Behind the Central Library


Average Overall Rating:

(4 out of 5)

Average Coffee Refill Rating:

(3 out of 5)

(1 out of 5)

Review by: kissmygrits on 12/27/2009

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Want to support a Mom and Pop restaurant in a world of corporate logos? This older Chinese-American couple runs this place with unfailing courtesy, giant glasses of OJ and milk, fast service and the bacon, OMG the bacon is to die for.

I went in with two friends on 12/23, and the owner said our breakfast was on the house, as his gift of Christmas. We'd only been in once before, so it's not like we were regulars.

Charming, probably won't be around for too much longer, as owners are probably older than your grandparents. Would be a great location for a movie seeking a traditional American diner.

Award Nomination: Best Service

Review #18848Review by: ignatz on 1/30/2007

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Leo's is a little diner located 'round behind the downtown public library -- one of those places that is so normal that it flips over into being weird. How weird? Just weird enough that this is exactly the place where I would take David Lynch for breakfast. I mean, who would think to put the words "Non-Smoking" in their cafe's name? Leo, that's who -- whoever he is, or was.

Lovely formica and leatherette diner decor in blues and whites and there's never more than one other customer in the joint. At every place-setting in the joint is a fresh copy of today's Oregonian newspaper, which is an amazing bit of customer service, considering that the place is so empty. Your host is a tiny asian man (could be Leo, who knows?) who chatters pleasantries at you as he shows you to a booth, and then continues chattering as he walks away. It's as if what he has to say has a half-life, so it needs a little time to fade away.

The speciality of the house, the coup de breakfast, the crowning bit of culinary weirdness, is, without a doubt, the bacon. You have never before seen such bacon. They dredge it through flour before cooking for extra crunch. Yes, it's tempura bacon.

I'm saying!

Review #9495


Connect With Mr Breakfast:




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 Leo's Non-Smoking Cafe.