Wildwood Restaurant and Bar

I can't believe some of the reviews that I read. If it's too loud, guess what...they have tables where it's more peaceful. Say something. If it's too hot...say something. Their front of the house is just as professional and accomplished as the back of the house. They are there to serve you. For the people who don't like the food...maybe you should hit up Olive Garden or Applebees. You are crazy or just ignorant. Cory Schreiber is a James Beard Award winning chef and Dustin Clark is due. I've been a long time patron and Wildwood is one of the best restaurants in this city. Grow a palate and a brain before you decide to add your two cents. Pros: Everything Cons: They close more

Every time I have dinner at Wildwood, I have an overall wonderful experience. My favorite place to sit is the Chefs counter - a fun place to sit and you get a preview of all the plates offered for the night. For a more intimate experience, I like the booths in the back; they are always cozy and romantic. The food is AMAZING and service is exactly what I want (knowledgeable, helpful, great timing, not pushy, and really nice). I don't know why there are so many poor reviews on service. I have never been disappointed - most of the time I am way impressed. The servers try all of the appetizers each night and always share their favorites. I've never been disappointed with their recommendations. I've also never been disappointed with their wine pairings. I'm always excited to go to Wildwood - I get to eat local, fresh and creative food, drink good wine, and leave feeling happy and full! Thank you Wildwood staff! Pros: Chefs counter, fresh and creative plates, booths, wine list more

Went in for dinner and was sat in the bar area... Over half of the restaurant was empty! Service was fine but for the price of the food I would at least want to be sat at a dinning table not the bar. more

Every single food item we had was really good (crab salad; spatzel; chicken, etc.). Same with the drinks. They were great and we had three different ones. However, we're a couple who likes too talk and after 7PM the restaurant got much too loud and was a little hot. Beautiful large tables, but those, with the noise, made it difficult for two people to have a quiet, intimate night. Pros: all the food, all the drinks--were great; good parking Cons: restaurant was too loud and too hot more

My husband took me here for my birthday dinner. While the food was okay , not great, what really stood out was the service. Clearly the house specialty is being rude to female customers and making sure I had a miserable time. While the waiter fawned over my husband, it was as if I barely existed. I will never eat there again. more

My family flew in from the East Coast for my sister's wedding. It was a small affair, so instead of a reception we went to Wildwood for dinner. The food was good, though overpriced. The main reason I've rated it so low however, is because of how we were treated when there. My two year old daughter came with us to eat and you would have thought I'd walked in with a bag of sewage instead of a cute well behaved little girl. At one point the manager actually came over and told me she was disturbing the other guests. This would have been somewhat understandable, though still rude, if my daughter was misbehaving but she wasn't. She was babbling a little, but her voice was no louder than anyone else's in the party. On top of that, there weren't even any other guests near us. Our party was so large it dominated the area where we were seated. I was planning on ordering dessert, but I decided to take my daughter outside instead. It was January so I bundled her up and we sat in the little smoking corner outside in front of the window. My daughter played quietly but every so often the manager would walk by and glare at us. Eventually I took her out to the car to play so I wasn't there when my party left the restaurant, but I was told the manager rushed them out the door and asked them to hurry up because they were crowding people. I was only in Portland a short time, but I saw enough to know that there are surely 100 better places to eat than this one. more

I took my parents to Wildwood when they were visiting from out of town. I wanted to show them fresh Northwest cuisine, and we were not disappointed. We went on a Sunday night and I shared the double-portion chicken dish with a friend. It was delicious - the mushroom sauce was flavorful but not overwhelming and the potatoes and spinach were a perfect complement. Our waiter was friendly and accommodating. Sometimes places like this are snotty if you don't order lots of wine, but I did not have that experience at all. My mom wanted herbal iced tea because their normal iced tea has caffeine in it, and he brought her hot herbal tea with lots of ice. My friend is allergic to gluten and he made sure the ice cream was served on the side of the brownie so she could enjoy that part of the dessert. My parents went back another night and my mom had the eggplant, which she absolutely loved. She asked if the chef would give her the recipe, and he said he would email it to her after making some adjustments for ingredients that she probably couldn't get at home, like smoked hazelnut husks. How many restaurants would do that? The downside is that, although delicious, it is expensive!! This is not New York or San Francisco, but this restaurant charges as if it were located in a different city. I would save this for a special event but it is too pricey to visit regularly. Pros: Decor, food, service Cons: Expensive more

I ate here tonight with friends, after not eating here for a while. My gnocchi at $19 was more like an $8 appetizer size. It was so lemony, I could hardly eat it. It was also dripping in butter. The pepper grinder was empty and the waiter brought it back full at the end of the meal. My husbands' steak was tough and the white plate had no color. White plate, white leek, white potato, tough meat.$35!!!!! My friends' beet salad looked dull and her lamb appetizer with one small chop was overpriced. The gin and tonic was the best part. What is it about this restaurant that keeps people enjoying it? Pros: Waiter was fine Cons: Food was overpriced and not even good more

I made this reservation through opentable for 8:00 p.m. and we were not seated until 8:40 p.m. (please note there was availablity in the dinning room but not on the patio at the time). They gave away the last patio seating to someone without a reservation (right before us). We had a drink in the bar and about 25 minutes into the wait with some complaining OSHA (great customer service) offered to buy us an appertizer. We were finally seated on the patio. The watier on the front part of the meal was attentive and provided us with tastings of wine to accompany our meal. Once the meal came the service after that, was thin and very lengthy....so lengthy that I had time to cancel what I ordered (a glass of wine). When the food arrived I have to say for the price (Do they think they are in the wine country with those prices) was not so great. Over all it was a bad impression and I would never spend my hard earned money there again...bacon wrapped chicken tasted like...hum...nothing really...no flavor...and this was all on a Thursday night. That Sunday I went to the Thai food rest. up the street and it was FANTASTIC and only a $35.00 meal instead of $163.00 meal. Pros: Location to the hotel, OSHA the Hostess Cons: Value for the $, LOUD, Reservations don't mean a thing, Taste of food more

One of the best dinners I've had in Portland was at Wildwood. Their menu is amazing, they're really commited to using freash, local ingredients . Server was friendlly and helpful, and made great suggestions for wine and dessert. Be prepared to spend some money, but it is worth it! more

My family and I have been here before and had a good time. Today, it was their anniversary and we had a HORRIBLE time. We stepped in and noticed it was extremely hot. We mention this to the waiter and he says, "The air conditioning is broken, we should fix it any second." 90 min. later we are about to pass out. It was physically unbearable. All the staff could say was, "We're sorry." When you pay $200 for dinner, I find this absolutely inconsiderate. The staff could've: a) warned us of this before we came in, granting us the opportunity to reschedule our reservation b) gave us a discount for the TORTURE, or c) sprinted down to the nearest store and bought a couple of $15 air conditioners. "We're sorry," doesn't cut it in this scenario. It's not just about saving money, its about treating your customers with respect. Actions speak louder than words. more

I had dinner there this past Sunday (4/20/2008) with my boyfriend and another couple, all four of us in from out-of-town. The staff were wonderfully accommodating of our schedule, fitting us into their busy night. We were seated right away (in quite a neat little booth), and our waiter was a wonderful resource, guiding us through the menu and recommending a very nice local wine. The food was outstanding! Everything was cooked perfectly (clams and halibut fritters to start; and gnocchi, duck, pork chops, and halibut as mains), including the things that are often taken for granted (like greens). Dessert was a masterpiece -- It's hard to choose which won between the caramel pine nut tart with rosemary ice cream or the chocolate panna cotta because they're just so different. And it was VERY reasonable for the experience. Highly recommended! Pros: Excellent staff, food, wine selection Cons: It's not in Chicago (where I live) more

Good atmosphere in the bar, very comfortable. Drinks were mediocore - my manhatten seemed very watery. The potato Gnocci was bland, however, the Gem salad was very good, and the duck was done to perfection - crispy on the outside, tender and moist inside - very flavorfull. Overall good, but not great. Pros: Great Duck Cons: Mediocore Drinks more

We were disappointed in our Wildwood experience after hearing so many good things about it in the past. Although our waiter was outstanding, we found the food offerings to be limited. We had to hunt for interesting choices around bad or odd side dish choices. Appetizer (crab cake), ordered from the bar menu because it wasn't listed on the regular menu, was outstanding. Entree choices were lacking based on their reputation. Wife had rockfish with crab risotto and watercress salad. Sides were excellent, but the LARGE chunk of too-simply seasoned fish was disappointing. I had a goat cheese tart on mushrooms and root veggies (undercooked). It was interesting, but lacking as neither piece could stand alone and be great. The desserts were excellent and showed an attention to taste and detail that the main courses didn't. This was the reason for an average rating rather than below average. We had hoped to be amazed by this place's cuisine and weren't. Next time we'll stick to Caprial's or Higgins. more

Wildwood was my favorite spot in Portland for a long time..I couldn't wait to get over there on weekends and have the delicous mussels. WHAT HAPPENED? I asked the waiter why they changed the recipe from delicious butter garlic sauce to something watered down and spicy. The waiter said "It's been the same since I've been here." I'm guessing he hasn't been working long. It was incredibly dissapointing. I even took Wildwood out of my phone speedial. Pros: ambience, service was good Cons: someone screwed up the mussles big time more

I chose this restaurant for a special occasion and was prepared to pay a premium price for a premium meal, but ended up with few choices because we wanted to avoid meat. I had not realized the menu was so limited. We had an acorn squash soup that was much too salty and was garnished with seeds with hard husks. Then one of the two vegetarian main courses available, which sounded good on the menu, but turned out to be an odd combination of hard, crisp noodles, soggy greens, roasted garlic, squash cubes, and other things unidentifiable in the very dark dining room. The flavors had not fused. It was like something I'd throw together to clean out the vegetable bin. The service was excellent, and my dessert (espresso panna cotta) was delicious. But I expected more. Pros: Attentive and charming service Cons: I can make much better vegeatrain food at home more

I LOVE this restaurant. Even with the changing of the chefs it is still one of my favorite places. I have actually had even better, more creative food as of late. I love the mussels, the romaine salad, and if they have duck or lamb I always get it. This is one of my favorite places to take people from out of town, or just go by myself and eat at the bar. The food is always delicious! Pros: The food is great. This place is a Portland institution! Cons: When it's busy it can be loud. more

my favorite past time is trying out new restaurants locally and while traveling so going to portland was a treat. From the moment my bf and I stepped into the Wildwood, the service, food, and atmosphere were incredible. A friend highly recommended this place, but after reading a few reviews we were hesitant, however the food spoke for itself. It was eclectic and superb. any menu that changes periodically means the chef truly cares about his restaurant. we tried the duck and halibut, both were very tender and extremely well seasoned. not only will i return here every time i come back to Portland, but I will tell everyone I know to try it out! (also, despite everyone commenting on the high noise level, we found it very reasonable and in fact, had one of our best conversations ever!) Pros: service impeccable, great wine list, amazing service Cons: slightly small tables, but not a big problem since it held all the food we ordered! more

Four of us went here on a weeknight. We had reservations for 8:00 but showed up around 7:30 and had no problem getting seated. Unfortunately, we were seated at a table right by the kitchen; while it was fun to watch the chefs in action, is was also a very loud spot! Our server showed up promptly but we asked him to please come back as one person in our party had to visit the restroom, and that was a mistake...he didn't come back for 15 minutes after that (and although we made an effort to joke with him at times, he did not have much of a sense of humor either, but that's forgivable)!!! While our main waiter left a bit to be desired, however, everyone else -- the girl who filled our water glasses and the staff who brought the food -- were much friendlier. The food was also slow coming out of the kitchen; it seems like we waited a looong time between each course. Everything we ordered was nicely done (fish was perfectly cooked), but some of the dishes, mainly starters, were overpriced. $10 for 4 slices of Heirloom tomato is a bit steep, but they were ripe and had a delicious horseradish cream sauce accompanying them. Same price for most salad starters...a little much. All four entrees were good, and the apple "cannoli" and spice ice cream for dessert was very good; perfect ending on a crisp Fall evening. Pros: Good Parking, Good Food Cons: Service, Value more

One of the absolute best dishes I've had here in Portland, perhaps in my life so far, has been at Wildwood. Their menu is amazing, serving a surprising variety of dishes, and although they're commited to using local ingredients that could easily grow in your own back yard, the results are surprising and exotic. To give an idea, that amazing dish that I mentioned- duck over semolina, drizzled with a savory chocolate sauce, and garnished with fat, juicy dark cherries. Tell me that isn't the most sensual dish you've ever heard of? Pros: Amazing, innovative menu, local ingredients more