The Original

The Original was very good, would definitely recommend!

Great spot for some great comfort food! Our server was so kind and very helpful with menu suggestions 😄

We actually got up to leave because glorified mediocre diner is all we could find on the menu or decor. No veggies and super limited options outside of “diner” food.

The Original Dinerant is always my preferred brunch place. Service is always great and food is definitely worth it. Whenever I come here, I feel a great vibe with great people sighting too!

Saw The Original on the TV show Diners, Drive-In's & Dives. Had to come in and try some of the unique flavors while we were in the area. The donut sliders are amazing and so are the Boozy Shakes! I had the Knight Rider and my husband had the Berry Blast. Both are awesome. Tried the chicken waffle appetizer, pretty good. Next time we want to try the entree version. The Original Poutine was good but I think it needed more gravy. Mac and cheese of the day was flavorful. All food was served pipping hot, serve was good. Definitely recommend. Great place for a date night.

Music loud during breakfast and lunch, difficult for phone or 1:1 discussions.

Great brunch spot with my girl friends. Delicious food and some yummy cocktails

We loved this place! Visiting from Chicago and saw an episode of Diners, Drives and Dives before coming into town. The donut sliders brought me in and the chicken and waffles will bring me back!

The chicken and waffles were good and they had a nice kids menu!

Great spot with delicious food - just a little on the noisy side for good conversation.

Breakfast for 7. Extreme subpar service. We had to ask to place our order. We had to ask for refills on our coffee. Others that were seated at the same time as us has finished their meals and we're ready to leave by the time we started getting our food.
The itself was fine.

This is the second time we have been to The Original, and we will be back for more! The food was delicious, and love the atmosphere. Great location downtown Portland...not far from the Keller Auditorium which was our destination after lunch.

We have stayed at the Courtyard around the corner numerous times but had never eaten at the Original. Portions are large. Staff was very friendly and the service was great!

Excellent service and great food

Good ambiance, clean, great waitress. Food prep a little slow. Esp. Poutine which was average. Needed more grave. Tasteless. Fried chicken sandwich wonderful.

Great modern interpretation of American classics. The doughnut burger sliders were good. Green bean tempura was fried just right, with light batter and a little crunch. Braised beef short ribs were good but not special. Taco burger has tons of flavor. I really enjoyed the chicken & waffle. Jalopeno peppers mixed in the waffle added a little extra kick.

Our server was pleasant and efficient. Overall we enjoyed our dining experience. Will definitely go back.

We dined here one evening with some friends from out of town. Overall, it's a good place to grab a bite. They are quick and the food is good and there are some unique items on the menu like the doughnut sliders and some interesting milkshakes. Not fine dining, but its convenient in downtown and a good place for families and larger parties.

Always good

We arrived about 19 minutes early but they seated us right away. Brought out water & coffee which happens from both sides of the table! The food was excellent and hit the spot. Could've been a tad warmer but it was all cooked to perfection!

We were very pleased with The Original. Service was great and you get a lot of food for your money.

Honestly, I was disappointed. Service was great. Atmosphere was echoey and boomy. The food? It looked great but didn’t deliver on the tastebuds.

Crowd-wise it was great for the celebration lunch we had. We had a reservation and were seated immediately.

Will we come back? I don’t know. Staff was great, the space was fun, but the food wasn’t great and we couldn’t hear each other speak.

We took my husband here for Father’s Day brunch. The place looks cool, has a nice layout, and is clearly popular. There was a good selection of breakfast/brunch options. Our service started out good and dwindled to pretty poor. Granted, they were busy and may have just gotten overwhelmed toward the end. However, I’m guessing they are always busy for weekend brunches.... and they probably should have been expecting it. Quality of food was very good.... I don’t know.... overall, it was fine. I would recommend it, but for some reason I’m not in a huge hurry to go back.

Th food was great, staff was attentive. Seating is close together, to the two d-bags that we were next to kept dropping lovely language for our 7 year old to hear. Other than that, wonderful!

Boozy milkshakes were wonderful.

Amazing food in a great ambiance. Brought friends from Nicaragua and Austria for their first meal out in Portland and they were wowed!

I took my folks here, knowing Dad would enjoy the diner feel and food. We LOVED the Poutine. Yummy. Also the boozy shakes - yes please bourbon and ice cream and caramel together. Short ribs were flavorful and tender. Service was very nice and attentive!

Breakfast was soooo good!
The service was slow and I could tell they kept forgetting things... taking a while to get coffee refills.

But it didn’t ruin our experience!

The place is so cute!

Had an issue with one entrée and staff immediately replaced it!

This place is spot on BRILLIANT!! Great food, fun and eclectic twists on diner food. The Chicken and Waffles is fantastic with the smoked maple syrup and the slight kick of the Jalapeño’s in the waffle is perfect! Wr highly recommend The Original!

Staff is always friendly and not pushy. Food is great and the location makes stopping in for a bite easy when you're hanging out downtown.

Our Mother’s Day buffet experience was excellent. Tasty food. Gluten free bread and Marionberry jam are homemade. Service from Stacy was great!

It was a fun restaurant and the food was excellent.

Don’t bother. They don’t live up to the DDD hype. Chicken and waffles was not even seasoned and the jalapeños were whole slices Insead do chopped up like yo would put in something.

Some of the menu items are pretty good—like the chili fries. Others are just average—like the chicken and waffles. The pie was excellent, however, we ordered a few minutes before closing and without being asked, it was boxed up to go for us. To be fair, we did go back and forth with the server about whether we wanted it or not, but I had a Yelp deal for a free slice so of course I had to take it. Still would have been nice to have had the dialog about it being boxed to go before receiving it that way. The server checked his watch at least twice as we discussed the pie and while I know you want to go home, there are at least two other groups that were behind us so it's not like we closed the place.

Anyway, the pie was fantastic. Truly. I'm very picky about pie and I usually don't bother with a pre-made pie because nothing beats homemade but the pie was out of this world!

I needed a breakfast spot that allowed reservations because in Portland there are few breakfast spots downtown that you can get into without waiting forever. The menu was awesome, virtually any type of diet could eat there. Comfort food, diner atmosphere with a touch of Portland quirkiness, and they serve alcohol. It doesn't get better than that! I just dread the thought of them becoming too popular. Thank you for being smart enough to give customers the option of making a reservation....(grrrr to Tasty n Alder on 12th st for this very reason unless you are a table of 7-10 for dinner only) Who does that? I plan on coming back frequently with my visiting out-of-town family and friends. Thank you thank you thank you!

Good food, good with our toddler

Super awesome! The food was amazing can’t say one bad word!

Interesting and tasty spins on diner and comfort food in a mod atmosphere. Think modern retro, with most people there under 40, or old folks like us with younger folks. Go starving because you'll want to share several different dishes just to taste them! We took our college-age daughter and her friends, and they thought it was cool. Here's what the table shared: chicken & waffle sliders (crispy, mustardy, and sweet), poutine (comfort food), donut burgers (oddly good!), and crispy cauliflower (this was devoured by all, including our vegetable-averse daughter). Hubby also had the entree chicken & waffles (those jalapeños are serious, so if you don't like them, don't go order), and I had the smoked steelhead Benedict with melted leeks and spinach (steelhead not too dry, and generous serving with enough to take home). The college kids had chili mac'n cheese (major comfort food), a burger (not a spec left), and the crispy chicken sandwich (also devoured). A chocolate peanut butter milkshake was also shared by all - it was blended in house and arrived in a soda fountain glass with the fountain blender cup filled as well, and was SO, so good.
Pros: tasty, quality ingredients. It's clear that someone in the kitchen cares. Lots to choose from on menu. Interesting combinations. Upbeat atmosphere. The one veggie dish that caught our eye was outstanding.
Con: Only one veggie dish caught our eye (salads seemed boring). Service waxed and waned.
Verdict: a place to splurge on your diet on quality, well made food with your friends.

Ive been doing the Keto diet for a month and it was fantastic to go somewhere they would accommodate my diet :)

The food here is always fresh and good. The wait staff always seem to be pleasant and efficient. This is why I always eat here when I travel down to visit Portland.