Gilt Club

Great drinks and fabulous food. Our server Scott was particularly helpful in navigating the drinks menu. The chocolate mousse was fantastic!

Cute, intriguing sample menu online, but I don’t know if it lives up to the hype of other reviews.
In Portland for business, I needed some place other than the hotel associate restaurant. I checked Unilocal,saw Moscow Mules featured and knew I had to try. Ordered my Fav drink from the cordial bartender, and until tonight, haven’t had one that hasn’t been pretty much fantastic. While good, this was not a Moscow Mule to write home about. I also ordered the Venison Turrine, again, while good didn’t want the make me brag. Maybe I tried the wrong portions of the menu, or maybe the 2 fighting couples at the bar had something to do with my mood. Either way, ok, not the best I’ve had.

The best place in portland by far. They always have groupon deals and the menu is always changing. I have been there countless times and each time I have never been disappointed with what I got. The vibe is very laid back. It is on the smaller size, the service is great always and friendly.
I highly recommend you at least give this a try and get the coupon if you can, it saves you a lot! It’s usually $ 20 for a $ 40 deal. I know its on right now so hurry.

Our waitress Ashley was so sweet — she happily recommended several entrees and appetizers for us. We ordered the potato leek soup, bacon wrapped dates, beet salad and the duck legs. Everything was wonderful: the flavors were robust and complimentary so not one thing felt overwhelming or disproportionate. The duck was a mouthgasm: the meat literally fell off the bone and melted in my mouth. It was a borderline sexual experience between the food and I.
I know this sounds a bit personal for a Unilocal review, but I would be remiss to exclude what an explosive and sensational experience this was. The beets were succulent and fresh and the potato leek soup had perfectly crispified bacon bits embedded in the creamy and viscous velvet body of the soup. The bacon-​wrapped dates blended perfectly with the chèvre in the salad and the dill yoghurt perfectly complimented the pistachios and arugula.
The dinner was so enjoyable I felt a sense of Catholic guilt afterwards. I need to repent for this meal so my soul doesn’t burn in hell with the other heathens.

What a wonderful place! I like sparkly, fancy, funky, and a little over the top. This place has it! Those sculptures/​lights are fabulous. The place is cozy. Five of us went here for drinks after improv class last week. A big improvement over the spot we chose the week before — who’s name i do not recall, because it left such a small impression on me.
My friends had Moscow Mules… the new hip thing, I guess. I tried it and it was good, but I’m no fan of ginger (unless served in the «ale» form). I had a Lanai — («house infused grapefruit vodka, fresh lime& a splash of berry liqueur — rocks with a grapefruit twist») — YUM! Lots of strange and savory drink to choose from and not too too pricy.
We also were a little peckish so we ordered fries (pomme frite) and manchego fritters. The fritters were delicate and had a nice texture, but needed a bit m0re seasoning to bring out the flavor of the mild cheese. The fries were quite tasty (a bit too much salt, but that may have been the table gerbils and not the kitchen).
So I love the feel and look of this place, big cushy booths and fabulous lighting. The drinks were excellent and the food, pretty good so far. Looks like happy hour may be worth trying as well. Next time I go with more of an appetite and an eye to reviewing their food. But I’ll go back.

I saw this place on Portland’s top 10 bistro burgers and excitedly ate here for my birthday. The description of their burger online was different than at the restaurant, and after doing some researching I was under the impression that they always change up their menu. They have good happy hour choices here, but one bite into the burger, and along with their off put service («what would you like to order… oh, k… oh you want a beer? Oh, ok.») I could tell the food was very bland. Nothing special about the food here and my initial thought was «I could make a better burger at home in 5 minutes». It was worth trying, maybe worth it for happy hour if you just want to try this place, but personally I wouldn’t go back.

I came here on my first night during my visit to Portland with my boyfriend. I made a reservation and were seated promptly at cozy little corner of the restaurant. I love the look if this restaurant, it feels so modern and fancy. The big red chairs and the dim room made a great romantic setting.
I ordered my first moscow mule ever and it was delicious! As far as the food we ordered the foie gras, the fresh bread with cheese, and the burger. Everything was amazing. Especially the foie gras, so perfectly salty and creamy. Although, the chef did forget to take the plastic wrapper off of it. My boyfriend almost choked on it. When we let our server know, she felt bad and let us know it would be taken off our check. The service was great.
The Gilt Club was a perfect spot to spend our first night in Portland and I can’t wait to come back!

I love the cozy feel of this place, the fabulous service and the consistently great food!
Ashley was our server last night and she was attentive without being intrusive and very friendly. I had the cauliflower soup with truffle oil. Creamy and perfectly seasoned. The cod was perfectly cooked and served with potatoes that were crispy outside and soft inside. My boyfriend ordered the hanger steak and said it was the best he had ever had.
Well done, Gilt Club!

The first time I ever had a Moscow Mule was at Gilt. They ruined me for any other restaurant/​bar because only theirs is served in a copper mug. Don’t ask me why, but anything other than the way they do it just doesn’t work.
I also remember thinking their décor — with marching-​band-​drum looking light fixtures and dark red leather seating made the place incredibly unique.
Before a concert the other night, we cam in for happy hour.
Naturally, we all ordered the MM’s.
I’d never heard of «Spätzle» but was curious. Our server (Lindsey??) described it as «Mini dumplings with cheese and bacon. It’s like mac and cheese». To know me is to know that I was stopped dead in my tracks by the word cheese and was sold.
Upon being served, I would have guessed it wasn’t dumplings but homemade noodles, because they were so tiny. Regardless, the aged cheddar and herbs, along with the bacon was DIVINE! Best $ 5 I’d spent on food in a while.
One friend ordered the $ 6 burger but was weirded out that it was served on an English muffin. Not that it stopped him from eating every bite. I didn’t think it was odd; bread is bread, but he clearly isn’t very open minded about food experimentation. He also ordered the Pommes frites and aioli. You really can’t go wrong there. The menu doesn’t what kind of bun it’d be served on, so be prepared for creativity.
The other friend ordered the Grilled pizzette. Funny that he had to ask Lindsey what that was. I don’t speak Italian, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it was pizza. He also ordered a side of focaccia bread. That leads me to think that he didn’t believe me that pizzette was pizza — or that he really, really loves bread.
The happy hour menu says no separate checks, but if you are in a pickle and in a small enough group (there was only 3 of us) and you ask very, very nicely, they may make an exception.
So, now I not only go to Gilt for their Moscow Mules, but I will be going there for their Spätzle as well.

They filmed an episode of Portlandia here. We came in for appetizers only as we were stuffed throughout this trip.
Foie 3 ways. Priced very fairly for a great product. Foie torchon, seared foie, and foie crème brûlée. The terrine and seared foie were pretty much standard. The sear on the foie was good, and the piece was a decent size for a foie sampling, though after eating it, I wanted a large piece for myself (stupid California ban). The torchon had a good saltiness to it and was perfectly whipped. The crème brûlée though… sounds weird… BUT TASTES AMAZING. I would say its like if foie torchon and an egg custard had a delicious baby. The burnt sugar added a bit of depth and almost made it taste like a roasted duck skin crisp, while the sweet/​savory/​fattiness of the foie brulee really surprised my palate in a good way.
Duck Proscuitto Salad — a good green bitters salad with nuts and cheese crumbles, but just a bit of duck. The duck was a bit on the salty side which was offset by the vinagrette and the bitters (and explains why they don’t put so much, as it would be way too salty overall). I thought it was OK, but we agreed that we shoulda just ordered more foie.
Deep Fried Manchego — wow… the romesco sauce makes the dish. The fried manchego was already delicious enough (who doesn’t like batter fried cheese), but the romesco’s thickness and acidity from the tomatoes cut the oiliness from the fried cheese, yet added a complimented richness to the dish.
Cracklins — these were ok. First time i’ve had fresh cracklins before. They pretty much are like the stuff found in the bags, but with way less sodium, and better flavors.
Overall, the place was good, there were dishes that were way better than others. For sure the foie gras 3 ways and the manchengo are stars.

To me this is definitely a solid 4* restaurant. Very unique atmosphere inside the restaurant and the server seems just as eclectic as the décor. A pretty small restaurant but not very full when we went on a Tuesday evening.
We started with the cheese plate while I sipped on a famous Moscow Mule. The cheese plate (from the HH menu I believe) was pretty small but beautifully plated. It was some type of bleu cheese, which I normally wouldn’t eat without scratcher or piece of bread, which I would have assumed that a cheese plate would come with. We also had their olives, which were delicious albeit hard to mess up. The Moscow Mule was very good and had a great ginger flavor. Probably the best I’ve had.
For our entrees I had the ricotta gnocchi (which was very rich) while she had a seafood papperdale. Both were delicious, although the portion sizes seemed slightly on the small side as people have mentioned. I’m not sure if this bugs me or not as generally portions get smaller the more you pay, but it’s definitely not a cheap place to eat all things considered.
This is a cool place to take people who are visiting Portland or would be a good place to go on a date. Based on what we tried I expect to be back here at some point.

I had really high hopes for Gilt Club, and not to say that I won’t be back to give it another try… but the drinks really put a damper on things for the evening.
The 2 stars are for their excellent staff and neat atmosphere within the restaurant. Everything from the unique lighting fixtures to the red velvety looking booths and warm walls. Candles are a top each table and overall has a very lovely lounge feel. The staff is great as well. Very accommodating to larger parties, professional, and friendly. My friends and I came here as a «pre-​funk» stop to going out dancing later in the evening as we had heard such great things about this place. We were seated promptly and service was quick. The plan was we would all have a couple drinks here… however, since the majority of us ordered drinks that were almost un-​palatable, we only had one :(
My order: Glitter Pants — House vanilla vodka with cranberry, pineapple, and lemon served with a mini rock candy. My notes: Not enough juice flavors. Rock candy was a cute touch. What ruined it was the vanilla vodka. It literally tasted like HRD mixed with vanilla bean. Sadly it really overpowered everything else in the drink and the vodka itself was just not good. My friend didn’t enjoy her Glitter pants either.
Friends order: Berried Treasure — House infused lemon, blackberry & strawberry vodka with lime juice. This was actually pretty good. Everyone that ordered this drink had no complaints.
Other friends orders: Strawberry Brunette — House infused strawberry vodka, basil, lemon & fresh cracked pepper. This was also not that great. The flavors didn’t muster well and the pepper was a bit overpowering compared to the rest of the drink.
Many of their other drink concoctions sounded pretty good and I regret not ordering those but it’s hard to say what the house infusions will taste like I suppose. Other tables that ordered food, it looked good and would be tempted to try this place for Happy Hour.
All in all it was sad that most of our groups drinks were just not that great. Everyone loved the place itself and location, but the drinks not so much.

Well, I was leafing through one of the Where To Eat Guides and there it was. We’re always looking for something new and different and I’m thrilled this one popped up on the radar.
I love the design of this place and it’s a very romantic kind of setting. It’s small, surrounded by large windows with gold sheer curtains. The booths are high backed red leather and surround the perimeter. Wood floors and a very cool bar. There is a black one way mirror behind the bar with movies projected from the other side. It’s not really very functional but it sure is cool imagery.
We were seated 15 minutes before our reservation which was pretty cool. The service was excellent and she was there for us every step of the way. Very helpful, answered our questions, and made sure we were taken care of.
I had the most wonderful entrée’ of Seared Salmon with artichoke cream, pistachio oil, and cherry tomatoes for the happy price of $ 24. It was worth every bite because whoever cooked that salmon knew exactly what they were doing. Slightly undercooked and mouth watering. Seasoned perfectly. The combination of artichoke cream and pistachio oil was amazing. Now, you might think this sort of thing would be best paired with a nice white wine but you know what? It went amazingly well with my glass of Merlot and I enjoyed every bite and every drink. The only problem I have is that it is not listed as wild on the menu but when I asked both on the phone and in person, I was assured that it was indeed, wild. I’m still a little leery of that one because there is no proof. It’s not that I don’t trust them. It’s just that, well… I don’t trust them, or anybody else who tells me it’s wild when it’s not listed on the menu. If I can’t be sure of that I’ll probably not eat it again. It’s the only reason I gave them 3 stars. Otherwise it would have been 4 at least, no doubt.
Gilt Club is a great place to start your romantic outing on a Saturday night. After, we walked around Chinatown and that’s always a treat. Lots of other things to do in the area. Yeah, this one is a keeper.

First I feel like I have to state that I bought the Groupon for this last week, as someone said that renders your opinion moot. I completely disagree with that, but felt like I should put the caveat on there so you can skim over this if you so choose.
I adore delicious food. Having worked in the industry for years, subtle nuances and little details are never lost on me. Gilt Club does it all extremely well.
We started with the pork cracklings which literally came out to the table CRACKLING! We also had the bread and pickles, all of which were made in house and delightfully tangy and still al dente.
From there it only went up. Every cocktail we had was delightfully delicious and very fairly priced. The fois gras éclair was possibly the best thing I have ever put in my mouth and that’s saying a LOT! Next was the shaved artichoke salad and it was the only part of the meal that I didn’t feel like I needed to write home about. Not bad, but nothing stellar either.
The third course was delightful little clams in dashi with tofu. The clams were cooked to perfection and the broth was delightful. If we had known how delicious it was going to be, we would have saved a piece of our bread from the pickle tray. Instead we just drank it from the bowl.
Next came the beef shoulder. I had no idea what to expect and my husband suggested we go with another dish since he thought that cut sounded unappetizing. Boy am I glad we didn’t go with anything else. The meat melted in your mouth and the fresh, crispness of the peas complimented the meal perfectly. It was like a piece of pure heaven on the plate!
Not being much in the way of dessert, I trusted our decision to our waitress (who was wonderful!). She suggested the goat cheese ice cream and I could not have been happier. It was a touch over churned but it worked with the richness of the goat’s milk. I could live happily in a pool of that ice cream…
All in all, a stellar visit to Gilt. I’ve already recommended it to several people and look forward to our next visit! Thank you for all of your hard work, both from the service side, kitchen and the bar. You do great work here!

Thank you to the Gilt Club for saving Valentine’s Day… This restaurant truly is one of my favorite places in Portland. We suffered a complete shit show thanks to another restaurant. While at the other restaurant sitting for an hour past our reservation time and still without a server, my husband called The Gilt Club begging for a table. We were astounded and delighted to have the friendly voice say they had a table and were holding it for us. The table we discovered was right in the dark romantic corner. We then had the perfect dinner, some amazing wine and two very sweet and attentive staff members made all the negative thoughts about our almost ruined evening melt right away. Thank you very much Gilt Club… we will be back…

I have been here a handful of times over the years. I returned on a Monday evening with my husband for dinner, I made reservations on Open Table.
I had the small risotto and Matt had the beet salad for starters. The risotto tasted a bit healthy with lots of veggies, it was good, but I like a heavy cheesy risotto. The beet salad was tasty.
I had the burger, it was really good, and I could not finish it. Matt had the 6 oz steak, the portion of everything else on the plate seemed small (especially compared to my burger). The service was just right.
Overall it was a nice meal and we will return.

Regarding first impressions: I came here to toast & celebrate a recent achievement, and was given a lukewarm (almost unfriendly) welcome from the hostess, who upon entering was standing by the bar and seemed bothered by our arrival.
I ordered a few appetizers: Olives and almonds, Escarole, and Foie gras; for my entrée I had the Roasted cod on cedar planked maitake mushrooms, cauliflower, chicken skin and roast chicken jus.
The food was great, but not spectacularly magical — the portions were a bit small for my taste. Though usually at a place like Gilt you not only pay for the food, but also the ambiance and service. I will say the service from our waitress was wonderful and helped elevate the rest of the experience. And the décor itself is very cool: just the right amount of darkness/​light, with interesting art pieces to keep your eyes entertained and your mood chill.
I do plan to come back and give it another try; hopefully my second, third, and fourth impressions will prove to be 5-​star-​worthy. But for now: 3.5.

Can you say legumes?
That’s what I basically was ordering the whole time.
They’ve got lots of choices down to the SOTD, or salad of the day for how much? $ 4.00 during happy hour! Lentil salady. It was unusual and hardy at same time!
They had a wine of the day as well reasonably priced but I wanted something with a little more meat to it and was glad to see there was a cab franc blend.
We split the farro risotto which was again, hearty for this type of weather, and I was definitely getting my grains for the day. I was STILL hungry however so I ordered the beet salad/​brussel sprouts with lentils. I was hoping for more than 1 brussel sprout leaf to this salad but all there was was the notion, the essence. I noted that to myself but the salad was still delicious.
The server seemed a little bit on edge and I looked around to see if it was due to busy-​ness. I did not see that. It did make for a little bit of disconcertedness throughout the meal.
Maybe it was us.
I’m sure you’ve been in the situation where your friend opens her mouth to ask about items, doesn’t pronounce them right, or you cannot believe she just asked what a particular item on the menu is, or quizzes the waitress. You, however know these answers and wished she would have just asked you because now the waitress thinks we are a bunch of hillbillies. I still love her anyway.

I love this place!
I came here with my dad when we first arrived in Portland, shortly after exiting the Greyhound station where two drunks passengers got into a fistfight over luggage.
We walked here directly from our bus, starving from our 3.5 hour journey from Seattle, and still in possession of our luggage. The server greeted us at the front door, and I hesitantly told him that we wanted to eat here, but still had our luggage with us. With that, he grabbed my bags, welcomed us into the restaurant, and showed us to our table.
The interior of this place is beautiful; I love the tall, red leather booths! This place has a small bar as well, and it seems like a great place to grab a drink after work (I hear this place has a great Happy Hour menu).
Kudos to our server for being so good with my dad. He loves to embarrass me everywhere we go. At one point before we received our meal, my father grabbed his fork and knive, banged them on the table and yelled, «I WANT MY DINNER!» right as our server passed by our table. Instead of being off-​put by this behavior, our server let out an enthusiastic «O-​KAY!».
Please, for the love of God, order the Pear Soup with Almonds, Hearts of Palm and Nasturtium Ice Cream. Yes, apparently ice cream and soup CAN go together. AMAZING.
The overall presentation of the food was superb, as was the service. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Portland. Five stars!
ADDED BONUS FOR ALL THE PORTLANDIA FANS OUT THERE: This restaurant was featured on an episode of the show. How awesome is THAT?!

Really good happy hour here.
This is what they have to offer and actually what they had to offer me as this is what I ordered. Stella Artois ($ 2.50), Salt and vinegar chips with chive crème fraîche ($ 2) and Gilt Club «Birds Nest Croûton” — brioche with a fried egg, french fries and wild mushroom gravy ($ 4).
Stella isn’t my favorite beer, but a nice one to drink when it is warm out. For $ 2.50 I would probably drink turpentine. The salt and vinegar chips were very good. Not too salty, but enough that you knew it was there. The Birds Nest Croûton was definitely different. Well worth the $ 4.
Not too far from where I work and I’m always looking for good Happy Hour’s. This one is up there. Get there straight up at 5 and you might even snag yourself a table outside.