Arden Restaurant Portland

Arden is quickly becoming my favorite restaurant in Portland. This was my second experience there, and I have to say each time was phenomenal. The service is excellent- our waitress was friendly and helpful with any questions we had, and was knowledgeable about the wine list. Each dish is carefully curated with local ingredients and priced appropriately. You can expect to order about 5 dishes for a party of two. They just changed their menu, so I had the opportunity to taste their summer menu last time, and the new fall menu this time. I definitely missed their Steak Tartare from the summer menu, but was so impressed with the fall appetizers I didn’t mind. The Fig & Goat cheese appetizer with Salsa Macha is not to be missed- it’s the perfect balance of sweet, salty and cheesy. If I could have one dish for the rest of my life it would be the Bavette Steak for two- PLEASE order this!! Perfectly cooked steak and charred cabbage together over this incredible miso sauce. I could have licked the plate but they also give you these bready muffins to soak up all of that sauce. Finally, you must order the stoner ice cream. It has Carmel corn over a corn ice cream, topped with shaved foie gras. It’s salty, sweet, crunchy and creamy. Unreal!

We celebrated Anh's birthday with a trip to Portland and booked a table at Arden based on a recommendation from Eater that it captured Portland's local flavor. Our night started with sitting around for 20 minutes with the menu. It wasn't due to indecision - we had quickly decided to open with the oysters and follow with the prix fixe since, at $70, the prix was quite reasonable. It just seemed like our server had lost track of our table. Luckily we weren't starving, but the wait was surprising since the dining room didn't seem particularly busy. The pf menu ended up including three snacks to open, plus the burrata and squash, the tagliatelle, the quail yakitori, and a finishing of cheesecake. Our meal was accompanied by a pair of decent cocktails, a wine pairing, and a lengthy wait between dishes. Our meal stretched to almost three hours for only 5 courses + oysters. We care more for food than service, though, so it wasn't a big deal. In general, we felt Arden's kitchen flourished with original ideas but missed a bit on the execution. Interesting pairings like burrata + squash + nutty salsa and quail + pears + lentils piqued our interest. However, not every dish hit its mark. We didn't even finish some of the snacks (which is rare for us). Anh in particular found everything too salty -- most especially the tagliatelle, which included bacon and briney clams in a salty ramen butter sauce. Some standouts from the pf menu included the quail yakitori, whose strong pear flavor balanced the richness of the sausage and quail, the smoked trout, and the cheesecake. We enjoyed the wine pairing as well - each wine felt thoughtfully selected. The oysters were also delicious, but raw oysters speak for themselves. Ultimately, our experience leaned positive, having ended with the two best dishes. But based on the heavy-handed salting, the chef's discretion with the prix fixe, and, to some extent, our time waiting, we likely won't be returning. This is a shame, since other menu items sound very enticing, like the cappelletti, pierogies, and scallops. We've learned though, that Arden's ideas sometimes shine brighter on paper than on the palate.

We had an incredible anniversary dinner here. I searched for a multi-course dinner in Portland and the food at Arden sounded amazing. It did not disappoint... I can't say I've ever wanted to make certain every plate was wiped clean before they took it away :) The highlights were (and forgive the butchering of the more elegant names you'll find on the menu) the oysters with the special sauce and house hot sauce, the chickpea "sticks" (this is the butchering), the citrus, goat cheese and marcona almond salad, the house smoked olives, the clam/bacon pasta and the quail. ALL of it was amazing but those were our highlights. Wine was a perfect pairing with each course as well. Kelsey, most of the information you shared I never knew, you obviously have a passion for wine! That was a treat in itself :) The service couldn't have been better. Thank you Kelsey (and the rest of the staff of course) for making our anniversary special. We loved eating there and it was way more of an experience than dinner. Exactly what I was hoping for! Will come again soon!

We loved our meal at Arden! Our server Emily was great and shared a lot of good wines with us. We did the prix fixe dinner and wine pairing and everything was outstanding from the first course to the last. We are thankful that the chef was able to accommodate us by making the menu pescatarian. The scallops and the sauce they were in was the highlight, along with the Mario Bagella cannonou and Vincent Wenger chardonnay. Make the trip and let the expert staff here do their thing!

Boy we really wanted to love this place. If you could grade a place solely on how the food looked and the drinks tasted it would have been a 5. We came to Arden for our anniversary and showed up right on time for our reservation. The person at the front was incredibly helpful and kept apologizing for the wait even though we were seated within 10 minutes. We were brought a glass of absolutely delicious sparkling rose while we waited. We enjoyed it so much we bought a couple bottles online while we waited to be seated. Excellent start - we were hyped for the meal. When we sat down service was prompt but not overly friendly. We're sticklers for service and while everything was timely, it wasn't welcoming. We felt like a burden. Maybe this was just typical Portland energy? Again, drinks were fantastic. We got the pitcher of watermelon sangria to start and later we each got a strawberry shrub cocktail. We started with the albacore crudo which was the best part of the meal. If you're sensitive to spice beware - the serrano peppers are the real deal but we enjoyed it. From there things started to turn. We ordered the carrots, the gnocchi, the spaghetti, and the quail yakitori (all to share) before decided to skip dessert. The common theme amongst everything was SALT. Holy moly - as a former smoker I'm usually a chronic over-salter. This was beyond too much for me. The carrots were bordering inedible. Both pastas were overcooked and the portion size of the gnocchi was so small. We were thankful we didn't do pasta for our mains. I will say the quail was cooked well and when you got a bite of everything at once it was well-balanced. Again, we wanted to love it here. Everything was plated beautifully and we did eat with our eyes first. Unfortunately we tasted with our tongues and there was a constant problem with balance between the over salting, the load of acid on each plate, and the portioning.

We celebrated Anh's birthday with a trip to Portland and booked a table at Arden based on a recommendation from Eater that it captured Portland's local flavor. Our night started with sitting around for 20 minutes with the menu. It wasn't due to indecision - we had quickly decided to open with the oysters and follow with the prix fixe since, at $70, the prix was quite reasonable. It just seemed like our server had lost track of our table. Luckily we weren't starving, but the wait was surprising since the dining room didn't seem particularly busy. The pf menu ended up including three snacks to open, plus the burrata and squash, the tagliatelle, the quail yakitori, and a finishing of cheesecake. Our meal was accompanied by a pair of decent cocktails, a wine pairing, and a lengthy wait between dishes. Our meal stretched to almost three hours for only 5 courses + oysters. We care more for food than service, though, so it wasn't a big deal. In general, we felt Arden's kitchen flourished with original ideas but missed a bit on the execution. Interesting pairings like burrata + squash + nutty salsa and quail + pears + lentils piqued our interest. However, not every dish hit its mark. We didn't even finish some of the snacks (which is rare for us). Anh in particular found everything too salty -- most especially the tagliatelle, which included bacon and briney clams in a salty ramen butter sauce. Some standouts from the pf menu included the quail yakitori, whose strong pear flavor balanced the richness of the sausage and quail, the smoked trout, and the cheesecake. We enjoyed the wine pairing as well - each wine felt thoughtfully selected. The oysters were also delicious, but raw oysters speak for themselves. Ultimately, our experience leaned positive, having ended with the two best dishes. But based on the heavy-handed salting, the chef's discretion with the prix fixe, and, to some extent, our time waiting, we likely won't be returning. This is a shame, since other menu items sound very enticing, like the cappelletti, pierogies, and scallops. We've learned though, that Arden's ideas sometimes shine brighter on paper than on the palate.

Arden is quickly becoming my favorite restaurant in Portland. This was my second experience there, and I have to say each time was phenomenal. The service is excellent- our waitress was friendly and helpful with any questions we had, and was knowledgeable about the wine list. Each dish is carefully curated with local ingredients and priced appropriately. You can expect to order about 5 dishes for a party of two. They just changed their menu, so I had the opportunity to taste their summer menu last time, and the new fall menu this time. I definitely missed their Steak Tartare from the summer menu, but was so impressed with the fall appetizers I didn’t mind. The Fig & Goat cheese appetizer with Salsa Macha is not to be missed- it’s the perfect balance of sweet, salty and cheesy. If I could have one dish for the rest of my life it would be the Bavette Steak for two- PLEASE order this!! Perfectly cooked steak and charred cabbage together over this incredible miso sauce. I could have licked the plate but they also give you these bready muffins to soak up all of that sauce. Finally, you must order the stoner ice cream. It has Carmel corn over a corn ice cream, topped with shaved foie gras. It’s salty, sweet, crunchy and creamy. Unreal!