Pastaworks

PastaworksPastaworks
PastaworksPastaworks
Store

3735 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, Oregon, 97214-5145
United States

(503) 232-1010 | map
pastaworks.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.42
Reviews:
3
Ratings:
3
pDev:
4.39%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by RedDiamond:
Photo of RedDiamond
Reviewed by RedDiamond from Oregon

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%
Pastaworks is a gourmet food store in the heart of Portland’s Hawthorne district. It shares floor space with a recently opened tapas bar and Powell’s Books for Cooks and Gardeners which, incidentally, has one of best selections of beer books in town. In the front of the store is a variety of delicious and expensive foods. It makes my mouth water to think of all the meats, cheeses, pastries and imported specialties they’ve got here. My theme song each time I visit is “If I Was a Rich Man.”

Towards the middle of the store is cookware, a fair selection of wine, and a large wooden table where wine tastings are often held. Against the rear wall you’ll find an open refrigerated case with a modest but thoughtful selection of beer, cider, and chilled wines and specialty drinks. In keeping with the gourmet choices throughout the store, the beer selection is very upper crust and international in scope. It’s not a huge selection, but often includes brands like Corsendonk, Deus, Uerige, Hitachino Nest, and Birra Moretti. There’s also a fair selection of Stone, Allegash, DFH, and the largest selection of Alesmith in town.

For awhile I was bothered by the impoverished selection of northwest beers. Just one bottle of Rogue at a Portland gourmet beer shop? That ain’t right. You’ll find a six-pack of Black Butte and some HOTD, but that’s about it for the northwest. Later I came to realize that since regional beers can readily be found at other locations in the neighborhood, it’s no great oversight to not find them at Pastaworks. Still, the underlying message of “we’re too fancy to carry the local stuff” is a bit irksome and at least a bottle or two of Old Boardhead might make a nice showing. I’ve had fairly good luck with my purchases here, but as with any beer retailer, those modest-alcohol imported beers really don’t want to sit too long on the unrefrigerated storage shelf and it’s a drag to pay good money for the occasional loser.

Pastaworks’ beer stocker is apparently an infrequent BA and BA reviews were once commonly tagged to the beers. Suggestion: how about beers on your website?
Aug 28, 2005
More User Ratings:
Photo of msubulldog25
Reviewed by msubulldog25 from Oregon

3.55/5  rDev +3.8%
We've shopped at Pastaworks several times in the past, though typically NOT for beer. This is an Italian grocery and delicatessen first and foremost. A large glass case displays hundreds of meats and cheeses, with two guys behind it ready to carve up whatever you order. Cases full of fresh pasta, shelves of olive oils and condiments, fresh breads and a huge selection of wine bottles. One has to make it through all this just to get to the beer cooler at the far end of the store.

Again the beer isn't really why a person pays this store a visit, but once found, the moderate selection should not disappoint. I counted somewhere around 80 different bottles, representing a decent range of styles and highlighting a handful of quality breweries. By "highlighting", I mean there were at least 4 or 5 choices: examples would be Stone, Lagunitas, Dogfish Head. There were about a dozen Belgians, a dozen Germans, a few UK & Italians, but primarily the beers are NW/West Coast in origin. A few nice ciders, too. Besides the beers stocked in the cooler, roughly 1/3 of the total stock was set on adjacent shelves.

No really outstanding finds, though I did notice their Hair of the Dog stock (Adam & Fred) showed at least 3 different bottling vintages - so doing a vertical tasting would be easy. As another review mentioned, there are still some tasting notes posted and a sort of basic style guide/cheat sheet for the novice beer drinker. No customer service to speak of, though I'm sure I could have gotten help had I asked. Prices seemed in line with the local specialty grocers and were a bit lower than the bottle shops.

A couple other reasons to go to Pastaworks. Location: in the midst of the funky Hawthorne District, opposite Bagdad Theater. Neighbors: On the right is a Powell's Books location that specializes in Cooking and Gardening (a moderate selection of beer-related books on several shelves); on the left is a tiny version of the successful Pix Patisserie (opened late 2006), which offers excellent chocolates and a drink list that includes 15-20 well-chosen beers.
Jun 02, 2007
Photo of mashmstr2
Reviewed by mashmstr2 from Oregon

3.2/5  rDev -6.4%
Being half Italian, I ran into this looking for some good Soprosetta and other otehr Italian hard to find goods... Where are all the Italian's in Portland??

This is an odd place for a decent beer selection! Well...it's NOT a huge selection of beer, but what they have is very well chosen! If I went to a pub with half this selction I'd be happy.... It appears the selection changes often, but local fav's like Hair of the Dog, other local breweries have their spot. Then there's an interesting selction of Imports, no concentraion on any one country...

The meat department is amazing, as well as, the cheese and antiposto section....
Dec 08, 2006
Pastaworks in Portland, OR
Place rating: 3.42 out of 5 with 3 ratings