Portland's Best Bar Patios (2024)

A Roadside Attraction’s charmingly overgrown garden patio is dotted with lanterns and rusted license plates, like a wacky highway pit stop in the middle of the city. Road signs hang from pergolas that house wine barrel tables and potted ferns. Several outdoor nooks and a sweet porch swing set the scene for many first dates while longtime regulars crowd around the firepit, cigarettes in hand. The barkdust patches and penchant for tin and unfinished wood give some areas a Southern-fried feel, tempered by the lush greenery climbing up the walls and peering over the fences. Order a few beers and some standard bar offerings to inhale at a table among the assorted tchotchkes (cash only; there’s an ATM onsite).

With its pink-hued walls and loungey, umbrella-shaded tables, the patio of this Latin American co*cktail bar evokes images of poolside Palm Springs, as twenty- and thirtysomethings sip margaritas and mojitos around the palm tree at the center of the space. DJs play out back on summer nights, while bartenders shake pisco sours and pour $5 birthday shots. Food’s not the main draw, but you’ll find Mexican culinary stalwarts like cochinita pibil and quesadillas, plus things to share like chips and salsa. The back patio can be a relaxing, chill space for a mid-week happy hour, but note that weekend evenings become far more of a party.

The Love Island–vibed patio of Dirty Pretty, from the team behind Pink Rabbit and Fools and Horses, provides stark contrast to the saddle leather booths and slate gray wainscoting inside. A small, enclosed patio lined with turf is home to a handful of cubby-like cabanas, perfect if you need to “have a chat,” plus corners shaded by beachy umbrellas. Bigger groups can grab cushions and stools to crowd around one of the patio’s tables, parked along honey-hued wood banquettes. It’s best to stick to highballs and margaritas, porch pounders like the gin-and-sake Spirited Away, fragrant with lychee and lemongrass. Sustenance comes in the form of shrimp co*cktails with gochujang co*cktail sauce or tacos filled with Fanta-glazed pork belly. Order from the backyard bar, and sip cucumber water while you wait.

One of Northwest Portland’s great dives (or dive-adjacent neighborhood watering holes), Paymaster is one of those bars where twentysomethings and decades-old regulars snack on tots and knock back pints. Work your way through its various rooms, past the pinball machines and photo booth, to encounter the spacious patio, glowing under a few strings of Christmas lights. The space has both covered and uncovered areas, not to mention a pool table that can be hard to claim on busy weekends. Nab a couple of Jell-O shots to get things started.

This section of Buckman is abundant with exceptional bars, from wine bar bistros like Canard to the subterranean co*cktail dens of Sousòl and Scotch Lodge. However, Rontoms is home to the strongest bar patio in the neighborhood, a sizable garden with towering bamboo, an outdoor bar, cozy fireplaces, and misters for particularly hot days. The outdoor seating area includes long picnic tables for larger groups and more intimate two-tops. Rontoms is best known for its Sunday Sessions, its free concert series every Sunday night on its outdoor stage. If you want to catch a show, arrive early to snag a table.

Down a colorful alley, the back patio of this stylish Southeast Division co*cktail bar is an in-the-know hangout, constantly hosting pop-ups, traveling chefs, and fun parties involving barbecued oysters or glasses of sparkling wine. Even when there’s nothing formal happening behind Someday, it’s still a scene—the wood-fired food cart Ruthie’s is parked there year-round, with seasonally rotating salads and juicy, gussied-up pork chops. The patio is sheltered from the elements during harsher months, but still gets its sun when the weather is nice.

This converted 1920s bungalow is surrounded by outdoor seating, from the benches around the firepits flanking the entrance to the lengthy picnic tables out back. The patio has the feel of your coolest friend’s backyard and a relaxed beer garden, ideal for sipping hazy IPAs year-round. Grab wine and beer on tap, well-made co*cktails, and “tornado potatoes,” described as “jojos meet curly fries.” The Rambler is a great spot to begin a bar crawl: head south and pop by Bar Bar, Interurban, or the Uncanny; head north and hit up Prost, Victoria, or Red Fox.

This tropical co*cktail destination from the late piña colada king Alfredo Climaco was clearly designed with its patio in mind. The sliver of an indoor bar sits behind a substantial outdoor seating area with both shady spots and sunny tables. Sit under a canopy of hanging plants and string lights, and share a gargantuan piña colada served inside a hollowed-out pineapple. Alternatively, the bar also serves a strong habanero-infused mango margarita and other agave drinks. Afterward, dinner options are abundant around here: Han Oak’s Korean gimbap parties and the Vietnamese snacks at Friendship Kitchen are a few steps away.

There are plenty of choice bar patios along this strip of Albina and Mississippi. But we dig Victoria’s patio because of its variety of vibes: a multilevel wooden deck with tables surrounded by bamboo; an unfussy, covered back patio visitors can rent out for events; and a front streetside patio for those who like the energy of the neighborhood. Dogs are welcome, and are often spotted at tables where groups house vegan bar snacks and down fruity co*cktails.

Up a flight of stairs along a nondescript stretch of Southeast Second, this Portland brewery’s sprawling wood deck is ideal for daydrinkers—and there’s a firepit for when daydrinking becomes nightdrinking. The drinking in question involves crisp and restrained German-style beers and unapologetic IPAs, plus a few guest taps featuring nonalcoholic brews and hard ciders. If you have a bigger group, gather at the long stretches of umbrella-shaded picnic tables and gnaw on smoked-then-fried chicken wings or dunk soft pretzels in beer cheese. Wayfinder’s second outpost in Troutdale carries a similar vibe: both a front patio with picnic tables and Adirondack chairs, plus a smaller mezzanine with two tops.