The River Road House

Generally a great place with great staff, great food and lots of pool. Tonight has not been that way. It took almost an hour to get a cup of coffee. My boyfriend kept checking on it, nothing. She said she’d bring it out, nothing 30 mins later. I see her step outside to. smoke, still no coffee. I go to bar and said I’d like my coffee, «I’ve been really busy, I’ll get to it after I help this person,» she says. Mind you the person whom she was helping came to bar after me. She took multiple orders and poured multiple drinks after I ordered. 10 mins later after waiting almost an hour she brings me my coffee, puts it on the table and says, «sorry you came during my dinner rush.» I tried to talk to her, she turned her back and walked away. She has been ignoring everyone on my team, one has waited over 30 mins just for her to take an order. Never have had such horrible service here, NEVER! slow service with a snotty bad attitude, she won’t be getting a tip out of me!
If you come in on a Tuesday and see an unnatural blond with tats on her arms, too much makeup, etc. Don’t order from her.
Honestly, never ever have I experienced this here and I won’t stop coming because of one bad server. Still love this place.

Best fucking bartenders ever. Great pool tables, juke box, and food. What else you need!

A bar within walking distance of my new house — check. A bar with good food — check. Pool tables, sports, UFC and lotto — check. Good selection of beers on tap and wine in a bottle with a cork — check.
It is a clean place that looks a little scary from the outside. It might be a little scary after 9 PM since all of my visits have been earlier for food. Evan has always been a pleasure to have as a bartender and server. He knows his business… beers are his thing. The food is good. Burgers and steak are very tasty and come with all the extras.
I heard they often have live music and would like to hit that one night. There is plenty of parking in the back and the intersections around it could be a little hard to navigate the first time (and in the dark after a few drinks). The MAX line is finished and RRH is within walking distance of the Park and Downtown Milwaukie stations. If you ride the bus, take bus 33.
I will say, I sat at the bar last Friday night and had poor service. Both the man and woman behind the bar seemed only interested in chatting to each other. The woman never spoke to us and the man was curt. He removed my friend’s empty beer mug and didn’t offer another. It took us 10 minutes to get either of their attention. Everyone has bad days but for heaven sakes, look up at those within arm’s reach.

The food is decent. The cider was good. The bartenders were smuggy smug smug. Maybe they need to float in joe rogans water tank.

These guys are pretty fantastic. I’ve had 3 bartenders/​servers serve me on separate occasions and all of them were kind, attentive, and came back around to refill waters and drinks, etc.
The food is fantastic and the prices are very fair. There are pool leagues and the players are friendly overall. Not a snooty bar and very welcoming to outsiders or first-​timers. This is pretty rare in Portland and probably most cities.
There’s even a vending machine for cigs (for the many smokers out there) and for candy bars for $ 1. Candy bars are almost $ 2 in some grocery stores.
The bathroom isn’t the best and it’s really small, but it’s such a small issue when looking at the overall vibe and environment of the place.
It’s my new favorite bar/​grill and I go there whenever I am working next door recording stuff at this recording studio called ISML. So grateful that the bar right next door to my new place where I do a lot of work is such an awesome place. Oh, and big covered smoker’s lounge outside and parking is free in their parking lot.

The Mrs and I stole out of work early on Wednesday and decided to try RRH out. Similar to other reviews, we’ve lived within five minutes of this place for the past 5+ years and have never been tempted to check it out. Again similarly to others, the bar puts out Less-​Than-​Divey Sports Bar vibe that’s not going to steer me towards them. That said, I’ve been wanting to support more in my neighborhood, checked Unilocal and struck out to try RRH’s happy hour.
Overall, we definitely dug it. Weekday happy hour was quiet, which must be largely due to light rail/​street improvement construction outside. The sound didn’t come through the exterior and even then at its loudest, it sounded like extra kick drum to the background music.
We split the Buffalo Chicken Wrap and the Chicken Nachos and washed it down w/​a happily heavily-​poured Vodka Soda and a couple of Blue Moons. Again similar to other descriptions, the nachos are a hillock cheese, refried beans and buried chips. There are nachos where you’re switching over to forks half way through. The wrap was predictably good, which is the point because they’re hard to mess up. It was a ton of food and by the looks of what we got, the rest of the menu is likely huge portions and above average fair.
As far as obvious tweaks, I could only think of one glaring suggestion. Please largely post your draft beer list or if you have long-​term staples, please include those on your menu. Most bartenders/​waitresses will have these memorized as much as the selection of salad dressings, but in a large bar in a place known for beer, asking what’s being poured shouldn’t be necessary. The only clear ways to check this out was sauntering over to the bar to look for yourself or asking the waitress.
We’ll definitely be back soon and in greater numbers!

I really want to like this bar as I live in the neighborhood. Tonight was just the last time ever. I have been treated poorly by the bartender Zach before but tonight was the last straw. I have never been treated so rudely ever. Totally ignored at the bar then waiting very patiently at a table also to be ignored. Awful experience. I can not understand why bar owners put up with staff like this, I will never go back.

Don’t dare call it a dive!!!
Oh River Roadhouse. From the outside you would think all signs point to ‘stay away’. They can’t help it. The new Max line ripped right through the area and runs overhead. It will be a mess getting in and out for some time. Those who venture in will be pleasantly surprised. This place has one of the best value Happy Hours I’ve seen, very friendly and attentive service, and goes from 3 – 7. Locals are well taken care of here (i.e. beers are poured to the brim), and you will be too even if you’re not from this side of town. You know that bourbon shot you dropped $ 12 for downtown to impress your friends from Salem… tastes the same here!
The River Roadhouse hits on a lot of points. First and foremost, they are smart in having a great selection of beers, especially several rotating taps, including many varied local micros. It should be said that this is one of the only places you will be able to order a 25oz stein mug, that comes straight out of the refrigerator kept just for glasses. You won’t get that even in upscale places.
Smarty pants beer aficionados will say that good micros shouldn’t be in a cold glass, that it hurts the flavor. That’s fine. I get it. However, my sweet 25oz mug of Northwest style IPA benefited greatly from it and enhanced the grapefruit notes. See… I can be snobby too Peal District!
Food loses some points here. They have a nice menu. Needs to be updated, but it works pretty well. Great burger choices, lots of sandwiches, salads, and scratch made soups. They do weekly specials which is nice as well. I had the nachos, which were a good value at $ 6 since apps are 25% off at happy hour, as well as $ 1 off all beers and wines. Nachos were pretty much a soggy plate of cheese chips with some beans. Way too long under the heat and kind of ruined things.
The trouble is, you’re pumping out quick food at near break even prices so the quality isn’t always the best. Sure, it helps sell more drinks and that’s where the profit is, but still, adding some pizza, a veggie burger option, quesadillas, and better nacho would really amp things up.
I was greatly surprised by the cleanliness. It’s very nice inside, clean floors, spruced up bar area, well lit, and has lots of classic bar games, and some of the nicest pool tables you will find. There’s a great blue glow in the place, almost like a movie set from the 90’s. Pretty cool vibe. Don’t worry, they’ve still got plenty of tv’s with sports. Oh, and the bathrooms were clean too, albeit very tiny!
Overall, give this place a try. Searching out cool dive bars is a classic Portland thing to do, and this place will change your mind about what a great local bar should be. P. S. You’ll have fun too!!!

I love this place! Great atmosphere, wonderful people, large selection of spirits and beer, delicious and affordable food (including great daily/​nightly specials and happy hour discounts). The bartenders are very attentive and fun (especially Lisa) no matter how busy they are. I highly recommend a visit to the RH!

They used to do 2 for 1 burgers/​fries on Saturdays 4 – 7, now it’s $ 5 off for 2, which is still a good deal. Burgers are huge and delicious. Drinks are cheap. Zach the bartender is the man. It’s under the Max tracks now but you don’t come here for the view.

I only give it 2 stars, because the daytime service is so bad. The female bartender (Lisa) is inattentive and you have to ask for everything twice or more or go directly to the bar to get service. If she spent less time drinking coffee behind the bar and flirting with the guys sitting at the bar she would get a better tip from us. We continue to come back because it’s close to my work and the food is reasonably price and tasty.

I came in today for lunch and must say that the food was pretty good. The beers weren’t expensive at all either even for imports. I could’ve liked the atmosphere a little bit better, a little bit less pool hall and a little bit more restaurant/​bar. I assume that it’s appropriate for the area though being as they have pool tournaments. I think I might be back to play in one of these pool tournaments and enjoy the inexpensive beer.

The food here is great and majority of the bartenders are awesome, as some changes have been made that I wasn’t impressed with. I love this place for just chilling alone or if I would like to hang with friends. Zach was the first bartender I met there and as always made me feel like family. Great vibe.

After receiving a verbally abusive and VERY scary private message from an employee at this establishment which prompted me to delete my REAL PERSONAL REVIEW that I wrote two years ago. I removed my review out of pure fear. I gave it 5 stars now due to the bullying I received on this website.

Went to hear a friend’s band play on a Saturday night.
Played pool on magic table #4 where novices beat champions.
Drank the only hard cider they serve, Angry Orchard in a bottle.
Only saw the Happy Hour menu and when I asked about food I never got a response so I ordered the Fish Tacos, $ 7.95, off the specials board. They were tasty and the portion was super generous.
One of my friends ordered Gin on the Rocks and a Cheeseburger with fries, she seemed to get it all down without any trouble.
The sound system was good. Plenty of places to sit. I think there were 6 pool tables.
If you want to smoke outside there is a large area for you, but those of us who want to avoid you we can use the side door and not end up wearing smoke fragrance or polluting our precious sin free lungs.
There is plenty of room on the dance floor and a nice sized bar to sidle up to.
The service is mixed but friendly.

We came here the other night after several days of moving and being in a terrible body and head place. The River Road House was like a haven on a miserably rainy night. This was about the 4^th time in here. So, I’m giving it 5 stars for several reasons: 1) the bartenders are nice and know their stuff about booze/​beer. 2) they make REALLY FABULOUS drinks for REALLY AFFORDABLE prices and they have bargains every day of the week. Compared to hip places in nearby SE Portland, these drinks are as good, maybe not as pretty, but hit the spot and not the wallet. 3) the food is quite good for tavern food (i.e. not high end, but old school decent), the cook may not be a «chef», but seems to know what he’s doing and cares about it. Now we come to the point. I’m old enough to remember Portland area taverns as been a good tradition with decent food and drinks. Now, I do like the new stuff, especially the new tradition of great beers. But, I don’t always need a chi-​chi place overrun with hipsters to know something is good. The old school «bars» are something else. Those places had no food except peanuts in a bag and a couple of old timers in the corner drowning their sorrows. I never liked those places except as an interesting concept/​holdover from a hundred or more years in the West of men hiding from duties at home. Give me a good neighborhood tavern like the River Road House, a place for friends to have fun, eat and drink, OR, a couple of middle agers easing their aching muscles and muddled brains.

Went last Sat. night and they had a buy one get one burger special. The special ended at 7pm and the bartender that was just starting his shift (Zach) came up and asked if we wanted burgers before the special ended. I thought that was above and beyond his job to do that. We ordered the burgers and were shocked to find out how awesome they were. We will be back for more burgers on a saturday night before 7pm! Only 4 stars since I am not a country music fan and that all they had playing. I have heard good things about their live music I may check it out sometime.

This is easily one of the best bars in Milwaukie, and wow, considering the abundant lowly competition in the 97 to the Triple Deuce, that statement might be misconstrued as damning them w/​faint praise…
Notwithstanding the long, rich history of this place, a couple years ago it undeniably took a hit from which it has never fully recovered. Who knows if it will EVER completely recover. They had one bad-​ass bouncer there, man. I never caught his name, but Lordy! Did he run a tight ship @ the (River) Road House! Sure did clean up that part of town – him and that foxy, blonde-​highlighted mullet of his. One day, unaware of the operating ground «House» rules, I attempted to put a baby in the corner.
Mr. Bouncer Man quickly put a stop to my tom-​foolery. I’ll never forget his words to me that fateful day: «NOBODY puts baby in the corner.» You could saw off a hunk of that tension in the air w/​a buckknife, and grill it up just like spam, and have yourself one heckuva Man-​wich.
I could tell this was a guy who would not countenance even a shred of nonsense. I can usually handle myself pretty well during such confrontations, but I knew it would be useless to reason or plead or argue with or even to humor this guy. He was NOT one to suffer fools, gladly. Never, and I mean NEVER have I been face to face with such complete bad-​assery.
Then just like that, he was gone. Taken from us forever.
Pourin’ one out for the old days, River Road House. You, and Foxy Mullet Man…

Cool place good pool, pinball, and live bands

OK. You’ve caught me. I’m not really a «roadhouse» «pub» kinda gal, but tonight I was hanging out in Oregon with my friends and we needed somewhere to unwind and have some «down» time.
After a very long drive from California, we to toss back some drinks and munch on some extra crispy, kinda spicy chicken wings. Some of us were playing the slots and others were dropping money in the Juke Box or watching one of the dozens of flat screens with a full range of sports events.
Top that off with a fully stocked bar, ample seating pub style or in the booths, yummy food and pool tables. I really enjoyed my «hearty meat lovers» spaghetti with meat sauce, mushrooms, sausage nd meatballs. Honey Bunny scarfed down Fried Halibut and fries and baby girl had a western burger and tater tot’s.
Don’t let the outside fool you, this is a fun place with very reasonable prices and a laid back friendly atmosphere.