Love love this quaint little neighborhood place! The bartender on last night (I feel so bad I can't remember his name)...because the hot toddies were so good!! Lol. He's the best! He's been there a long time...lives close and really makes the visit so worth it! The food is great and overall atmosphere here is so worth a visit!! Thanks for the fun and great service!!
We stopped in Saturday morning and was a little confused by the fanciness of the place but quickly found how inviting the place actually was. We have a toddler so it seemed like a not kid friendly place but was very hospitable. I will visit next time I am in town because I loved it so much! Great food and waitstaff. Prices are exactly what I would expect to pay for local grub.
Amazing Bloody Mary - great staff! Wanted to try everything that was on the menu! Will be back - so awesome they have parking!!!
One of the very best Bloody Marys we have ever had! Our dinners were one of the best meals we have ever had in our 50+ years traveling around the US and Europe!
Always the best times are spent with friends at Nell's. Wonderful service and delicious food! How can you go wrong with a Manmosa 🥂at brunch !
Fantastic service! Very attentive. The food was outstanding! I highly recommend the mushroom tarte.
A neighborhood bar/restaurant nearby where we rent for the winter. Good cocktails and happy hour food...great Sunday Brunch. Friendly and competent staff.
A classic American restaurant that makes everyone feel like it is their neighborhood hangout. Love the staff, great drinks and delish Food!
My friend and I only had drinks, but they were GOOD drinks, and the ambiance was GREAT. We sat outside, and what fun it was, on a sunny-but-windy day, to have the tiny leaves from the trees blowing down and landing in our hair, on the table, and even in our drinks; hahaha! It was hilarious, and we loved it! Cafe Nell is in a pretty neighborhood with lots of trees; a great place for outdoor dining.
Great food, great service and wonderful ambiance. Well worth a visit.
Helen Sunderland Wolfe
+5
Love this place! We always take friends there and especially love dining outdoors. Staff is great!! So is the food!
Love it! Local gem with s neighborhood feel. Going in almost as good as moms house. Staff treats you like your family and breakfast and drinks are divine.
I go every year when I come to Portland for The Mary Nell and classic eggs benedict. Lemon Mascarpone Pancakes with some warm blackberry magic stuff. Delicious every time!
Loved � Ask for Brandon! He's the BEST server! Great menu! Fresh ingredients and the stuffed avocado � with bay shrimp is amazing!!!!
All the service is so friendly and helpful. The food is imaginative, delicious and well-presented. The atmosphere is proud and cheerful. I have good memories from this place!
Great food and service. It is a lovely place and very charming.
Wonderful food and a wonderful atmosphere. Beautiful and immaculate bathrooms, which usually means translates to the same care in the kitchen. Will definitely return!
The best brunch in Portland, lovely atmosphere, great service, amazing food!
Had Mothers Day dinner there with my mom and sister, it was our first time there. The food was excellent! And for Mothers Day, service was a little slow- to be expected and they seemed a little understaffed, but we were in and out of there in 75 minutes. Even with the service being slow, I'd give Cafe Nell 5-Stars. Our waitress was really polite and took the time to answer our questions, made a suggestion to my mother between two items, who in turn, my mother ended up loving her pork shank that was suggested. Overall, was a good experience for all 3 of us.
Again, food - yum. Worth the wait.
Always delicious! Server Alex was great with our larger group. Been for a few different meals recently and excellent every time!
Christy Winchester Simpson
+5
Great food, relaxing atmosphere! We would definitely go back, and recommend it to others who either live in Portland, or are visiting this beautiful city.
Great place, service and food. Very nice outside seating fairly priced.
I had the Cafe Nell Burger!
Completely loaded, was one of the most delicious burgers I've had in a long time.
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Or visit to Café Nell was fortuitous, as the nearby restaurant we'd planned on checking out was unceremoniously closed during their posted operating hours (both online and terrestrial), for some unknown reason. We looked for something similar in the neighborhood, and this classy little bistro jumped out at us, having both an intriguing brunch menu and an adorable aesthetic.
Upon arrival, and lacking a reservation, we were informed that the only available tables were inside (awesome!), and were seated immediately. Pleasantly surprised to see a variant of one of my favorite cocktails (the Rusty Nail) on the drink menu, I ordered the Kentucky Nail to go with my chicken paillard, while my wife ordered the French 75, a sort of sparkling lemon gimlet, along with the shrimp and grits; I'm still flabbergasted that she didn't order the Dungeness crab mac & cheese!
In both cases, the entrées were incredible; the shrimp and grits, an elevated home-cookin' comfort classic, hit all the right notes. Meanwhile, the chicken paillard was a complex amalgam of savory, sweet and sour, unified by the acerbic mustard vinaigrette dressing drizzled over both greens and fowl, it's only weakness being there wasn't enough of it. This would be my only complaint about our dining experience here: without the presence of an included side dish, this otherwise exemplary dish seemed a little exorbitantly priced for the size of the portion, yet not enough to be a detraction. Still, those with larger appetites should plan, and order, accordingly.
As gorgeous as the covered outdoor seating is, especially as it was on the warm Sunday morning in which we visited, the interior décor is no slouch, with its upscale-diner-meets-Parisian-boutique vibe. It's cute, cozy, and intimate, particularly after sunset, when the lighting manifests a moodier, duskier, more sultry ambiance. Perfect for a date night!
Portioning and pricing taken into consideration, a meal at Café Nell is still a worthwhile experience. They do things differently enough to stand out among their competitors, offering some truly incredible dishes, uncommonly great (and uncommonly encountered) cocktails, and stellar service, all packaged together in a charming little corner space that wouldn't seem out of place in any of the 20 Parisian arrondissements...which is saying something, because this is ostensibly an American café. When you can stand toe-to-toe with the culinary colossus that is French cuisine and culture, you're doing something VERY right.
Im surprised this restaurant doesn’t get better reviews but sounds like service gets tough when it’s busy and I can see how this Northwest spot can get really busy for lunch and dinner. It’s a small place inside but they’ve created amazing outdoor spaces. I’ve been a few times, always during off-times like 3-4p for a late lunch. The food is always great (chicken and salmon cob are my go-to but the beef and turkey burgers are fantastic too). The service has always been friendly, attentive, and quick too. Go during their off times or just be patient as the atmosphere is incredible and the food is worth the wait!
Fun spot for a group reservation outside. It's on a quiet street. They have a sidewalk patio and back patio in addition to indoor dining. The have a full bar. We came for dinner but the breakfast and lunch menus looked better. I wished there had been more snacks to order for the table. I'd come back to sit outside again.
We had been to a wine tasting in the alphabet district and needed a light dinner. Cafe Nell hot the spot. It's decor is quirky but not in a bad way, lots of convex mirrors on the wall and ceiling.We had eaten a large late lunch so decided to share the crab cake appetizer and the mussels and fries entree. The crab cakes were tasty but could have had more crab and less filler. The mussels and fries were delicious. We had to order bread to soak up the sauce. We will definitely go back with bigger appetites.
It was a very warm and inviting atmosphere, definitely enjoyed the vibe and live music (which was just the right volume). Sat outside, temperature was cozy with the space heater, lighting is festive. Beyond that, the food and house cocktails were top notch, service was fast and friendly. Will definitely return
Always a must go to location when I’m in town. Great location, food and service. Do yourself a favour and eat here.
Sublime brunch. We had the huevos rancheros, pumpkin pancakes, and turkey burger. The food and cocktails were excellent, and the outdoor space was really comfortable thanks to their heaters.
The food was great. Restaurant seemed understaffed. 5 diners, took 3 hours, appetizers and dinner, no dessert. Staff was friendly, I think our server was also working the bar. Food was fabulous. Swordfish with tomato reduction and butternut squash. Pork shank ossobuco with squash and risotto. Nice portions.
100% recommend. Great service, fantastic French bistro ambiance, great food. Glad to have popped in for a meal and a few drinks. Best restaurant experience I've had in awhile.
What a delight, the staff is genuinely kind and the service was great.
The Oasis is a great addition and can't wait to go back. The food was absolutely perfectly divine.
One of the best risotto I've had in Portland by far.
Do not leave without trying the spinach pillows and dessert.
We had brunch. It was overall good but I feel like something was missing. The crab cake Benedict was good but not great. I thought it was going to be loose/lump crab but the cake was actually really good. The egg was poached perfectly, however, the hollandaise sauce was missing something and lacking flavor. The breakfast sandwich was good but nothing too exciting. The portions seemed small. We loved the seating in the oasis! Perfect setting for brunch. The service was a bit slow and our server was cocky and seemed a bit arrogant. Nice overall but I didn't love the way he talked to us and made it seem as though we were an inconvenience to him. I'll be going back to try again but I hope it shines a bit brighter next time.
The picture I took already has a few bites out of it because it smelled so delicious that I was already a few bites in before I thought about taking a picture.
The food here was wonderful, and the ambiance and decorations were awesome. I enjoyed literally every bite of food that I ate here. Everything is sumptuous and delicious.
The staff here were great and talkative, and the service was quick and on top of everything!
If you are in Portland, this is a must-go place in my opinion and will sit at the top of my recommendations for Portland trips.
Love the French Toast, the apple turnover, the chicken light and bright option, the mimosas and lemon twist champagne, the mocha... We visited and ate at several places but The Nell Cafe was our favorite❤️. The wait staff was a pleasure to interact with as well. Love this place!!
Lovely spot. Impeccible service. Our waiter, Richie, was wonderful. He served six people with humor and ease. The food was so tasty. The beet salad stood out. The avocado stuffed with shrimp was a perfect meal.
Tiger the talking puppy Tiger and Zuzu
+5
The food, service, atmosphere is absolutely amazing. Venessa the owner had turned this place into Miami/Beverly hills beauty. Every time we walk in it feels just like home
Absolutely, amazing
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