The 10 Restaurants That Defined Portland Dining in 2025 — Resy | Right This Way

Updated: Dec. 3, 2025

For Portland, 2025 marked the first time since the pandemic that the city’s restaurant projects and openings started to look more like how they used to be: headlined with fun, off-the-cuff collaborations, buzzy pop-ups, and national attention and concepts that Portland hasn’t seen over the last few years. We, in many ways, went back to our roots this year, focusing on the foods we love to eat, make, and gather around. Passion projects, homages (perhaps most notably L’Échelle, honoring the late Naomi Pomeroy), and old favorites shone, showing there’s a reason Portland is the food destination it is.

With that, here are 10 restaurants that, for us, defined dining in Portland in 2025.

1. Kann

• Southeast Portland

• Haitian

• $$$

  Few restaurants over the past decade have brought national buzz to Portland the way Kann has. Three years in, it remains one of the best, showcasing the ingenuity and tenacity of Portland chefs, and helping launch their careers elsewhere across the country, too. Completely gluten- and dairy-free (unbeknownst to many), Kann proudly focuses on chef Gregory Gourdet’s Haitian heritage...

2. L’Échelle

• Richmond

• French

• $$

  The final project of restaurant titan Naomi Pomeroy was in its toddler-hood when the beloved chef tragically died last summer...

3. The Paper Bridge

• Central Eastside

• Vietnamese

• $

  This stands out even in a city with some of the best Vietnamese food in the Pacific Northwest...

4. 3 Doors Down Cafe & Lounge

• Se Portland

• Italian

• $$

  This longstanding Portland vanguard briefly shuttered last year, but to the joy of many old (and new!) Portlanders, it’s back...

5. Jacqueline

• Clinton

• Seafood

• $$

  One of the city’s few seafood-centric spots, Jacqueline is known for its wildly popular $1 oyster happy hour...

6. Terra Mae

• Alberta

• Portuguese-Japanese

• $$

  Showcasing Portland’s allure for national dining and tourist attention, Terra Mae blends Portuguese and Japanese cuisine...

7. Lil’ Barbecue

• Dekum

  Over the summer, word got out that the Michelin-starred Austin, Texas BBQ joint La Barbecue was eyeing a Portland outpost...

8. The Bitterroot Club

• Buckman

  Pop-ups remained a Portland restaurant mainstay in 2025, with chefs in our fairly tight-knit community constantly finding new iterations...

9. Metlapil

• Kerns

  One of the most captivating spots from Portland’s summer of mariscos pop-ups...

10. Jade Rabbit

• Buckman

• Vegan

• $$

  You know, of course, that Portland has an all-vegan dim sum restaurant...

10 venues

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