This cozy, surprisingly large cafe would have been perfect if it hadn't been for a certain waitress (she was rude and messed up my friend's order!). Now that I got that out of the way, I can continue praising this place.
Palio is located in adorable Ladd's Addition. Even if you don't come to Palio, you should drive around Ladd's Addition in southeast Portland. Ladd's is a square made up of diagonal streets, tiny homes, and lots and lots of roses. This is why Portland is considered Rose City. Palio offers the typical cafe items: soups, sandwiches, coffee, and desserts - all moderately priced. What makes this place so great is coming up next.
There are three distinct sections at Palio: one is the main room where you purchase the food and can sit at some tables; another is a separate room that looks like a perfect study area with lots of large tables; the last section is the one my friend and I chose. In the back of the main room, walk up a few steps to an elevated platform. Here, there are about 3 tables, bookshelves full of random books, and games. Yes, board games!
So, instead of reading about families in the South, my friend and I played two rounds of checkers and one round of my favorite: Scrabble! It was wonderful. We had a variety of dictionaries to choose from to help us in our intense game. Ther were various magazines and poetry books that were fun as well. My ham and cheese sandwich with bar-b-que chips were delicious (although, our awful waitress took forever), while my friend enjoyed her meal even though it was the wrong dish.
For dessert, we both ordered the tiramisu, but their version of tiramisu is definitely not a proper tiramisu. It was more of a chocolate cake. However, it was a good chocolate cake, and so we were quite pleased regardless.
Palio is open late for Portland standards, and the atmosphere was great: cozy, laid-back, and I could definitely imagine coming back to study sometime. The waitress sucked, and two of our dishes were incorrect, but everything else was perfect.
Palio Dessert & Coffee House (Ladd's Addition)1996 SE Ladd Ave
Portland, OR 97214
Mon-Fri 7am-11pm
Sat-Sun 8am-11pm
No comments:
Post a Comment