Skip to main content
NORTH AND NORTHEAST
Alberta Street Pub
1036 NE Alberta St., 503-284-7665, albertastreetpub.com.
Consider this patio one of the few forgotten or undiscovered patios of Alberta—a massive, dog-friendly, kid-friendly (till 8 pm) backyard spot far bigger than you'd ever expect when looking at the pub front, appended to a bar with 21 taps.
Prost
4237 N Mississippi Ave., 503-954-2674, prostportland.com.
Next to the carts of Mississippi, Prost is the closest thing the city has to a German biergarten. All the bier comes from the old country, and the malt-fueled vibe is happy and loud.
The Fixin' To
8218 N Lombard St., 503-477-4995, thefixinto.com.
In an dive-bar zone underserved by patios, the Fixin' To is all patio. The bar within feels like a staging area for a charming porch-sit with some frito pie.
Great Notion Brewing
2204 NE Alberta St., No. 101, 503-548-4491, greatnotionpdx.com.
With a menu of Great Notion's fine summer-friendly IPAs, the taphouse patio extends into a surprisingly expansive day-sipping arbor looking out onto Alberta from between buildings.
Radio Room
1101 NE Alberta St., 503-287-2346, radioroompdx.com.
Recently rebranded as lower Alberta's morning boozery, Radio Room is a casual-chic lounge otherwise painstakingly appointed to resemble the Stiff Records Department of FAO Schwarz. But on summer nights, the bar is best thought of as the building support for Radio's rooftop patio—and the horseshoed justification for its downstairs fire pit. "Where are you?" your friends ask. "On the Radio," you say.
The Rambler
4205 N Mississippi Ave., 503-459-4059, ramblerbar.com.
The Rambler within is a non-threateningly, bro-friendly, multiroomed pool hall with tap cocktails and a really nice burger. But like all vacation cabins, it's an excuse to be outside. Here the fire pit and tasteful stained-wood picnic tables are joined by—wonder of wonders!—an outdoor flatscreen. There's another patio in the front, and in the sideyard there's a bocce pit. You might as well be at the beach.
Rose & Thistle
2314 NE Broadway St., 503-287-8582, roseandthistlepdx.com.
When people say they love Rose & Thistle, what they usually mean is that they have discovered you can walk all the way through the bar and into an unexpected backyard Beulah, with covered sections, a sun porch and servers who will make sure you never have to get up.
SOUTHEAST
Apex
1216 SE Division St., 503-273-9227, apexbar.com.
When the sun comes out, the entire nation of Canada appears at the city's most famous beer patio. Apex also does something unheard of—which is offer enough bike parking inside the patio fence line so you can drink unfettered with bike-thief worry.
Century
930 SE Sandy Blvd., centurybarpdx.
By far the city's most anticipated bar in ages, Century is a game changer—both inside in a game-watching room that feels like a high-class cockfight pit, and outside on that brand-new rooftop looking out on the inner eastside.
Gold Dust Meridian
3267 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 503-239-1143, golddustmeridian.com.
The action looks to be on the front tables. But hang a left in front of the entrance and go around back and you'll find a patio you sort of never thought existed, oddly peaceful on a tourist stretch of Hawthorne.
Night Light Lounge
2100 SE Clinton St., 503-731-6500, nightlightlounge.net.
The Night Light patio is Clinton Street's secret weapon—an enclosed wood area so domestic it seems like there should be a gazebo and a hot tub.
Rontoms
600 E Burnside St., 503-236-4536, rontoms.net.
The Rontoms patio welcomes all comers, in all seasons. The winters feature a covered deck heated by a fireplace, for smokers. But summers tend toward every demographic, with a backyard bar, a pingpong table and packed Sunday Sessions free concerts spilling white noise into the night air.
Steinhaus
2366 SE 82nd Ave., 503-954-1797, facebook.com/steinhauspdx.
You say patio; we say smoking porch. Steinhaus is like Roscoe's country cousin, but with a focus on German brews such as a smoky Aecht Schlenkerla or seasonal Ayinger. The covered patio is a beauty, like one of those tucked-away beer gardens that dot Bavarian cities.
Teote
1615 SE 12th Ave., 971-888-5281, teotepdx.com.
Teote's patio feels mysterious, because secretly it's a rooftop—a hidden garden bounded on all sides by buildings, including its own. Bypass whichever line is waiting for food, go upstairs and then downstairs and find yourself in a lovely backyard with its own bar serving up boozy agua frescas.
White Owl Social Club
1305 SE 8th Ave., 503-236-9672, whiteowlsocialclub.com.
A mullet of a bar, White Owl Social Club keeps the business in front and the parties out back on a huge-ass patio that is a sea of picnic tables leading up the steps to an always-occupied set of benches around a fire pit. It's tented in the winter and stays busy with weekend events.
WESTSIDE
21st Avenue Bar & Grill
721 NW 21st Ave., 503-222-4121, 21stbarandgrill.com.
Look out front: There's always two guys smoking and advertising a life you don't want to lead. But behind this hard-luck dive, there's one of Portland's least likely Edenic rear gardens. Get a pitcher. Stay a while.
Momo
725 SW 10th Ave., 503-478-9600.
Momo is westside Portland's secret garden—a roughly 50-seat enclave preciously guarded by the towering pitted brick and peeling white walls of surrounding businesses that's surprisingly welcoming and cheap of drink. Press on through the bar to its backside, and pray for God to give you a seat.
Paymaster
1020 NW 17th Ave., 503-943-2780, paymasterlounge.com.
The cigarette-rich, corrugated-top back patio of Paymaster stretches on forever like a Louisiana swamp house, a beer pitcher for every table. But don't sleep on the boozy slushies in the summer.
Pope House Bourbon Lounge
2075 NW Glisan St., 503-222-1056, popehouselounge.com.
The Pope House, near the corner of 21st Avenue and Glisan Street, is a haven even amid neighborhood construction—a front-porch stoop-sit for the whiskey-inclined, with cheap happy-hour food and $5 cocktails, and a sense of calm rarely attainable in Northwest Portland.
Ankeny Alley
SW 2nd Avenue and Ankeny Street.
Downtown's shy on decent patios—and so the bars of Ankeny banded together to form a night patio shared among them on a closed-off street. We'll strongly recommend you stick to Valentines and Tryst, once Tryst gets its tables, but when it comes to patio seating, any bar from Dan
& Louis to the Kit Kat strip club will do.
Goose Hollow Inn
1927 SW Jefferson St., 503-228-7010, goosehollowinn.com.
Bud Clark, we like you for so many things—but we all liked you first for this idyllic little pub with one of the city's most provincial-cosmopolitan patios looking out on Jefferson Street.
Willamette Week