West Cafe

Food is always reliably good. Service is excellent. Nice ambience. The combination of all three makes it a five star.

This is a great place for a business lunch meeting. The staff are always nice and the food is great! I definitely recommend it.

If you need a place for a larger group to meet for a casual happy hour, this is the spot! We had a group of almost 20 going to a concert at the Old Church a few blocks away. I called ahead to let them know that there might be a lot of us streaming in over the happy hour. When we arrived, he had set up a large portion of the bar for us, arranged the seating so it was very comfortable. The staff was really nice, and the whole place was accommodating. Great spot!

This place is a good stand by for when you need to have a business lunch. I’m not blown away by the food but it’s decent. The last time I was there I ordered the BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado and lettuce sandwich). They were happy to replace the lettuce with spinach. Honestly, I could have made one just as good at home. I also ordered the mushroom soup which I did not care for at all but that could be my own palate as others enjoyed it.
The service is fine. This place is just ok.

I really like West Café for business lunches. The staff is very attentive and helpful.
Today, while the staff was their usual greatness, the food was a disappointment. I ordered the special which was supposed to be wilted kale, white bean salad and tuna. The waitstaff was very accommodating with my ordering without the tuna and even offered a chicken substitute. But when I got the food it was raw spinach… NOT the wilted kale that I really wanted. Since I was meeting with prospective clients I was not about to send it back.
I will return to West Café since it is excellent for lunches, but I am disappointed about the mix-​up with the greens.

Excellent food with generous portions. This place is a gem with outstanding wait staff who are non obtrusive. Good jazz combo… noise level is a bit high but tolerable. Dinner prices are comparable to other places of this caliber. Definitely will try brunch next time.

My friend, Dean, is leaving Portland to head back home to Hawaii this coming week. I wanted to give him some sort of farewell, but time is limited for him at the moment with all the usual stress and pressure of moving, and it was difficult for me because I worked today. We wanted to do brunch, but none of us were sure it would work out on our schedules. Then I remembered West Café did brunch, it’s right across the street from my weekend job, and the parking in this part of Portland is easy to find. Hooray! Our mutual friend, Jamie, came along for brunch and good-​bye (don’t like that word at the moment) and met us at West Café.
It’s nicely decorated (contemporary and clean style) with a great fireplace at one end. Our server took us to our table immediately. The menus are very detailed (but surprisingly small, a victory for «good things come in small packages.»). It did take us some time to go through the menu, but our personable server just checked with us a few times with patience and a smile until we made our choices out of an equal amount of lunch/​brunch items with emphasis on both vegetarian and other options. The three of us chose a skillet scramble with choice of lots of items to put in the scrambled eggs. Our plates came out so quickly that it was a bit startling, but we soon found out why. The scrambled eggs were under-​done if not runny, and the underlying cubed potatoes (home fries) were almost raw in a few places. Dean asked for his eggs to be put back over the fire and firmed up.
The three of us enjoyed our meal together. Although the food was very tasty, I have to take one star away for the underdone food. I don’t mind waiting for food a couple of minutes longer in order to get it fully cooked. I’m also going to take a star away for having to wait awhile for our check. Once we got it, we finally had to take it up to the register to get checked out. The three stars I have awarded are for an attractive restaurant that obviously takes service to heart, has a great menu and tasty food, and follows through. As some reviewers say on Unilocal,three stars does not constitute a bad review. For me it means I would like to come back another day (especially since it’s so close to work) and give West Café a chance to earn some more stars because I know they’re altogether on top of things and our brunch experience there yesterday may have been off because they were slammed with customers.

A nice little place. The food was tasted great and the servers were very friendly. There were so many delicious options on the menu, I had a had time choosing what to eat. Would definitely love to come back.

Our first time here before the concert– my husband had perfectly cooked skirt steak and I had pasta Alfredo with shrimp on top (added). The presentation was beautiful and service was excellent!

Again… why isn’t there a line out the door for this place? The menu is so expansive and amazing, I always have a very hard time deciding what to get! Tender, flavorful meats and fish, delicious well prepared seasonal veggies, tons of vegetarian and gluten free options, well crafted cocktails, fireplace and occasional live music. From the African spiced lamb salad to the balsamic roasted portobello, there is something here for absolutely everyone. PLUS a happy hour menu every day from 4:30 to close. The $ 3 sweet potato, spinach and goat cheese crepes are a mandatory appetizer for me. Long live West Café!

West Café is located at the end of a series of storefronts next to the 405 downtown that mostly contain Asian restaurants. It has a nice interior and a friendly staff. They’ll take your coat for you when you walk in and put it right back on your body when you leave. That’s something I’m not always prepared for and often make a fool of myself by the time I realize what’s happening.
I’ve gotten salads, sandwiches, and plates of vegetables and rice. I’ve finished my food each time but never really loved what I ate. I mostly only come here when I’m looking for a close sit down restaurant when at work.
I’ve heard their cake is delicious and made from scratch by one of the owners. I haven’t tried for myself but keep meaning to go back and have a slice.

Very good, quiet atmosphere. Good wine list

We tried West Café for the first time yesterday and it was delightful. There was only one server working the dining room but she did a great job at tending the 4 or 5 tables that were seated on this Wednesday evening.
I had the braised ¼ chicken with cherry tomatoes and a side of mashed potatoes and a spinach salad with beets and goat cheese to start. The bread basket had both amazing olive bread and chickpea/​cumin seed crisps which I mostly ignored but were fine. My partner had banana wrapped pork with brown rice which was absolutely amazing and packed with flavor. Neither of us love broccolini which was the vegetable of the day but our server was able to sub asparagus which was lovely.
The food seemed very thoughtfully prepared and the menu leans towards healthy but still had some indulgent sounding items on it. The dining room is quiet and sophisticated feeling with a large bar area which was empty when we were there. We will go back.

This place is a decent spot to come for lunch. They have happy hour from 4-​close, which is pretty awesome.
My friend and I got the soup, sweet potato crepes, and the quesadilla. The mushroom soup was decent, the crepes we just meh, and the quesadilla was just okay. I probably wouldn’t order any of those options again.
I’ve been here for lunch before, though, and it’s pretty solid. I’ve typically enjoyed their salads.
We ended our meal with the banana split dessert, which I loved.
The environment is nice and clean, especially compared to what you’ll get in the area. It has an upscale feel to it, and the service is fantastic.

You couldn’t ask for a more perfect environment — Thanks to the owners! Their true dedication shows. I love that every time I’m here, one, if not both owners are there. The food is high quality, they’re quick at lunch time, happy hour is great, too. Definitely a staple for the West Side. Plenty of affordable lunch options that will hit the spot.

Service without a smile. Host was nice, tho.
Food is nothing to write home about. Kind of strange offerings that are overpriced.
Lamb kabobs were pretty good. But nothing I’d return for.

Went here for Sunday Brunch/​Breakfast a couple days ago for Mother’s Day.
Good service — friendly staff. Excellent breakfast selection including delicious homemade
warm scones and turkey bacon! Good selection of entrees and sides at a very reasonable price.

I’m still recovering from the verbal rapage I experienced from our server last night. At least we were entertained, given the performance we witnessed.
We arrived no later than 9:15pm (it closes at 10). He sighed and said he would try to catch the kitchen staff before they ran out. Then we made the mistake of only ordering dessert and coffee, another scoff and underhanded comment followed. It took 20 minutes for the underwhelming pre-​made chocolate cake. For $ 8, I expected something at least on par with a Trader Joe’s $ 2 lava cake.
As we finished up we were ecstatic to be leaving the most awkward food experience behind us. The waiter walked past our table, check in hand, to mysteriously talk outside for 5 minutes. We each scooped up a few mints on the way out, doing the best to cut our losses for choosing such an awful place to eat.

My fellow Unilocalers — I trusted you… but four stars? I have to admit I am a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the service was fine. I was greeted immediately upon entering, and they gave me the pick of the place (as it was a little sparse during the lunch hour on a Tuesday at noon). Their friendly demeanor definitely earns them extra points. However, my taste buds led this review in a different direction…
I sat down, and was prepared to feast my eyes on something tasty. They had an impressive list of options, and had daily specials that looked appealing. I chose the seat next to the woman who appeared to be noshing on a scrumptious bowl of stew. I ordered the B.L.A.T.T. (Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado spread, Turkey, and Tomato).
Upon receiving the plate, I immediately noticed that the whole wheat bread was of the 99 cents a loaf kind. The turkey also smelled a little weird… like it had been stored next to fish.
And… BACON! How can you go wrong with bacon, you ask?! The bacon was barely warm, and it was hard as a rock (and not the burnt style). It was almost as if it was meant to be bacon jerky… guess I didn’t get that memo from the menu.

My parents wanted to eat here for breakfast on the day of their 46^th anniversary. So, I made reservations, which really were not needed, but made my parents feel better about having a place to sit.
Unfortunately, my Dad was not feeling well, so my Mom and I enjoyed breakfast. It was very good. I had the 2 eggs made of eggs whites with the potatoes. I loved the potatoes, because they came with big yummy chunks of onions. Yes!
My mother enjoyed her breakfast as well. We ordered a fruit plate to go to take back to Dad, and the service was really great.
I loved the ambiance of this restaurant. I just feel kinda stupid, because I live a block away from this place and have never been in it. I plan on fixing my laziness problem and get here for dinner.