12.14.05

NW Portland Restaurants: Oba!

Posted in Food at 6:49 am by Leopoldo

This food review was originally posted on PortlandFood.org

I met some friends for after work drinks at Oba! http://www.obarestaurant.com/home.html on NW Hoyt and 12th this last Wednesday. We were supposed to be there for Happy Hour, however that plan was thwarted by a HH cutoff of 6:30pm and by a bar full to overfilling. The joint immediately started to score points against it: The place was overcrowded (and by extension loud), the people were hip to the point of over-pretentious, the prices were high and most annoying of all a steady Latin beat was constantly heard over the loud din of the crowd, just soft enough to make out nothing but the base line and just loud enough to be insidious. The hostess (who was absent for the first five minutes of my arrival) was unable to answer another customer’s query as to whether they would extend the HH time given his inability to squeeze in, but was at least able to say she did not know with a smile and some grace.

The mood (and score card) brightened when the hostess offered to make room for my party in the already filling restaurant section, no reservations requested, again when the nice and friendly wait person came by for my drink order and more so when the drink arrived. Sure I was paying $7.50 for the cocktail but at least it (unlike some recent cocktail experiences I have had) tasted like a well mixed and well leaded drink. I was hoping for a bowl of soup of the day, however being allergic to sea-food a Shrimp soup sounded like a quick ticket to the emergency room (as did half of the menu), instead I settled for a Queso Fundido (think Yuppy version of chips and cheese dip) that was quite delicious. The first cocktail, a Metaxa Mango Sidecar had a good kick without being overbearing. The second, a Prickly-Pear Margarita was sweet and strong, the way I like it. More points were scored by having an unprotected WiFi access point available though not many since getting a smidge of signal required hanging my laptop out the end of the booth.

Overall I found Oba! A bit expensive and not comfortable enough to entice me to return. I thought the quality of both the food and the drinks was quite high and I was very impressed with the service.

Permalink