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A bowl of pasta sits on the bar at Scotch Lodge.
Pasta at the counter at Scotch Lodge.
Brooke Jackson-Glidden/Eater Portland

13 Solid Restaurants for Dining Solo in Portland

From Thai tasting menus to picnic table tacos, here’s where to dine solo

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Pasta at the counter at Scotch Lodge.
| Brooke Jackson-Glidden/Eater Portland

Dining out alone is one of those divisive experiences where one camp thinks it’s no big deal, while the other has to muster courage to sit by themselves. An evening out with good company may be one of life’s most reliable joys, but dining solo opens a door to the unknown: be it a quiet night with a book and a bowl of ramen, an opportunity to heighten the sensory experience of a tasting menu, or perhaps even a chance to meet a new friend dining alone themselves. An added bonus? It’s often easier to score reservations for one at popular restaurants.

From lively sushi counters to mellow wine bars, Portland offers a wealth of solo dining options for anyone who enjoys their own company and good food.

Note: the entries on this list are geographically sorted rather than ranked.

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Campana

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Off the sprawling Woodlawn Park, the lengthy bar at Campana is a fine setting for bowls of no-nonsense Italian comfort food: Hearty bowls of spaghetti and meatballs, cavatelli in pork ragu, rigatoni with braised pork ribs with crispy polenta. The happy hour runs all night at the bar, with $10 Negronis and $16 bowls of penne alla vodka — extremely hard to beat, considering the quality.

Expatriate

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Best known as a haven for cocktail lovers, this collaboration between local food impresario Naomi Pomeroy and her bartender husband Kyle Webster boasts a small but mighty food menu. Snack on a dizzyingly herbal tea leaf salad and an elegantly simple crustless onion and butter sandwich, or make it a meal with a spicy fried chicken sandwich or a plate of two the best burgers in town. The eclectic décor evokes an early 20th century spy novel, and the turntable plays Nixon-era classic LPs through the warmest of sound systems.

Zilla Sake

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Perhaps no kitchen voyeurism is quite as rewarding as watching a top-notch sushi chef slice, brush, and shape nigiri. Gazing on the knifework of sushi creation in process can be a meditative experience, especially when dining alone. Zilla Sake House on Alberta specializes in immaculately prepared seasonal fish, as well as an eye-popping selection of sake. Note: Zilla offers seating at two bars on opposite ends of the establishment, but only one features sushi chefs in action — the other is a cocktail bar, though ordering food here is welcome.

Langbaan

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While it might seem counterintuitive, tasting menus are ideal for solo diners treating themselves to a night out. Northwest’s plant-filled Langbaan (located in the back of Phuket Cafe on weekends) is a welcoming place to sit at the bar get lost in a seasonal five-course menu, employing local ingredients to showcase different regions of Thailand. Expect creations like duck larb with huckleberries and Walla Wallas and fiery curries with summer squash and kohlrabi rather than run-of-the-mill pad thai. Reservations are a must, and parties of one will have better luck finding a spot.

G-Love New American Kitchen

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With high-backed chairs at both a counter and at the cocktail bar, Slabtown’s G-Love is a terrific spot for the solo diner to glance over at a neighbor’s plate and ask, “What are they having?” G-Love embraces seasonal, locally grown produce with proteins typically used as an accompaniment rather than the bulk of a dish. Highlights include the crusty avocado dusted in a coco-blackspice seed mix and topped with ahi tuna and the peppers a la plancha, dressed in miso hollandaise.

Maurice

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On a trapezoidal block kitty-corner from the mammoth Powell’s City of Books, the tiny nearly all-white Maurice manages to be both delicate and rustic at the same time. Waist-level counter seating is the perfect spot for an exquisite Nordic fika or French déjeuner. That means menus offering everything from rosemary and prune scones to smørbrød with summer squash and cottage cheese, paired with tea or wine.

Cozy Canard is the approachable sibling of next-door Le Pigeon, with a more limited menu, but no lack of winning French bistro-inspired combinations. Start with a half-dozen oysters, followed by the decadent duck stack, a short stack of pancakes doused with duck gravy and topped with tabasco onions and a fried duck egg. The wine list is aptly France-heavy alongside a tasty range of mostly local beers on draft. Counter seating puts patrons front and center for the kitchen action — use good judgment when its worth distracting a cook at their craft.

Scotch Lodge

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Inside the low-lit, intimate quarters of this subterranean bar, visitors sip drams of rare whiskies while waiting for plates of fried brie with verjus or arancini with avocado crema. Grab a seat at the bar and chat with the A-Team of bartenders, who are generous with their advice. While the menu is stacked with exceptional small plates, there are quite a few one-and-done meals that work well for a single diner: The soft-shell crab sandwich with white kimchi and shallots retains a cult following, and the papparadelle with duck and seaweed butter isn’t to be missed.

Vast ceilings and exposed steel venting give Afuri’s inner-Southeast location the feeling of an industrial music video, particularly at night when hunched over a steaming bowl of ramen alongside a dozen others. Afuri offers a respectable sushi menu, but the main attraction here is the astonishing yuzu ramen broth, served with expertly balanced ingredients dropped into the bowls with impeccable timing. The busy open kitchen and abounding hard surfaces might make a quiet intro to a neighboring diner challenging, but the creative highball cocktails from seasoned bartenders might bolster courage.

For those fairly new to the cuisine of the former Soviet republics (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and more), Kachka’s modest bar seating is the perfect spot to chat with staff and learn about the histories and nuances of menu items like Herring Under a Fur Coat or sour cherry vareniki dumplings, as well as ideal pairings from Kachka’s staggering vodka menu. And the deep counter will allow plenty of simultaneous dishes at-hand. For non-vodka drinkers, a wine list centering central Europe as well as a small beer list and excellent tea list are worthwhile.

OK Omens

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With counter seating and small plates, wine bars are a natural fit for those flying solo. Ok Omens, an airy, white-washed space with concrete floors, is a great spot to chat with the knowledgeable staff to find wines by the glass — whether wild and funky or classic and traditional — to pair with chilled oysters or a small bowl of warm cheddar beignets that there’s no need to share.

Portland Mercado

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This bright collection of exceptional Latin American food carts along SE Foster — including Cuban, Argentine, Oaxacan, and Colombian — affords the solo diner an easy opportunity to grab a meal and then sidle up to the bar at the cozy wine bar Barrio, or onto long indoor and outdoor picnic tables — friendly regulars often happily make room for others at the unused end. Well-behaved pooches are welcome, though Barrio owner Chris Shimamoto might try to grab a selfie or two with them.

Sellwood’s popular kappo-style sushi restaurant is practically made for solo diners. There’s bar seating that allows for maximum engagement with raw fish sliced and pressed onto seasoned rice by chef Shinji Uehara, and parties of one can snag hard-to-get reservations that larger groups can’t — Kaede limits visitors to groups of two. Diners should break out of their salmon and tuna rut by ordering one of the nigiri specials like lesser-seen golden-eye snapper or try the signature saba battera, a square roll of buttery mackerel that’s cured and punched up with ginger and yuzu.

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Campana

Off the sprawling Woodlawn Park, the lengthy bar at Campana is a fine setting for bowls of no-nonsense Italian comfort food: Hearty bowls of spaghetti and meatballs, cavatelli in pork ragu, rigatoni with braised pork ribs with crispy polenta. The happy hour runs all night at the bar, with $10 Negronis and $16 bowls of penne alla vodka — extremely hard to beat, considering the quality.

Expatriate

Best known as a haven for cocktail lovers, this collaboration between local food impresario Naomi Pomeroy and her bartender husband Kyle Webster boasts a small but mighty food menu. Snack on a dizzyingly herbal tea leaf salad and an elegantly simple crustless onion and butter sandwich, or make it a meal with a spicy fried chicken sandwich or a plate of two the best burgers in town. The eclectic décor evokes an early 20th century spy novel, and the turntable plays Nixon-era classic LPs through the warmest of sound systems.

Zilla Sake

Perhaps no kitchen voyeurism is quite as rewarding as watching a top-notch sushi chef slice, brush, and shape nigiri. Gazing on the knifework of sushi creation in process can be a meditative experience, especially when dining alone. Zilla Sake House on Alberta specializes in immaculately prepared seasonal fish, as well as an eye-popping selection of sake. Note: Zilla offers seating at two bars on opposite ends of the establishment, but only one features sushi chefs in action — the other is a cocktail bar, though ordering food here is welcome.

Langbaan

While it might seem counterintuitive, tasting menus are ideal for solo diners treating themselves to a night out. Northwest’s plant-filled Langbaan (located in the back of Phuket Cafe on weekends) is a welcoming place to sit at the bar get lost in a seasonal five-course menu, employing local ingredients to showcase different regions of Thailand. Expect creations like duck larb with huckleberries and Walla Wallas and fiery curries with summer squash and kohlrabi rather than run-of-the-mill pad thai. Reservations are a must, and parties of one will have better luck finding a spot.

G-Love New American Kitchen

With high-backed chairs at both a counter and at the cocktail bar, Slabtown’s G-Love is a terrific spot for the solo diner to glance over at a neighbor’s plate and ask, “What are they having?” G-Love embraces seasonal, locally grown produce with proteins typically used as an accompaniment rather than the bulk of a dish. Highlights include the crusty avocado dusted in a coco-blackspice seed mix and topped with ahi tuna and the peppers a la plancha, dressed in miso hollandaise.

Maurice

On a trapezoidal block kitty-corner from the mammoth Powell’s City of Books, the tiny nearly all-white Maurice manages to be both delicate and rustic at the same time. Waist-level counter seating is the perfect spot for an exquisite Nordic fika or French déjeuner. That means menus offering everything from rosemary and prune scones to smørbrød with summer squash and cottage cheese, paired with tea or wine.

Canard

Cozy Canard is the approachable sibling of next-door Le Pigeon, with a more limited menu, but no lack of winning French bistro-inspired combinations. Start with a half-dozen oysters, followed by the decadent duck stack, a short stack of pancakes doused with duck gravy and topped with tabasco onions and a fried duck egg. The wine list is aptly France-heavy alongside a tasty range of mostly local beers on draft. Counter seating puts patrons front and center for the kitchen action — use good judgment when its worth distracting a cook at their craft.

Scotch Lodge

Inside the low-lit, intimate quarters of this subterranean bar, visitors sip drams of rare whiskies while waiting for plates of fried brie with verjus or arancini with avocado crema. Grab a seat at the bar and chat with the A-Team of bartenders, who are generous with their advice. While the menu is stacked with exceptional small plates, there are quite a few one-and-done meals that work well for a single diner: The soft-shell crab sandwich with white kimchi and shallots retains a cult following, and the papparadelle with duck and seaweed butter isn’t to be missed.

Afuri

Vast ceilings and exposed steel venting give Afuri’s inner-Southeast location the feeling of an industrial music video, particularly at night when hunched over a steaming bowl of ramen alongside a dozen others. Afuri offers a respectable sushi menu, but the main attraction here is the astonishing yuzu ramen broth, served with expertly balanced ingredients dropped into the bowls with impeccable timing. The busy open kitchen and abounding hard surfaces might make a quiet intro to a neighboring diner challenging, but the creative highball cocktails from seasoned bartenders might bolster courage.

Kachka

For those fairly new to the cuisine of the former Soviet republics (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and more), Kachka’s modest bar seating is the perfect spot to chat with staff and learn about the histories and nuances of menu items like Herring Under a Fur Coat or sour cherry vareniki dumplings, as well as ideal pairings from Kachka’s staggering vodka menu. And the deep counter will allow plenty of simultaneous dishes at-hand. For non-vodka drinkers, a wine list centering central Europe as well as a small beer list and excellent tea list are worthwhile.

OK Omens

With counter seating and small plates, wine bars are a natural fit for those flying solo. Ok Omens, an airy, white-washed space with concrete floors, is a great spot to chat with the knowledgeable staff to find wines by the glass — whether wild and funky or classic and traditional — to pair with chilled oysters or a small bowl of warm cheddar beignets that there’s no need to share.

Portland Mercado

This bright collection of exceptional Latin American food carts along SE Foster — including Cuban, Argentine, Oaxacan, and Colombian — affords the solo diner an easy opportunity to grab a meal and then sidle up to the bar at the cozy wine bar Barrio, or onto long indoor and outdoor picnic tables — friendly regulars often happily make room for others at the unused end. Well-behaved pooches are welcome, though Barrio owner Chris Shimamoto might try to grab a selfie or two with them.

Kaede

Sellwood’s popular kappo-style sushi restaurant is practically made for solo diners. There’s bar seating that allows for maximum engagement with raw fish sliced and pressed onto seasoned rice by chef Shinji Uehara, and parties of one can snag hard-to-get reservations that larger groups can’t — Kaede limits visitors to groups of two. Diners should break out of their salmon and tuna rut by ordering one of the nigiri specials like lesser-seen golden-eye snapper or try the signature saba battera, a square roll of buttery mackerel that’s cured and punched up with ginger and yuzu.

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