Yes and No

We never plan a night out around Yes and No, but often wander in and find ourselves intrigued enough to stay. From outside, you barely even notice it exists – there’s just a nondescript door and a scrawl on the wall next to the Tube. Inside resembles a long blue hallway in someones basement, with an underground club vibe. Modern wooden bench seats line both walls with tables that can be removed when bands play. Interesting lights hang here and there. You’ll find some spectacular people-​watching. Last weekend’s crowd included two unrelated ladies who seemed to be channeling Pat Benatar; a handful of Goth guys; a gaggle of hipster types; and a few suburban folks who knew someone in the band. One night walking by we noticed a glittery crowd spilling onto the sidewalk and went in to see what the draw was. It turned out to be a birthday celebration for a very tall, sexy female impersonator, who was belting out her best Amy Winehouse. Near the bar was a coffin full of Voodoo donuts, and a stack of pizza boxes. The birthday girl welcomed us with a big hug and said to help ourselves to pizza and donuts. Several of her friends took the stage for different numbers, and then the DJ put on an 8-​song Madonna mix and the dance floor was instantly flooded with revelers. We ended up staying til last call. Some nights you can catch an awesome DJ set there – could be trance, could be hip-​hop. Other nights the place is sparse, with just one or two folks at the bar, a chill place to grab a cocktail and catch up with a friend. Drinks are strong and won’t break the bank.
I always have a fantastic time at Yes and No, and hope the rumors of its imminent demise have been greatly exaggerated. Say it isn’t so.

I don’t think this review matter much now because when we were there a few weeks ago they told us they were closing soon, but I just wanted to say this is bar was great. We were the only people in the place, but I don’t think that’s their fault. The location of this bar is just poorly placed. If this bar was on Alberta I think it would do very well. Sleek but kinda divey. The drinks were strong and cheap.
Sorry to see you go Yes and No.

«I’m gonna open his hole like this. Please excuse my French. I’m gonna make him suffer. I’m gonna make his mother wish she never had him — make him into dog meat… He’s a nice, a nice kid. He’s a pretty kid, too. I mean I don’t know, I gotta problem if I should fuck him or fight him.» De Niro drawled on the screen, the subtitles flashing too fast for my bleary double vision eyes to read. I sipped on my tall boy and craned my neck to the side from the barstool to focus on Scorsese’s classic, played stoically and silently on the telly’s stacked on top of one another, implanted in the wall. The bar was laid out like a shotgun cabin, long and lean, it was raucous with the friday night youths of Portland, all of whom were more than oblivious that one of the greatest movies of all time was reaching it’s apex.
«She ain’t the kind of girl you just fuck and forget about, this girl.» says Pesci. I take a pull from my pabst,‘damn right!’ I think to myself.
” Joey, how many times I gotta tell ya? Why’re you always cursin’ when I’m talkin’ to you? Don’t do it around me. Do it around your friends.” DeNiro’s Jake LaMotta whines. Seems strange he should care about profanity, I think, as I take another swig.
«She’s a, the kind of girl you bang and forget about — she’s not like that. You gotta spend time with her, get involved, you know…» Pesci elaborates as his Joey LaMotta, mealy mouthed but practical.
” D’you bang her? «asks Jake.
I notice as I look around the bar getting more crowded, and people are shoving towards my bar stool, crowding me. Soon the dialogue between brothers is obscured as some fat hipster wades in front of the t.v.‘s. I grow annoyed, irritable, my beer starts to taste foul, suddenly the bar doesnt seem half as cool. Then the fat dude gets his drink and saunters off.
„You went out with her and you didn’t try to fuck her?“ asks a flabbergasted Jake.
» I try to fuck anything” says Joey, matter of factly.
«And so do I.» I think. I look at my brother, he is also glued to the television, his eyes darting back and forth reading the subtitles. I gulp down the last of my beer, pure swill. I motion the bartender over with a nod and wave of the index and middle finger, pay my tab, and we wandered back out into the night for more rounds, more trouble, more booze, more women, more ways of blowing our greenbacks. Walking out of the Yes and No I mentally bookmark it and vow to return during the day. I ponder which character my brother and I resemble amongst the LaMotta bros, am I Jake or Joey?, and hope I’m Joey.

Mixed feelings about Yes & No, as if my sentiments perfectly match their name.
When we entered there were only 2 people sitting at the bar, no tender. I waited for a while, with no acknowledgement & then asked, «Are any of us employees?» One of they two guys looked at me for a minute and said: I’m the door man. To which I laughed, considering his job title was not being represented by his actual location. The two guys talked amongst themselves for a while until a pleasant, reserved, bar tender exited the bathroom. She took our order, carded us & participated in casual banter.
The inside of Yes and No is just to my liking, (especially when you take into account the distinct lack of patrons, I love that) it’s dark & loud (but not too loud), and Princess Bride was playing on the three TVs. We, as all normal people do, started quoting _​every_​single_​line_​from Princess Bride.
I bet you want to do the same right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait…
In the end, Yes and No redeemed itself. The bartender gave us some tips on hot vegan fare (she recommended Blossoming Lotus, one of my favs!) & entertained our gradual progression into a more well-​rounded inebriation.
It would be interesting to see what the place looks like when it is hopping. The jukebox there is jampacked with hipster essentials (Cure, Smiths, Bowie, etc.) & I imagine it is consistently a good time.

I went to Yes and No on the night of a First Thursday. The drinks are strong & the atmosphere gave me a kinda new wave-​dive bar feel. The bar is small and intimate. With the tube next door it makes for a fun trip.

Love this place, nothing more to say other than it’s a gem.

Went for a Morrissey night, decent vibe, not too loud, drinks were reasonably priced and lots of babes up in there.

We ducked into the Yes and No and a weekend night and found a safe haven away from all the club-​going college kids. It was around 10 and there were still tables open. Full bar with cheap drinks, nice divey atmosphere and even a pretty clean bathroom! There was good music playing and David Bowie videos and later the orginal Tron movie were playing silently on TVs by the bar. Great place to hang out downtown!

Part of me doesn’t want to write this review, just to keep this place as good as it is. Still, I think people who are on the fence ought to know: The Yes and No has the best jukebox in the city.
Our bartender was really nice and poured strong drinks. This place is a big hallway, there’s a comfort level inside Yes and No that makes Tube seem like drinking in somebody’s shed.

Pretty decent little semi-​divey bar near Burnside. On a Saturday night we had no trouble finding a table at 10:00 pm… perhaps it was still a bit too early for the regular crowd. The bar staff was friendly. Drinks weren’t too expensive. Pretty cool!
One weird thing… they didn’t have any one-​dollar bills, so I walked away with a pocket full of one-​dollar coins… :-/

Yes! …and No. The name really says it all for me.
It’s kind of puzzling to me that they should open right next to The Tube. They attract the same clients, United we stand, dived we fall? They share a wall! Really I feel like this is just an extension to The Tube… but an upgrade. The Tube needs to take notes, and watch it’s back.
Something I like about Rap music (besides everything) is the music videos. Club scenes, girls shakin there ass, money, champagne, cars, you know what I mean — It all basically boils down to them living the good life. If some hipster band were to film a music video and try to translate that idea into a Hipster life style, it would be filmed at Yes and No. Ya dig? The music is loud, some dreamboat with an ironic mustache is on the ones and twos spinning the soundtrack of your life. Unbelievably hot, well dressed people are dancing, smiling, and guzzling PBR. This my friends, is the Hipster version of a rap music video.
So if it’s so glorious why am I saying it’s a little bit of no as well. I overuse of a lot of Unilocal cliches however «pretentious» is not one of them. I am from Orange County, California. pretentious was the name of the game. You can tell that the people there really worked to put that outfit together, which is fine and I wholeheartedly enjoy drooling over them, it just adds a certain vibe to the bar. If you can look past that and enjoy yourself it’s a great time. Adorn yourself with your tightest of jeans and get on down.
Yes Yes Ya’ll and it don’t stop

We found this place after being in the Tube for a little too long during metal night. The sounds of the jukebox lured us in, I’m an 80s music junkie. We found the drinks were cheap, the barstaff were friendly and despite being virtually in the middle of two bars where women do tricks for tips (Not the hooker kind, the slapping and swinging kind.) the clientele is ok.
Until this place gets overrun by the neighborhood, we’re here. It’s a little oasis in the midst of Saturday night drunken kids. And goddamn are the drinks cheap.