Bread & Ink Cafe - Portland

Spent a perfect sunny day shopping in Hawthorne and have always wanted to eat at Bread and Ink. Sometimes it is better to go places alone. I like to sit at the bar and interact with the staff and take a really close look at the surroundings. I was greeted by a charming buzzer who honored my request to sit at the bar. Very open space, filled with light. Very clean and crisp look with just enough wall art to make me curious but not distracting. I travel to New York often and this place reminds me of a bistro in SOHO. My server was friendly and attentive and respectful of my time there and encouraged me to linger over my wine, which was a delicious local chard named Tunnel of the Elms....thanks to the buzzer for checking the name. The food was scrumptious!!!! A big plate of large pan fried oysters, crisp on the outside and pure velvet on the inside. The tossed greens were fresh with a light vinaigrette. I will definitely return as I am sure the meals to follow will recreate the great time I had there.

Dread and Ink.....Negative stars and 2 big thumbs down!!! I have been to the Bread and Ink a few times before and used to rave about the biscuits and gravy. My boyfriend and I were driving through P-town last weekend, and decided to stop in for a late breakfast at about 1230. Upon arrival, the tired hostess hastily exclaimed they are no longer serving breakfast. We were then lead to our child-size table making our way through a maze of people. I may or may not have hit a lady with my purse, needless to say it was pretty crowded. Maybe that is why they seem to only hire pixie sized waitstaff. We were offered coffee upon sitting at the wobbly table. I asked the flustered waiter for some splenda, sugar or whatever because there was nothing of the sort on the table. He acknowledged my request, saying he will bring that right out. He never did. We looked over the menu with very few choices and decided to share the Salmon Lox plate. We waited, and waited all the while sipping our unsweetened dollar store coffee (which they charge an outrageous 2.50 per cup). The waiter returned with our lunch and sat down what looked like some sort of artwork made with sushi. It didn 't even look edible. The outer edge of the plate was lined with cucumbers and tomato slices. The inside was one lettuce leaf. Then topped with a few shreds of raw fish.... The description of this dish said smoked salmon on a bed of fresh vegetables After sitting and staring at the untouched food for about 10 mins, the waiter finally asked Is that not what you ordered? I replied “I didn 't order raw fish He then replied, “its not raw, it 's pickled Then wandered off into the crowd. He never returned. After about 10 more mins of sitting there with the artwork between us, one of the pixies came over to hand us the check! I asked for a box, she quickly returned, saw us put the uneaten lunch in the box, and took our .....This was 15.50 totally wasted. There was no offer to exchange our meal, or even ask what was wrong with it. I have been unhappy with food at Denny 's and they have paid our bill/exchanged food. I couldn 't even give that lunch away. I tried. It ended up being thrown away. Maybe I am just too old-fashioned, uneducated or backwoods (I am from Scio you know) but when a customer is unhappy with their order, you fix it-and put some sugar on the table for goodness sakes. Needless to say, we will not be returning to the Bread and Ink. I have renamed it Dread and Ink...because I dread going there and wasting 15...

As usual, the Huckleberry pancakes were delicious! The bacon is just perfect. I deducted one star because one egg broke all over the food. This has happened before. Maybe the eggs should be in a separate container?

The brisket is pretty good, the eggs are poached well, the hollandaise was good but the English muffins were totally sogged through. I did order the sauce on the side but it didnt seem to help. All in all yummy but didnt travel well.

Thank you! You have huckleberries! The huckleberry pancakes w/huckleberry syrup were especially good this time! WONDERFUL! Eggs and bacon were also excellent.