Restaurant Review: Craft PDX at the Hi-Lo Hotel

Our very last meal in Portland aside from dinner at the wedding we attended was brunch at our hotel’s only restaurant, Craft PDX. Sort of. The restaurant was in the process of being rebranded at the time.

I actually wanted to try the food at the Mexican restaurant that originally occupied the restaurant space at the Hi-Lo Hotel. It wasn’t clear if the change over happened or not during our visit, so I decided to roll the dice and give it a shot. Too bad we ended up with the new Craft PDX menu instead.

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Location + Service

Craft PDX is right off of and to the left of the Hi-Lo’s lobby. It’s also where you’ll find the so-called “Lobby Bar” even though it’s at the back of the restaurant.

As far as service goes, much like the Hi-Lo Hotel itself, its friendly and well-intentioned, but slow due to understaffing. We ended up sitting in the restaurant far longer than we needed to because our server either vanished or was busy with other guests.

Craft PDX Menu

Despite the name, Craft PDX’s menu doesn’t really strike me as a craft, specialty restaurant. In fact, outside of the names of the dishes, they’re quite mundane. On the menu, you’ll find things like omelets, bagels, burgers, fish tacos, meatball subs, and more. True, some items feature locally-sourced ingredients, but that’s about it.

What We Ordered

I had a pretty hard time figuring out what to order. But, I eventually settled on the City to Coast Omelet, while Mrs. Islander got an iced coffee and a Hi-Lo Omelet.

The Hi-Lo Omelet ($14) is a pretty standard omelet, which comes filled with Tillamook Cheese, bell peppers, onions, and your choice of bacon, sausage, or mushrooms with a side of breakfast potatoes and toast.

This omelet is very egg-heavy with little filling. The egg is too much, in my opinion, totally overshadowing the filling. At the same time, the filling is literally the same as the potatoes, minus the potatoes and (in our case) bacon and cheese. As a result, the pieces of onion and bell pepper in the omelet were quite large.

The Coast to City Omelet ($18) comes stuffed with bay shrimp, tomatoes, Tillamook cheddar, and spinach, is slathered in Hollandaise sauce with chives, and comes with a side of breakfast potatoes and toast.

Much like the Hi-Lo Omelet, the Coast to City Omelet didn’t have a good egg-to-filling ratio. What’s more, it came stuffed with oversized chunks of onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes with barely any shrimp. The Hollandaise sauce didn’t work all that well with the dish either, making it far too rich. I was sorely disappointed.