Sam's Restaurant

Sam's Restaurant, a cafe in Southeast Portland, Oregon, serves up traditional American food and Hawaiian plate lunches. Sam's also has an adjacent bar, the Hideaway Lounge.

The inside of the restaurant

After hearing Sam's serves up Hawaiian plate lunches, I just had to try them out for myself. I got their Mixed Plate #4: teriyaki chicken and kalua pig with two scoops of rice and mac salad. It cost $8.45, with an additional 50-cent to-go fee (so it was $8.95 total).

Kalua pig and Teriyaki Chicken mix plate

Sam's mac salad, in its own container

I liked the mac salad. It had that authentic Island taste to it, with what appeared to be paprika sprinkled over the top. Nice red color to contrast with the otherwise-white mac salad. I would have liked a bit of black pepper in the mac salad, but otherwise, a job well done.

The rice was nicely cooked, and I liked the furikake sprinkled on top of each scoop. Definitely something many people in Hawaii like to do to their rice!

Unfortunately, the meat left something to be desired. The teriyaki chicken and kalua pig were both dry and fell flat on flavor. In all fairness, I liked the bed of properly cooked shredded cabbage on the bottom. But overall, not worth the $8.95 I paid.

For whatever reason, I didn't feel too comfortable in this place. The cafe's decor had a faded, dated color to it, and was not very inviting. The bar was OK, but felt slightly cramped. I'm not one to frequent many bars anyway, so I was probably just out of my element. Anyway, I'm unlikely to return to this place. The mac salad was decent, but I can definitely get better kalua pig and teriyaki chicken elsewhere. 3/10