Rialto Poolroom Bar & Cafe

The Rialto is a Classic Sports bar, with an abnormal set-​up. It has 5 different spaces in one! There’s a room for gambling and serious horse betting, there’s a café, a large sports bar area with an upstairs filled with pool tables, and a downstairs «dance club» called Jack London. I personally stay in the sports bar area, but last weekend I ventured to Jack London for a hot second. My time there was short for multiple reasons; the music was awful and way too loud, there were about 3 people dancing in the whole place (by themselves with the wall), and there were 2 creepy dudes sitting alone at different tables just waiting for some drunk victims to come stumbling in. In all, it just wasn’t my scene. The Sports bar though — now that’s my scene!
There are enough TV’s to always have a good view of whatever game is on, it’s loud enough that you don’t feel bad for yelling at superior athletes on the screen that aren’t doing what you never could in your life. However, it’s not too loud to carry on a conversation with people at your table. I’ve been coming to the Rialto for years to watch college football. The service isn’t always great, in fact this past Saturday they had exactly 2 servers for about 200 people! If you can finagle your way to the bar you’ll find a decent selection of beer, a $ 5 special (usually foo foo girl drinks for 21yr olds, but sometimes decent), and some pretty stiff drinks for a mid-​range price.
For a sports bar, the food is pretty good too! Happy hour is cheap, if you’re there for it make sure to try the cornflake breaded chicken strips. They are my favorite, so good! The burgers are pretty great too, and I love the freshly made chips (the salsa leaves something to be desired). I’ve also had their homemade soups which are pretty outstanding, and the Rueben is delish as well.

Good place to hang out but the working staffs are okay. We sat forever to get our fries but by the time we got our plate of fries, it was already cold.

I’ve been coming to this place fairly regularly for the past few years, and definitely recommend it! If you’re considering, just pop in for a drink and see if you like it.
Rialto’s pours no-​nonsense stiff cocktails, and serve decent food, for reasonable prices, when the reality is they really don’t have to. Their location alone would probably keep them afloat.
Pros:
— Massive, cheesy, gooey, piled-​high nachos
— Spicy, sweet, tender, juicy, buffalo wings
— Huge portions of standard fries for ~$ 2
— Terminator sandwich — if it sounds good to you, absolutely, definitely order it; a perfect bar-​style steak sandwich smothered in onions, cheese, and jalapeños
Cons:
— Inconsistent service with very long wait times, which is understandable when it’s super busy, but that isn’t always the case.

A great place for food, pool, Cool Staff and Sports. We visited here a year ago and just got back from PDX and went again… actually two times. Drinks are strong, the beer (Miller High Life Pints $ 2) and the Staff are great. Victor the Bartender is charming and attentive. I had the French Dip, which was huge and my Wife had a equally large salad. Those meals plus 7 pints and a few vodka cranberry’s and we were out of there for $ 34. Not bad for a place right Downtown Portland. Great atmosphere, plenty of TVs and good food.

Awesome place! I was recently in Portland Oregon and I wanted to see the Rhonda Rousey and Holms fight (11/​14/​2015) at a local bar that serves food so I was recommended this place and I was not disappointed at all. It’s a pretty big bar and they even take table reservations when there’s an event going on without a charge. Waitresses and security guys were pretty much on their game all the time. (Which is rare)
In regards to the food, there’s nothing to complain about. Yummy Nachos!!! Their portions are big so careful on how much you order. Awesome place I’ll definitely be back!!!

I love this place simply for the fact that you can always find a seat, there’s never a line and you can actually have a conversation with people. The drinks are fine, wouldn’t recommend ordering any of there specialities they always are super sweet. Unless drinks that taste like starburst are your thing. Overall a great place to grab a drink with a group.

I was here for burger week. Very good burger! 4 stars! Service was also 4 star. The fries are not worth the calories. Lots of pool tables, great place for large groups.

Great fries and onion rings — and I’m a hard sell on those two.
Only downside was my server was a little gruff. Besides that, I’ve only had good experiences here. It’s a little bit of a dive, but don’t let that fool you. The food is tasty and fresh, and the lunch deals are great.

Yes this place was awesone a few years back. Now slow service… and not to mention I count 8 people here. Bar tender is not observant or respectful…

Place sucks! Service is poor, drinks are lame and ZZ top bouncer is an ass. We dropped cash and your service is bad and slow as hell. Use to be a good place to hang… No longer.

Place is barely a quarter full. Food took 80 minutes and wasn’t even right. 80 MINUTES! Then the manager tried to say I was lying to him and wouldn’t even talk to me until the card holder spoke to him. So my friend politely said the same thing I did and he then took her card to refund the $ 4 fries only. DO NOT EVER COME HERE.

This place always rocks! Great food, great pool, and an interesting /​fun crowd! Order the nachos and feast!

This is a great place for a drink and to play pool with a group of friends. Lots of pool tables, but they do charge $ 10/​hr for them. :-/​. Kind of steep, especially when they aren’t busy.
Keep them in mind when you’re wandering around dowtown looking for something fun to do.

On a mission to find Jack London Bar, we had to walk through Rialto Poolroom Bar & Café.
… Then we found out Jack London Bar wasn’t open that night. :(No biggie! We’ll just throw back a few at Rialto then.
6 shots of Goose was around $ 50 so that ain’t too shabby. The place has a lot of pool tables (duh), plenty of seating at the bar and tables, and TVs for sports games. It’s not the cleanest of places, and it can get pretty loud. Not a bad place to pre-​game though!

Poor Jack London would be turning over in his grave of he knew what has become of the bar that bears his name. Not sure who these «rialto» folks are, but pretty sure they would have been better off leaving this place alone because it does seem like a place that was indeed a cool place to shoot a game of pool and throw a couple back. I would strongly advise those reading this review to avoid the bar formerly known as «the Jack London bar.»

This is my first Unilocal review, ever. I have never been frustrated enough to bother, but tonight I am. I have been to the Rialto poolroom maybe 10 times. It is never a particularly special experience but they have full size pool tables which most of Portland does not.
I went with a couple people, handed them my ID and a credit card to start a drink tab and get pool balls. (Yes they require your personal identification card to borrow billiard balls).
We played pool for a bit, had a couple of beers and went to the bar to close our tab and give back the balls. In return I received the credit card and some completely random persons ID from a different state. I told one of the bartenders that he had given me the wrong persons ID.
He scrambled behind the bar check the ID’s again and casually said «I gave it to someone else»… «What do you mean you gave it to someone else?» I asked.
«just give me your name and phone number and I will call you if he brings it back» he said. I told the man that this was my ONLY valid form of ID with all of my personal information on it and that I was leaving town the next day. He shrugged me off and began chatting up a girl who was behind the bar with him.
I left, went out front, waited, and hoped the person with my ID would come back to the bar to return it. I stood out front for 20 minutes and the guy with my ID luckily noticed me from my picture and returned it to me. I went inside the bar to let them know that I had found my ID.
Normally I would have been happy the problem was resolved and carried on with my day. After a different man behind the bar had caught wind of our situation he proceeded to claim that it was our fault that they gave us the wrong ID and would not apologize to either of us for the mix up.
I am writing this is so that people in the future will not give these carless bartenders their personal information in return for some billiard balls. These people were ridiculously unprofessional and unhelpful in a very serious situation which could have resulted in identity theft.
I will not return.

Railot’s, as a poolroom, has great pool tables and ques. The tables are quick and professional in size. They have a security guard as you enter, so I was assuming this was a top-​notch location, but it’s more of a dive-​bar than a nice poolroom and bar. While I was there I ordered the wings and nachos — quite possibly the worst decision I made.
The nachos were burnt (I didn’t even know that was possible!) and they did not taste good, solely based on my personal preference. You know, non-​stale chips, good amount of toppings, fresh, etc… I was pretty disappointed.
The wings were not all that good as well, which was a bit of a let down — I’m a fan of a good chicken-​wing. I ordered the Jamaican Hellfire Habanerow wings, but they were more hell than fire, and really had a bland taste to them.
They do have a nice jukebox there for music, that is, of course, if you only like 90’s alternative rock and country music (they do not have ANY Rap/​Hip Hop songs to choose from, or anything passed 2000 really). That in itself lowered their ranking by one star in my book, and the food knocked it down another 2 stars.
Although the music was bad and the food was worse, the service was pretty good; granted, there were very few people there. I enjoyed the conversation with the bartender and I though he did well taking orders and being efficient. I suppose I could see myself going back strictly for the pool tables, but I will keep my extra dollars stored away for better food and music.

Great atmosphere, plenty of room to sit, and perfect environment for sports games. There was a great selection of beer which is always a plus. The reason for the two star review: The service. The waitress was very friendly and did what she was supposed to do.
However, even though it was most likely out of her control, the food took way too long to come out. I went with my friends (6 + people) on a slow night. There was hardly anyone there so we got to sit down right away. Ordered beer, and food and relaxed. I ordered soup, fries, and ceaser salad. The food literally took 45 mins to come out. By the time I finished my meal, my friend hadn’t received his chicken wings/​sub yet. There is one thing in the world that irks me and it is cold, stale French fries. At least the Blazers won that night.

Rialto made a good choice this year when they participated in Portland Burger Week. They got a couple of us from our workplace to check them out. I’ve walked past the Rialto countless times, and all I really knew was that they had off track betting, and based on a single visit to an OTB establishment in New York many years ago, I had never been inside. It turns out that the Rialto betting establishment is a tiny place on the corner, and the poolroom is completely separate, huge, and very nice. My Burger Week visit has prompted me to return, and on each visit, I’ve found the food to be just what I’m looking for from time to time — quality comfort bar food — not a huge menu, but everything I’ve tried so far has been tasty. I’ve only visited at lunch time, when it’s been pleasantly uncrowded, but the place seems big enough that it could easily handle a lot more people.

Great pool hall downtown.
The atmosphere is really laid back and there’s are a good amount of pool tables. There’s even a few pinball machines.
Not too many beers on tap, but a few good choices. The burgers are amazing and their House made Porter hazelnut vinaigrette is fantastic!
Showed up early Friday and there was quick service. Didn’t have to wait long for a table.
Even with my crappy pool skills, I’d come back just for the food, beer and great atmosphere. The music wasn’t half bad either.