McMenamins Ringlers Pub

Regardless of your opinion of the McMenamins food, beverages, service, hospitality, or even the entire enterprising empire (and seemingly every Portlander has one they'd *love* to share with you), few can argue that, from a music and entertainment standpoint, they're an uncontested net positive, bringing in artists from all over the world and providing fantastic venues within which we all collectively grow a little richer in spirit. The musical map of Multnomah County (and beyond) would be a dulcet desert, or at the very least more Spartan, without their numerous venues (indoor and out) providing year round live lyrics and limitless libations.Ringlers Pub is uniquely situated directly under what is arguably Portland's most well-known and regarded entertainment destination, the Crystal Ballroom. On its own, it's a fairly standard watering hole, serving decent food and drinks at acceptable prices. Service is good. Location, apart from its proximity to the aforementioned venue is, like all places downtown, a bit of a chore to get to, on occasion...but it does have other perks. Namely, an exhaustive selection of whiskey from around the world, which never fails to make me happy. Yet one little advertised feature shines (secretly) above them all: preferred entry to any concert or event happening above.For a modest price ($15 per person) for each ticketholder, easily spent on a couple shots of high-quality scotch (which elevates any event, IMHO), security will make their rounds ~30 minutes before doors open, check your tickets and receipt, give you a wrist stamp and direct you to a separate queue full of sauced-up spectators that are allowed entry into the ballroom before the general public. Savvy folks, such as myself and my wife, leverage this (only slightly unfair) advantage to cut straight to the front row of any performance and secure the best seats (metaphorically, since you'll be standing) in the house - a perk WELL WORTH paying a premium on top of the price of admission.Portlanders are particularly picky about their preferred pubs and grub, but even the prickliest patron cannot possibly protest the privilege of premature passage for the price of a pint (14 point alliteration combo)! And blissfully, the food and drinks hold up their end of the bargain, and the pub is open late enough (on weekends to accommodate those post-performance hunger pangs. In short: get there early; order the Hammerhead BBQ Chicken pizza; play some pool, pinball or shuffleboard; knock back a few whiskies; see a show; and for Bob's sake, enjoy yourselves!

I think we've all been to a McMenamins at this point, so I'll try not to be too repetitive. Ringlers in particular I enjoy because they host Trivia on Monday nights (Bridgetown Trivia), and it's very spacious. Parking can be a bit of a headache because of the location, but I've consistently been able to park in the same area without a headache. The staff seems to change in and out, but has always been friendly. I do enjoy that they carry RC Rootbeer, which is pretty underrated, and there is usually an eclectic group of people patronizing this spot. On certain nights when there is a concert, you also get to people watch! I can't give it a 5th star because the food is always solid but never great, the prices are on the higher side and nothing about it stands out as great.

Super disappointing experience here despite loving all the other McMenamins we've been to. Bar staff was rude and dismissive, they seemed annoyed when we asked for a menu after sitting down at a spot they cleared for us but didn't wipe down. After ordering food it didn't come for 30 minutes so we asked if they'd mind getting us a to-go box since we had tickets to a show close by. 10 minutes later we told them we may need to leave and she finally walked back to the kitchen to check on it. Brought back food that had clearly been ready for some time, a warm limp side salad because it had been under the warmer and hard burger buns. Bummer experience, felt like they got their tip by closing us out early and could care less after. Maybe the shows are what drives the business so they don't care. I don't recommend this spot, we won't be back.

We stopped in for a bite and ended up trying the hard cider flight which was really great! The cranberry cider was amazing! We ordered some fries which were pretty good (nothing to write home about but... they were fries) will definitely be back to try a full meal!

I'm a Big Fan of McMenamins and this is my second visit to this location. I like this location because of the large game room: pinball, billiards and shuffleboard. My husband, and I play shuffleboard and shuffleboard and billiards are free up until 6pm. The food is good and we usually mix it up between the pizza, burgers and salads. Great adult libations too and we like their beer and hard cider. We like to go on Sundays and it's usually very mellow up until around 5-6pm and gets busy after 6pm and especially of theirs a band playing that night. Cool place to hangout. I recommended it.

Tater Tots! Sure that's a weird way to start a review but come on aren't we all just a bit tired of getting fries with EVERYTHING?!? First the basics nice place big bar big selection of booze if that's your thing, there's a gaming area in the back. For the Covid era they have installed plexiglass between booths which is a nice touch.Food, did I say tater tots? I ordered a blue cheese based burger which was cooked perfectly and again tater tots in regular but they also have Cajun which means I will have to travel 800 miles to try those again. Staff was friendly and attentive. Well worth a visit.

There food is extremely mediocre, if the service was faster this might have been acceptable, but instead we waited an hour for the food to arrive. This place was in all seriousness one of the worst dining experiences I have ever encountered through my life.

Extremely rude service!! Came after a concert and the Event Staff woman/ manager was on a power trip and extremely rude to customers. She made my friend with anxiety cry and when I talked to her about her behavior afterward, she said she did not feel the need to apologize for it. Made our whole experience terrible. We will not be returning and I suggest going to any other Mcmenamins location.

Chill spot, cue sticks were decent for the pool table, staff was nice, I'd definitely go again.

My wife and I had dinner here Saturday (03/11/23) and the food and waitress were great! The hostess on the other hand...she wasn't so pleasant. Not sure if she was having a bad day or not, but she wasn't friendly and seemed irritated to seat us. Other than that, we enjoyed dining here and the drinks.