Where To Go For Christmas Eve Dinner in Portland?

December 14, 2009 11:15 AM

Going out for Christmas Eve dinner for two or possibly three people, in Portland OR. I realize I'll have to book a table in advance. The question is WHERE?

Each year on Christmas eve, I go to dinner with my best friend. It's sort of like our gift to each other. Last year, we went to Hubers, but the seating was really bad, and that made dinner challenging to enjoy.

I'm not sure what I'm hoping for exactly, food wise. There aren't any dietary restrictions. We'd like to keep the total price under $100 a person and have a really nice Christmas Eve dinner (whatever that means!)

Neither of us has a car and we both live downtown, so we'd prefer to limit our options to downtown / the Pearl / Goose Hollow or NW.

posted by pdxgirl42 to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

I asked this question a little while back that had great suggestions. You might find it useful.
posted by ga$money at 11:33 AM on December 14, 2009

Is the Portland City Grill open? You couldn't ask for better views. Other than that it might be eaqsier to answer given a bit of direction on the cuisine. Morton's in the Koin tower has excellent steaks, but may break the budget. I suppose i've been out of town too long to be a lot of help, sorry.
posted by efalk at 11:38 AM on December 14, 2009

It's a bit out of your geographic restrictions but Navarre is mad tasty.
(p.s. Lots of people ZOMG about Clyde Common but I haven't personally been there yet)
posted by bhance at 11:39 AM on December 14, 2009

If you are willing to bus it, you could take the 20 to Le Pigeon, on East Burnside. I don't know if they are open Christmas Eve but they do take reservations now, and it's worth a shot. Absolutely delicious food.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 11:51 AM on December 14, 2009

Clyde Commons is great food - but its communal tables and doesn't really sound like the atmosphere you're after.

Portland City Grill does have incredible views, a great wine list and good food.

Le Pigeon I hear is insanely good. Tiny little place, but they take reservations.

Saucebox is another downtown place I've heard great things about.
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:13 PM on December 14, 2009

Veritable Quandary! Good food, good wine list, neat place. Also Higgins.
posted by pdb at 1:20 PM on December 14, 2009

le pigeon is amazing but it's on east burn, not the west side.
posted by violetk at 1:43 PM on December 14, 2009

We went to Clyde Common a few months ago and while it was super delicious and the service was great it was way too loud for my taste.

I really like Andina which is in Pearl. Good food, service and interesting cocktails.
posted by vespabelle at 2:32 PM on December 14, 2009

There is also South Park, on SW 9th & Salmon.

But really, Le Pigeon is so worth the short bus ride :)
posted by DrGirlfriend at 2:37 PM on December 14, 2009

We enjoy Plainfield's Mayur for the occasional splurge dinner. Craig has never let me down when it comes to finding a gem of a wine from their cellar, either.
posted by cairnish at 2:56 PM on December 14, 2009

Response by poster: These are some great ideas, but I was hoping for some Christmas Eve specific recommendations. Many restaurants have specific menus for that night, and I guess I was hoping some Portlanders who have gone out for Christmas Eve dinner before might be able to steer me in the right direction.

As for specific cuisine - like I said, many places seem to have Christmas Eve specific menus, and that sounds like fun to me.
posted by pdxgirl42 at 3:47 PM on December 14, 2009