Dots Cafe

Nice lively place, very divey. Has a decent sangria and decent bar grub. Had the burger which was ok.

Pretty chill bar/​restaurant. Dim lighting with a variety of breakfast foods to choose from. The prices and food were good but the service was on the slow side. I would recommend going here if you don’t need great lighting in an eatery and don’t mind slower service.

My friends and I were starving and still trying to cure our post New Years hangovers.
We decided to just drive up and down the street until something caught our eye.
Dots it was!
It’s a dark «upscale”(as in not dumpy) divey neighborhood bar.
And when I say it was dark, I mean It was really dark. I’m all for that dark ambiance but it needed to be lit a little bit more.
They have a green room and a red room both decorated differently.
If I went again I would sit in the green room because in the red room there is a door to go outside and all the smokers kept going in and out. It was 19 degrees outside.
The waiter guy that we had was wonderful. He was snarky in a delightful way. He was really attentive and kept filling up our water glasses.
The happy hour menu was great and even the regular menu the food is super cheap. Sandwiches with fries $ 9.
I ate buffalo wings and fries.
The wings were perfectly crisp and tossed in just the right amount of sauce.
We all agreed that they had great fries.
My friend had a southern dandy which is a fried chicken sandwich with coleslaw and she said it was super delicious.
My other friend had a buffalo chicken pita wrap that he couldn’t get enough of and it was gone in a matter of minutes.
All three of us decided that this is now our local divey bar spot.

Great little bar and restaurant across from the Clinton Street Theater. Drinks are always stiff and the food is always good. The wait staff and bartenders are super sweet and adorable. Plus the music is great mix between indie, old school and hip hop.

I have loved Dots since my arrival in Portland in 97 when they had a pool table and it was just slightly darker than it is now. Dots remains a great Portland bar and restaurant. The outdoor seating is lovely in nice weather, as is the IPA list which usually has at least two great options. For food, I like the Vegan Bowl which is a healthy and substantial meal for a moderate price. At night Dots is a great place to meet up in cozy boothes, enjoy great drinks and beer and great service.

One of the first places I was introduced to here in Portland it’s my go to for bomb pub grub.

I love coming here for brunch. I like to sit in the booths with bad lighting so I can’t really see my food. Just adds a hint of mystery to the whole experience if you ask me. Last time I went I had the Greek Scramble. At least I think it was the Greek Scramble, I don’t know, I couldn’t really see it. Whatever it was, it was delicious.
There was a DJ there spinning records for everyone during brunch. It was nice, I enjoyed the DJ and gave her a tip because she was doing a great job. After brunch I went home and stared at a picture of my angry father while I listened to a Herb Alpert record I found at a garage sale. He’s pure evil. Just like that damn little doughboy on the television. Lying little turd.
It’s important to remember that even though people tell lies, it doesn’t mean they are trying to hurt you.
I once heard about a man named Abraham Lincoln who said that if you boil a potato, then you make the potato watch the last episode of Friends with you, it will give you magical powers. Like laser fingers.
I hope everyone at Dot’s reads this and laughs.

Holy carp. After over an hour we are still waiting for food. Yeah, it’s a bar, it’s dirty, but seemed like it might be fun. This is very not fun. I feel trapped and now I’m gonna have to pay for this experience.

Endless mimosas, man. So great. Also, the server in the tootsie roll costume on Halloween is my new favorite. He is so fun! Even better than that one hot bartender whose name I can never remember.

We didn’t eat here, but the bar food that passed us by looked really good.
Instead, we were here to get a drink while waiting for a table at No-Ho’s.
What a great little spot to stop in for a pre-​funk, since No-Ho’s doesn’t serve alcohol.
The place reminds me of the old Gypsy, in NW (RIP) with its retro décor. It’s weird and cool and hip and very laid back. Just like you would expect in Portland.
The bartenders were friendly and we had a blast using their $ 5 photobooth.
It’s definitely a neighborhood dive bar and a place the locals seem enjoy.

wonderful dive bar in Southeast Portland.
my 5 favorite things about it
1. every day happy hour with great prices on food and drinks
2. the large selection of vegetarian and vegan items on the menu: i tried the tofu bahn mi and the falafel pita… both super tasty!
3. the dive ambience & decorations all over with antique and classic rock themes
4. one of the drink specials is always a refreshing slushy drink like a lemon ginger vodka slushy
5. LOW prices! the nachos are ginormous and are only $ 4 on happy hour ($ 5 otherwise!)
Visited here 2x on my latest 4 day trip to PDX. i’ll definitely be back!

Great little bar, although it’s a little dark inside. Nice sidewalk seating to feel the neighborhood and people watch. Great happy hour food prices, and the Caesar salads are outstanding. Friendly and helpful wait staff and bar tenders as well. Awesome fries and BBQ teriyaki chicken skewers too. Lots of vegan dishes as well.

My family loves Dot’s! We live in Canby but are in Portland all the time. My partner always gets the Clinton Street burger with fries. He is allergic to onions and garlic so he leaves the onions and tomato jam off his burger and he has never gotten sick. This in itself is enough reason to give 5 stars. This is a hard allergy. My step daughter also has an onion/​garlic allergy. She usually gets the Clinton Street burger or the nachos (no guacamole, no pico). I am allergic to dairy and gluten. I usually get the vegan bowl with tortilla chips. The tomato basil soup is also amazing. The mushroom/​onion soup is good but it’s a special so they don’t always have it. My partner and I always get whatever cider they have on tap (they also have Strongbow in a can). They have never messed up our orders and the service is always comparable to how busy they are.

Loved Dots Café for a late night drink and dinner. I’ve been eating pretty heavy for the week so I wanted to eat something light so not to be uncomfortably full for my flight back home early next morning. Luckily, Dots was close to our stay and found that it served vegan/​vegetarian dishes! I ordered the Asian Tofu Bowl, man, I was not disappointed. I always think vegetarian dishes are bland, not this one — Tofu and sauteed veggies in soy ginger sauce over brown rice. OMG delicious. I struggled to save half for lunch tomorrow during my flight connections — I so wanted to eat the whole thing! The ambiance was dark, with loud music, plenty of seating. It was a Monday night so it wasn’t packed at all, the waitress was nice and checked on us every 10 min. or so. This place was so cool, so hipster. The price was affordable (under $ 10). We don’t get a lot of affordable hipster, dive bar places in Houston for that cheap. I would love to come back to Portland again to eat here. Sadly, I didn’t get to taste their delicious-​sounding cocktails. Darn early morning flight!!!
Oh, the only reason why I didn’t put 5 stars was because the guests in the booth behind us was smoking. It bothered me so bad, we moved to another table. I thought there was a indoor spoke ban in the state of Oregon. Guess not? Or maybe it was coming from the entrance (seating outside by the door), if so, smoking only allowed 10 ft from the door.

I’ve been three times since moving here and have been impressed each and every time. They have a splendid variety of vegetarian and vegan items available very late into the night. If you catch the «second» happy hour (i.e. after 11PM), you can a great deal on items like the Spring Salad and French Fries ($ 2 for a huge basket with delicious seasoning!) The drink selection is similarly very good and relatively cheap. Gets an extra star because service has been absolutely on point all three times even though the restaurant was mostly full. My major gripe is that this place is very hot, even late at night. Eventually you get used to it, especially if you sit next to a window. Love that there is a late night option so close to home!

Dot’s is a funky not-​quite-​dive with cheap beers, decent cocktails, and good food. It also manages to be a big bar with a cozy feel, thanks to its booth-​heavy layout, making it a good place to go with a crew of friends.
If you want a bar that can appeal to everyone, look no further. Dot’s is friendly and chill, with a divey sensibility that seems to fit just right wherever your evening may be going, be you looking for something low-​key, someplace to recharge, or someplace happening and fun. With its big tables and spacious booths, it can accommodate groups really easily, but its lighting and décor makes it feel far cozier than most places of its size.
Frequently when I go to Dot’s, I go for simplicity – a tallboy of cheap Mexican beer with a wedge of lime and some salt, for example, or perhaps a G&T. But their cocktail menu, while not exactly fancy, has a number of neat options that I’m quite partial to as well. Of note is La Cruda, which is dangerously refreshing considering the amount of tequila it contains (the cucumber and Aperol are a great combination!), and also their cardamom whiskey sour, which is a cool variation on a standard I love. I can also vouch for their Irish Coffee – it’s quite the pick-​me-​up.
Dot’s serves good bar food food late, cheap, and in huge quantities. The menu is massive! I’d recommend the black bean nachos, which are smothered in melted cheese, beans, chopped jalapeños and onions, sour cream, and guacamole. Messy and delicious. Edamame are a nice option here, too, if you’re looking for something salty and snack-​worthy, but not majorly filling.
This place is very easy to love. The vibe seems to always fit your night, the drink menu can satisfy nearly anyone with its divey simplicity and Portland creativity, and the food appeals to vegans and omnivores alike, whether they eat like birds or pigs. Few places can be so versatile and so good, but Dot’s can do so with ease. Specialization is great and frequently useful, but Dot’s works because it’s all-​around good.

This was by far the worst food I have ever eaten. I was with a party of eight people total, and every single one of us left large amounts of food on our plates due to the poor quality. I get the «dive bar» concept, but does your food have to be so bad? My so-​called «poached» eggs were hard boiled. My husband literally took four bites and set his fork down. No, he’s not manerexic — the food was just that bad!
It is obvious that Dot Café thrives in its drink sales. If they were serving food alone, Dot Café would have been out of business a long time ago.

I feel like if David Lynch had a favorite Portland bar Dots would be it. Dark, offbeat atmosphere; quirky art hanging on the velvety wallpapered walls; stiff, cheap drinks; music blaring so that you can still just make out conversation at your table. I can’t speak for them during daylight hours, but my assumption is they are best under the shield of night in those strange wee hours between wake and sleep. That is where the magic happens.

Dot’s is a very lovable spot.
The décor is like a scene from a Jon Water’s film. Plenty of swag lamps.
They make the best sangria in town.
There is a photobooth for your drunken delight.
M-​F 2PM-​7PM Happy Hour.
They have shows.
Take cards.
Sidewalk seating.
Also, food! They have an awesome menu with tons of vegan options to satisfy your sissy friends. The jalapeño fries will make you cry out of happiness. They also do a weekend brunch that can compete with the best of them.
If you don’t know where to go, go to Dot’s. It’s always a good idea.
Most importantly– hey, Elliott Smith fans! This was one of his regular hangout spots in Portland. Drink up, baby.

I’ve been on a burger kick lately. Maybe it’s because it’s summer time. Maybe because I scrapped my gluten free diet for the summer so I could enjoy picnics and eating at restaurants without reading the menu like it’s a car manual. Maybe it’s because I’m celebrating the fact that I am not a vegan.
In any event, I had a Clinton Street Burger and substituted blue cheese for onions. Yummy! The burger looked like something I’d cook up at home… not a paper thin slab of meat that McD’s passes for a burger, but a real, thick, juicy chunk of delicious beef. And the fries were the old school type that I set them apart from the fast food nation fries. Add in a lemonade of the spiked variety and voila, the perfect meal. I even took a picture to preserve the moment for posterity.
I’ve been going to Dot’s off and on for years so I’m no stranger to it. But during this visit, I must say the service was stellar. Kelsey was awesome… attentive, had good suggestions for my meal, and was very sweet. I’ll definitely keep coming back.