Wooden Chicken Is a Longtime Neighborhood Fixture That Doesn’t Skimp on Character

The bar wears its age comfortably and retains a graying clientele.

(Wooden Chicken Pub Facebook)
By Jay Horton

12500 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-253-8893, woodenchickenpub.com. 10 am-2:30 am daily. Happy hour 4:30-6:30 pm daily: $3.50 drink and food specials.

Established: 1981

Insofar as Parkrose likes to imagine itself a wholly separate city, the outer-Northeast neighborhood's bars too often echo the cavernous functionality of the big-box 'burbs. Though the Wooden Chicken can feel too big, this longtime neighborhood fixture hardly skimps on character. From the bleary cockerel barkeep smiling down from neon signage and stained glass to the daunting assemblage of macro-beer memorabilia, a casually kitschy bachelor-pad rec-room swagger lingers from when the Chicken ruled the East County nightlife roost alongside the Copper Penny and the Refectory. While the pool room and the flat-screens see far more action than the dance floor these days, the bar wears its age comfortably and retains a graying clientele via wine tastings, hot-rod shows, and heaping portions of its blessedly moist namesake at yesteryear prices. Even if the four-piece and jojos special ($11.25) isn't quite the caliber of Reel M Inn's, patrons can thank the sprawling size of the Chicken bar for diffusing the deep-fryer fumes that otherwise envelop the minimal real estate of its more celebrated brother in arms.

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