Baharat

Baharat is mine and my boyfriend's favorite place to eat in Portland, we try to go there at least once a month (we would ideally eat there every single night but it would get too expensive). The food is out of this world good - even my boyfriend who "doesn't eat vegetables" will eat anything he's served here because "they're the only ones that can make it taste good," so I feel like that says a lot. You cannot go wrong with anything on the menu, it's all amazing, even (and especially) the cocktails. And you HAVE to try their desserts.

Top notch experience. Baharat has an urban vibe and is located in a newly revived neighborhood. The food was an amazing mix of flavors. We had the All In for 2, which was plenty of food. From the falafel balls to the chicken and lamb skewers we left with very pleased palates. The bar staff is fun and masters of their art.

HALAL item is the chicken ONLY. The host who seated us wasn’t even aware that they served halal chicken. Being from NYC you tend to have high expectations for Mediterranean food. For starters we had the pickle plate and the hummus with the Iraqi bread. As the pickle plate and the Iraqi bread were delicious the hummus was bland and watered down. The non alcoholic drink we tried was called “My Point Being” which was very sour and had to be sent back. For the entree we had the chicken plate that comes with the Palestinian salad and the chicken kebab. The chicken was moist and juicy but the mint rice was bland. For the price it is, it’s really not that great. I think this place was just opened as an aesthetic. We didn’t even bother trying the desserts. It’s getting 3 stars because of how clean the restaurant was and the rustic vibe. If you’re in the area check them out, wouldn’t recommend traveling all the way out for them.

Decided to give this spot a visit after seeing the menu and some high ratings. We got some hummus, bread, chicken plate, and lamb kofta (the chicken and lamb came with rice and veggies on the side). One of the biggest cons for us was that the hummus did not taste great or that special at all- it felt a bit bland and almost watered down. The chicken plate and lamb kofta were pretty good, definitely would pick chicken over beef because I felt the beef had a sort of aftertaste to it.

I loved everything I had here. Mushrooms fricassee was one of the best ways I've ever had mushrooms. Baba ghanoush was a great way to start the meal. Also had the chicken kebab small plate and swordfish skewer dinner plate. All were extremely flavorful, nothing was overdone nor tough. The cocktails are great as well! They do not take reservations but you can put your name on a list and go check out some local breweries while you see what place in line you are.

We were excited to try out this place after hearing about it. However we had an infant and wanted to sit away from people and in a place where the stroller could be parked. They did not seat us at the end table on the patio which we requested because it was a four top, despite the fact that the place was not busy (we went at around 4:45pm). The food was mediocre for the price. Despite the issues with the hostess, our waitress was really nice and made sure that we were in and out very quickly.