What you you hate about Portland? (Beaverton, Bend: appointed, home, wage)

[DoctorRain]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

I'm not sure why you stated it had great hospitals or great restaurants. Most of Portland's hospitals rank in the 70th percentile. Which is OK, but not great. And the restaurants there, frankly, stink.

As to what I hate? I've detailed it a million times but hey, one more is no big deal

-You're penalized heavily if you have the audacity to be successful. Wealth transference is huge there. Those extreme leftist policies have to be paid by someone....and of course, it surely won't be paid for by the masses, because "they shouldn't have to".
-Arrogant bicyclists
-Vigilante hippies
-Lousy dining compared to other cities of its size
-One of the worst job markets anywhere
-A political structure which will prove as much a cautionary tale 20 years from now as Detroit Michigan is today. Just watch. They're chasing out all the people who pay the bills and leaving behind the leeches.
-Ridiculous property taxes
-If you're downtown 5 days a week, good luck making it all 5 days of any given week without having your clothes barraged with the smell of pot smoke as you walk to your car/restaurant/whatever.
-Homeless people. Everywhere.
-The weather is harsher (waterwise) than anywhere I've lived in this country, and that's including Seattle

Wow a ton of negativity in here? You reak of Pot smoke coming out of a restaurant?? I saw ppl smoking it either in their homes or outside, but not in establishments. I think you are trying to make it sound worse than it already is man.
You also make it sound like Portland will become the next Detroit. Way to go.

[DoctorRain]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

I was a little surprised by this, too. But perhaps the poster didn't spead her/his dining horizons far enough.

Portland differs from many cities like San Francisco in that it is NOT compact. There's "downtown", and I've a hunch that many residents (let alone tourists) never leave downtown. Sure, there are some good restaurants in the downtown and NW areas; however, Portland extends across the river to SE, North and Northeast, and there are many good restaurants in those neighborhoods, roo.

One may have to go to SE 82nd for a better choice of Asian food, or to North Portland for good BBQ. It's a matter of taking the time and effort to discover them. Am I making any sense?

Well I know I was in Chinatown and didn't think the food was great. Ok but nothing extroardinary there and I went to a few places too.
NE 82nd has vietnamese I know. SE 82nd has good chinese huh?

[Bluesmama]

Originally Posted by DoctorRain

Well I know I was in Chinatown and didn't think the food was great. Ok but nothing extroardinary there and I went to a few places too.
NE 82nd has vietnamese I know. SE 82nd has good chinese huh?

I think it's a mix of both.

I'm more partial to Thai. Really, really love Typhoon! (ate at the one in Beaverton) but it is definitely on the spendy side for dinner.

Now, I've been told by numerous people from California and Arizona that the Mexican food here is not good. Don't know if that's true or not, though.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by DoctorRain

Wow a ton of negativity in here? You reak of Pot smoke coming out of a restaurant?? I saw ppl smoking it either in their homes or outside, but not in establishments. I think you are trying to make it sound worse than it already is man.
You also make it sound like Portland will become the next Detroit. Way to go.

Where did I say "in restaurants"? I said 'on your way to a restaurant'. As you say, you come across people smoking it out in public all the time. And that smell lingers, no matter how short a period of time you come in contact with it. I can recall one day I went to go have lunch with my girlfriend downtown, and then drove back to my office in Beaverton....ran through a pot cloud on the way back to my car from the restaurant, and by the time I got back to Beaverton I still smelled like I had been taking hits off a bong all lunch.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

I was a little surprised by this, too. But perhaps the poster didn't spead her/his dining horizons far enough.

Portland differs from many cities like San Francisco in that it is NOT compact. There's "downtown", and I've a hunch that many residents (let alone tourists) never leave downtown. Sure, there are some good restaurants in the downtown and NW areas; however, Portland extends across the river to SE, North and Northeast, and there are many good restaurants in those neighborhoods, roo.

One may have to go to SE 82nd for a better choice of Asian food, or to North Portland for good BBQ. It's a matter of taking the time and effort to discover them. Am I making any sense?

Anecdotal evidence fail. Sorry but if a city the size of Portland has precisely one good steakhouse, and only a couple of good Thai places, and only one good Cuban place, etc. etc. etc.

You're limited to one. That's not variety. That's being hamstrung. If you live on the west side, you literally have to drive almost an hour to get a decent Cuban sandwich. THAT is the definition of a city with bad dining options. In most major and even mid-major cities, you don't have to go to such great lengths to ferret out a good <insert cuisine type here> restaurant.

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

Where did I say "in restaurants"? I said 'on your way to a restaurant'. As you say, you come across people smoking it out in public all the time. And that smell lingers, no matter how short a period of time you come in contact with it. I can recall one day I went to go have lunch with my girlfriend downtown, and then drove back to my office in Beaverton....ran through a pot cloud on the way back to my car from the restaurant, and by the time I got back to Beaverton I still smelled like I had been taking hits off a bong all lunch.

Interesting. My experience with pot has been that out of ALL THE SMOKE EVER, pot stays with you the least. BY FAR. But hey, maybe I'm just a hippie pot smoker who doesn't pay taxes?....

To sum, I am very confused by your pot smoke statement. Actually, now I'm just confused why I've even taken the time. But then I just realize that I'm a hippie pot smoker who doesn't pay taxes.....

[SunJoaquin]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

Anecdotal evidence fail. Sorry but if a city the size of Portland has precisely one good steakhouse, and only a couple of good Thai places, and only one good Cuban place, etc. etc. etc.

You're limited to one. That's not variety. That's being hamstrung. If you live on the west side, you literally have to drive almost an hour to get a decent Cuban sandwich. THAT is the definition of a city with bad dining options. In most major and even mid-major cities, you don't have to go to such great lengths to ferret out a good <insert cuisine type here> restaurant.

Who serves a good Cuban sandwich?

[Bluesmama]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

Anecdotal evidence fail. Sorry but if a city the size of Portland has precisely one good steakhouse, and only a couple of good Thai places, and only one good Cuban place, etc. etc. etc.

You're limited to one. That's not variety. That's being hamstrung. If you live on the west side, you literally have to drive almost an hour to get a decent Cuban sandwich. THAT is the definition of a city with bad dining options. In most major and even mid-major cities, you don't have to go to such great lengths to ferret out a good <insert cuisine type here> restaurant.

Well, I don't mind traveling a bit for a good restaurant. We live in Hillsboro but occasionally enjoy driving out to Jarra's on Hawthorne for Ethiopian food. Or to SE Harrison for some Cajun fare. In September we went to Cannon's Express on MLK for BBQ and jazz.

When I want Mexican food I certainly don't need to leave home.

It can be tough on those who rely on mass-transit to get to these places.

The Pearl District, I'm told, has good restaurants but too many of them are spendy. "Spendy" is what I don't do but they seem to stay in business.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

Well, I don't mind traveling a bit for a good restaurant. We live in Hillsboro but occasionally enjoy driving out to Jarra's on Hawthorne for Ethiopian food. Or to SE Harrison for some Cajun fare. In September we went to Cannon's Express on MLK for BBQ and jazz.

When I want Mexican food I certainly don't need to leave home.

It can be tough on those who rely on mass-transit to get to these places.

The Pearl District, I'm told, has good restaurants but too many of them are spendy. "Spendy" is what I don't do but they seem to stay in business.

This goes to a "personal choice" argument. You've stated you consider Typhoon spendy. I consider it kind of the base of what I pay for food. I can't think of anything in Portland I considered "spendy". Perhaps Morton's, since that ran about $150 a person including wine, but even that's not all that expensive, all in all. We're obviously going to have vastly different palates. For example, I found Jarra's to be only borderline acceptable. For Ethiopian, I'm a big fan of En'Joni. There's not a good Mexican restaurant to be found in the entire city. To the person who asked about Cuban food, Pambiche is about the only place you can go. It's not great, but it's as good as you will find in the area. Typhoon isn't even really Thai food. It's a Bo chain, which is it's own kind of thing.

[BrownRice]

Well being on topic what I hate about Portland are the complainers (and those who freak out about certain things/laws encroaching upon their "free speech"), and the people that insist there's good food here.

Good tingz:

Portland really isn't that expensive, c'mon, it's the cheapest CITY on the West Coast and min. wage is higher than Cali and almost $1.20 more than where I'm from, which has the highest median house prices in the nation. Rent IS cheap here, even in the city. You're lucky to get a crap studio complete w/ a gas leak and no parking for $850 where I from, just ask my friend.

The traffic also isn't as bad as where I'm from. (I just had the pleasure of reading that my tiny ass home City has the highest peak commute hours in the nation, only after L.A., go figure that one out).

Electricity is so cheap, I just got my first bill of $9. Where I'm from, that cost could've easily been $25+...

So far the weather isn't that bad either. I used to live in the back of some rain foresty, musty valley, so I'm used to rain EVERYDAY.


Bad tingz:

...But for some reason, I always encounter people who continually ***** about the above, and I'm like wha-??? where?? For example, people are really lucky here to have such an extensive public transit system where more than half the regular riders don't even pay. Seriously. It seems like people have a hard time being appreciative here. My home has got a busfare of $2.50... on an ISLAND.

The restaurants here are mostly crap too, don't believe the hype. Where I'm from, I can get AUTHENTIC Asian food (I'm half Asian, I know, not to mention where I grew up the pop. is over 50% Asian). Mexican food is bad too (I'm half Mexican). Seriously, chile rellenos ARE NOT omelettes w/ chile n cheese, and the Mexican diet IS NOT 75% fried stuff. That's the only real fried thing we eat and almost everywhere seems to muck it up unless they serve the frozen kind. I've also never heard of FRIED quesadillas until I came here.

I've tried the Peruvian restaurant in the Pearl too. It's mediocre. I've also had sushi in the Pearl. Was the first time I've ever seen &/ had FRIED sushi. I also went to that trendy place called Pambiche (supposed to be Cuban/Mex). Was the first time I had beans that tasted like charcoal.

I was also gonna try Por que no? in NE... Was the first time I saw tacos that expensive. (Possibly the most expensive things in Portland).

And I'm not the biggest fan of deli food or pizza everyday (eventhough I do like the Elephant deli chain). Really, it's either deli, pan fried/deep fried, or pizza; those are your options.