Barley Mill Pub Reviews

In general, I am not a fan of the McMenamins pubs/ restaurants. Their beer is fine, but the food and service is mediocre at best. Having said that, the Barley Mill was an unexpected and pleasant surprise! Located in southeast Portland, this cozy pub has a dizzying array of Grateful Dead memorabilia, which was fun for my husband and brother-in-law to reminisce over (side note: also made for interesting conversation with my six year-old on why there was a large sugar cube sculpture). The service far exceeded my expectations, very attentive and patient, especially given there was eight of us. Same with the food, Barley Mill has the same pub food menu as other McMenamins, but the food here was much better than one would find at other McMenamins. I will definitely be back! Bonus items: Pinball machines! And look for the horse at the horse tie on the street corner outside the pub.

If you find yourself getting upset that Jerry died and abandoned you, cruise into the Barley Mill and grab a pint. Everythings gonna be alright.

Its a Mcminemins pub, but not the best of them. Standard greasy bar food, pool tables and an upper loft area that always seems to be dark even in the middle of a summer day. I say "meh".

We walked up the street trying to find a coffee spot. Not easy on a Saturday night at 9:30. We heard some jammin tunes from a McMenamins on the corner. This is a great spot for a nightcap. One man band was great!!! Check it out! They just celebrates their 35 year anniversary.

We stopped by for a weekend lunch. The food was fine, we enjoy the McMenamin's menu. While working on the Passport program, this is one of the less lively spots. As we have found at all McMenamin's, the staff was very friendly.

We had a great meal here during our recent visit to Portland. We loved the outdoor booth seating, it made it a lot nicer with the kids. The food was top notch and the service was great as well. We had a long drive post lunch so didn't get to sample the nice selection of beer, but we will be back.

Really worth checking out! We decided to begin our McMenamins Passport tour with the first ever McMenamins opened in 1983 on their 35th birthday party. What a great place! Walls are packed with quirky art and beautiful stained glass windows. The Birthday Brew was a tasty pale ale. Their truffle fries are awesome and the staff was super friendly. Great place to hang out and people watch on Hawthorne!

Have been here one other time. Stopped by for a light dinner before a show. Standard quirky mcmenamins. Good food. Tried the hard cider, very light but pleasent.

Went to a McMenamins pub in Market for lunch and decided to try dinner at another one, namely the Barley Mill. A beautifully presented homage to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. The decor was quirky, tasteful and relevant. Seating was comfortable but basic. Staff were friendly and efficient and the food was tasty and reasonably priced. The soundtracks played fitted beautifully with the surrounds. A genuinely lovely experience. Every decoration was a joy.

The servers were friendly and helpful, the decorations were very cool, but I felt my $13 chicken sandwich was just basic and the house beer not impressive for Oregon.

Excellent burgers and fries!

The OG McMenamins of over 60 franchise locations, and you can see it by the sheer amount of FLAVOR decorated in each square inch of wall space. Add to that a staff that's upbeat as the displays, and you can experience why McMenamins is a hulking success.

Attentive bar tenders who gave tips on where to go, etc. for a tourist like me. Allowed me to roam around the place to check out all the Grateful Dead memorabilia.

I didn't have anything to eat, but the beers were great. They are very smooth. The are about $4.50 or less then that if they're on special. I would recommend trying anything on special because I had 3 different kinds and all were good.

Generous pours for wine flight . The dark cherry cider is divine. Pub fare food is very good quality . Eclectic atmosphere . Cannot go wrong with a visit here .

We were just driving down the road after experiencing another McMenamin‘s and we stopped here and decided to split a sandwich it tasted very fresh the bread was very soft and were pleasantly surprised.

one of my favorite mcmennamin's for the ambience.

9 August party of 5 7:15 PM check no 0378879 Once upon a time some of the funky McMenamin's outlets in PDX had some well presented sandwiches to go with the good beers. Back in maybe 1980 when only the Hillsdale outlet formed the empire. BUt McMenamins has abandoned any concept of edible, much less good food. The decor is still eclectic and many of the outlets are truly "one off" in physical arrangements. But the food has gone way downhill.Our crew ordered two Dungeon Burgers; a Communications Breakdown Burger; a Bacon Cheese Burger and a turkey sandwich. Three different "how ell done do you want the burger" requests. We received 4 well done burgers despite orders for two as rare. And it only took 45 minutes when the place was almost empty/ Apologies from a good server, Jody, who tried to make amends. But she explained that the regular cook had called in sick; a sub was in the kitchen, and he was in over his head. Funny, though, everything, including the crummy burgers which were delivered wrongly cooked, were all still regular price. Wake up Brian.

I like it for what it is. Better than average bar food, friendly servers, prices are good, lively, has a neighborhood feel (they've been here quite a while).

Dreadful service recently.

It's a McMenamin's, and it's Grateful Dead themed. Take it at face value. You get exactly what's advertised. Lots of good sidewalk seating, though.

As Cosmic Tripsters, we always enjoy McMenamins many restaurants, but this one is among our favorites. The Dungeon Burger and turkey wraps were our choices today along with Ruby Ale and a Heffenweiser. The staff was great.

Good hard Apple cider and great admin Norman here. I've been here a couple times and always get good customer service even when it's packed. This is the first restaurant in the chain and is still rocking it as good as the rest. There's also some awesome pinball machines.

Do you like Funky? How about Eclectic? Let's throw in.,. The Grateful Dead AND killer food and drink.... Well then, you will love the Barley Mill. My bestie (40+ years of friendship!) brought me here upon my arrival to Portland. Spicy peanut soup, SIGH, wonderful selection of beers, ciders and wines (just what you expect from McMenamin's) and atmosphere out the wazoo! Kinda flea market/ bazaar type surroundings, from kitsch to creepy. Yes, long strange trip indeed! Go there and experience!

Nothing to special, just good Pub food, great service and the great array of McMenamin's brews . Try the Ruben.

We are huge fans of McMenamin's.. we have stayed at a number of their hotels. So when we walked by this pub we had to stop in. Our waiter, Luke, should really find another job... maybe something not in customer service. He told us that to get his attention we should stick the menu off the end of our table. So we did that and he walked right by us.. He brought me the wrong drink and then I had to wait while they made the right one. We ended up not eating because we couldn't get him to take our order. We finally gave up. I also asked him about the availability of a particular t-shirt and he never found out for me. Please also note that the pub was not at all busy so that can't be his excuse.

I had driven past this McMenamins joint on Hawthorne about a month or so ago. I made a mental note to myself that I must pass this way again. Soon. Very Soon. Today was that day. The day after the big Heat Wave hit Portland I strolled in as nice as you please. Then my jaw dropped. And I looked around in a daze. My retinas were overwelmed with over stimulation. This joint was a Dead Head Haven. It screamed in vivid Tie Dyed technicolor-- JERRY GARCIA A chaps voice cut through the fog and said "Take a seat... anywhere you like." I gazed all around the room. I mumbled, "This is going to take a little while to sort out." A dame at the bar chimed in "You can even take my seat!" She stood up , smiled, and turned.Giving me a full unobstructed view of her seat. Both of them. The one she had been sitting on at the bar. And the one she entered this Earth with. I shook my head. "Thanks for the offer. But, I think I'll wander around and get my self together first. I headed around into the next room. Looking at all the stuff on the walls. the stuff up near the ceiling. There was no end to the visual assault. My ears registered the music playing. It was a long jam. I had a pretty good hunch that I knew what the music was. And who was the band jamming away endlessly with no intention at all of ending the stream of music. It was the soundtrack of this joint. It's life's blood. I returned to the front room and sat near the entrance. I wanted to just take in the full vista. Take my time. And have a drink. When the dame from the bar walked up to my table I ordered a Black Cherry Cider. She told me that they were out of that and had just switched over to Black Berry Cider. Would I like that? I thought it over. Shrugged and said "Why not? It's black... that's the half of it. It's bound to have the right stuff. Sure, that would be swell." She smiled, floated off . Returning with the pint of the berry blackness of my dreams. This was a godsend. It was far better than the Black Cherry cider ever thought of being. I really loved its taste. I looked at the Happy Hour Menu and ordered some fries. and when I finished those I end up ordering another pint of cider and more fries. Yes, i had found a Dead Haven. And i had found Soma special. What a trip! The Barley Mill Pub does have merchandise. Would you believe me if I told you that the T-shirts are Tie Dyed? Yeah, go figure. You will also find a framed photo of the band from when they played Portland. And a few other framed items related to The Dead. You could say this place is a shrine.

Went here for nearly lunch with wife was very slow at this time beer was pretty good actually and food was better than I expected only minor gripe made an order and asked for an item off my sandwich and waitress did not use pen and paper and messed it up, which is bothersome. Great peppercorn ranch here and the organic ketchup is fantastic. If I were to return it would be for the food however not the brew. Worth checking out for a little something different.

I have visited many of the McMenamin Pubs and have really liked most. A few were clinkers but not this one. My wife and I were there on a weekday evening in late Dec. It was very quiet when we arrived giving us a chance to comfortably kick back and soak in the Greatful Dead ambiance. As usual the beer is quite good and I love the Dungeon Burger so I came away happy. It you like the eclectic theme of these pubs, you will enjoy this one.

This is a place a visit at least weekly, since it's close to work. A typical McMennamins in terms if menu and themed decor. But what I love about it is the waitstaff. Low key and friendly, they never hover but are always attentive. The beers on tap change often. The soups and specials are consistently good and while not an English pub by a long shot, it does have the intimate feel of one. This isn't high cuisine. It's good bar food, even the salad. I usual go for one of the specials. The burgers are excellent. And the veggie grill is a good light option. One great new addition is the outdoor heated seating area. Set back from the road and covered it made the restaurant a great option for sunny days all the way through November. When you're near this end of Hawthorne it's a solid choice.

Visiting Portland for Thanksgiving and stopped by here for a late dinner. Great casual atmosphere, great music (Grateful Dead fans) and great food and drinks. The Wilbur’s Jumbo Deluxe and Reuben Kincaid sandwiches were big hits. Had a great waitress who recommended the tater tots! If we had been in Portland longer, we would have certainly visited this pub again!

It had been a while since we were on Hawthorne Avenue, so combined a visit with another nearby brewpub. This is the real deal: quirky, a real barley mill in the middle of the room, Grateful Dead memorabilia, colorful murals, neon lights, laid back vibe. Friendly staff. The Black Widow Stout is available in October only, so I always go for that. Spouse ordered an Alright, Alright, Alright double IPA that packed 90 IBUs. Burgers & handcut fries actually are tastier than at other McMenamin's .

Beautiful day, Garcia Birthday Band playing, delicious cider and a great happy hour menu! Love their hummus plate, truffle fries and sliders!!

It is a bar, with that you should expect the menu will include many burgers and fried items. First time at a McMenamin's and my girlfriend immensely enoyed the "ale sampler" (see photo), and a fantastic african chicken curry soup with her beer burger. I also enjoyed a great burger with a decent glass of white. Great ambiance and our service was ok, but we weren't looking to be babysat.

The original, where it all started

A nice location and good food, quick service and friendly staff. Outdoor seating is available and the menu has much to offer.

I went to this restaurant, today to get lunch to go and it was delivered quickly and exactly how I wanted it...delicious, It's a McMininums so of course, it has to be good!

Very comfortable and super friendly service. The food was similar to the other mcmenamins African peanut soup was very good. Nice music played. Not too loud for conversation. Beer cold and tasty.

It's taken me many a year to finally make an effort to stop in to drink at this pub. Why did it take so long? Met a friend here for cider on a beautiful October afternoon. Hadn't realized this joint was a Grateful Dead memorial spot! The cider was delicious, the service fine, the seating options varied: outdoor seating, seating with the wall to Hawthorne wide open, inside seating. It's not an expansive place, but there are enough nooks and crannies so that you can find the spot that best suits you. Could probably use a solid refurbishing or freshening up at some point. Didn't try the food.