Portland Penny Diner

Service was great, food was very flavorful and it’s a cute little place.
We ordered the sweet onion burger (excellent) and the waffle fries (disco fries) they had gravy, green onion, pork, beef & Swiss.
It’s a great little spot

Pretty good food but… The waiter added two bucks to his tip I was already tipping around 25% but he changed the amount on the credit card receipt. I would not have noticed but my credit card alerted me of this and sure enough when I checked my copy of the bill the amount had been changed. I called twice to alert the manager but he would not return my call. Not a trustworthy

I went there today for lunch with co-​workers. I try to cut places slack because I have a medically restrictive diet that is very hard to accommodate. The main thing I need to stay away from is sugar. My usual go to, when eating out is necessary, is to get a salad with olive oil and vinegar. Which leads me to my disappointment. They do not have either of those for patrons and all of their salad dressing contains sugar. Which meant I had to eat my salad with nothing on it. It was not the most pleasant and I really am confused how a kitchen can have neither oil nor vinegar to offer guests.
So, I was disappointed.

Mediocre. My burger lover says this is the only new place we’ve tried lately that managed to mess up a burger. If you are looking for a killer burger, go next door to Imperial.

One word of warning — Portland Penny Diner is not a diner. No wait staff bringing pancakes or BLTs or other diner fare.
It is a nice little sandwich shop. We stopped by for breakfast. BF had a really good chocolate croissant and I had a breakfast sandwich. The breakfast sandwich took this review up to 5 stars for me. It has breakfast sausage, bacon and egg. Yes, 2 meats AND egg. Seriously good.

After a day of paddling on the Willamette we set our sights on the Portland Penny Diner based on Unilocal reviews. Not quite sure on what to expect from a diner, I was a little apprehensive.
I was wrong. This diner has raised the bar on the quality and service one should expect from a diner. The service was friendly and quick, and the food was fantastic! I had the Hangtown Fry Taco, and would strongly recommend it. It was amazing!
I can’t wait to go back!

I’ve had Portland Penny Diner in mind for awhile, so this past Monday I made it the centerpiece of my trip throughout downtown Portland on my day off. When I first walked up to enter, I was hypnotized by the sign. It had a large coppery disc in the middle, signifying a penny, that rotated inside the frame. We haven’t had signs like that in Portland for quite awhile. If you can fall in love with a sign, that’s what happened to me. It was a little tricky to take a clear picture, but I got a couple of them on my phone camera.
Once I regained a normal cognitive level, I entered and took a good look at the menu nicely placed for perusal. It had a nicely «curated» menu of sandwiches, salads, and burgers, etc. The special was listed as chicken pot pie. Monday was one of our cooler days sandwiched in between a couple of hot spells, so it was perfect weather for the chicken pot pie; I don’t think I would have chosen it during the hotter weather.
I ordered the special and an Americano from the friendly clerk at the counter. While she fixed the Americano, the nice cooks further back fixed up my lunch and called me back to get it when ready. They were fun and friendly and we had a nice chat about the perfection of chicken pot pie.
The Americano was excellent, but I loved my pot pie. It was a great lunch value at $ 7. It was almost more like an open-​face hot chicken sandwich made of two slices of spicy cornbread with the chicken and gravy and veggies. Each bite carried a nice spicy kick as i chewed which disappeared just in time to be surprised by the heat in the next bite. The chicken and mushrooms were tender, and the gravy was nice and chickeny with a bit of tartness (maybe a bit of vinegar was added to the gravy). It sounds a bit odd to some perhaps, but it really lifted the gravy to a different level and was excellent paired with the spicy cornbread. Someone ordered a Cobb salad and it was quite large and fresh-​looking. When I return, I’m going to order that salad. You can also order cocktails from the Imperial Hotel next door.
The diner design, artwork, and material reminded me quite a bit of pictures of diners I’ve seen in pictures from the depression but with a definite modern, industrial influence. It’s very, very clean with comfortable seating. I got a seat near the front windows and the people-​watching is great. There is also outdoor seating in appropriate weather.
Come on down and get hypnotized by the cool moving sign and have a meal. It’s well worth it.

This is a wonderful sit down place to grab a quick lunch. You order at the counter, give your name, pick a seat, and then they call your name when your food is ready. Classic diner set up: tables, counter seating, and an open kitchen. I opted for the house roasted turkey sandwich. It was really good! Cranberry mustard and stuffing mayo gave a standard sandwich a different twist, that I enjoyed.
I will definitely be back because this place is quick and tasty. Put it on your radar when searching for somewhere fast but can still sit down and enjoy your lunch.

Loved the PDX breakfast sandwich. Wish they were open on the weekend.

Dining is much more than just the food, it’s the experience and who you’re experiencing it with. Today, I came solo, right after work, to beat the happy hour crowds. After all, it’s Burger Week 2015. I ordered their Sweet, Sweet Onion Burger and it’s awesome! I might compare it to a gourmet version of a certain fast food burger made «animal style,» but it’s not remotely close. Well, maybe a little since the first bite induced my memory of my last visit to that burger joint.
Staff was friendly and my order came out lickety-​split. A great way to finish an otherwise typical work day.

I was looking forward to this diner. The service and the food was very disappointing. They don’t ask, «How do you want your burger»? Apparently Charred and dry is the only option. The falafel burger was very dry also. The service was disorganized and awful! The only redeeming food is the waffle fries. I have no desire to return for more bad service and dry food.

Burger week review!
The burger week burger was great ! Awesome top notch ingredients used and it truly made me think that I have been wrong all along about bread & butter pickles. I don’t know if the Sweet Sweet Onion burger is going to be around forever, but I hope it is!
The drinks were pretty good. The juice of the day was delish, but the old fashioned was just alright. It was made in around 40 seconds, which is good if you are in a hurry, but probably could have used a little more love.

It may be because we arrived 10 minutes before closing but the staff was disengaged and preoccupied with cleaning duties even forgetting to tell us our food was ready. However, the style was cool, fun, and clean. The food (falafel burger and American burger) were awful. The sweet potato fries were good though.

A relative smaller menu than traditional dinner. The ambient was simple and clean. We ordered falafel burger, fried chicken, and onion rings. Everything was tasty and the amount was reasonable. The onion rings were on the crispier end. And the season was just to our liking. We were happy

In retrospect, I suppose I should have ordered differently.
But as I love pork belly I thought the pork belly taco would be an excellent choice.
I also ordered waffle fries and they were pretty good.
The taco, though… It was served on fry bread and the pork belly was less porky and far more fatty and it just turned out of be a plate of fat on more fat and halfway through I began to feel ill.
My friend’s burger looked good, though.
Also, we’re really sorry about the waffle fries on the floor.
We were obeying your trash counter and placing things in the proper receptacles and did not notice that there was no trash can beneath the receptacle in which we threw the fries. Well, we noticed when the fries splattered at our feet but that was a smidgen too late.
So… yeah.
Didn’t mean to dirty your floor.

Great Happy Hour!
It’s very rare that I go to HH, but I happened to work downtown one day and got off a little early. Hearing that they have 8 cocktails on tap for $ 5, it was a no brainer decision.
Drinks were good.
Food were good.
Was kinda disappointed to learn that they were out of their house pastrami (and we appeared right when they open). Their «taco» is on a fry bread, so it’s bigger than you would normally expect a taco to be. I had one of their special, Penny Pincher, which was a salad topped with a piece of fried chicken. The fried chicken was sooo good — very crispy!
Non-​HH prices are about $ 2 more, not too bad!

I really like this place.
Simple, reasonably priced, and very good food. I had the mushroom spinach omelet with potatoes. Excellent and a good size omelette for only $ 7. Ice tea was also fresh and tasty.
Simply, quick, tasty and penny wise. GO!

Ok-you’re better off waiting for a food cart to open up. Overpriced for what the sandwich was, and too ritzy for itself.

If you work downtown, you’re lucky. If you don’t work downtown and have a weekday off, let’s say Presidents’ Day, walk yourself over to Portland Penny Diner and call yourself lucky, too!
Order at the counter, find yourself a seat, and treat yourself.
Portland Penny Diner has one of the smaller diner menu’s I’ve seen, but like the typically diner has something on the menu for everyone, from homemade falafels to cheeseburgers and soup. My fellow diner loved PPD’s falafel sandwich. The wrap was lightly grilled and fluffy. I had their thin-​pattied cheeseburger and both textually crispy and creamy sweet potato fries. The burger was just the right size for lunch and didn’t feel like a brick afterwards. The sweet potato fries were deliciously divine. They had a delicate, crackly crust, and creamy interior. If you’ve already had lunch and need a nibble, step no further and get a perfectly balanced, chewy, crispy, quality chocolate chip cookie.
I don’t mind Portland Penny Diner’s spinning sign taunting me in the evenings and on weekends. I know just behind its doors are some of the best diner food in the city.

Quick and easy breakfast here. I had the duck bologna sandwich, which was interesting: worth a try. Staff was friendly and the room was comfortable, stylish and unpretentious.
There’s a more formal breakfast served at the eatery inside the hotel, but this was just fine for a quick morning bite.