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Still unsure of your Shari’s alternative? There are plenty more options, like the ones ahead that you’ve likely spotted on some of Portland’s main drags. Maybe you’ve passed them a hundred times and thought to go in but have never made the time—don’t worry, we did it for you. We visited five of the most visible diners (that aren’t Portland Pancake House or Portland Hot Cake House) to offer the skinny on their menu, décor and overall vibe.
Cameo Cafe
The senses explode at Cameo Cafe (8111 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-284-0401, suegees.com). The breakfast nook at the triangle-shaped corner of Northeast 81st Avenue and Sandy Boulevard—founded in 1969 and under current management since 1992—opens by a sliding door plastered with the peeling promotional photos of local and regional beauty queens. In a room with Christmas baubles still up in January, a man plays acoustic guitar over the roaring sizzle of the grill. It might not bother anyone who is hard of hearing—the supermajority of diners tend to be retirement age—but anyone with even the slightest auditory sensitivity will go bonkers trying to hold a conversation. Many of Cameo’s best specials are written on a dry erase board, so make sure to look there or at the handwritten special sheets left under the clear plastic tabletops. Korean specialties appear for breakfast and lunch. Kimchi with next to no spicy heat features in omelets, with pancakes and on egg-and-meat platters with rice. Though the cafe closes early, there is a wider range of Korean comfort meals alongside burgers and sandwiches. All dishes are deeply complimented by the housemade Sue Gee’s hot sauce ($10 for a take-home bottle) that offers a medium-light heat balanced with sweetness. ANDREW JANKOWSKI.
Milo’s City Cafe
The line between diners and cafes is blurry, but Milo’s City Cafe (1325 NE Broadway, 971-757-2024, miloscitycafepdx.com) near Lloyd Center really belongs on the diner side. The ambience inside the teal building on Northeast Broadway at 14th Avenue recalls classic diner aesthetics without whiplashing to the midcentury. While it’s certainly nice inside, Milo’s doesn’t have the same “special occasion” airs as, say, the ’50s lovers at Cadillac Cafe a few blocks east. What makes it a diner are the plates filled with fresh ingredients, the relatable waitstaff quick with coffee, and the breakfast-forward menu. There are even a few culinary gems hard to find elsewhere, like the Monte Cristo sandwich ($18.75). Depending on your childhood, you might associate the French toasty sandwiches with a Disney park or a bygone Las Vegas casino buffet. Milo’s’ Monte Cristo—filled with ham, turkey and Swiss cheese, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with maple syrup and table jam—should get eaten fast for best effect, but the staff won’t rush you out the door. AJ.
My Father’s Place
Look up “greasy spoon” in the dictionary and you’ll find My Father’s Place (523 SE Grand Ave., 503-235-5494, myfathersplacepdx.com). Its loyalists wouldn’t have it any other way. Part bar and part rumpus room with arcade games and open mic comedy performances split among three rooms, My Father’s Place is just blocks from Soho House on Southeast Grand Avenue at Washington Street, but stands as a proudly defiant holdout to New Portland influence. It feels like the spiritual brother of the dearly departed diner The Roxy across the river, down to the quirky decorations like a vintage, functional Magic Egg Machine amid duct tape-patched booths. Since 1978, it’s served breakfast at all hours along with bar specials like garlicky Bloody Mary’s ($7) and flaming Spanish coffees ($8.50) for generations of nightlife lovers. Try the liver and onions ($16) if you’re feeling adventurous or deeply nostalgic. The waitstaff will freshen your drinks gladly as you choose between burgers, wraps, sandwiches, and breakfast and lunch platters. AJ.
Sckavone’s Restaurant
Sckavone’s Restaurant (4100 SE Division St., 503-235-0630, sckavonesrestaurant.wordpress.com) has been run by the same family since 1930, when it was originally opened as Ever Ready Drug Store by Nick Sckavone who immigrated from Italy in 1908. The business moved to its current location in 1950 and was taken over by Sckavone’s grandson Jon Finley in 1980. Since it opened, Sckavone’s has striven to be a place for people from any neighborhood to gather and enjoy a nice meal in a comfortable setting. The dining room, a deep wood shade of brown that somehow feels like stepping through a sepia photo, is lined with spacious booths and a classic barstool counter. The meatloaf ($15) alone has earned decades of loyalty from hungry visitors. Sckavone’s doesn’t chase trends but masters American classics. The diner strikes a balance between serving dishes that are affordable as well as made from high-quality ingredients, with Finley himself frequently on hand to freshen your coffee. RUDY VALDEZ.
Tik Tok
Long enshrined as an infamous hub for desperate diners since well before the inescapable app or Kesha banger, Tik Tok (3330 SE 82nd Ave., 503-775-9564; 11215 SE Division St., 503-257-6149; tiktokrestaurant.com) has in its march through the decades always felt slightly out of step with the times. Local owners in 2000 built the establishment on 82nd from the bones left behind by the racially insensitive waffle spot Sambo’s, but soon shifted focus from the restaurant/bar model toward a larger variant farther east on Division, with a separate deli and lounge better suited to the coming video poker boom luring grandma gamblers to its Dottie’s-like betting parlors. Both Tik Toks seethe a dated restlessness like anti-hospitality installations, but the newer outpost’s faux-rustic cracker-barrel casino aesthetic feels especially hollow. A lead server sped patrons through an order that did the workmanlike breakfast burrito ($14.95) no favors nor forgave the failings of the near undrinkable whiskey-coffee ($9.95). Considering all other patrons were readying themselves for an extended lounge, whose time were we saving? JAY HORTON.