While vising Portland, my hubby really wanted to have the special cocktail at Huber’s Cafe. Furthermore, Huber’s Cafe is Portland’s oldest restaurant and bar, founded in 1879, known for roast turkey and Spanish coffee. The entrance is slightly trick to find. You must first locate a barbershop next to Huber’s Cafe, and enter through a door right by it. You will find a long hallway, and Huber’s Cafe is down at the end.

Once you enter, it is a whole different world in here. Gorgeous with stained glass ceiling and artistic arches. It had a beautiful bar to the left, and the space was quite large. We made sure to have a reservation in case it was super busy, but it was not too busy when we arrived. More customers kept coming in while we were there though.

For drinks, my hubby ordered the famous Spanish Coffee cocktail ($15.95), and I ordered Ginger Nectar ($12.95). Ginger Nectar came in a large glass, and is made with Absolut Mandarin, Lemon, Orange and Cranberry Juice, Triple Sec served up with a sugar rim. It was nice and orange-y, sweet without being too sweet. You could drink it with more sweetness if you wanted to, with the sugar on the rim. I liked how it was fruity and tropical, really enjoyed it.

Now, the Huber’s Signature Cocktail, Spanish Coffee. What makes this drink so special is not for its looks nor flavor (although really tasty), but how it is prepared. A bartender will come to your table, and prepare this drink and such dramatic way at tableside! Our bartender was funny and very skilled in my opinion. He did a few dramatic pours of different liquors, it was so entertaining!

It is made with Cruzan 151, Bols Triple Sec, Kahlua, and Coffee. Flamed tableside (yes!!) and topped with fresh whipped cream and nutmeg. You can see how parts of how it’s made in this short video. As it is made with hot coffee, you need to be careful handling the glass and drinking it too. It was strong but quite flavorful. Nice sweetness with caramelized mixed sugar on the rim.

What we didn’t realize when we arrived was that we got there during their Happy Hour! Yay! So, we decided to order some small plates from the Happy Hour menu and share. This way, we can try a few different dishes from Huber’s as well. Huber’s Cafe is known for turkey dishes, as history indicates that turkeys were on many farms in Oregon by 1846. With that, the first item we ordered was Turkey Enchilada ($6.95/happy hour). It came with tri-colored tortilla chips sticking up, made me think of a colorful Stegosaurus dinosaur. LOL.

The tortilla chips made it easier to eat, like chips with meaty dip. And it really was meaty, with lots of shredded turkey meat that was tender and flavorful. A bit of bean flavor in it too. Very cheesy!

We also ordered Small Caesar Salad ($4.50/happy hour) and Calamari Frita ($7.95/happy hour). The salad was fresh and had an ample amount of parmesan cheese. Fresh Romaine lettuce had that nice crunchy texture. Fried Calamari came with cocktail sauce. It didn’t have as many calamari on the plate as I thought, but they were nice and crisp without being oily. A bit heavy on salt though.

In addition to small Happy Hour dishes, we ordered one main dish. We went with Half and Half ($28.95) under their “Specialties of the House” menu. It is a combination of roasted turkey and baked ham served with sage dressing, choice of mashed potatoes or baked yams with hazelnut butter, choice of traditional gravy or mushroom gravy, and cranberry sauce. We went with mashed potatoes and traditional gravy. Mashed potato was creamy, and stuffing was flavorful and moist. Ham was perfectly cooked with its natural salty flavor that was pretty good. Turkey was moist and tender with a nice flavor as well. They were both thickly sliced so you get a good amount of meat. It was like a Thanksgiving meal in June!

We had a fun experience here at Huber’s Cafe. Staffs were friendly and polite. My hubby got his Spanish Coffee cocktail while the rest of us got the show. It sure was entertaining and memorable. Happy Hour prices were pretty great, everything was quite affordable, so much cheaper than the drinks and the main dish for sure. Having a dinner at such historical spot was great, we soaked up all the atmosphere during our visit.

Huber’s Cafe – 411 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204