Beer: Typically 10ish Laurelwood beers on tap as well as a local craft cider for the non-​beer drinkers. Their flagship beers are Workhorse IPA, Free Range Red, Treehugger Porter, and Mother Lode Golden Ale. They also typically offer a rotating pale ale and several other seasonal beers. Most beers are good but not stand-​outish or unique. They do hoppy beers best and I think they know it because their taplist is often dominated by hoppier styles.
Food: It’s more or less what you’d expect at a brewpub. Some burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, and other entrees complimented by snacks and appetizers and soups. They have a whole mac and cheese section of the menu where their chef has added some creative flair to the old classic.
Happy Hour: Not half bad. 3 – 6 and 9-​close, save a buck or so off of their beers (though hot the high alcohol brews) and gain access to the cheap happy hour menu.
Trivia: Honestly, Tuesday night trivia is what keeps me coming back. Brought to you by Geeks Who Drink, it’s a great time with beer flowing freely.
Children: There are often children here. This is nice for you if you have some and aren’t sure what to do with them while you have dinner. It’s pretty lame for the rest of us… especially when we’re trying to hear the trivia question and the children are systematically destroying the play area in the back corner. Fortunately, as with most children, the children here need to go home for their laughably early bedtime.
All in all, I’ll keep coming back weekly for trivia. This place easily beats most of the moldy slimy dive bars that tend to host weekly trivia. But as PDX brew pubs go, it’s just okay.

We come here often. Hubbs is pickier about where he wants to go than I am (also see: the REAL reason women «don’t care» about where they want to eat– because Hubbs boo-​hoos all the places I suggest, so I go with what he wants).
He loves the chimichanga. LOVES IT. He loves the beer selection. The kid loves the mac and cheese. Because what kid doesn’t?
I find this place to be loud, with only a few things (I feel) to choose between; Nachos and the taco salad and as you may have guessed, there are plenty of other places I could get those.
We have come here often enough so that we have tried most things; the burgers of which the Brewer’s is his favorite, salads which feel like an afterthought, sandwiches, blah, blah, blah. All okay.
Nice, tentative service so I will split the difference; 3 stars.

It’s so Portland to see families with kids in breweries like this. Great beer and good food. We went during the happy hour and got the $ 3.50 pints. What a deal! The garlic fries are really good! We will definitely be back.

The best thing about the Laurelwood is that they let you sample the beers and they aren’t all snobby about it. No eye-​rolling and no sighing like you’ve thoroughly inconvenienced them. You ask for a sample and they’re all, «Heck, yes, absolutely try this and this and this because I want you to like what you drink.» And because of this I have without fail enjoyed every pint I have consumed here, including the Piston Pale Ale on Saturday.
Sidenote (because this feels important): The Moose and Squirrel Russian Imperial and the Hugh Heifer Milk Stout were delicious examples of good beers and I pined to drink a serious pour of each… but alas it was too hot out for stouts to be thoroughly enjoyable.
The food isn’t bad. It’s good. Mostly. The vegetarian black bean chili is spot on each time I’ve ordered it (ask them to put pickled jalapeño slices on top and they’ll oblige). The tots are tasty (though not as good as Lompoc’s around the corner). The southwest chicken wrap was so segmented I cringed eating it – bite of lettuce, bite of chicken, bite of guac, but no bite of all of the goodness being friends and intermingling as friends should.
Pro Tip: In the late afternoon the outdoor and garage door seating is in full sun with no semblance of shade to be found, which is fun for about ten minutes before overheating becomes a reality.

They have stepped up the food! It appears they have a new head chef and pastry chef. I judge a place whether they can cook a burger perfect medium rare, and they did! It comes with soup or fries and I had the potato soup topped with bacon with just the right amount of kick. They need to add that spice to their v. bland beer cheese soup and they will have a winner next to their beer.
The menu also seems to be revamped regularly. On another occasion, I had a very god buffalo chicken wrap.
The ricotta based red velvet rolled cake with homemade macaroons and strawberry are amazing. They could make money off selling the macaroons alone as they are the new cupcakes or donuts.