Quiet restaurants in Portland, Oregon?

October 17, 2018 9:46 AM

A friend and I are visiting Portland, Oregon and love food! But we both have a hard time hearing in environments where there is a lot of ambient noise. Could you recommend some quiet, moderately-priced places (say, $25ish a plate or less)? We are mid-thirties hipster types and adventurous eaters who are staying in the Southeast quadrant (Hosford-Abernethy, though we're accustomed to a bit of a commute). The internet seems to want to tell me about a lot of turkey dinners when I Google this question. Thank you!
posted by sugarbomb to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Best answer: You might want to read about this app that gives you decibel levels commonly found in local restaurants.
posted by mareli at 9:55 AM on October 17, 2018 [4 favorites]

If you're willing to splurge, you'll be near Castagna, which is quiet, and quite delicious.
posted by hydra77 at 10:03 AM on October 17, 2018

Hi! I live in SE Portland and I have had gorgeous, foodie dinners in relative peace at:

Aviary
Ava Gene's
The Woodsman Tavern

Slightly louder, but not bad:
Bamboo Sushi (Go to the one on 28th)
Tusk

My suggestion for all of these places would be to go on the early side or later in the evening to avoid the throngs.
posted by chatongriffes at 12:47 PM on October 17, 2018

I need to disagree with Ava Gene's being quiet. My parents and I had one of our loudest dinners in town there (though the food is great)
posted by kbuxton at 1:13 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Seconding kbuxton. Ava Gene's was obnoxiously loud when I went there about a year ago. Great food, just loud. Same with Woodsman.
posted by slagheap at 1:49 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ned Ludd and Dame are both quiet and have great food. chatongriffes suggestion for an early dinner will also help especially with getting a table.
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:16 PM on October 17, 2018

Huh, then let me amend my Ava Gene's recommendation to suggest you go extra super duper early. I went there at 5:30 for my birthday this year and it was really quiet!
posted by chatongriffes at 3:21 PM on October 17, 2018

Tusk is quite loud. The back room can be quieter but you will need to lean way in to hear each other. Last time we asked them to turn the music down but they kept turning it back up. Going at 5pm did not help.

Nostrana has really high ceilings and is not too loud.
posted by MonsieurBon at 8:55 PM on October 17, 2018