1438 NE Alberta Street Portland Oregon
(503) 288 6966


Average Overall Rating:

(4 out of 5)

Average Coffee Refill Rating:

(4 out of 5)

(3 out of 5)

Review by: tktubby on 10/22/2010

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This restaurant has a great ambiance, very funky and hip. The coffee is serve yourself, which is nice, especially during busy times. The food was great. No matter what scramble you get it will be out of this world.

Award Nomination: Best Breakfast Ever

Review #21368Review by: rach8223 on 3/10/2007

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This place is SUPER busy on the weekends. Self serve coffee/tea while you wait though. The wait staff is fairly indifferent but the food is amazing. Some of the best breakfast in the are for sure. Large portions, lots of interesting egg options and the potatoes are yummy!

Review #9842Review by: MrBreakfast.com Visitor on 2/13/2007

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I have been there recently in the past few months and enjoy it every time. Yes, sometimes there is a little wait but that is to be expected with a restaurant that has great food. And much like other restaurants on weekends, regardless of the food, there is always a little wait. The food is good and arrived in a timely manner with pleasant service. The coffee is good and love the self serve, but predominately love the food and menu choices. Dinner and happy hour are great as well.

Award Nomination: Best Breakfast Ever

Review #9613Review by: ignatz on 1/30/2007

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I occasionally cat-sit for friends in this neighborhood, and if I'm going to be there for a couple days, they always give me a gift certificate to the Tin Shed... and I always dread going.

The wait staff doesn't care if you live or die; the self-serve coffee is just another excuse for the staff to glare daggers at any customer who dares to mention that they're out of cream; it is too noisy to have a conversation; there's always a wait and the indoor waiting area is a hallway with a lovely view of the toilets when the restroom doors are opened; the counter and counter seats are too high for me (and I'm six-feet tall!)... I could go on, but why bother. After all that, the food is just okay. Breakfast would have to be stellar to make up for the experience -- and it isn't.

Review #9496Review by: big tipper on 10/1/2006

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after a long wait to be seated and being waited on by a server who was "too cool" to wait on us and made us feel like our presence was an interruption of her chatty time it was hard to enjoy the food. which was OKAY. we won't be back. there are to many other great breakfast places to enjoy.

Award Nomination: Worst Service

Review #8620Review by: MrBreakfast.com Visitor on 9/14/2006

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The wait is usually quite long after 9:00 a.m., but it's worth it. The laid-back atmosphere includes self-serve GOOD coffee while you wait, and they have some of the best menu items in Portland!

Award Nomination: Best Breakfast Ever

Review #8490Review by: merlin on 8/26/2006

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The food is excellent, you can refill your own coffee so that's not an issue. My only 2 problems are that if you are in a party of more than 2 people it takes FOREVER to be seated! And the fact that if you bring your dog you can't sit anywhere but on the concrete--if they would just make sure that the owners are responsible for picking up after their dogs--they should be able to sit anywhere outside since they do claim to be dog friendly.

Review #8348Review by: MrBreakfast.com Visitor on 7/18/2006

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I've been living in the Alberta neighborhood for about 5 years, and I've been going to the Tin Shed ever since it opened. Though there have been moments of spotty service, I feel like they've successfully worked through their growth challenges and are doing a great job of keeping the food quality high and service speedy.

For those people who've claimed that quality's gone down or service is rude, I think you're wrong. Every breakfast I've had there in the past 6 months has been been great (maybe 10 visits), and I've gone in high traffic and low traffic times with equally great service and food quality.

I've actually been really amazed at how well they've managed to keep food coming rapidly and perfectly cooked no matter how many people are there. With the addition of their outdoor seating areas, they've almost tripled their customer head-count, yet the size of their kitchen has stayed constant, and they've still kept the food coming.

OK, enough arguing with the naysayers.

Dishes of note at the Shed:
- Their potatoes are excellent. They call them shed cakes. They are not hash browns, they're something sublimely better. Must be tasted to be understood. A couple of years ago the owner told me how they made them and unfortunatley I was slipping into a food coma and lost the details. I believe they soaked shredded potatoes overnight in some herb-cream of some sort, which they then griddle cook before serving.
- Try the rollover. It's a gravy-egg-shed cake concoction that is pure hangover comfort food. Most excellent.
- If you have the grits, make sure to prep them southern style (i.e., LOTS of butter and salt). You'll enjoy them much more that way.
- My favorite dishes are their Vegi Beni, the How Latin, and the afore-mentioned rollover.

Enjoy the food, ambience, excellent people watching, and friendly neighborhood atmosphere. I love this place.

Award Nomination: Best Breakfast Ever

Review #8026Review by: MrBreakfast.com Visitor on 3/5/2006

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I used to love this place too. But like the last reviewer I have been disappointed with the service. There are some great servers and you have to watch for them - AND hope they are in a good mood. But most of them are annoyed that they are servers, annoyed with you if you ask for anything out of the ordinary and annoyed if you are not one of their friends and you are taking up their time. If you like annoying someone this is the place to go.

The owners seem great and things are better when they are there. Hopefully they will hear the noise and make some changes.

Review #6942Review by: katieee on 1/15/2006

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I started going to Tin Shed in summer 2004. It used to be one of my favorite places, but now I am reluctant to go there. Much has changed in the past few months.

One of my friends works at a local paper, and their ad department was told that Tin Shed won't advertise because it doesn't need any more customers. This attitude appears to be seeping into the service and food prep.

I hate mushrooms, and I ordered the Goat Boy scramble without portobellos nearly every time I ate there. Sometimes I was even asked if I wanted more spinach instead of mushrooms. In November, however, I was told that because of the way the Goat Boy was prepped, it was impossible to serve it without the mushrooms. I argued that I have had it that way a dozen times, but she simpered and said that they had changed their policy. It seemed to please the waitress to deny my request.

The Goat Boy consists of portobellos (arguably the most expensive of the ingredients; by leaving it out, I am saving them money), spinach, chevre, sun-dried tomatoes and eggs. Not a significant amount of prep.

I now avoid Tin Shed. Their irregular service and food aren't worth being treated badly and not being allowed to order what I want.

Review #6602Review by: MrBreakfast.com Visitor on 3/20/2005

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I love to be able to eat in the outdoor setting. The food is well-crafted as if the cooks care about their work. All the staff is friendly. I go back as often as I can.

Award Nomination: Best Breakfast Ever

Review #4691Review by: MrBreakfast.com Visitor on 12/21/2003

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A great little spot in an even better neighborhood! The everything is a must have if you are hungry. Refill the coffee and help yourself to the water both self serve. Wonderful outdoor garden seating, eating area for those dry days comfy inside when it isn't. Casual atmosphere and dress, highly suggest you visit. Might want to show early as the wait can be long. Shhh don't let the locals know I let the cat out of the bag as the sidewalk says "yuppies go home"

Award Nomination: Most Comfortable

Review #2721


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Reviews submitted here are meant to pertain to breakfast only. While Mr Breakfast cannot vouch for the validity of each restaurant review, he feels pretty good vouching for the excellent character of the residents of Portland, Oregon - who are primarily responsible for the review(s) you see above for The Tin Shed.