Mother's Bistro & Bar

Nestled in the first floor of the Embassy Suites in downtown Portland, this very active hub has a lot to live up to. Serving great food and spirits with quality one would expect at much higher end establishments. It's very active and lively, so not the best option for a quiet experience, but fantastic if you want some of the highest quality for a surprisingly low cost. I ordered the frittata with potatoes, that came with a choice of toast. I requested gluten free bread, a side of sausage, and an Irish pick me up, (Irish coffee with an extra kick of espresso). All of which exceeded my expectations. I'm glad I stopped in, and I'm sure you will be too. However, expect a short wait as I'm not the only one that feels so highly of this spot.

My partner and I went here for breakfast. The restaurant has a fun old diner/tea house vibe. I ordered the salmon hash, which was fine but not anything mind blowing. My partner ordered the lox plate which was good. We have two complaints though. 1) My partner is celiac and the gluten free items on the menu aren’t clearly marked gluten free. (Our waitress did explain which items were gluten free though when she came to take our order.) 2) Our waitress was nice but seemed to be a bit pushy/aggressive in getting us to add on dishes or upgrade items. We overheard her doing this to the table next to us too, and I can understand why since it seemed to be effective, but it was a bit too much for us. For us, she asked us if we wanted to add extra bread since my partner is celiac and we were subbing our bagel for the gluten free toast. We did do this and it ended up being an extra $4 for one piece of gluten free toast, and an extra $1 for the sub in lieu of a bagel. Somewhat minor things but we’d probably want to try other places before returning to this restaurant.

Went here for a Saturday brunch with family we haven't seen in decades (99% of us were out of towners). We really appreciated the service, in consideration of our large group, with vegans, diabetic and celiac diners. We pushed our luck and got separate checks also (be patient folks !) LOVED the legendary take on French toast (crispy coating of corn flakes even better than it sounds.. like it was like candied!) Though I would say skip the Salmon hash, just wasn't craveable- possibly underseasoned, and just not a lot to offer texturally- but I am in the minority on that one. Please go support this business who is doing things RIGHT, oh did I mention they have half orders on a ton of dishes?? AND espresso and French presses and cocktails?! (My video is of the attached hotel lobby right out the side door)