Tucked away in NW at 19th Ave/Quimby, I admittedly tend to forget about this great beer drinking establishment. With a few locations throughout Portland, the key to this Lucky Lab Beer Hall location is the HUGE interior as well as the phenomenal outdoor, partially covered patio full of old picnic tables (rivals the scene at Amnesia’s outdoor area any day). It was an old warehouse, so everything feels spacious and rustic (they even left an original crane overhead for ambiance). Seating is mainly communal style at long wooden tables (although there are some scattered smaller tables), designed to promote meeting your neighbor and allow everyone to enjoy being social and drinking amazing beers. There is also a plethora of board games/reading materials for your entertainment.
Lucky Lab offers a multitude of tap offerings, including roughly eight of their own brews, the Cask Pump, Nitro Tap and Guest Tap (details online). All are listed on a large chalkboard, and simply crossed off when they run out. This time we tried the Guest Tap (Bear Republic Crazy Ivan) and the Organic Amber and Golden Ale of the Lucky Lab brews. Quality ingredients create quality beers; these were all delicious enjoyed with pizza and a face full of Oregon sunshine.
Snacks are just your generic blend – Rold Gold pretzels, bulk peanuts from Costco, etc. Unfortunately you can’t expect anything local or exciting here, which I think is a miss for Lucky Lab.
Looking for a good, solid pizza to take the edge off of a 40+ mile cycling adventure, we decided to give Lucky Lab a shot. They offer a large selection of pre-crafted pizza options, served with a barley-flour pizza dough. We chose the “The Mediterranean” (Salami, Yellow Onion, Roasted Garlic, and Feta), and it was exactly what we were craving. Thicker than a thin-crust, but by no means a deep dish, it offered just enough dough to make sure we got our carbs in! The toppings were loaded on (there was so much garlic I called myself the Dragon Lady when we left, but of course I never stopped eating it). Hearty and delicious, with plenty of sauce and cheese, our only suggestion would have been to leave the pie in the oven for about three more minutes to brown the crust and slightly toast the toppings a bit more.
Service was a bit weird…we placed our order with a girl who seemed downright annoyed at having to deal with customers. Distasteful and unnecessary on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Pricing is not cheap for food ($20 for the pizza, but totally worth it considering the size), but beers are better ($4.50 for Imperial Pints, and they also offer ½ Pints). Overall great pricing for the quality and atmosphere received.
Oddly enough, despite their involvement in numerous cycling events and having their own jerseys for sale, there is no dedicated bike parking here (unless we totally just drank too much and missed them?). We ended up locking up one of the many picnic tables under the outside canopy.
Lucky Lab is a great spot to grab some pizza (slices or full pies) as well as some amazing Portland brews. Remember this place for your Summer adventures :)
*Jayne
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