Food is excellent, service is excellent, it’s about time for an interior refresh (including the walls and furniture)

One of the best meals of our life. Amazing vegan menu. truly a delightful experience with an wonderful staff. Will be remembering the night for a long time and will be going back for new memories.

Jeff, our waiter, was fantastic. Food was great
.BUT bring back the old Brussels Sprouts please

Departure is one of my family's favorite dining spots. Aside from the breathtaking views and cool locale, we return time and again for the quality of the food, which never disappoints. We brought another couple who had never been, one of whom is vegetarian, and she really appreciated the entire vegetarian menu that was available. We will definitely continue to dine here every chance we get.

Food is simply mediocre. We had ordered few small plates and Tom Yam soup. Only the salad was somehow edible. Shrimp was overcooked, chicken yakitori was very dry, Tom Yam was so very salty it was simply hazardous to eat without damaging one's kidneys.
On the positive note, our waitress was very attentive and nice, liked the service.

The food was refreshingly delicious. The service and staff were phenomenal. I would definitely go again!

It was awesome!

We ordered the Imperial Course selection and several cocktails. It was absolutely spectacular. As someone who has spent all of my life (21 years) traveling and enjoys experiencing new cuisine, I was truly impressed. The wagyu skewers were stunning, though I had assumed they would be rather banal and just there to financially impress. They were "the s**t." The cocktail I had incorportated a spicy Korean sauce normally used in marinades of meat (the cocktail was called the Dragon King I believe) was fantastically paired with the smoky Tequila they chose and the texture of the crushed ice. Each dish was creative, aside from the pickled vegetables. However, even the pickled vegetables had some notes that were exceptional and involved some type of picked citrus (I forget as it is very late).

Anyway, drop some cash. Spoil your extremely sexy boyfriend and eat some dank food.
Thats a wrap folks I am off to bed.

Food is amazing and it’s well worth the price.

The food was fantastic, but what really set me over the top was the allergen-friendly menu. They actually have a special menu of dishes free of gluten, dairy, nuts, garlic, onion, egg, and other key allergens. As someone who was recently diagnosed with allergies to several of these things, I really appreciated that, and it made the dining experience so much easier and more pleasant!

Guests/clients always impressed after dunner & drinks at departure

The food is unique and nothing especially disappointed. The beverages are extremely marked up, but you're really paying for the setting, ambiance, and location.

My main issue was that the service was extremly obtrusive to the point of aggrevation. My date and I were interupted about once every three minutes for our entire 45 minute or so meal. We had three different people come to our table, the server, the food dropoff person and the cleanup person, and each rotated through over and over and over asking how things were, what they could take away. No one took any hints on the topic.

Why would anyone pay this much to not be able to sit and enjoy conversation or take time to eat their food. I would assume they were trying to rush me out if it weren't for the empty table next to us. Maybe they have a high table-turnover philosophy or something. At the end of the meal I spent around $130 for two people and drinks and left annoyed.

The food was good.

I stopped by the bar outside while waiting for my reservation time. Beverages were overpriced, the liquor selection was sparse, and the drinks were weak. I think this place really just skates by because of the lack of elegant dining options in portland, and the building-top view.

Excellent service, great food and affordable!!!

Amazing vegan menu. Visiting from out of town but when we come back to Portland we will definitely return! The service was very thoughtful and impressive. You will not be disappointed with Departure.

Exceptional.

Ashley was a fabulous waitress! She met our every whim courteously with a can-do attitude and a smile.

The food leans towards spicy. It iis awesome if you are dining with someone you can share with. It is a fantastic dinner of appetizers!

The one who seated us had an air of arrogance about him. He was miffed my wife didn’t sit where he told her too. The ambience was bright and warehouse like. We sat next to loud guests. It wasn’t the best.

Poor service. We were not approached by a server for quite some time. After receiving our food, service fell further down. Not very attentive or friendly.

We are Vegan and Departure has a wonderful Vegan menu. We totally forgot it was Portland dining month, so they had a special 3 course vegan meal option as well! the appetizer was the Roasted Carrot salad which was so delicious! The Chili tofu I have had many times here and it is always good, however this time it was the spiciest I have yet to have here, glad I like the extra heat! the only negative I have is service was slow, our server was super nice just wish the frequency of checking on us would have been more consistent.

Really heard great things about this restaurant. Went on a Saturday evening for a nice evening at, from what we had heard, an "upscale" restaurant. Too many people in t-shirts and blue jeans for that--but this is Portland. We also were told this a great place to see the city. Unfortunately, we were seated in the back corner of the restaurant near the kitchen. If you go, demand a seat towards the windows, otherwise you may just have a view of the line of people ordering at the bar.

Now, the best part of the evening was fortunately the meal. The meals are served family style, so order to share. The lemon grass shrimp salad was a standout starter. We also had the roasted snapper which was delicately flavored and prepared just right. The chicken massaman curry was very different from one's we've previously had at Thai restaurants. It had a dark, meaty taste rather than strong peanut flavoring--but still good.

I can't let this review go without mentioning the red lighting in the men's room. It feels like you're going into a darkroom to develop some film. Why??? Then there was the excitement for the evening, we went to the patio (yes, go to the patio if you can--it's got a great view of the city and great atmosphere). The plates and glasses were flying after we got there. Apparently, a female with probably too much to drink had fallen over a table tipping it over. At least her friends were there to pick her up and carry her out of the patio area.

The food was staggered embarrassingly. There was over 20 minutes between when the first person got their food, and the last person. The host auctioned off menus in a quizzical and annoyed fashion. We were rarely checked on by our server, even though about 10 different people "touched" our table.

The food had outstanding flavors...no complaints there. However, the experience was completely ruined by the amateur service.

She wanted something special, memorable. Departure delivered.

The music and decor is so dated. The food is overpriced. The service was awful. They serve everything family style which is typically fine, but they shorted us servings on two courses. It just wasn’t an enjoyable experience especially for what we paid. So disappointing.

Last night of Portland Dining Month! Excellent service. Wonderful food choices, with just-right portions. Beautiful view of the city. Creative, tasty cocktails.

We enjoyed every aspect of Departure. The service is always top notch, and the food is incredible. Every time we go, we try something new and we are never disappointed!

A great place to take a friend from out of town and show the city. In the heart of portland with an amazing portland experience. Excellent service and food that is intense for the palette!

Went for Portland dining month.
Pros: Food was really good. Dessert was excellent. The roof top bar area has great views of the city.
Cons: Seating and ambiance sucked. We were seated in an odd spot with a large pillar blocking my view of basically everything. I felt like I was in the time-out corner. To make it worse they seated a group of three in the equally tiny corner spot right next to us with one person in their party directly facing our table. It’s hard to describe the bizarre tight space they crammed us all into. When the waitress came to take the other groups order and squeezed between our tiny tables, her butt was less than a foot from my face. No fault of hers, she had a lovey tush, but less than ideal as I’m trying to enjoy my meal. For the price we paid for dinner, even with the dining month discount, I expected a better dining experience. The music was also very loud; even at our tiny table we were shouting at each other.
With a different seating arrangement we probably would have enjoyed Departure, but honestly, probably won’t come back.

Departure is number one on my list of restaurants to go out to. Their food is incredible, their restaurant beautiful, and did I say the food is incred

The food is as good as everyone has claimed. Nice service, nice look.
Very noisy and busy feel, not a place to relax.

Our service was great and our food was great. We went during Portland Dining Month and the variety of options were flexible and delicious.

My husband, daughter and I enjoyed our meal here although it felt like we had to work hard at the experience. They only allow seating once half the party has arrived, which means my husband couldn't be seated until my daughter and I arrived. Did they need one and a half diners to be present?

They also asked about food allergies before we were seated, which we initially took as a good sign. We mentioned a garlic sensitivity, and the hostess said almost everything has lots of garlic and then she handed us a small allergen free menu, which she suggested we order from. I guess that's supposed to cover the gamut of gluten free, etc. and there wasn't much on it. Seems a bit restrictive. Weren't there any dishes cooked fresh that could have garlic left off? The waiter was coached to say the only way they could guarantee it is if we ordered off the allergen free menu. So much for ordering the Portland Dining Month menu, which is what we came for.

The wait staff was very friendly if a bit scripted, and the food we ordered was delicious. Conversation was difficult, because the music was loud. Prices were high. We're glad we went, but it's not a place that will draw us back again.

What an amazing dinner! Went here on a parents night out & it did not disappoint. Thank you Nom Nom Paleo for all of your great suggestions & for the reviews that led us to this gem of a restaurant.

Very hip joint, but a bit overpriced. Food was good but not 5 stars

Food and service (Genevieve) were excellent. Great views. However it is a very loud restaurant, too close tables. I felt like I was involved in multiple conversations. A woman sitting behind me was yelling to be heard to her group, which also meant she was constantly yelling in my ears. I probably she had requested a change.

Nice selection, great food. Hard to have a conversation

Love this restaurant: food, ambience, everything about it was delightful.

Every time I eat at Departure I am not disappointed! Outstanding!

It is always such a treat to dine at Departure Restaurant & Bar. The food is amazing and so unique that it is hard to decide what to order. Service was second to none. This was my second visit and I cannot take friend from out of state there.

My wife and I visited Departure for Portland Dining Month and are really glad we did. Service was excellent and our wonderful server Jennifer's suggestion that we try 'one of everything' (6 options available on the 3 for $33 menu) was right on the money. Dishes are served 'family style' to share, so we were able to experience the entire menu. Every dish was excellent with the Shrimp and Kale Salad and the Snapper stunning. We couldn't decide which desert we liked better, but both plates were licked clean. Service was wonderful from the smiles and efficient check in and seating, to Jennifer our personable and knowledgeable server, to the attentive , but unobtrusive wait staff. Even the floor manage stopped by to make sure our experience was a good one. If this was an example of how they treat their guests, we will definitely be back to try their 'tasting' menu. Thank you Departure for a wonderful pre-theater experience.