Ken’s Artisan Pizza

Best pizza in the game.
There’s nothing else to say.
I’ve been everywhere in this fine city, and this is the apex. Pinnacle. Peak. The English premiership of Za.

Whenever I walk into Ken’s, I tell myself, «Okay…don’t eat the crust. You can eat more slices if you don’t eat the crust.» I fail all the time.
One pizza per person is definitely enough and pretty much everything on the menu is excellent. Appetizers? I mean, the veggie appetizer is decent enough, but why waste stomach space? More pizza should always be the answer. Always.

Got here right before 5pm on a Saturday night and the line to get in was already around the block! Luckily our party of 2 was seated right away. We ordered the braised lamb with polenta — small, yet tasty, caesar salad — refreshing, and the fennel sausage pizza. Pizza had a great crust and combination of sausage, sauce, herbs and cheese was excellent. Make sure to ask for bread if they don’t offer any — what a treat. I also enjoyed the buzzing ambience and watching the open kitchen. Tourists: I would add this to your next Portland trip. Nice break from all the bacon, donuts, fried chicken, ice cream and waffles.

The other reviews were right! Tasty and amazing pizza. The key to their success: an incredible stone/​brick oven. It makes the pizza smokey good.
There were only 12″ pizzas but well worth the price. We had the prosciutto pizza and some sodas, it was VERY thin pizza but the flavor makes up for it.
Service at the restaurant was not the best. The hostess saw us come in but didn’t approach us like she did the other guests. Since we were new customers and not familiar with the waiting system, this added another few minutes to our wait time… but this is a review about the food, which deserves a solid 4.
Will be coming back, but only on some special occasion.

This is my favorite place to get pizza. I love it. I would give it five stars but there is always a wait and they don’t take reservations so you do have to come ahead of time know that you could wait up to an hour to get food. But once you sit down the service is quick and they are very friendly. The food is very constant and you will always be please. My favorite is the Caesar salad and then pretty much any pizza I have had them all. But I do like my meat so I would choice the sausage and caramelized onion. It is spicy but sweet. It is a thin crust pizza and cooked to perfection. Would recommend this to anyone.

Pizza gets a 4 star. Service and ambiance gets 2 stars.
I normally hate New York style, thin crust pizza, but this dough was pretty amazing.
Space is small and it’s awkward/​confusing where to stand when putting in your name to wait for a table.
When waiting I went to the bar to order drinks and was yelled at for standing at the bar. I came to find out that bar is actually seating for the restaurant and not first come, first served. I found this out after waiting 40 minutes for our «table» and being seated at the bar…
I would definitely eat the pizza again, but felt very unwelcome here. Plenty of great places to eat in Portland and if Ken doesn’t care about customer service, then I can do without his pizza.

As you might expect from a pizza place that was birthed from a bakery, it’s the crust that stands out here — the perfect combination of crispy and chewy, not too thin, not too thick, just the right amount of tangy sourdough-​ness.
If you’re the sort of person who likes all things in moderation, or you have a tastefully decorated home featuring minimalist design, the toppings will hit a home run for you. But for me, the toppings are sparse — a little too sparse for my taste. I like a metric ton of cheese on my pie, because I am a godless heathen and have no self-​control.
For that reason, I typically steer clear of «artisinal» pizza joints — what with their artfully scattered buffalo mozzarella and dainty, oh-​so-​slightly wilted basil leaves — but you know what? The sides on offer here more than made up for my impetuous insistence on as much artery-​clogging goodness as possible. Being able to order a healthy helping of seasonal roasted vegetables at a pizza place? Totally awesome. Often pizza is the default choice when a group of folks can’t decide what to eat — so having options (QUALITY options, at that) that are good for vegetarians, dieters/​light eaters, or weirdos who don’t like pizza is really crucial for a good group experience. Ken’s provided that in spades.
The wait can be a little infuriating, but then again, I don’t have a lot of patience when I’m hungry. So my approach is to just wander by — if the place isn’t at capacity, head on in. If it’s brimming with hungry mouths — mosey along. So far, this approach has worked for me in life.
The service is swell — my waitress was extremely attentive (but not overly so), prompt and super friendly. It’s nice that there are fancy-​ish pizza parlors in Portland where you really can just roll in in your yoga pants and a sweatshirt and be treated well. Ken’s is a classy establishment, but it’s still a pizza place, which I fully appreciate.

This is our absolute favorite pizza place. Not a cheap family pizza spot. More of a gourmet pizza and a little expensive compared to some. But it is worth it! We’ve tried several different pizzas and salads and have not been disappointed yet. The crust is better than any other in Portland as far as I’m concerned. After always seeing APizza Scholls on the top of the best pizza lists we gave it a try, but were very disappointed. I can’t see how Kens isn’t always at the top of those lists. It’s a step above all the others.

I freaking love love their margerita pizza topped with arugula! After trying Apizza scholls, I still prefer Ken’s. Would recommend arriving early as the wait for this place can be killer… especially on the weekends. The ceasar salad or their roasted root veggie salad are both great starters as well.

All around good.
I usually come in the middle of the week while it’s raining and I’ve never had to wait for a table.
The margherita, soppressata, and prosciutto are all really good. I LOVE the vegetable plate. Great flavors and textures. It’s definitely vegetables a meat eater can get behind.
One pizza per (small appetited) person is enough to get full and have a few bites leftover for breakfast the next day.

I’d read this place gets a line when they open, but I didn’t realize how fast they’d fill up. We got there shortly after they opened, and they already had an hour wait. We decided to grab a seat and wait, and got seated a lot sooner at the bar, which is was nice. The waiting space is limited for larger parties– some groups had to wait outside or just return later. Service was friendly– we had drinks while we waited (there’s a good drink selection) and had a menu to pick out our meal before we were seated. We had the bacon pizza, which was delicious. We were envious of others we saw who had more toppings and more cheesy goodness, so we’ll be trying another option with more toppings next time. The apple dessert we had was amazing too, so definitely recommend dessert. And get there early!

Portland is definitely a pizza town and with all the great pizzas here I am not sure who to crown king. There are at about a dozen or so who could be the best, depends on the night and Kens is definitely in that group.
Kens pizza is a very thin crust highly sauced pizza baked in a wood fired oven, need I say more? Ok, they are just about perfect. Charring is excellent, for some it may be a bit much but I find it perfect. It seems a lot of placed won’t char a crust for fear they will be accused of burning it, not Kens.
One of the cool things about Kens is the size of the pies. They are smaller and much cheaper than many other pizza places. Kens pies start at $ 11 and go up to $ 15, so if you are by yourself it is perfect and if you are with a friend you can try two.
Sides are much bigger than you would expect, I think they are meant to be shared.
Overall, world class pizza, excellent service and another fantastic place to choose from on pizza night.

IMHO, they are making some incredible pizzas. In a town where it’s difficult for me to pick my favorite, this one easily rises to the «best of» list.
Why? Friendly host, who doesn’t like to be called «hon»? Efficient service, this is a busy and bustling place. Energetic vibe to please the senses, the design is a feast for the eye as well. Beautiful fir beams and an open kitchen giving you a front seat to all the kitchen action.
The. Best. Caesar. Salad. EVER. The romaine is dressed with not too little/​not to much, dressing. Topped with salty parmesan shavings, anchovies and crispy, buttery croutons. They’ve got this dialed in!
Prosciutto Pizza… crispy with a slight char. Balanced with basil and a great sauce. How can this not be great food, when you consider some of the best ingredients in town get crafted into these
Yes, you’ll wait in line. Trust me, it’s sooooo worth the wait.

Two stars for the sausage pizza, because it was delicious. Otherwise, I would have given none.
The pepperoni and margherita were bizarre and tasted as if someone had accidentally dropped a bottle of red pepper flakes in the tomato sauce.
The service was goddawful. The host was extremely rude and the service was slow, slow, slow. No one asked us how the food was and we had to ask to have the table wiped down, before dessert came out.

As a former New York City /​East Coaster, I’m tired of hearing about ‘authentic’ NYC pizza being the best there is. In Portland, OR, Ken’s has figured out how to make delicious pizzas that will make foodies from anywhere smile. They also create beautiful salads and sides, and have a terrific staff of chefs and servers.
Pros: As a recent transplant to Portland I’ve dined at Ken’s 5 times over the past year. The staff here is top notch and service is excellent. Each server is knowledgeable, friendly, patient (especially when explaining ingredients and options to my inquisitive family and friends), efficient, and knows the menu cold. They always ask the right questions when we’re undecided and make terrific recommendations.
Every pizza we’ve ordered has come out of the oven perfectly cooked on a flavorful, thin crust that’s not burned to a crisp like so many ‘artisan’ pizza places mistakenly do. Ingredients are high quality, beautifully arranged, and just perfect: not too little and not so much that the pie is a soggy mess. We especially like the flavor combinations on the Margherita and Arugula, Prosciutto, Anchovy, and Amatriciana pizzas. The Margherita is also delicious in it’s simplicity, and together with one of their large salads, enough for 2 hungry diners.
Salads are big and well dressed. Definitely big enough for sharing. And at $ 12 their Oven Roasted Vegetable Plate is still a deal. The veggies are perfectly cooked and their flavors enhanced by heat and seasoning.
Decent wine list at prices that won’t break the bank. This is important since I’m both a wino (excuse me, connoisseur) and the person who generally pays for the dinner. Being able to get a good glass or bottle to enjoy with pizza is essential in my/​our world, and the Servers always help us pick the right Italian red to complement whatever pizzas we’ve ordered.
The restaurant is a bit noisy and seemingly always crowded, but tables are far enough apart that it’s a favorite place for me to take a date. Other’s may find it too loud, but despite being 60 and a bit hard of hearing, I’ve never found it a problem since the acoustics in the restaurant (and the lighting) are pretty good.
Cons: The Calamari appetizer is just meh. Not bad, just not memorable. Plus we’re always too full to order dessert since we order –and devour completely, too many pizzas, veggies, and salads, every time we go! (That’s a personal problem, right?)
After repeatedly sampling Apizza Scholls (good), Pizza Maria (very good), Roman Candle (interesting), Mississippi Pizza (very good), Schmizza (several locations: mediocre), and Escape from NY (good), I rate Ken’s my favorite. Not New York pizza, but who cares? We don’t live in New York.

We’re pretty picky when it comes to our pizza and are HUGE wood fired pizza fans so we know what’s up. We were greeted and sat promptly upon arrival. Our server was pleasant although she didn’t offer any suggestions until we asked and when we asked she basically read a few items off of the pizza list from the menu I was holding LOL. We noticed that other tables were getting fresh baked bread and olive oil and she didn’t bring us any until we asked her what it was. Our water cups also had a strong fishy smell to them so none of us really touched our waters: (
On to the food… appetizers first!
1. Calamari — was a bit chewy and fishy and came out lukewarm. Probably wouldn’t order this again.
2. Oven Roasted Veggies — also came out lukewarm and wasn’t overly tasty or impressive.
As for the pizzas, we ordered:
1. Soppressata — bang bang! Can’t go wrong with this bad boy. Spicy, flavorful, and overall bombtastic. GET THIS!
2. Fennel Sausage & Onions — we added the calabrian chilis. This was also flavorful and delicious!
3. **SEASONAL** Chanterelle Mushroom Pizza — this pizza was fantastic as well! Nice and light but still very flavorful. The mushrooms were so delicious and meaty!
Long story short, skip the appetizers and go with the pizzas. This place definitely gets the crust right. And all my fellow pizza lovin’ friends know that if you don’t have the crust right, just forget about it! The crust at this place is POPPINNNNNNNN… light, crunchy on the exterior, chewy on the interior. Boom — come here and get some.

The bacon peach salad I had three days ago is still on my mind, and in a good way. I’m concocting a plan to return to Ken’s within a week, just to have this salad again before it rotates off the menu when fresh peaches aren’t available.
The pizza that my husband and son ordered looked amazing, too. They stopped talking when it arrived, so it must have tasted great as well.
Before the pizza muted them, we shared the roasted veggie plate appetizer. All three choices were tasty, but the roasted fresh corn really stood out, and I normally don’t like corn. The veggies will also rotate on and off the menu as dictated by seasonal availability, but my restaurant spidy sense tells me the choices will always sing and blend with my sense of delicious, nourishing food.
The wine is pretty great, too. My son relished his Mr. Pibb, a now exotic drink. Sadly, Ken’s is losing this option for Mexican Coca-​Cola, which apparently is great (our server said it was Mexican Coke, but we doubt Ken’s will be that bold in menu offerings).
The service and atmosphere are pitch perfect – I loved the thick, wood tables from the old Jantzen Beach roller coaster. We’ll be back – if the bacon peach salad is here waiting, I’ll get it. If I missed it, I’m confident that Ken’s will offer another glorious salad to replace it.

This place has a very pleasant vibe. From almost all area of the restaurant, you can see the big wood-​burning oven. It’s a great site, and it’s cool to see the guys throwing the pizzas and making them right in front of you. I’ve tried all sorts of the pizzas here. The fennel sausage is probably my favorite and the cherry tomato; both of those have a great combination of savory and sweet. It’s really hard to stop eating slice after slice. The dough is crispy and soft inside. It is sweet and has a perfect black char on the crust. I didn’t enjoy the speck pizza too much; the meat was just not very good. I was hoping for something that had a little bit more fat and juiciness.
Eating pizza while smelling the aroma of burnt dough and a wood fire is a must sometimes, so I will be back for more. Have been there 3 times now.

We ordered the Margherita pizza with a side of prosciutto and salami (per waitress recommendation). It was delicious! The crunchy thin crust was perfect and the basil was generous!
We also ordered a side of oven roasted vegetables that were great! The eggplant slices were thick and layered with an amazing marinara sauce, the potatoes were nicely cooked, and the corn was delicious!
We needed some greens so we also added the bacon and peach salad. I would recommend that you get dressing on the side if you’re like me and do not like your greens drenched. But the flavor was delicious and the bacon pieces were huge!
Overall, the service was amazing, the restaurant had a great feel to it, and the food was memorable!

Great pizza with a fresh and crisp taste. Service was busy, but relaxed and very friendly. Hard to find parking, but worth the walk. Just watch out for the flying bikes and speeding cars! Not the best for kids.
Arrive late to pdx and where should you eat? Why not a great pizza and an ipa.
It is pretty loud if you are sensitive to that.

Came here for a late dinner on a weekend and luckily didn’t have too long of a wait, grabbed a drink across the street while we were waiting and the timing ended up being perfect!
The fennel sausage pizza was my favorite out of the two we ordered, the other one was a prosciutto arugula. I really enjoyed the crust!

Downright awesome pizza. The fennel sausage remains a favorite. Although the Speck (capicola based) is a close second, mostly because of the creamy mozzarella and potatoes. Terrific crust. If I had to nitpick, I’d say that it’s not quite as thin crust as some others. But regardless, extremely tasty. Weekend nights will likely guarantee you 30+ min waiting time. But the wait will be worth it. :)

Pretty cool pizza joint in Portland. Loved the interior of the place. Very modern/​chic. Loved their wine selection. Their pizza was pretty tasty. I forgot what we ordered but it was a prosciutto pizza. Get their VEGETABLE PLATTER!!! I don’t remember what was exactly on it since its been awhile since I was here but the platter comes w 3 different vegetable dishes. All I remember is thinking how good everything on the platter was. The service was good. Nomnom! Definitely recommend this place! :)
PS. Their affogato was amazing!!! Get it!!! Nomnom :)

Ken was a James Beard (dubbed the Oscar’s of Food) award finalist twice in 2013 as an outstanding pastry chef and for his cookbook «Flour Water Salt Yeast.» Who knew? Ken knows bread! This must be great artisan pizza. Let’s taste after I take a picture of two masterpiece looking pizzas out of the wood fired brick oven, made by a master mason.
First bite, the crust is perfectly cooked (Ken knows his bread for sure). Good crunch! Second bite with all the ingredients was a rush too! We ordered 2 personal size pizzas, Napoli and Capicola. The menu looks great. The last bite after 4 – 5 slices was just as heavenly as the first. Stick a fork in me, I’m done! I’ve been to the PDX pizza mountain top – Ken’s belongs with only a few other pizzeria’s.
It’s all about the pizza! Service on-​the-​ball and ambiance casual! We arrived at 5:20 PM (doors open at 5 PM) on Monday. Already full – seats 60. We waited 45 minutes with an IPA in hand. No problem! When you do order, your pizza only takes 2 minutes cook-​time in the hot wood fired oven. Worth a wait anytime – trust my reviews!

While the pizzas were delicious, I enjoyed the vegetable platter and Caesar salad the most. The vegetable platter has three different, well-​prepared combinations. I would definitely get this again. The Caesar salad was a carefully placed pile of crunchy romaine with house made croutons and pecorino romano (?). So peppery and yummy.
If you get the prosciutto pizza, be sure to add arugula because it serves as a nice balance. If you get anchovies, they will put about one sliver on each slice. Overall, the cured meats we had were great quality, thinly sliced, and not too salty.
Service was lacking because after getting our food, we didn’t see the server much and ended up getting assistance from another.

After trying to decide where to go for some delicious pizza I finally settled on Ken’s, and what a great decision it was! Got there a little after 7pm on a Sunday and really only had to wait about 5 minutes to be seated. It was busy, but not crazy.
The restaurant itself is beautiful. Upon walking in you are greeted by the huge open wood fire oven with the pizza masters meticulously making all of the glorious pies Ken’s has to offer. All of the tables are wood, and the wood is from an old roller coaster that used to be in Jantzen Beach! How cool is that?!
Once my friend and I were seated our server promptly greeted us and took our drink order. They have a great selection of northwest wines by the bottle and half bottle, and a few you can get by the glass.
My friend and I split a Caesar salad (it was huge!) as well as the prosciutto pizza! And let me say: YUM! First of all the crust: chewy and delicious with the appropriate black spots you want to see on it from a wood fired oven. The prosciutto was smokey and you get a lot of it! The basil was a nice complete as well as the fresh mozzarella.
Overall Ken’s is a great little place to get some delicious pizza. Friendly staff and great food! I will definitely be back again.

Such a cozy place with good pizza! When entering the restaurant, the first thing you see is a huge oven with all the pizza makers at work. It’s really nice that you can see them making pizza right in front of you! Unfortunately we came on a Saturday night, so the wait was quite long. We had to sit in the back until we got our seats. But once we got our table, I had a clear view to watch them throwing the dough in the air and putting pies in the oven. It was really neat!
The waiter was nice enough to bring us bread on the house, since the wait for our pizzas were so long since they were busy. The calamari appetizer was really good, slightly spicy with red sauce. We ordered four pizzas: Proscuitto, Mushroom, Margherita w/​arugula, and Fennel seed pizza. The fennel seed pizza was just okay to me, tasted pizza like that before. But the proscuitto, mushroom and margherita w/​arugula were a bit original which was nice. The Proscuitto had a thin layer of proscuitto on the pie, which did not over power the pizza flavor but complemented it. The Mushroom pizza had several different mushrooms which were really good. But the Margherita w/​arugula pizza was my favorite! I only like arugula on pizza, and the flavor really complimented the margherita pizza. What I liked was the extra salt on the pizza, which was nice!
Besides the long wait, the pizza is very good. Worth the wait, do try here!