- Eliza Sohn
Restaurant Details
Stylish yet minimal Finnish design-inspired decor (named after the Finnish designer/architect) compliments the noshy menu. Strong cocktails match their price, along with decent selection of wines. Bare-bones (former)smoking lounge connects the main space with a nice little patio in back.
Price: $$
Payment Type: Visa, MC, AMEX
Happy Hour Info: Daily 5pm-7pm, $1-3 food menu
Past Events
-
DJ Drew Groove
- Thu., Jan. 7, 9:30 p.m. 2010
- Comments (0)
-
Soulstice
- Tue., Dec. 22, 9:30 p.m. 2009
- Comments (0)
-
A Mod Mad Monster Party a Go Go
- Thu., Oct. 22, 10 p.m. 2009
- Comments (0)
Showing 1-5 of 9
Add a review | All reviews/comments »
I hit this place up a few times a week for happy hour. Great for vegetarians. $1-$3 food menu, includes stuffed mushrooms, goat cheese and veggie sandwich, huge salad. Tons of bike parking in front.
If you're catching a play at Theater! Theatre!, you may be wearing a silky cami, tuxedo jacket and velvet pants. If that's the case, instead of standing out at any of a number of the neighborhood dives, duck into Aalto Lounge and no one will question you so long as you silently accept the spare "a" in Aalto. House wine and white bean dip on baguette will not disappoint. Can be hard getting a table at prime drinking time, which, to the Aalto crowd, comes at 9:30/10 p.m.
Alvar Aalto was a designer, especially noted for his furniture creations. The one time I visited this establishment, trying to impress a girl, we sat out front at a table most definitely not inspired by Finland's Father of Modernism. That being said, I remember the drinks fondly. The girl...not so much.
As a hipster bar that makes fancy drink concoctions, this place plays it's part. Don't expect to get anything to soak up any all that liquor though. With three things on the late night menu including two pininis and some chex mix, we settled on a tomato panini at about 11:30 on a Friday. Well, it never came, and an hour later the kitchen staff seemed more than happy to bring us nothing more than some free chex mix. Woo Hoo. Lucky I wasn't from the OLCC, 'cause tickets would be a flying.
The food's decent and the drinks are mediocre. Last time I was in there, some cretinous server spilled a drink all over myself and my fiancee, and then proceeded to wipe a bleach soaked cloth all over her bag, and our table which made it smell like Clorox. Rather than explain to him that bleach food/clothes/lungs = bad, we simply decided to never come back. We haven't exactly been missing it, either.
Related User Lists
About Portland Mercury
RSSGoing to Seattle?
Reviews/comments (9) RSS
