On Wednesdays We Date Night

From furikake fries to a concert in an 18th century church—we’re planning the perfect Wednesday date night Downtown for you and yours.

The Bodhi Trio performs a lunchtime concert at The Old Church. (Richard Korbell)
By Promotions

This story is published in cooperation with Willamette Week and Every Wednesday.

Let us paint for you an all-too-familiar picture. It’s Sunday evening, and you’re balancing that familiar tension of enjoying your last moments of freedom while battling the Sunday scaries. Our solution: use this time to plan a mid-week night out.

From catching a movie, to happy hour at a swanky cocktail bar—there’s plenty to do on Wednesdays in Downtown Portland. Let’s get to it.

Happy Hour at Pink Rabbit

If sharing a cocktail or two is your speed for date night, you should definitely try out Pink Rabbit bar. Actually, even if you don’t drink, we’d recommend paying it a visit—the furikake fries are worth the trip alone. In addition to their array of fruity, slightly boujee yet delicious cocktails (we’d suggest the frozen Bunny Club, $11) they also have two mocktail options. The lighting, decor, and potentially-overdone pink neon sign combination somehow avoids being overly trendy, and is instead quite tasteful and chic. In our opinion, Pink Rabbit’s happy hour (3-6 PM) is the perfect place for a Hinge date—aka it’s a little noisy and dimly lit, so as to drown out some first-date awkwardness. But, it’s also perfectly pink and Instagram-able for a Wednesday night out with friends.

Living Room Theaters

Whether it’s with your partner, a friend, or just solo—movie nights at home rock. But I think we can admit that sometimes, Netflix on the couch can get a little stale. A perfect solution to shaking up your Roku village routine? How about a Wednesday movie date night at Living Room Theaters! The 21+ theater showcases independent films and filmmakers in style, delivering food and cocktails directly to your (very comfy) reclining seats. Plus, there’s usually less than 10 movies to choose from; so that eliminates the perpetual “what to watch” battle between you and your partner… at least for one night. In the coming weeks, we’d suggest the Emily Bronte biopic Emily, Cocaine Bear (self-explanatory), and the 2023 Oscar-nominated short film series.

The Old Church Lunchtime Concerts

Maybe you’re looking for a slightly out-of-the-ordinary Wednesday date idea; well, we’d like to recommend asking your work crush to join you in an 18th century church for a slightly strange—but memorable—concert date. Trust us, it’s not nearly as peculiar as it sounds. For one, the church (a non-religious, all-ages venue) is beautiful. For more than 50 years, the Old Church Concert Hall in Downtown Portland has been throwing free concerts every Wednesday; and since the pandemic, they’ve switched to every third Wednesday of the month. The shows are in the middle of the work day (12-1 p.m.) which is an excellent excuse to break the ice with that awkward coworker, or your WFH partner, on a little lunchtime excursion.

Live Entertainment at The Nines

If a concert in an old church in the middle of the work day doesn’t scream “date night” to you, we have another suggestion for you. As it turns out, Downtown Portland is chock full of performances from local artists on Wednesdays. For a slightly more elevated concert experience, bring your date to The Nines Hotel… lobby. Every Wednesday from 5-7 p.m. the hotel offers cocktails and a limited food menu from Urban Farmer Steakhouse for patrons to enjoy while listening to live music in The Nines Living Room.

Get more inspiration for dates in Central City at this link.

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