Skip to main content
600 E Burnside St., 503-236-4536, rontoms.net, 11 am-2:30 am Monday-Friday, 2 pm-2 am Saturday-Sunday. Happy hour 3-6:30 pm daily: $1 off well drinks, wine and rotating taps; $4.50 food specials.
Established: November 2006
Rontoms' aesthetic inspiration appears pulled from the pages of a midcentury-mod design catalog. Spartan concrete floors, a scattering of low-lying leather chairs and loungeable couches, and alternating white and red painted wall panels fill the otherwise sparse industrial space. A makeshift stage—where ascendant local bands play free "Sunday Sessions" every Sunday night—is set a couple steps below ground level and situated around an electric fireplace. Patrons conversing in hushed tones around dimly lit corner tables range from posh young professionals in blazers and baseball caps to bougie 30-somethings who are trying come off as boho 20-somethings. Garnished house cocktails—like the Bruja ($9), a creamy, chili salt-spiced take on a margarita, topped with an agave leaf—punctuate their try-hard appearances. Those in search of craft beer, of which only three rotate on tap ($5.50), should go elsewhere. The most popular attraction is the angular wood roof-covered back patio, which features its own bar as well a pingpong table, a fire pit and a stage that folds down to accommodate the aforementioned Sunday Sessions in the summer. It's harder to categorize the crowd that congregates in this outdoor space, but one wouldn't be surprised to find both yuppies and Reed College students on first dates.
