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Nearly one year after Pono opened its first pub in the Hollywood District, the brand says it will abandon the space and return to its original model: sans brick-and-mortar.
Today, the company announced on its Facebook page that it would be closing Pono Brew Labs, located at 1728 NE 40th Ave. The restaurant and bar opened in late August 2022. The social media post cited a lack of customers and high costs.
“Running a business is never easy and trying to run a full restaurant, bar and brewery post-COVID pandemic is even harder,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough traffic to keep up with expenses. We wanted to bring something unique to the Hollywood District and all of Portland, but unfortunately, it wasn’t good timing and all the hurdles of rehabbing an old space proved vast.”
Pono certainly did bring something different to the local brewpub scene. When the founders revived the long-vacant, no-frills Columbia River Brewing space, it did so with a bold aesthetic—the walls got a fresh coat of paint in the brand’s signature shades of red, yellow and green. The booths were also torn out and covered in new vinyl and the flooring throughout was redone—the owners had to go down to the subfloors for repairs in the restroom and kitchen.
“It was pretty beat up,” Erick Russ, Pono co-founder and sales manager, told WW at the time, “like someone just kinda threw their hands up and walked away.”
Beyond looks, Pono stood out thanks to its stellar menu of Pacific Island-Asian-inspired food. You really couldn’t go wrong with building an entire meal out of the starters, which include beef and vegetarian Filipino lumpia, kalua pork sliders, french fries topped with either more of that pig or beef bulgogi, sticky garlic shoyu wings, and crab-and-cream-cheese rangoons. There are also more substantial mains, like Korean fried chicken, kalbi short ribs, loco moco, and slow-cooked then deep-fried pork belly.
The building has 24 taps, which Pono used to pour experimental offerings made in the 7-barrel, copper-and-stainless-steel brewhouse that Pono inherited from Columbia River. It’s still located in the basement of the building, visible from the dining room’s floor-to-ceiling windows. The founders said they planned to use it to test new hops from Crosby Hop Farm in Woodburn and St. Paul’s Willamette Valley Hops. The bulk of Pono’s beer continued to be made at Zoiglhaus Brewing in Lents.
Pono’s Facebook announcement said that it will continue to operate prior to the pub opening as Pono Brew Labs, which means you should still be able to find plenty of its beers around town, like Aloha Mr. Hand Pilsner and Pineapple Express Kolsch.
Fans still have a few more days to get in there and order some of that mouthwatering kalua pork and lumpia. Pono Brew Labs last day of service is Wednesday, June 21.
