Game House Cafe

From what we heard, it was a cafe you could go to get drinks and play a pretty large assortment of boardgames at, with a small $5 to make avoid loitering, which sounded great, so of course we put it on the itinerary for our Portland trip. Fast forward to arriving at the place. First thing we noticed walking in was the swarms of flies. For whatever reason there were two swarms of flies collected over two of the 7 or so tables. Kindof gross but whatever, we could just have our drinks outside. So we find our game, and go to get a few drinks. At this point we discover that it's actually a $5 minimum per person, so with the four of us it would've been a minimum of $20. On top of that, none of the drinks actually reached $5 minimum, so the only option to be able to play some board games would've been to get full restaurant-priced meals. We ended up leaving really disappointed and getting much better food for much cheaper while getting to enjoy other parts of Portland. It's an amazing idea, we would've loved to have drinks and play some of the games, being really interested in both of those things, but instead of a board game cafe, it ends up being more of a board game restaurant, which really isn't very practical.

First off let me say I love this idea, my first impressions of this place were that it was clean, organized, and the layout was well done and the décor matched the overall theme. It seems as the night we went on however, it grew to be fairly chaotic. A couple of unsupervised toddlers kind of soured the experience with spilling handfuls of games pieces every 30 seconds, and causing a commotion. Also at one point wandering behind the counter in the area where people were preparing food. The only assumption we were able to draw was that the kids belonged to someone who worked there, as the adults who occasionally tended to them would intermittently walk behind the counter to address the other employees. All the while on about 2-3 separate occasions I saw employees come in with bags full of groceries as if they were constantly running out of stock. Once I got my food it was very tasteful, well presented and prepared. I want to give this place another shot as I understand every place has an off night. The selection of board games is fantastic and the staff were very friendly and accommodating. It just seems currently it is mismanaged and disorganized.

Lovely little place for games and fun! They have an abundance of games to play, everything from boggle to dominion, and the staff is really friendly. They have good dairy free drinks (coffee and smoothies) and tempting treats in the pastry case. They also let you reserve tables!

My friend and I stumbled upon this place while out looking for somewhere to have lunch. The menu is a bit sparse but their coffee was excellent and their desserts were good. You can expect average Portland prices, not cheap but not going to break the bank either. The interior is clean and quiet, the tables can easily can easily be extended for larger groups or if you pick out a board game that needs more space. You will have a wide variety of games to choose from, there seemed to be something for everyone including kids games. I'll certainly be back again soon.

I was hooked from the start! This place has the BEST food for fantastic prices and every game you could imagine. The girl behind the counter was so friendly and always checked in on us just to make sure everything was good. We'll be going back regularly for sure!