Crooked Mile

Swung in here on my way the airport. A breath of fresh air. Excellent food, peaceful music and nice people. Will be back.

I’ve been eyeing the crooked mile for about a year and finally ventured in today.
It’s cute. It really is. There is nothing as charming as old brick, uneven wood beams, and big windows for people watchers to perch next to. Seems like a café is made for this location. And the staff are great– very friendly, and cleaned up after me without being intrusive or pushing me to finish my sandwich. Even a couple couches– certainly a cozy nook in the fall.
Sadly that’s where the positive stops for me. I ordered a BLT with turkey ok marble rye, after nearly falling to my death via tripping over the rug (definitely my fault– not a misplaced rug. They call me Mr. Smooth.).
I sat down and as soon as I did my sandwich arrived. Now, the less-​than-​two-​minute-​sandwich SHOULD have scared me off, but it was nearly empty in the shop at about three o clock. Usually a good time for a sandwich– we’ve all been in the take out line when the poor employees are trying to whip out twenty sandwiches a minute during lunch hours.
The sandwich was not good. The bread felt dry, the bacon was cheap microwave bacon, any condiments supposed to be ok the sandwich (mayo) were not doing their job– it was drier than my left elbow during winter. It basically fell apart when I picked it up.
I felt like I wasted $ 7.50 as I sat there.
The staff were so nice, the place so pleasant. Why are sandwich broken?
I might come again, in a year, but I’ll avoid a sandwich. I suggest you do too. Ill try s soup or salad next time.
–2 for sandwich
–1 for no soap in bathroom
What could have been?

Super fast and very friendly service! The associate who took my order was smiling and very sweet. It only took about 1 minute for them to make my chicken salad sandwich. It was delicious and served on a baguette. $ 9.99 bought me a full sandwich, chips, and a drink. Quite reasonable considering the downtown, old port location. Will recommend and return!

So I love this place whole heartedly. The people are amazing, the coffee & tea is amazing. The location is prime. The only thing is that their hours are super unreliable, which is a bummer. It doesn’t keep me away, but I hate planning a morning to study here and then see the closed sign hanging from the window. Amazing coffee, obsessed with this place, just be wary of the hours!

If you don’t know what an espresso is, don’t serve it. Seriously. The espresso came in an cup for American coffee, completely full. The double was not two shot as it should be but rather running the water twice through the same coffee. Ouch

I came to this place at least 4 times during my vacation in Portland. The have good coffee drinks (non-​dailry options), good pastries, good music and super friendly staff. The place was moderately busy in the mornings so you don’t have to wait a long time during peak hr in the morning. Only negative aspect is that they are not open on weekends. Other than that, I highly recommend this place to grab a cup of Joe and it’s in the Old Port district near restaurants, shopping, etc.

I’ve been here once, and let me tell you. It was fantastic! Their sandwiches are amazing and their bagels are so yummy, the price you pay is such a great deal for the quality. It’s a secret gem tucked away in the Old Port, very cozy place to be

I stopped in here recently for, amazingly, the first time and definitely enjoyed it. The staff is friendly and attentive (and very patient as I scanned over the impressive list of sandwiches and salads available for lunch), the service is super quick, and the sandwich I got (more of a classic Italian with just the right ratio of meat and veggies) was delicious, especially the bread. My only complaint would be the layout of the place — somewhat awkward, I imagine more so if you were waiting for food with lots of other people — but there’s a surprising amount of seating so it’s not so bad. I’ll definitely be coming back!

I’ve been here two times for lunch and I’ve enjoyed both visits. The chalkboard menu above the ordering counter is vast and detailed and includes various soup/​sandwich combinations; I feel like I’ve actually spent more time perusing the options than I have eating them.
I can’t comment on the typical lines or the wait mentioned in other reviews because I always seem to stop in when a blizzpocalygeddon strikes town — probably because the only thing that sounds good for lunch on days like that are a piping hot bowl of soup. I can almost guarantee that you will be at the front of the line when an extreme weather event occurs. There’s a nice nook in the back of the restaurant with a couch, coffee table (with a chess board!) and a few chairs. You’ll feel like you’re eating lunch in a Crate & Barrel.
The food is pretty good, but not great, and very reasonably priced. The soup/​sandwich combo is about $ 7 – 8. I’ve really enjoyed the soup I’ve had (Italian Wedding & Clam Chowder) but I’ve been less impressed by the sandwiches (BLT & grilled cheese). They’re kinda small, especially the grilled cheese.
Service is fast and friendly, and the staff always seem to be having a great time out back.
I look forward to the next extreme weather event so that I can try their chicken stew!

Great breakfast sandwiches and good for lunch too. We had them bake up 150 cookies for our wedding because I’m addicted to them and crave them nightly. The cranberry and white chocolate ones especially.

This is my number one, go-​to lunch spot. I almost hesitate to review it as the lines are already long enough as is. Here’s what’s great:
— Grilled cheese and tomato soup special is available nearly every week day during the colder weather
— Egg and cheese on a croissant breakfast sandwich is a great morning pick-​me-​up
— Variety of flavored iced teas (for hot days) and reasonably priced lattes (for cold ones)
— Staff is super friendly and fast, even when there is a huge line at lunch.
Here’s what’s less great:
— They won’t make you a breakfast sandwich after 11am.
— They’re not open on the weekend.
— People have a tendency to stand in front of the door which opens in. Not the fault of the business, but annoying.

The Crooked Mile is located in, what I believe to be, a charming spot. It’s not in your face like the stores nearby in the Old Port are — you do have to hunt for it a bit if you’re not used to the area (making it more local-​centric than tourist-​centric, something I think we Portlander’s appreciate tremendously). But that’s what I like about it — that it sits on the corner of two cobblestoned streets and has a relatively nondescript façade. The inside layout is a bit awkward — long and cramped — but I liked the amount of tables and the couch nook that you don’t expect to see after making your order and walking past the counter to wait.
The space is lovely, the location is great, and can we just talk about how fabulous the staff is real quickly? One of the nicest girls greeted me when I walked in (and she didn’t have to be given that she had other people she was cashing out) — she seemed genuine and patient, allowing me to take my time to poke around until I finally knew what I wanted to order. The turn around for my order was insanely fast, too — just three or four minutes my waiting and sandwich was ready and handed to me — again, with a smile — by some fella behind the counter. It seems to me the team here is efficient, productive, and friendly.
However, the food wasn’t really that amazing, and I’m going to have to disagree with other reviewers on the Mozzarella sandwich which I got specifically because someone else here recommended it. For more than $ 7 I got a crunchy baguette about six inches in length filled with loads of greens, some mozzarella slices, some tomatoes, red onions, a suggestion of pesto, and quite a bit of balsamic vinegar. It was fine tasting. It tasted like every other caprese sandwich I had ever had; and exactly like you would imagine a caprese sandwich would taste like if you had never had one before. So, was I impressed? No. Would I order it again? No. Do I wish I had gotten it in salad form instead? Yes. Do I feel robbed of calories better spent elsewhere? Yes.
The real question, though, is would I come here again? Sure. Don’t misconstrue a three-​star review as dislike… I very much like it here; and, if I a) worked nearby like so many other of the reviewers here do or, b) wasn’t a vegetarian I’d probably love it here! I just didn’t like the food I had (and this isn’t the first time I’ve felt that way about here, unfortunately). I’m looking forward to trying something different sometime like the:
1. The snicker doodle latte (which I didn’t see advertised anywhere in the store, so maybe this is something you have to specially ask for?)
2. The bagels and cream cheese (though, I wonder where their bagels come from… because if they’re locally made, wouldn’t I just go to the source?)
3. The coffee (it seems you can walk in and grab a cup of coffee pretty quickly and for relatively cheap compared to other places in town, and for that alone have I become a fan!)

The Crooked Mile is my go-​to place for my morning coffee. They have a great selection of Carrabasset Coffee varieties at their self-​serve station and they make a great iced coffee as well. The salted bagel is my favorite… The veggie cream cheese is literally cream cheese with cucumbers, carrots and onions added to it manually (no pre-​packaged nonsense).
For lunch, try the fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil wrap. The pesto makes this wrap amazing!
The staff is friendly… The Crooked Mile features counter service… So order and pay at the counter and grab a seat until your order/​name is called.
And remember to grab a dog treat for your four-​legged friends from the bowl on the counter.

Crooked Mile is a terrific lunch spot in the Old Port. I’d been wanting to try it for a few weeks now and I finally had my chance on a warm, sunny day in September.
I ordered the Cranberry Bog Salad (my friend had the same item as a sandwich) and it was superb. No skimping on the delicious chicken salad, cranberries or walnuts. The portion was very generous — I ended up taking more than half home with me (it was just as delicious for dinner). Lunch for two was less than $ 20 and because we went later in the day, seating was readily available.
This is a great little café in a great location — reasonable prices and decent service. Definitely a go-​to spot in the making.

It’s official– I’m obsessed! Second time in one week I’ve ended up here for lunch and both times I was very impressed. The staff is friendly, the food is prepared quickly (although try to avoid 12:15−1ish if you are in a hurry!) First time, I tried the beet salad which I thought was great … Today, I got the cranberry bog wrap which was amazing! Very fresh with real thick chunks of chicken opposed to most places shredded chicken in the chicken salad. After reading another review here on Unilocal I was set on finishing lunch with an iced snicker doodle latte which was a very sweet dessert and I enjoyed every sip!

Before I started bringing my own lunch to work, The Crooked Mile was my lunchtime haunt for the better part of a year.
Anything on their menu can be made as a sandwich or salad. Their sandwiches are small but hearty and crafted with care. Their salads are generous and fresh. The soups and chill are great, and the coffee drinks are oh so tasty (try the Snickerdoole).
The prices are high, but no worse than many lunch spots in the Old Port, and all lunches come with chips. I DO wish there was a healthy alternative to the chips available, such as a piece of fruit or something. If you ask, you can get a piece of baguette instead, but that doesn’t really fill the requirement.
The seating is somewhat cramped, and many of the chairs and stools are uncomfortable. However, some of the tables are old sewing machine table-​things, and there’s a couch tucked away in corder with a cool coffee table with a chess board on it. It’s very charming, and overall the good of the interior outweighs the bad.
The staff are always friendly and greet you with a smile.
The Crooked Mile has it’s flaws, but if you give it a try you may find they grow on you, and like me, it may become one your favorites.

The Crooked Mile is by far one of my go-​to cafes. It’s very reasonably priced, and their wide selection of lunch foods and drinks is great. When you walk in, you instantly get the idea that it is a very good café that’s busy (and might need a little more space for seating) but clearly it’s food is spectacular, which is exactly the truth.
Then there’s their menu — which has plenty of healthy and delicious sandwiches, salads, and soups, such as a delicious chowder which I had once, and it was perfectly creamed and the texture was neither too watery nor too thick, and they have a daily special, which is always great as well. Their soup and salad collection aren’t huge, but it’s quite hard to get sick of them. In terms of the sandwiches, there’s about 10 or so sandwiches to choose from and their all good. My favorite is the Chicken Ceaser Wrap, which is great considering that CC is one of my favorite foods overall, and I have high expectations for it.
However, their sandwich menu could be larger than it already is, and they could have a sandwich or salad of the day. Besides that, The Crooked Mile is one of my favorite places to have a great and hardy lunch in Portland!

Crooked Mile is my go to lunch spot. In fact, I have to limit the number to times I go per week. They have a variety of sandwiches and salads; my personal favorite is the tomato mozzarella on a baguette, always a baguette! Everything is reasonably priced, around $ 7 for any sandwich or salad and that includes a bag of chips.
The only down side they are closed on the weekends!

Yummy coffee and sandwiches and friendly staff. Clean and cool. Thanks for being a better option than the dingy hotel continental breakfast on a recent trip to Portland.

Kimberly made the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had! I love this place! Everyone is so friendly~ they even cheered for me and gave me a birthday cookie! It truly made my day
PeAcE & LoVe
Jenny NYC