After moving back up to Portland, and into a house
that didn't have internet access, I found myself visiting a lot of different
restaurants, coffee shops, books shops, and cafes around Portland that have
free internet access. After traveling around quite a bit, I discovered
quite a difference in them. I've picked up some favorites and dumped
some of my not-so-favorites. I had a couple of criteria for evaluating
a cafe: connectivity/through-put, good environment, cheap food/free refills.
It was interesting how many places had terrible food at way too high a
price. The Alberta district really hit me in that department. Overly
trendy spots with mediocre food that was overpriced. I've run
into a couple of places that would charge you $6 for some tiny grilled
cheese sandwich, and then $1.50 for some little dinky can of coke with no
refills. Anyway, the results of my searching are below rated by
overall experience:
| Urban Grind |
911 NW 14th Ave |
Unbelievable (50-100 kbps) |
Standard coffee fair with reasonable penne
sandwiches. There seems to be a bunch of web guys that live here - they
work 8-5 every day in the sofas - take calls, design sites, etc.
If you can run a businesses out of coffee shop - these guys try it... |
Yes, need to pay for parking; but
has several 5hr spots around back. |
| Produce Row |
East side |
Awesome (40kbps downloads) |
Typical brewpub bar food; but free refills on
ice tea (my favorite). $5 will get you a burger/fries/etc. |
Yes - quite good too. Very
comfortable way to beat the heat |
The Mississippi Pizza Place
|
NE |
Usually Good (30-40+kbps downloads) |
Free fountain refills, and great 2 for 1 slice
pizza happy hour. Pizza is really good and only like $1.50/slice. |
Enough to freeze your fingers and
toes off. Awesome. |
| Powell's Technical |
Downtown |
Very Good (~30kbps) |
Pop machine and candy vending machine only |
Nice + cool, can browse books too.
But must pay for parking |
| The Ugly Mug |
SE |
Very Good (~30kbps) |
Moderately expensive, no refills - only coffee.
Closes a 7pm |
no |
| Kennedy School |
NE |
Very Good (~30kbps) |
McMenamins fair. Good stuff with free
refills. |
No, but is comfortably cool and you
can catch movies too! |
| The Fresh Pot |
Hawthorne |
Very good (~30-40kbps) |
Expensive, $1.50 for a tiny bottle of coke.
Must buy something to get the WPA key to log in! |
No, but shaded. |
| Coffe People |
Hawthorne |
Very Good (~30kbps) |
Standard menu - but they do have shakes!
Only 1 outlet with 2 plugs near sofas and that spot gets a LOT of
glare/direct light in the afternoon. |
Seems so, but could be wrong. |
| Quiznos |
South Park Blocks |
Decent (20-30kbps) |
Great subs, free refills, great subs cooking
smells, and on the beautiful park blocks |
Yes |
|
Dragonfly Coffee House |
2387 NW Thurman St |
Good (25-35kbps) |
Standard coffee fare, no refills, owner very
motherly and decor: think doilies. Lots of yuppie traffic, but
fine |
No, but plenty cool. |
|
Ground Kontrol |
511 NW Couch St. |
Decent (20-30kbps) |
Very few plugins/place to sit. They have
snacks and beer (need id after 7pm). Really, its about the coolest old
arcade games - and now bands on Fridays too. Every now and again,
world record breaking attempts at old games too. |
No, but pretty cool. |
| Daily Double Cafe |
Burnside + 20th NW |
Decent (15-20kbps) |
Neat little eatery shaped like a triangle
because of the way the building's built. Free internet, one free
refill on sodas, decent food for decent price. parking can be a
bear, but they also have free Xbox gaming. |
Yes |
| Vivace |
NW 23rd |
moderate (10-15kbps) |
typical cafe coffee, no soft drinks |
no, but shaded |
|
Backspace |
115 NW 5th Ave downtown |
slow (5-10kbps) |
Online gaming joint - private XBox rooms, old
arcade machines, private viewing rooms, funky art, lots of Jolt cola
variants, pool tables, chess boards, lots of interesting people playing
board/RPG/D&D table games. Open till 2am every night. Pretty
cool because of the funky people and open so late and right around the
corner from Ground Kontrol. |
no, but it has that nostalgic
'unwashed gamer' smell. |
| Powell's |
Burnside |
Not very good and very few electrical outlets.
|
Usually crowded and you have to fight for
plugins. Average coffee and $3-4 prices. No refills |
Cooler, but not sure |
| Fuel Cafe |
NE Alberta |
Bad (4-5kbps) |
Expensive for nothing. $1.50 for a can of
coke, limited drinks, expensive food |
None and it gets pretty darn hot -
no curtains or blinds to keep you out of the summer heat |
| Black Cat |
NE Alberta |
Bad throughput (2kbps downloads) |
Expensive for nothing. $1.50 for a can of
coke will give you a good idea of what you're dealing with |
none, and it gets really hot in
there too. |