The Black Cat Cafe & Pub

This place has been cleaned up quite a bit with the new owners. A much needed improvement!
The beer prices are a bit high — $ 4.50 for a pint of local brew.

Best Sandwiches ever. Staff is willing to adjust orders without complaints. Once I did have a guy who was slow and unhelpful about serving me or I’d rate this 5 stars. Come to think of it, I haven’t been back since. I’m sure I will. Otherwise all the girls that work during the day have been sweet, friendly and fast. Nice place & I only live a block away :)

My favorite coffee/​drinking/​work spot in Portland!
Cheap rotating beers, great bagels/​food, free pool and the amazing James slinging delicious coffee and booze!
Fast wifi!
Good music!
‘90s movie night! (Mondays)
Honestly my favorite place to hang out any time of day… and they have a Vindicators arcade game!
Drink coffee, drink beer, do work — @The Black Cat Café!

A great change!
The two young baristas very friendly and prompt!

Let me temper my review by saying I don’t drink here; I’m reviewing the café part.
The sandwiches here are good. The portions for the sides are pretty skimpy. I usually don’t like it when I can quickly count the number of fries or tots I get in a side order.
The main reason my rating is low is because the workers seem really lazy. The owners took over the place pretty recently I believe, and they’re great. They are fast and attentive, but the other workers I’ve dealt with usually take a really long time to take your order even when you’re the only person at the counter with very few people in the café. It’s been that way for a while, and that’s the main reason I don’t come in even though I live really close by.
With better service/​employees, this place could be 4 stars.

Great rotation, better prices. Best burger I’ve had in Portland, I think it was a gorg bacon burger was less that 8 bucks. Nice setup. I’m coming back!

This little bar with food and breakfast items is a gem just along the tri-​met yellow line. I believe it has new management as of late and they are continuing the great service I have had in the past.
It is a quiet well lit location perfect for people watching along the Max tracks or the street. They have a couple pinball machines, pool table and a small stage for live music. Outside seating in the warm summer is a very relaxing way to spend an afternoon.
Two or three rotating taps as well as a full bar option. This is nothing fancy nor is it a dive bar but rather a nice friendly stop along Interstate Ave. if you are in the area.
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Yup! So I have been back to this establishment. Meh. I’ve experienced better (by the previous owner). The servers seem friendly enough, still, but they aren’t that good. A friend went to cash out and the server was so overwhelmed and busy that my friend decided she’d rather just come back another day and get her card (she wasn’t even drunk, nor did she forget her card there, she just would rather not be in there for another minute after having waited over 10 minutes to grab the tender/server’s attention).
They now have 2 televisions but they’re both at the bar and adjacent to one another. I guess sports bars do that sort of thing, but in this place… it is awkward.
Anyway, I’m only writing to confirm my two star rating of a couple weeks ago. And while there are still $ 2 pints of the good stuff here, I’m wondering if I’d rather not go elsewhere? In fact, I thought I would not and came here one Monday evening to catch some football but all the douchey hipster types were at the bar, in front of the television, doing HOMEWORK! Clearly they needed professional athletes from the National Football League in front of them as they derived sums as L approaches X, right? Well, my being the only one in need of a stool in front of the television to actually WATCH the game sure didn’t give them enough motivation, these homeworkers, to move their bags and $h!t taking up other seats.
The class of this place, in just a few short weeks, has gone the way of the thylacine I say. I would just accept change but not this. No, when things change, typically they change with a mind towards improvement. The owners here have changed with a mind towards meddling in mediocrity.

Great place to get together and work. Good food and reasonable prices on drinks. Definitely a place I’ll frequent.

One rotating $ 2 Micro Pint everyday. Above average grilled bar food with a accepting atmosphere and nice pool table close to the bar. The wait staff is always overwhelmed but consistently smiling. Sometimes folks are randomly playing music outside and you can sing along.

Great coffee in the morning on my way to work. One of the only ones open (sometimes) before 08:00. Also, decent selection of things to eat. Courteous service from the baristas! Love this place!

I have no idea if it is a group of investors, or just one individual, but wow, did they do a terrific job managing how this late-​model building was put together. The café proper occupies much of the ground floor, of course, and is an attractive, post modern arrangement. The service was prompt and cheerful, devoid of any obvious personality disorders (usually, but not always a bonus!)
My first time going I kept modest expectations, and tried the Lower East Side. It was really good, so I knew I’d be coming back. The Lower East Side featured plenty of tender, tasty pastrami on a crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside Ciabatta bun w/​a green pesto relish spread. A really good sandwich!
The second time, the vibe was still super chill mellow, with several groups of well heeled souls, engaged in group fellowship and the requisite adult beverages. I tried the Ar-​kansas burger. Juicy, tasty, big thick patty! Again, the pesto spread, and plentiful onions and tomatoes, on a quality, big league roll. Oh goody!
The next time after that, I tried the Oregonian— a salmon patty, w/​the by-​now expected pesto presto miracle green sauce. The Oregonian I did not much care for. The «patty» was more like Pâté, and that, on a cheap sesame seed enriched flour roll. I wouldn’t order that again, but I will be back to try more menu items, maybe try a sip from their well…

Ordered the el italiano and discovered that the chicken was served to me RAW (not under cooked, RAW). The cashier apologized but NEVER offered me my money back. I will never go here again. Serving raw and undercooked food is a crime. YUCK!

I once had a black cat named Professor Toggles. He was an asshole and made a habit out of attacking unassuming feet in the middle of the night. His Shaolin techniques were pretty impressive, and I have a suspicion that he came from a long ancestry of Ninjas. My husband was vocal about the fact that he wanted him dead, but for the kid, who is an only child, The Toggles served as his only companion. The Toggles hated everybody but would melt like a cheap ice cream cone at the sound of our son’s voice. Luckily the move from the big city scared the life out of him. He ran away, leaving a heartbroken seven year old and two smug adults with shit eating grins on their faces.
The Black Cat on North Interstate is nothing like the Toggles. In fact, this Black Cat is the complete opposite.
70% of the work that I do is produced out of internet cafes, or my couch. I am currently at the point where I have been frequenting The Black Cat so much that, I am afraid the owner is going to start charging me rent. The vibe in there is mellow, the tunes are always good ones, and if they had a printer I could use, I would never leave. The staff is great and they don’t get all bitchy when they are clearly overwhelmed.
For breakfast there are Kettleman bagels, and house baked pastries. For lunch they have an impressive spread of sandwiches, salmon burgers and veggie options. For afternoon snack they have cheap Ninkasi, bottled beers, and for those of you who really want to get twisted, hard liquor.
Sometimes my work buddy and I set up shop early, work all day and then get twisted. Sometimes my work buddy and I set up shop, get twisted, and then work. Sometimes we show up twisted and don’t work at all.
Anything goes at the Black Cat, and unlike The Toggles, I sure hope this Black Cat sticks around for the long haul.

As you have already seen from previous reviews, the overall theme, I believe, is excitement for the $ 2 pints. Clearly they have a business plan that facilites charging so little for such great beers. Hopefully this plan isn’t affecting the quality of their food (haven’t eaten here) or the pay to their emplyees (I doubt it). I think they are just plain SMART. It’s a genius plan, offering some amazing beers on tap, some of which I haven’t seen on many taps in Portland, as well as selling 22’s of other micros, notably a few from Northern California that I haven’t seen anywhere else (save a bottle shop).
My visit was actually in the morning, so I was forced to stick with coffee. I ordered an «Almond Joy», a tasty Almond flavored latte and a biscotti. There were several couples/​groups enjoying food and coffee drinks. The atmosphere is great. Lots of seating, tvs for sports, full bar. At the time there was a food special of a panini and pint for $ 6. That’s ridiculously cheap too!
I don’t live n the neighborhood but imagine that if I did I’d be here all the time.

This place is pretty damn awesome! $ 2 Pints always??? $ 3 Wells always??? $ 4 for top shelf??? That’s just crazy! Good thing I don’t live in the apartment/​condos above!
Free pool and foosball???
Yes the bartender was running the whole place and may have been a little overwhelmed, but he remained friendly even while running around the place.
Oh wait, they also have an «instant groupon»???
We walked out drunk and entertained and didn’t even put a dent in the wallet. Dope! I’ll be back fo sho!

I not so secretly like this Black Cat location better. Besides having a full bar (with 3 dollar wells and 2 dollar drafts) and two pinball tables this location is not located on Alberta. It is closer to my house and most times is quieter. My only complaint is that when I have ordered food it takes a few reminders to get exactly what I ordered.

So, I have been here 3 times in the last week, and here is why.
2 dollar drafts!
Not just Tuesday, not happy hour, not a cover, always. There were 5 taps, and they basically spanned the basic popular styles. They had a stout, a pale ale, an IPA, an amber and one with Acai berries and such.
They also offer 3 dollar wells, all the time! They have a large selection of cold bottle beers, and also have the 22 oz ones to go, and a decent selection.
They get quite a rush at lunch when it’s nice, and with one person working, it can seem overwhelming. Don’t expect it to be fast, everything is cooked to order, and a line 5 people deep by yourself can be daunting. Don’t forget, they aren’t delaying your lunch on purpose, or to make you mad… they get it, I really believe that.
They offer coffee drinks, pastries, sandwiches including what seemed to be the best smelling veggie burger ever, but I can’t testify to it, I haven’t tried it. They have some outdoor picnic tables which is awesome right on interstate when it’s a lazy Sunday. Lots of bike passers by, and the ringing bell of the max are a nice diversion from the free wi-​fi, and pinball machines. There is a sign up that a kid’s play area is in the works… so till then 4 stars!