Departure Restaurant and Lounge

This was an amazing experience truly. I went on a first date here and we enjoyed ourselves very much the view was beautiful and the food was soooooo good. The waitress was either too eager or non existent but it was okay. Everything else was absolutely amazing

Love this place. Love the view. Love the service.

The food was incredible. There was a really nice play between flavors of each of the 4 or 5 plates we ordered. The steak was perfect, and the carrot and avocado salad was sublime.

This place exceeded every expectation possible. This was our first date destination and it went great. Amazing service, delicious food and one of the most unique environments possible! 5 stars absolutely!

It was my friends 60th birthday and they did not acknowledge. They were late seating us for our reservation.
I had reqeusted seating on roof top and they could not provide unless we waited an hour even though we had a reservation. Hostesses were rude but waitress was polite.

The top level view was awesome! The food was fantastic. Service was great. Would recommend to anybody. Great place!

We celebrated my husband‘s 55th birthday here and had a fantastic dinner! The service was amazing and our waiter knew everything there was to know about what he was serving us which made it a lot of fun. I’ve never had such amazing Asian fusion in my life.

Great meal in a wonderful setting. The service was great and very helpful when choosing our meal.

Wonderful experience. Great food. Fantastic view. Excellent service.

Excellent meal, with even better service. The food was served quickly and our waitress was very informative. I have celiac disease and I felt very safe eating there.

Love this place! Vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, and meat menu items. Great drinks as well.

While Departure has remained a staple for special occasion dining, lately the food has become saltier and saltier. While I love spicy food, my husband does not and our entree was almost unbarable.

Excellent Gluten Free menus selection.

Second time here, food is awesome. Not your everyday place since the prices are so high but great for a special occasion. Food is family style and waiters are very good about telling you how many you will need given your party size. Amazing views and a great place for people watching.

Very good Asian fusion food. One of the best desserts I have ever eaten was their strawberry rhubarb tart with coconut pandan ice cream Heavenly. Chicken wings were unusual and delicious. Loved the stone cooked wagyu steak and the fried rice with Thai sausage and egg. Great cocktails. Not as fond of the Tom Kha soup which was very spicy and not as packed with seafood as we expected. But all in all, a lovely meal. Great service . Would happily go back again.

We had an amazing meal at Departure! At first we were a little disappointed that we didn’t get a table by the window, but the food was so fantastic we didn’t even miss the view! We ordered lots of dishes to share and each was better than the last! Fun drink selection too. A little pricy ($160 for 3 of us before tip) but truly the food was so good we felt we got our money’s worth. Will definitely come again!

Departure Restaurant and Lounge is a top of the line kind of restaurant. Food is superb and the atmosphere was one of a kind. This restaurant has a fun, romantic, futuristic feel to it. Really liked how they had different menus based on one's food preferences and needs. Beautiful view of Portland from all spots of the restaurant. Definitely a place to visit when coming to Portland.

It’s creative space and great view but you compete for tables with views as a tourist with the locals

Went here on my one year anniversary, they immediately said “happy anniversary!” Upon arrival. Great food and very friendly.

Not sure why anyone would rate this restaurant anything less than 4 stars! The three of us ordered eight dishes plus dessert and raved about them all. Seriously. Fresh ingredients, perfect balance of flavor and spice and superior/attentive wait staff. First timer and most certainly will be a regular! Thanks! rht

Fortunately we had reservations (Wednesday evening) because the place was packed. Could not hold quiet conversation at all. Food was interesting and tasty, service was great. Definitely for the younger crowd (which doesn't include us)!

This place has a wonderful and unique location and view, if seated by the windows. Food is good. But it is the noisiest restaurant I have ever been in! Makes the experience overall very unpleasant and detracts from the good food and service.

Third time at Departure; every time I try it I always hope for a different result but no different to the previous times I’ve been there. Starters were pretty good (Carrot & Avocado salad ($9) and Chicken Spring Roles ($7) )but main course was terrible! I had Chili Chicken ( $27)and rice (you pay extra for the rice) - Chicken was fatty (skin was very fatty, which made the chicken greasy) and mostly bland and the chili sauce was made was dried chilies (gross). What’s wrong with fresh chili to make a nice sauce? Overall, value for money is not good. A party of 4 was $230 with tip and no desert.

Sadly they put us next to the entry door which felt like we were in a corridor. We had to move to an outside table. It was ok, but far from perfect considering the price. This was our 10th visit

Husband and I visited Portland for a vacation, mainly to eat and drink! Chef Gregory's imperial tasting menu was absolutely amazing, so many delicious and interesting dishes. Having also eaten at another famous prix fixe Portland restaurant earlier in the week, I can say that hands down Departure was much better! My only criticism would be the wine pairings. We were surprised at the size of the pour for the first wine, but mainly concerned that we were going to end up smashed! But after my husband's empty glass was cleared and we had another couple dishes delivered with no wine, we asked what was going on. Turns out their wine pairing for the 10 dishes plus 2 desserts was a series of 3 wines paired with a group of dishes. Fine, but let us know at the beginning so we can try to pace the consumption, especially since the majority of wine pairings do a different vintage with each dish.

From the minute we stepped up to the hostess desk, the service was friendly and impeccable.

Every server gave us 5 star service delivering food, drinks and answering our questions. I would definitely visit again and recommend this place to anyone.

Was really good experience at Departure. Service was a bit slow and had to remind few things to waitress beside that everything was good. Menu was too small to me because I don`t eat meat or spicy food. I like sushi but was upset with few rolls available only. Beside that everything was good.Great views and ambience. Really fancy place

29th Anniversary. Appreciated the vegan options, the view and of course my lovely bride. Memorable.

The food is way overpriced and the portions are kid-sized. Very disappointed in our experience, will not return.

Lovely when a restaurant exceeds expectations on all levels-great experience and awesome view too!

Great overall experience

Brunch with Bloody Mary drink with more lunch brunch snack

great food, staff and aesthetic. would suggest booking a reservation.

The waitress was totally unfriendly... and bad manners...

Departure never disappoints. Awesome service great food in a stunning environment.

This reservation was the pinnacle of a week long vacation. I've been a fan of Chef GG for several years and was excited to finally try Departure! We even booked our hotel at the Nines around this reservation. It was unfortunately a great disappointment. We were planning on doing the full Imperial tasting menu. I have a minor oral allergy to some raw fruits and nuts (nothing life threatening). Rather than omitting those from the dish and using their creativity as chefs and a kitchen staff, the restaurant just told me I couldn't have the tasting menu. But the waiter would not stop talking about how AMAZING the tasting menu is. I encouraged the others with me to do the full courses and I would just order for myself since I surprisingly could not participate. The waiter provided me with an allergen menu and when I asked for his recommendations he said "hmm well none of the things I really like are on here." That was just one of several comments he made that made my enthusiasm for this meal drop lower and lower. It was all "you guys are just going to LOVE the tasting menu " and then a sorry look to me. While the dishes I ordered ended up being fine (though nothing to write home about), it certainly did not compare to the experience my dining companions had. I'm a foodie and we've eaten tasting menus at many fine dining establishments. I understand chefs not changing a dish to suit a customer's preference but to not accomodate an allergy, and then to just rub it in my face, ultimately lead to a really terrible experience for what was supposed to be our last great meal in Portland. We will not be back next trip.

THIS PLACE WAS SO GOOD. We went for an anniversary dinner. Every single aspect was amazing. Our server was incredible. My wife wanted to tell her she loved her eyeliner(it was blue, if this gets back to her my wife said your eyeliner was awesome). If you're willing to drop at least $50 per person, you're going to have an incredible time. I don't remember what beer I got but it was SOO GOOD. I had wagyu steak, which I've never even thought I'd be able to try bc of the price tag, but I splurged and it was so worth it!!! Omg I am still in love with this place, we'll be back next year!

I would recommend skipping the restaurant and heading straight to the bar. Food was lack luster but the outside terrace had beautiful views.

My boyfriend and I came here for our anniversary and it knocked out all of our expectations, which were already pretty high. I'm confident that we could have ordered anything on the menu and loved it, but we got the kimchi fried rice, crunchy crab roll, and chili shrimp. The flavors of everything were great and the service was awesome too. I would recommend this place to any of my friends and family.

It was an excellent culinary experience with an awesome view of the city. I would highly recommend you go and enjoy all that Departure has to offer.