Screen Door

My husband and I decided to take a mini vacation to the beach and we researched a ton of hotel, motels (ewww) and lodges, etc. My husband purchased a Groupon for a Motel. Uh, call me a snob, but if the place your going to stay begins with an «M» your expectations should be «minimal». We found the CoHo Oceanfront Lodge and it looked promising. Reasonable price, looked comfy. It’s so hard to tell from website pictures because, of course, the hotel will put flattering pictures up. The Groupon motel pictures looked OK until I did an image research of pictures taken by past guests and that’s where we found the «real» flavor of the motel. Yikes! So, the Coho looked good but since they allow dogs, would there be stinky pet smell in the rooms? Would the beds be comfortable and many other questions that pictures could not answer.
We arrived at the Coho and the front desk person was very pleasant. Fresh baked cookies in the lobby, coffee, games and tons of movies to take to and watch in your room. Our room was on the second of three floors. We went to our room and when we entered our room we immediately noticed the cleanliness and nice smell. The room was oceanfront and it was perfect!!! The rate was a steal! We opened our windows so we could listen to the ocean and smell that wonderful ocean air. The kind sized bed was very comfy and the linens smelled wonderfully intoxicating. I still want to know what they use for detergent. I love that crisp, clean smell.
We went to the breakfast included in our room rate and while it’s not like Embassy Suites where you can have anything you want made to order, it was still just right for us. I had a waffle, made it myself. There were several choices. You make your own stuff which was kinda cool. Plenty of choices.
We also noticed that you can do a couples massage at the Coho and thought that would be nice. The front desk got it all arranged with less than a 24 hour notice! The massage room is very nice and the heated massage tables were wonderful. A huge thank you to Amber and Lorie from Back in Touch massage. They were awesome!!!
Another thing we noticed was how quiet our room was. We stayed Tues-​Thurs so maybe there weren’t a lot of other people in the other rooms but we barely heard any other noise.
We liked this hotel so much that we have already booked again for next month. What you get for the rate is beyond excellent. We looked at The Stephanie Inn, which was my first choice in Cannon Beach/​Seaside. Not for over $ 300 a night! I realize it’s probably exceptional and you probably levitate upon entering the Inn but we wanted to do other things besides just pay for a room. The CoHo exceeded our expectations. What a lovely place. Perfect for anyone. People with kids, dog kids, no kids, etc. It’s just a very nice, clean place with friendly staff. What more could you ask for?

The best chicken and waffles I had in a while! The waffles was sweet potatoes mixed. Which was different but very flavorful. I’m not a big fan of waffles, but these hit the spot!
The chicken is very tasteful! Extra crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside. It’s a large portion that was shared among 3 other people. This way you can order other things off the menu to try it all!
I would definitely come here again whenever in Portland!

TIP: Reservations for parties of 7+, call in the day before and skip the line. Food for 6 of us, ~$ 10 each
A-​OK: (1) Chicken & Waffles — 3/​5, just didn’t pull through for me, but maybe it’s because I ate this last (2) Biscuits & Gravy — 3.5÷5, tasty and with plenty of gravy, but definitely feels heavy the more you eat (3) Hash — ³⁄₅ can’t remember which one I had, but it was OK
MISS: Oyster Po’ Boy — 2/​5, maybe I’m just not a big enough fan of oyster po boys but I think the oyster didn’t shine through

It lives up to the hype. We were lucky enough to go twice while I was up for my last visit. One time was on a weekday and the other time was when the snow storm hit, so we didn’t have to wait longer than 30 minutes either time.
Service was fine. Nothing to praise but nothing to balk at.
Drinks: Creole Mary is the bomb. Also had some boozy apple cidery thing that was delicious on that snowy day.
Food:
Chicken and waffles on a sweet potato waffle. Really great. The chicken was perfect. The waffle was like pumpkin pie in waffle form. My only complaint is that the waffle was not as crispy as I like my waffles to be.
Hushpuppies: OMG. They should rename these «amazeballs». Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. Bacon. Cane sugar syrup. Shut the fuck up!
Chicken Fried pork belly sandwich: Good but not my favorite. I think I am kind of over pork belly at the moment.
Migas: Very very good. Kind of like breakfast tacos. Breakfast potatoes were crazy good.
Shrimp and grits: Great preparation of this dish. Grits were flavorful and smooth. Shrimp well prepared.
bananas foster french toast: crazy good, but crazy rich. A half order is all you need, unless you have a real sweet tooth, then go for it!
Recommended if you want a really good brunch.

At almost every great restaurant, there is a line, so be prepared to wait. They estimated 30 – 45 minutes for a table of 5 on Sunday at 1pm, but we waited around 20 minutes instead. This had me off to a good start.
Chicken + Waffles — MUST TRY. I’m not much of a chicken + waffles gal, but these waffles had sweet potato added and it was so soft, fluffy and slightly crispy on the outside. Now for the Chicken… I don’t even know where to begin. Super crispy, extremely juicy and tender, bursting with flavor inside and out. The batter was filled with herbs that you could see and it really was a perfectly fried chicken, probably one of the best I’ve had in a long time.
Frittata — Whatever lemon vinaigrette they topped it off with, that was perfection. It gave the eggs such great tasting flavor. Thumbs up from me.
Mimosas were decent but on the steep side ($ 9 for the ‘larger’ portion which was a 16 oz glass). They should have just offered bottomless mimosas!
Honestly, everything on the menu sounded great. And the dishes that came piling out from the kitchen looked even better. I don’t think you can go wrong here, but for a first timer, be sure to get the chicken + don’t forget to share! Portions are huge.

Screen Door always comes up on my brunch searches so I decided to give them a try this weekend. My favorite brunch crew was visiting and we arrived on a busy Saturday morning expecting a wait. We arrived around 10am and were told it would be about an hour maybe an hour and 15 minutes. We ended up waiting about an hour and a half. The host was amazing, especially considering the amount of people that are in and out of that place. It’s pretty small, even with the patio and this particular morning they were dealing with a ton of large parties.
We had plenty of time to peruse the menu while we waited so we knew exactly what we wanted. We started with a round of delicious mimosas, I love that they have the option for a double! I got the spicy beef brisket hash and it did not disappoint. It definitely had a kick, but the flavors were fantastic and the beef was so succulent and tender, I didn’t even bother with the tortillas or the eggs. I did however, help myself to my friend’s cheddar grits. They cooled my mouth down while also exciting my taste buds. She had the breakfast oyster po-​boy and seemed very happy with it. My other friend had the cathead biscuit sandwich, which was gigantic! The chicken was perfectly cooked and still moist with a nice peppery breading. Everything was just cooked and seasoned perfectly. It’s definitely not diet food and you ideally want to split your meal with someone, we each left with a box.
I will definitely be back to try the chicken and waffles, hello sweet potato waffle, and I really want to get on that dessert train. The wait was worth it and it’s easy to see why there is a giant crowd of people outside every time I drive by. Next time I am going to arrive right when they open.

Best chicken and waffles around! There’s not actually a screen door in the front though, which was disappointing. Came at 1:30PM with a party of 7 and was seated and served until 2:30PM, after they closed. Great customer service. Ordered sausage and was given extra because the links were small. Bloody mary’s are spicier here!

Yumm. Delicious, hearty Southern food all around!
Came here on a Friday, just before their lunchtime closing around 1:30 PM & we skipped the long lines everyone complains about :) yesss! My party of 7 was seated within 5 or so minutes (no parties before us).
I ordered the chicken and waffles, plus a side of biscuits & gravy (to be shared). The chicken pieces were big & butterflied with lots of crunchy skin (my favorite part!). The only thing is they used PLENTY of pepper in the chicken breading, making it a bit more spicy than I’m used to. Oh well, flavor was still great overall & the chicken was very tender. The sweet potato waffle was good, tasted a little sweeter than your typical waffles. The biscuits & gravy were also good, obviously very heavy. They give you plenty of gravy & it was very tasty, wish I had room to eat more of it. Come on an empty stomach, everything is very filling! Also, my friends really enjoyed their hot chocolate & whipped cream. They loved the whipped cream, it very heavy & we speculated that they make it in-​house.
Overall an excellent brunch/​Southern meal in Portland — possibly my favorite meal during our weekend visit!

I think I’m done visiting Portland. So sick of having to wait over an hour for every fcking hipster ass restaurant/​bar/​food cart. You gotta have a game plan and cheat the system.
With that said, I guess Screen Door is worth the wait. All of the food is super fresh albeit pretty heavy. Great after a night of drinking. You can tell they use quality ingredients. I recommend going early around 8 – 9 AM, put your name on the list and then kill time at Heart Coffee Roasters a few blocks down.
Everyone orders the fried chicken & waffle. It’s not terrible, but the sweet potato waffle can be rather dry. As for the chicken, just aighttt aka healthy no dark meat, also not dripping with grease or extra crispy skin, so in my opinion there isn’t a ton of distinguishable flavor.
Shrimp & Grits slapped, order disss, you won’t be disappointed. Loved their cheddar grits with bacon. So so good, great take on a classic southern dish. Screen Door serves up huge portions — definitely recommend sharing a few dishes so you can try more. The brunch menu is comprehensive. It won’t be hard to find something to please your appetite!

One of my favorite places in portland! I thought pine state biscuits was good but boy was I wrong! Do not leave portland without trying this place for brunch. everything was amazing and super cheap! Come with a few people that way you’re able to share everything. Definitely will have a wait. put your name down and go have coffee next door.
Chicken & Waffles: a MUST. best chicken I’ve ever had… comes with 3 large pieces
French toast foster: Get a small order and sauce on the side. bread, sauce and whip cream was on point
Fried Okra — loved this too
Biscuits and Gravy — heavy but good… better then pine state IMO

I’m not really sure what there is to say about Screen Door that hasn’t been said by 3000+ people (and counting) already, but I’ll give my two cents as well.
This is seriously the best brunch in Portland. Unfortunately, if you want to do it on a weekend, you’re going to end up waiting 45+ minutes. My preference it to go about 30 minutes before they open, stand in the line that has already formed out the door, and get in the first seating at around 15 minutes after. That is, that was my preference before they started doing breakfast EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK!
Now I save my Screen Door breakfast cravings for the occasional days when I’m not working. If you get there early enough, there isn’t a line, and the food is just as fabulous as it is on the weekend.
I highly recommend the chicken and waffles, and I usually do a sub for the praline bacon waffle (instead of the sweet potato). The fried chicken is amazing, and if you get the waffle + 3 chicken breast option, you can eat if for your next two meals as leftovers! Most recently I ate their fried chicken sandwich, which was also fabulous.
If you don’t get the praline bacon waffle, the side of praline bacon is great on its own as well.
Everything I’ve had there is pretty solid. I do prefer Screen Door’s breakfast over their dinner, but both are good.
It’s pretty loud and busy inside. There is a bar that you might be asked to sit at if you aren’t picky, and they also have additional seating in the outdoor covered porch area. It can get chilly, but they do have heaters, so it isn’t too bad.

Danny’s Unilocal 2016.
I am going to have to give Screen Door 3.5 stars. Fried Chicken & Waffles is what they’re known for, so of course my friend and I had to get that along with trying something else off their menu.
We came 15 minutes before they opened at 9am and there was already a line. I can’t blame them because they spot is go-​to spot if you’re in Portland.
Food:
+ Chicken & Waffles — My friends ordered this and all of us felt like it wasn’t anything spectucular that would make us come back.
+ Oysters Benedict with cheddar grits. — I’ve ordered this and thought it was a little overwhelming. Everyone on Unilocal got it so I thought it was really good but in the end it wasn’t.
+ Praline Bacon — Very interesting concept covered with caramelized pecans, cayenne, and brown sugar. I would definitely order this again. BACON IS LIFEEEEEE.
Personal Note:
+ Come early so you can avoid the line.
+ Come in a group of 3 – 4 so you can try a little bit of everything on the menu.
Conclusion: Portions were huge, and our server Kelly was awesome, but I wasn’t impressed at all. I might give this spot another try the next time I’m in Portland though. MAYBE!

Lined up at 5:10pm in the rain (opened at 5:30pm) and it was already lined up around the corner of the building. And we were the last table to be seated for the first rush of guests closer to 6pm. It took about an hour before we got our food since we were the last ones to be seated and have our orders taken. «Good food takes time» so be warned, and plan for an evening out!
Get the buttermilk chicken! Even though I only had a bit (more than a bit) off someone else’s plate… and even though I’m on the other side of the continent in Toronto right now, I’m still craving it. I don’t know if I’ll ever find fried chicken to meet my desire. It was that good.
The batter has the right amount of crunchiness… it’s light and not greasy. The chicken is thick and juicy but not oily (certainly not healthy though). You know your cravings are about to be satisfied when you see the large plate bottomed with mashed potatoes and gravy, with two large pieces of buttermilk chicken piled on top. The braised pork was also good, but it’s not what I’ll remember this place by. We opted not to do dessert.
Service was very busy, very courteous but slow. We were there for a while and I’m surprised it took so long to deliver the bill to our table when we asked, seeing as how there were still so many people in line.

One of the easiest 5 stars I’ve given. This place is AMAZING and well worth the wait! Got here around noon on a weekend and it was a 45 min wait for 2 people so put your name down and walk around the nice neighborhood.
I got the fried oyster po boy ($ 15) which was a large serving size. The bread is perfectly toasted and the fried oysters are huge and flavorful. The egg inside was gooey and mixed so well with the fried onions. I picked cheese grits for my side and it was super hearty and delicious.
My boyfriend ordered the popular chicken and waffle ($ 15). It came with 3 fried chickens and a large, soft sweet potato waffle and was honestly more than enough for 2 people. That was the best fried chicken I have ever had!
Overall I loved the food and service here! I would come back in a heartbeat.

BRUNCH AT ITS FINEST! Two thumbs up for Screen Door from the 4 of us
Huge portions, great food, and great service gives an all around 5 stars.
We came around 11:45 on a Sunday morning and only waited about 30 minutes for a table.
If there’s a long wait, check out Heart coffee a few doors down!
We decided to family style it with 2 main dishes, a side of bacon, and hushpuppies. The perfect amount and all of us left full. I love that the tables are not 2 cm away from each other like some popular brunch places that have long waits.
–Hushpuppies: crispy on the outside, dense and soft on the inside. The batter contains cheese and small bacon bits that adds a nice salty factor, but I think more cheese would’ve been much better!
–MAPLE PRALINE BACON: JUST ORDER IT. You will not regret. I thought it would be too sweet, but nope! perfect amount of sweet, nutty, salty. Comes with three thick pieces, enough for 4 people as a side
–Shrimp and grits: oh so buttery and smooth! 4 pieces of fat shrimp + creamy grits. Rich and flavorful. I think this would be a lot to eat on your own, but a few bites here and there were plenty enough. Also comes with a biscuit and 2 eggs.
–Chicken and waffles: really great portion! I suggest splitting this as well. The chicken was so juicy and peppery, and the skin/​batter had a nice crisp to it. Did I mention boneless? Avoid the messy fingers and get this dish! Good combination with the sweet potato waffles & maple syrup. Best chicken and waffles I’ve had
Don’t miss this brunch place when visiting Portland! I’d highly recommend to anyone visiting.

Another MUST-​TRY on Burnside!
If your Über driver says that hands down, Screen Door is his ONLY go-​to place for brunch and dinner, believe the man!
Decided to eat here for dinner after a stroll around the Alphabet District, and were fortunate to arrive early enough to be part of the first group of people to be seated right when they opened. At first, the significant and I were a bit hesitant to try this place out because we hate waiting in line. But after our Über driver told us we should not leave PDX without dining in Screen Door, we knew that we had to give it a shot. I guess that sometimes the best things in life (food) are worth waiting for.
We were seated promptly upon entry and our waiter was incredibly helpful throughout our dining experience, topping our water cups and checking in every now-​and-​then making sure we were enjoying our food. I have to say, despite how incredibly busy it was that evening, our waiter never ceased to provide us with excellent service.
For our entrée tried the sought after Crispy Fried Buttermilk-​battered Chicken ($ 16.75) and the Braised Pork Shoulder ($ 17.00).
The Crispy Chicken entrée came with three HUGE chicken breasts, tasso ham gravy and collard greens (coleslaw available upon request).
The addition of the Tasso Gravy enhanced the flavors of the chicken significantly. As well, the chicken batter made it so the the meat was tender, unlike other chicken breasts I’ve tried in the past.
The Braised Pork Shoulder, another well-​acclaimed entrée here at Screen Door, was beyond my expectations. It absolutely changed my love for braised pork.
The meat was incredibly tender, with some of the ends peeling apart at the accompanying of a fork. So much so that I almost had to resort to eating it with a spoon!
Screen Door, how do you do it?
*Now Serving Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner 7 days a week!
*Vegetarian options available!

My first brunch in Portland and they raised the bar high! I got myself a bacon praline waffle, and let me tell you, they did Southern cuisine proud! I went with a few friends and they loved their chicken and waffle and pancakes!
The area is large enough that we didn’t have to wait. The staff was super friendly and attentive. It is also in a pretty cool part of Portland. Lot’s of stuff to see once you are done eating. Definitely a must for anyone visiting Portland!