Paragon - Portland

My husband and I stopped in for a happy hour drink and a snack. We ordered the HH street tacos to share. You get two small tacos with braised chicken, pico de Gallo, salsa verde, radish, cilantro and cheese. We skipped the cheese since I can't have that due to a dairy intolerance issue. It was quite tasty which surprised me. I ordered the strawberry infused vodka drop cocktail. The drink was sweet and delicious with a sugar lined rim. My husband ordered the bourbon enchinacea cocktail. This was another delicious drink that tingled my taste buds for the better.

I won a gift card from one of those Streetcar scavenger hunts and was excited to try this place. I was bummed to find out it was closing. Bob, the bartender, was super friendly and knowledgeable. I enjoyed getting his insights about the broader logistics of bar stuff since my dad used to bartender. Food-wise I had the crab cake and the Bibb salad. The crab cake was super tasty with lots of crab. I would have preferred pan seared over breaded and fried, but there was lots of lovely crab with little filler. The Bibb salad was super tasty, and the lettuce was super delicate. The bacon and fried shallots added a nice, smoky richness. I wish the Paragon family luck and look forward to seeing what comes next.

Our last meal in Portland. A rainy Sunday evening at 8 PM. We went back-and-forth on where to eat and finally decided on Paragon. Walked in and immediately fell in love with the ambience. Love the decor, lighting and the fireplace by the bar area. Cute trendy restaurant, perfect for large groups or date night. We ordered the black mussels which were served in a tomato broth with a side of grilled garlic bread. I'm always very cautious when ordering mussels because of the freshness and I've known friends to get sick from them. I'm so glad I ended up ordering them here. So far I was so impressed with all the other seafood in Portland I thought I would give it a try. These were so amazing and so delicious I could've left happy after just eating these. Did I stop though, of course not. We also ordered the rosemary mac cheese and the fried balsamic Brussels sprouts. Yes, they are as delicious as they sound. We filled up on the broth and bread, and ended up taking the mac cheese and brussels sprouts home; which made for a great late night snack. Happy with the service, food, and drinks

We got together with friends an family. All five of us were very pleased with our choices. All were different. The service was first class. We chose this restaurant because we were visiting from out of town. The name was mentioned and we used help to make our choice.

IF YOU ARE GOING HERE FOR PORTLAND DINING MONTH YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY RECONSIDER Paragon is nicely situated in the Pearl at a cross street that comes alive in the evening. If you haven 't been here before, you may recognize their signature giant circular lights from their strategically placed windows. I was enticed by these lights and a brief review of their menu. So of course Paragon was on our list to try for Portland Dining Month. We made reservations and was promptly seated. Not to ruin the surprise, but that was about the only thing they did right that evening. Appetizers your choice of a spinach salad or beer cheese soup. We ordered both to share. I have had better spinach salads at $7.99 lunch buffets. Beer cheese soup was lukewarm and when I asked the waiter about it, he advised that 's how it 's served. Haha OKAY, Paragon. Main course your choice of pork mole (I volunteered myself as tribute), lamb rigatoni or vegan spinach rolls. I usually stay away from pork and lamb, but I have also been to amazing restaurants that prepare these proteins in such a superb way that I chow down despite having my reservations. I had no reason to think Paragon would be any different. So I got the pork mole and the bestie got the lamb rigatoni. IT TOOK ALMOST AN HOUR TO GET OUR MAIN COURSE after our appetizers were long gone. My friend brought up a great point while we were perishing from starvation imagine if you came here on an awkward date and wanted the date to be over ASAP...thank goodness we weren 't in that situation! And when the main course came? We had a taste of both dishes and was so disappointed. The lamb pasta was bland, lukewarm and the lamb was chewy. The pork mole was hot on one side and cold on the other side (Hey Paragon, was this on purpose too? haha). Aside from the small glob of sauce smeared on top (I guess this is the Oaxacan chile sauce per their menu hahaha) the pork itself was flavorless, and I found myself asking for tabasco sauce just to revitalize our tastebuds from dying at the blandness. The waitress kept apologizing for everything the food, the wait, how they can 't accomodate a peanut allergy that my friend has for the dessert portion, etc. But you know what is so weird about repetitive apologies with no change to the dilemma? It 's like someone repeatedly punching you in the face but they follow each punch with a sincere apology like ****, maybe just not punch me? When it came time to pay (aka please take our money and let us leave), no one was available to grab our check. After waiting for a full 10 mins, we walked over to the bar side to grab drinks (hoping to drink away what we ingested) and get a load of this, that 's when someone from the restaurant side finally came up to us and offered to close out our restaurant tab so we can start our bar tab separately. So this is how you get your check at Paragon got it. My first regret of 2018 is not checking with friends who are doing Portland Dining month because when I voiced my experience they had similar experiences with below average food and service. I can 't wait for the manager to privately message me or comment on this review publicly with a prettier version of this: omg our sincere apologies for your terrible experience! what you experienced is not what we are about! please come back and try us again, thank you for voicing your experience because it helps us improve! Here 's the thing: if the food was good but the service was ****, I would give a restaurant another try. If the service was good but the food was mediocre, I would still give a restaurant another try. If both the food and service was ****, why tf would I even bother? Hard pass.