The Independent Reviews

We stopped in here on a recent trip to Portland for drinks and snacks. The atmosphere was definitely that of a sport's bar, with many TV screens. The food was quite good and there were a lot of choices and there was an extensive list of local beers. If you are around in the area, it is worth stopping in.

My daughter and I stopped in for an early lunch to watch the World Cup. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. They offered a kids menu, without me asking and they were attentive without being over-bearing. I liked their beer list and the food was above-average bar food. I've been to Portland several times and have always come back here because they have been great - regardless of time of day.

Stopped by here to watch a Raiders game and it was perfect. Multiple screens showing all games, great staff, nice food and good beers. What more could you need?!

We found this place by using binoculars from our hotel room! We needed takeout that was close by, so we saw the sign and looked it up. Weird, I know. We had planned to do room service at our hotel, but there was very little on that menu to choose from. We called to order and were told to just come on over for pick up. It was ready by the time my husband had gone down to the lobby and walked over 2 blocks. Hot, fresh, tasty. Can't speak to the eat in experience, but we are really glad they do takeout!

Great place to come to watch the game and have a beer or two! Can get a little loud, but we could still carry on a conversation pretty easily and we appreciated the willingness to put on the women’s soccer game! Street parking was easy too!

We had the Cuban bean soup (DELISHHHH) and nachos. So so good. Service was super friendly, will be back!

Both of us were very pleased with our smash burgers. And the French ties were delicious. But the best part was our server, Christine. I told here we had just arrived in town for our 1st time and asked if she had suggestions on what we should do. She took the time to write down several places to visit and why they would be good. She herself has only lived here for 1-1/2 years yet she spoke like she had lived here all her life.

Great sports bar if you want to see your game or all the games. Lots of draft beer choices and the food was good. Service was great with everyone helping us.

Not just your typical sports bar menu. The food was good and plentiful. The service was on top of it. Your glass didn’t sit empty.

This was my second time here and The Independent did NOT disappoint!!! I ordered the Whiskey Burger and it came out perfectly prepared with the medium rare beef piping hot and the other ingredients still chilled and Joyce was running down my chin on every bite…. Yum!! I substituted the regular fries with their signature “Hail Rosemary and Garlic Fries” for just a buck and they were hot and crispy and loaded with fresh garlic and just perfect on the salt and rosemary. No Ketchup needed for sure!! They also deliver through Uber Eats but the food and the atmosphere are worth an in person visit! Too bad this is thousands of miles from home but I’ll be back next time!! P.S. Don’t rely on the hours posted here, call them so you don’t miss this!

My cousin and I ventured here a couple of weeks ago hoping to catch the Ducks game and have a few drinks. It was a Saturday afternoon and the place was packed. We were seated right under a television and asked the hostess if it would be possible to get the Ducks game on, and she didn't seem to think that would be a problem. 20 minutes go by, no Ducks. My cousin walked to the bar and politely asked the bartender if he could possibly assist. He rudely told her that she would just have to wait a minute. So she retreated back to our table. Our waiter was nice but being run ragged. Needless to say, we left after finishing our first round of beers. Still no Ducks when we left.

This review is not about the beer offerings but about the food! I have been here during the crowded seventh game of the World Series, as well as the next day when it was pretty empty for lunch. They have a fabulous green salad, that for Happy Hour is only $2, but even at regular price is only $7. My husband had the flat iron steak sandwich with truffle fries and it was all great. The service each time was fast and friendly. I highly recommend this nicely priced bar/ eatery for anyone in central Portland.

My husband and I stopped in to watch a ball game. I had pear salad--pretty good. My husband had a burger. I stole his pickle. Omg! Sliced thin, sweet with a kick, really unique and delicious. I asked if I could get a side of just the pickles. Accommodating server brought me whole bowl of house-made pickled veggies, and the peppers were even better than the pickles! What a surprising find.

We had a couple of meals at The Independent and they were wonderful. I would highly recommend The Independent for lunch and dinner!

Next to the Benson, we popped in for derby day/ cinco de mayo and had mint juleps and street corn nachos. The bartender was awesome. The menu had some really good options and the sports-themed interior was very interesting...be sure to read their story

Just got out of all day meetings and grabbed a burgers and beers here. Very contemporary sports bar with full late night menu and beers. Good vibe.

Didn't try the food but it looked good. Great bar. Great staff. Decor fantastic. Good place for groups, big enough and spread out so each group can have their own area. Great selections of beers. Try 3 way IPA by Fort George.

I’m a 55 year old who went here with my 21 year old son. They would not accept his bc drivers license and said Oregon law required a passport. They lied to deny us service.Fortunately, several other establishments, as well as some policemen were friendly and could not believe what happened to us at this establishment. I have never been treated so poorly anywhere I have ever travelled.

I wandered a bit around my hotel and its immediate area before coming back and simply walking across the street from the Benson and right in to the front door of the Independent. While the place was packed with folks all enjoying a multitude of TV's, I was able to score a place at the bar, where I enjoyed friendly and prompt service, a nice selection of local brews, and good and tasty food at a price that didn't put a huge dent in my wallet. You simply can't get much better than that !

I can't even imagine how this place stays in business. Forgot our beer, pretzels were the cheap freezer microwavable type. No thanks.

Located close to downtown hotels and businesses on Broadway, this is a hardcore sports bar with good prices, beer and liquor selection, food and dozens of TV's. Staying in a hotel downtown and need a place to watch the game? This is a good choice. Typical sports bar food, but with some solid additions like a selection of hot dogs and fresh baked pretzels. Pleasant bartenders and waitstaff.

The Good - atmosphere, TV's, decor and the nachos were good. The Bad - When we arrived at 5:00 pm on a Saturday the place was about 50% full and had one bartender working ! We waited on him constantly for drink orders, water, napkins, silverware, etc. Had to walk around the bar to find him in order to eat our meal. With proper service this could be a good place but I don't expect it to be there next time i'm in Portland...

While I was walking the streets of Portland hungry and cold with my wife we decided to stop here for a beer and some food. Place it's in the Broadway and it looks nice from outside and inside to. We sat down at a table and the server approached us. He was polite but not very welcoming to say so. We asked for couple of IPA's cose were thirsty. He asked for the ID 's. I was surprised, keeping in mind that I'm 30 and my wife 34, and we really don't look like under 21 anymore. Now, beacose we are seafarers, our passports are always on the ship that we are sailing on, but we have legal ID's, issued by the company and approved by US CBP with the US issued I95.. these we always keep with us, we never had issues with them, not to be recognised. When the server saw them he refused us saying the we need a form of US issued ID. I tried to explain him that that the I95 was issued by a USCBP agent after a personal interview, with all the valid certification. He still refused. So we gave up, stood up and left. But honestly in 5 years traveling thru US, this time I really felt bad, humiliated as a foreigner and unwelcomed here. Big shame, restaurants are my hobby and my week spot, were good people who always appreciate good food and service and tip accordingly. Big disappointment. Now ,after all of this, I leave you people with one question, maybe you can answer. If I'm a tourist from Europe, visiting Portland, during my stay in the city in not also to have a beer beacose I cannot provide a US ISSUED ID? STUPID!

The Independent is across the street from The Benson. It was a perfect place to walk over for lunch. My hubby enjoyed his burger and fries. I ordered the cajun breaded fish and chips - breading was way too thick with no flavor (maybe suggest seasoned panko option). It was clean, safe area, and played music loud enough to not hear the neighbors. The server needs to keep an eye on refills (ignored).

What a fun sports bar - very clean, great food and great service for a very busy day of football. TVs are located everywhere - perfect place for watching your favorite sport.

I went to the Independent to watch a football game. It's a large place with a nice setup with many large screens. However, it was probably 10 minutes before anyone came to take a drink order, and inattention was typical of the entire evening. My empty plate sat on the table for two quarters of the game, and it was the first time I've ever been at a sports bar where they allowed me to finish a beer without offering another one. The foot, steak frites, was quite good, as was the beer, so it's a perfectly good place to watch a game and get a good meal. The service was just notably inattentive.

We had been walking downtown checking out food trucks, when it began to rain hard. We ducked into the Independent Sports bar much to my husbands delight. Great beer choices and lots of TV screens. He asked for golf and the bartender quickly accommodated him.

We stopped here on our first night in Portland to grab a drink and watch some sport which they were showing (baseball, ice hockey and basketball). Unfortunately the rules on ID in Oregon are different to other states in the US and they don't accept UK driving licenses so my boyfriend couldn't drink as he didn't have his passport on him. We decided to eat as the weather wasn't great and we were tired from walking around all day. We both ordered burgers but they were pretty cold (as were the chips) when they arrived so we asked for them to be sent back and warmed up. Instead of just apologising and doing this the waiter made a point of saying that the chef had cooked them to the required temperature. He quite clearly hadn't. The second time was better (still not really hot) but the quality of the food was average. The waiter also clearly had a chip on his shoulder about Portland - didn't really have a good word to say which isn't nice to hear as a visitor!

Walking in here it almost feels like you’re in a movie - the American sports bar ambience is just so strong, even to the point that most of the customers seem to be wearing baseball hats, sit at the bar and shoot pool. However, there’s more than meets the eye here. The beer list is fabulous, menu a little predictable but nonetheless satisfying pretty much all the needs and prices are pretty good too. Lots of screens, good space - can’t fault the place!

Independent is a new ownership. Lots of TV's for viewing Sports and great beer choices on tap. The food is your typical Hamburger, Nachos, etc. Bar food but very good.

Stopped here while my daughter was as the Roseland for a concert. It is a typical sports bar. Nachos were good. Service was good. It was noisy but that is what a sports bar is. Good selection of beer.

I went to watch an Iowa football game while in town. The bar put on a specific TV for me which was nice. I ate the following and had the following ratings: Onion rings-8.2 (good breading on them, not enough ranch provided) Mac & Cheese-6.1

I stumbled upon this place for my first meal (lunch) in Portland. Pretty happy I landed here, even after realizing there were tons more options nearby. I had literally just gotten off the rail coming from the airport and was wandering around with my suitcase with 3 hours to kill before I could check into my Airbnb. This was a great place to stumble into - service was great and friendly, beer was good and the fish & chips were good. BUT it had the best coleslaw I have ever had. Wish I had gone back!

I was in the mood for a burger and beer, so I stopped in, took a seat at the bar and hoped to enjoy my meal while watching a football game. My drink order was taken promptly but I had difficulty getting my food order taken. It seemed that none of the bar staff was interested in anything other than serving drinks and talking sports with other (regular) customers. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger to be cooked medium-rare and my fries well done. By the time it came out, the burger was well done, fries not well done and the burger was missing bacon! I told my server who seemed annoyed, but he did inform the kitchen staff. Two minutes later he brought over a plate with two small slices of lukewarm bacon - not very appetizing. Too tired to argue, I ate some of my meal and promptly left. I felt that food and customer service was an afterthought at this local sports bar. Never again!

Went here when in DT Portland for lunch with a group of 8. Not a great experience. As noted before, service was SLOW...and when our food arrived French fries were cold. They had to reboot the system when we were paying and so we had to wait more...after slow service and food issues...that cemented it as a place I can’t recommend and would not go back to.

We ate here after a Portland Timbers match. A little pricey for a hot dog but they compensated with tons of fries. Good, cold beer. Close to our hotel.

Great beers, food is good and generous portions, staff, especially Britney, are efficient and friendly, can certainly recommend

Ate here twice in two days because it's across the street from The Benson Hotel. It's a very large sports bar and restaurant with a pool table in the back. The service the first night was really slow but the second night was better. I ordered a house salad that was much larger than expected. The portions tend to be on the larger side.

Nice place to eat and reasonably priced. The food and service was very good. While other places to eat around town, my wife and I ate there twice to try other things on the menu.

Was up there last week on business and stopped by there twice to watch some games. Rick the bartender was great. Excellent food and a great pour. Check it out.

Did like the TVS for sports, staff were OK. The nachos and dogs were naked. Tiny bit of finely grated cheese,chili , a few of the tiniest black beans I have ever seen. Just chips,small dog,bun. Overpriced, will never eat there again.

the guys wanted to go here for the game, but the gals were hoping for a nice breakfast. What a surprise. Food was amazing. Tons of tvs for the games, and great food.

We came here to watch the Duck game. It was not crowded at all (of course that could be because the Ducks have been sub-par). The wait staff is quick and helpful. We tried the onion rings and the fish sticks. Onion rings were fine, but the fish sticks were really, really good. Lots of beer to choose from, and lots of televisions for you to watch. A nice place to go to

We each had interesting draft beers and burgers with fries (mine was a veggie burger). Clean with good service.

Ate here one night in June during the World Cup and there was a lively good natured crowd in. We had bar snacks which were tasty and decent value for a downtown eatery. So good for pub grub and lots of TV's to watch your favourite sports.

We hit The Independent at kind of a quiet time, which was just what we needed! Lots of screens, decent music playing, and a very nice bartender which is great since we sat at the bar. He made excellent Bloody Mary's (generous pours) and brought us some snacks to fuel us as we bummed around PDX. We shared onion rings-good and crisp; I had the edamame hummus which was pretty tasty, and the husb had the steak tips. We were both happy and satisfied when we finally wandered back out onto Broadway.

Excellent sports bar. Tons of seating and tvs. Nice bar menu. We had the chicken nachos and 2 old fashioned. Both were excellent. We went twice on our weekend there.

This place has a lot of games on. It's loud, but they have a lot of people in the bar area. We came here for a meal. It was very average, nothing outstanding but okay. Our server was very nic3.

Plenty of screens to watch sports, the big screen is great to watch games on with a party. The food is really very average though.

Was in Portland on business, and the Independent was next to our hotel. The Portland Trail Blazers were playing the Warrior in Game 4 of the Western Conference that night - perfect place to watch the game (they have 30+ screens). Unfortunately for the locals, Portland lost the series that night. Food was good (for a sports bar) and our server was outstanding (there were 9 of us she was serving). If you want to watch a game - this is the perfect place to do it.

We enjoyed the food at The Independent, one of the best Mac & Cheese entrees we've ever had, and the salmon on salad was good too. For beverages, I enjoyed the pub beer on tap which I think was from 10 Barrel Brewing. Would recommend the food and drink here. However, we were inconvenienced by having to head back to our hotel to get our passports because the server wouldn't accept our British Columbia and Alberta drivers licenses (which I'm certain have similar security features as U.S. Drivers licenses). Note that I've travelled to the U.S. at least 40 times and I've never been asked to produce a Passport to purchase alcohol at a bar or restaurant. Additionally, for the rest of our Portland trip we were NEVER asked to produce ID at a bar, or Brewery house, or restaurant, we ended up taking our passports around with us rather than keeping it in the hotel safe for the rest of our trip which is also annoying. Would've rated the visit at least 4 out of 5 but having to go back to the hotel to get our passports was ridiculous.

This bar was pretty cool of a stop for us. We had decent meals for low prices, and the beers were cold and yummy. The vibe in there was industrial city, so to speak. It made for a nice, sporty ambiance. Our server was friendly, and our food came out quickly. There were a lot of people gathering for an upcoming game, so it seems like a good place to watch sports, as well. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay, but it was a good experience. We will probably go again next time we're in Portland. The menu offers a good variety of food, as well.

Stayed across at The Benson and wanted something close-by. There were four of us and everything we ordered was delicious. Nice selection of beers and good place to watch a game. Honestly can't remember whether the service was slow as we were watching the game and the food was so good we didn't care. My son is going to Portland this month for a Chicago/Portland soccer game and I told him he had to go there. I know I'd go back.

While I am not particularly a fan of sports bars because of their raucous atmosphere, I do like this place. It is located on Broadway downtown a block north of The Benson Hotel. (I think the location historically was The Cheyenne Café). It is roomy, with individual bar seating around the central bar, and group seating around the perimeter. Of course there are big screen TVs everywhere, but they don't seem to dominate the place. You can actually carry on a conversation here. I just stopped by for a couple of beers-- a nice Austrian IPA-- at happy hour, which put the 16oz glass at $4.50. Service is mysteriously attentive. The one bartender was serving the wait staff and the roughly 20 customers sitting at the bar quickly, effortlessly and in a friendly way. Every step counted, but always there to take an order, serve, check on you and transact the tab. I didn't try the food, but it looked like a full kitchen in the back.

We walked in through the door on June 5th for dinner around 5 o'clock. We chose this place because it was close to our hotel and wanted a quick bite to eat. Husband and I were seated at a booth by the entrance and waited for over 10 minutes for someone to take our order. The booth was not cleaned and still had remnants of food from a previous customer. Admittedly we were both still jetlagged and tired from our lack of sleep that when our server finally appeared we didn't notice that the menus were QR codes. When she hyped up about the assortment of beers that the bar had on offer, she quickly gave us attitude when we told her we weren't interested and instead wanted to order sodas. We asked her to give us 5 minutes to look over the menu but to bring us our drinks, she left and we never saw her again. Totally ghosted us. We saw other servers happily serving other customers and their families. Even those who walked in after us got service and glasses of water. We even saw our server serving others but she never came back to us. My husband and I gave her another 10 minutes after she left us and we walked out. Truthfully we gave her and this pub 20 minutes too much of our lives. We were never offered waters by this server. Nothing! Terrible place with a lousy waitress.

We went in for dinner & we were not disappointed. Great menu from Beers to Food. My spouse had a well cooked burger and a hand the sandwich with a salad. They give you choices between salad, soup or fries. Everything tasted great nice presentation.

Did not have food - just drinks on a few days we were in the area. Large bar - numerous tv screens, showing all sports. Comfortable seats at bar

We recently stopped in for Sunday Brunch and loved the atmosphere. It's a sports bar for sure but, it is cool, cozy and clearly Portland. In the back corner is an awesome man cave with leather sofas and chairs and 4 large screens for your viewing pleasure. The decor is modern/industrial with large murals of major sports events. The brunch menu is minimal but, full of comfort food. My husband had the Biscuits and Gravy, he says they were "very good" (and he is a B & G connoisseur). They have humongous breakfast burritos and delicious scrambles with all fresh ingredients. It's a great place for locals and out of towners.

Greeted promptly and served at a perfect pace. My wife was in meetings so I was flying solo and not in a hurry. My server, Sara, was very attentive but let me work at my own pace. Had BBQ wings to start. Super tender and just enough sauce to get messy fingers but didn’t have to fish them out of a soupy mess. Went with the Coney dog and subbed hand-dipped onion rings for fries. Great snap on the dog and chili had just enough spice to add but not take over. Only had half the pretzel roll as I was getting filled up. Next trip to Portland, I will be here.

I just stopped in for a drink and to watch a little bit of the Duck's football game. I ordered a mule and it was one of the best I have ever had. They put a little sugar on the rim of the cup and it was like a drink and dessert all in one. Didn't eat so no review there.

We arrived in Portland today and tried this place near our hotel. It was very good! My wife had the breaded cod and I had the chicken bruschetta sandwich, both of which was very good. Nice ambience as well, prices were reasonable.

I don't always find "Sports Bar" to be an inviting idea, probably because we're really not "sports" people, but we found ourselves needing food with time to kill before we could check in to our hotel. First excellent sign: upon entering and selecting a booth, the lone member of staff on duty called out a welcome to us from behind the bar and said he'd be right over. It's really reassuring to know you've been seen, and are on someone's radar. Surprisingly quiet and comfortable inside, our booth gave us a good view of street life, of which there's plenty in Portland. We had two excellent craft beers from the selection on tap, then a burger and a chicken mustard sandwich - both were excellent. Food was well prepared and served, piping hot, very tasty. Service was excellent even though the guy was on his own tending to front of house.

A great place to watch games, lots of TV's. Great food, appetizers and drinks. Friendly staff with quick service