One of the most unique spots we visited during our trip to Portland Oregon in June was Kennedy School. The historical elementary school circa 1951 has been renovated by McMenamins into a hotel. Some rooms used to be classrooms with original chalkboards! It also has a restaurant, bars, a movie theater, soaking pool, gift shop and a brewery. From their website, they stated “Here you can have a pint in a classroom, enjoy an aged whiskey in detention, enjoy a movie in the old auditorium…. The possibilities here are endless.” How fun!
It was great just walking around the hallways, looking at original artwork and historical photographs on the walls, ceilings, and even the doors. It was like walking through history.
We went there for lunch, so not all the bars were opened, but I got to peak into their “Detention Bar” which had incredible atmosphere. How I would like to get a drink from here…but we were going to have lunch at another spot inside the Kennedy School, so we just looked around and left.
Boiler Room Bar was much bigger, with pool table and other games on the upper level, with a bar and more seating downstairs.
We were planning to have lunch at their Courtyard Restaurant, so went there first. We were told there will be some wait, so we walked around the school. It was easy to kill some time here at Kennedy School. We enjoyed looking at the artworks, exploring other rooms like bars and movie theater. Yes they have a movie theater! After about 30 minutes, we went back to the Courtyard Restaurant. They transformed old school cafeteria, and turned into a restaurant. They offer pub fare, handcrafted ales brewed at the onsite brewery.
As the name suggests, Courtyard Restaurant have nice courtyard, which seemed to be very popular. For us, it was a bit too hot on that day, so we decided to sit inside. We liked their eclectic light fixtures, bright and festive. Since they have their own brewery and we wanted to try some of their creations, we ordered Flagship Brewery Flight ($11.50). They let us choose six different types of beers, which was great. We got some dark, more heavier kinds, some fruity kinds, and some light ones. Each one had distinctive flavors, and we enjoyed them all.
Since we visited on a weekend day, they had brunch menu. When I saw they have a breakfast sandwich with croissant, I couldn’t resist… So, I ordered Agnes’ Breakfast Sandwich ($15.50) with toasted croissant, bacon, scrambled egg, cheddar & herbed cream cheese. It was a nice sandwich, good size and all, but the price felt a bit high since it doesn’t come with any side. The egg was creamy and moist, and bacon was good too, overall, it was very satisfying. Our friend ordered one of their burger dish, I do not remember exactly which burger she ordered… sorry! The burgers come with side of fries or tots, and she went with tater tots. Their tots are quite good! We did add an order of their Cajun Tots to share, with peppercorn ranch. It had a nice kick to it, and was quite addictive!
My hubby went with JR’s Jumbo Deluxe ($20.50) with bacon, cheddar & a fried egg. He decided to substitute the side with a soup, since we already had a additional order of tots to share. The substitution of the soup will cost you extra $2. The soup was comforting, and the burger came loaded with protein. It was juicy and tasty.
We had a fun lunch here at Courtyard Restaurant, but unfortunately, the service was almost nonexistent. We felt like they focused more on the customer sitting outside, and we were completely forgotten (there were not many people sitting indoor). Due to this issue, the lunch took a very long time, causing us to cancel the next appointment we had on schedule. The server did apologize at the end when we talked to her about it, and gave us a few of discounts by giving us Happy Hour pricing on a couple of items we ordered. If it wasn’t for the lack of service, we would’ve enjoyed the experience much more.
McMenamins Courtyard Restaurant at Kennedy School – 5736 NE 33rd Ave, Portland, OR