Best Restaurants for Birthdays in Forest Park

Portland City Grill offers an exceptional dining experience with incredible food. The sea bass was perfectly cooked, and the seafood trio was outstanding—flavors that truly impressed. However, our server, Troy, lacked warmth and came across as impersonal, which was a bit of a downer. Despite that, the overall experience, atmosphere, and quality of the food were fantastic. Highly recommend this restaurant for a special night out!

Sitting at the communal table is always a wild card. In this case, the other five diners were quiet and didn't really interact with us. The same gamble applies to the chef assignment. Nick did a good job (considering there was a strange dietary restriction that completely changed the way he seasoned the food) but he was pretty low key, didn't talk much or interact with us. The two chefs at the closest tables were both more gregarious. The food is basically $50 per person. It was delicious but my chicken was prepared at the end because the chef "miscalculated" at gave all the meat to the others.

Jake's has a very comfortable, familial feel to it. I always feel quite at home there compared to many other restaurants. We had Christmas lunch there and one of my dining companions said the roast chicken was the best he'd ever tasted. The butterscotch pudding for dessert is so creamy and has just a hint of burned sugar to it which is a nice element. Coffee is very good.

We had our meal here on Christmas Eve. This restaurant was SLAMMED, but they handled it extremely well. We never felt like we weren't being attended to. The food was excellent, salad bar continuously being refreshed. Some of the meats weren't exceptional, but for a night that was jam-packed our wait was less than expected and service was great.

Not since I was last in England did I have a finer tea. Everything was above and beyond. I am already planning my next trip back. This was the highlight of my Christmas season.