Elephants Lake Oswego

The salmon salad vs what you get is a JOKE, why did I pay $15 for a side sauce of smoked salmon and a Starbucks sized salad? Also the sandwiches are like something I can make at home. The price doesn't match the pictures they show and if I wasn't on my way to something else, I would have returned it all back. Price point and products are not adding up. I buy organic products and that is cheaper than what I received.

This has been one of my go to places in lake oswego. It's been a great casual place with reasonable prices.

However, I'm leaving a bad review because there was a problem with my online order a few weeks ago. I called and they said they would refund my money. That was great, but they never did. I've called and spoke to somebody about 4 other times over the past 3+ weeks and each time, they assure me they will refund and talk to the bookkeeper, etc, etc, etc.. And i wait a week and nothing ever appears as a refund. I'm not feeling very valued as a customer when they keep on telling me lie after lie after lie.

3/1/2025 Review
Came here again for brunch. Ordered the french toast with blueberry compote. It came out with strawberry jam. I was annoyed they didn't even try to tell me until I asked them. To their credit, they did comp the dish for me, but I'd rather them tell me upfront and I would have ordered something else. And another annoyance is they did not use real maple syrup. What they gave me tasted like Aunt Jemima. Sigh... Food stars updated to 1 star.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 1

Bad small “hot” sandwhich.

The “hot” sandwhich was not good, if you see the picture below, they barely heated it. The middle was completely cold and if you look at the cheddar it is slightly bending not melted and still cold in the middle…. The edges were barely warm.

My boyfriend and I split a steak sandwich with chimicurui from the “hot sandwhich menu” (not sure the exact name but it had chedder , and chimichurri.) we asked them to split it and ordered a side of broccoli and garlic from the sides menu as well.

The broccoli was a cold salad we thought it would have been hot as it was on the sides menu and most of the other sides were hot. It was ok tasting.

Service was ok…..

Bus and clean your own tables? Family’s where here they left a mess with there kids and I feel like we are now parents having to clean our own areas to eat….

Can I have the tip instead?

We may return but we will see if they can re-heat pre-made food better…

We live here in one of the greatest food city’s in the world… step up your game.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

The cold food is delicious, but I ordered a sandwich from the hot sandwich bar, a steak chimichurri sandwich that was pretty bready and almost completely cold. Maybe spent 20 sec under a heat lamp to begin starting to melt the cheese. Taste was good, but between this and the stone cold side I got, I don’t think I would order from the hot bar again.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

I ordered a sandwich/soup combo to go. It was ready when I arrived. It is a bit tight to move around within this location and the noise can travel. The food was not anything special but was sufficient to eat. It seemed a bit pricey considering that the bread was a bit dry & bland, and the soup could have used some flavor & salt. Otherwise a straightforward experience and the staff were kind.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Too expensive for small portions that lack quality

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

Unusually unpleasant staff today . Dark haired petite woman, bun and glasses . Petite blonde exaggerated lips coral lipstick (proudly identifying herself as "the manager" . I apologize I don't normally identify people by features. But I was not able to get their names. We had a really unpleasant experience, trying to enjoy our meal .With our well mannered , non shedding hypoallergenic dog as we had planned to sit as a party of 4 outside. The dog happens to provide service to it's owner for a seizure disorder . Typically, Elephants is highly dog friendly outside. We're disappointed. I don't know that we'll be back.
Twice an employee came out and asked us not to have the dog touch the table. It was embarrassing for us. Our guests chose to dine inside after seeing the person and dog in our party feel humiliated by your employees . As our guests had never been here before. While we enjoy the food always so very much. We will likely in the future order out. And enjoy your meals at home .

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 5

Service: 2

Great place to stop in for lunch

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I ordered a sack lunch of the turkey club ($9.50) with an add-on of two shortbread cookies and a bag of chips(+$6.75). While on my way to pick it up, they called me and said they were out of the shortbread cookies ($2.50 each) and offered any of their other cookies as a substitute. I was pretty disappointed since the main reason I ordered from Elephants was because of the shortbread cookies. I arrived and chose a snickerdoodle instead (the sign said $3.25). So they substituted $5 worth of cookies for a $3 cookie. Not cool. I ended up paying almost $7 for a cookie and the tiniest bag of chips you’ve ever seen. The sandwich was subpar and flavorless. Of course I tipped beforehand which is shame on me, but I ended up paying nearly $20 for a lackluster meal and got shorted on my food anyway. Super disappointing because I’ve been going to the various Elephants around town for years and have never had such a bad experience.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 3

The bun was hard.
Not enough meat.
Good location.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

I don't know what to do with this place. It's not a deli, not a restaurant, not a store. Lots of stuff is premade and not cheap. I have walked in here maybe five times and walked out without a single thing. I've been to bigger Elephant Delicatessans in Portland and they're much better. This one's just too small.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 3

I had an event I needed to get food for later that day. I really didn't want to go to the supermarket to get the food from then I remembered there was an Elephant's Deli down the street from my event location.

The staff there was so great and explained all the options I had. I ended up with the gluten free vegan soba noodles that were a hit.

Thank you Elephant's for your recommendations! You will be my go to spot for catering. I'll need to try their charcuterie board next time I have an event.

Food: 5

Service: 5

I probably should have worded this review better just because it's a little expensive doesn't mean much nowadays sorry to the owner.

Atmosphere: 4

Service: 5

Self service place. Nice for meeting a friend for coffee.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 5

Time to train the staff. Not acknowledging a customer for over 5 minutes when there was no queue .... rude response to question. It's a customer service job folks, if you don't like people do something else. Oh and don't stare at the screen looking to see if/how much you have been tipped.... for taking my card...

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 1