Skip to main content
8218 N Lombard St., 477-4995, thefixinto.com. 2 pm-2 am Monday-Saturday, 2 pm-1 am Sunday.
Despite celebrating its fifth anniversary this past
January, years after the Oregon ban on smoking in bars, the Fixin' To
still somehow manages to smell of stale, decades-old Marlboros. This is a
compliment. In its first five years this unassuming cluster of carts
and patios has earned the kind of storied-neighborhood-institution
status usually awarded to places that have been around upward of half a
century. The ersatz Southern theme in effect when it first opened seems
to have given way to the kind of working-class drag not seen in the
original four quadrants since 2006 or so (PBR, Frito pie, vintage
scene-o-ramas), but it works here. Like St. Johns and working-class
culture itself, the Fixin' To is a sometimes unsettling yet always
endearingly authentic hodgepodge of different folks and different
strokes—a recent Saturday saw everything from a sexagenarian with a
rat-tail trying to bum a cigarette to several urbane young couples
eating meals brought in from food carts in the parking lot (Southern
Belles barbecue and Pizza Contadino, currently). You many not know where
you're going after a night spent here, but you won't forget where
you've been.
Happy hour: 4-6 pm Monday-Friday. Food specials, $1 off wells, microbrews, St. Johns Sweet Tea and the Down 'n Out (a shot of Old Crow and a pint of Rainier).
Our Favorite 178 Portland Bars | Bar of the Year: Stammtisch | Best Bars No. 2-5
Strip Club Hangouts | Sports Bars | Shot 'n' a Back | English Bars | Dessert Cocktails
Patio Bars | Bars That Look Like Houses | Skee-ball Bars | Cart Pod Bars
Where to Eat After Bar Close | The Most Important Little Bar 'Hood in Portland
WWeek 2015