Mint is a Pan American Bistro in close-in North Portland. Its attached bar, called "820", offers the full Mint dinner menu as well as an excellent happy hour menu and wide selection of cocktails and wines. It has a somewhat upscale feel, with mostly black furnishings and an interestingly curved bar. However, chipped paint on all the tables and electronic music that might just as easily have been playing in a clothing store gives it a bit of an outdated 90s feel. My boyfriend and I wanted to give mint a try, so we decided to go there for happy hour before committing to a slightly pricey full dinner. I had been there before for excellent cocktails and remembered them having an enticing happy hour food menu. We went on a Wednesday at around 5:45 and managed to snag the last open table.

The happy hour menu at Mint has five food items: sweet potato fries, fried stuffed risotto balls, a lamb burger, a spicy Caesar salad, and a soup - in our case a tomato bisque. The most expensive item on the menu, the lamb burger, was still an affordable $9, so we decided to go ahead and order the entire happy hour menu. The other items were all $4 to $6.

The waiter brought out the soup and salad first. The soup was tasty, but very thick. We got tired of it before finishing and it reminded us more of a spaghetti sauce than a tomato soup. The spicy Caesar salad tasted good but walked a fine line between being lazy and having a cool presentation. It was several medium-sized uncut leaves of lettuce laid out in one direction with Caesar dressing and shredded cheese on top. It also had two thin slices of bread instead of croutons. The dressing was yummy and the lettuce seemed fresh, but it was a little bit annoying to have to cut the leaves ourselves. It seemed like the chef could have prepared it in about 30 seconds.

Next we got the lamb burger, fried risotto balls and sweet potato fries. We were happy with the burger bun and meat quality, although it was not anything super special. It tasted good, but we both felt like the happy hour burgers at Jake's Grill or Ringside taste better and cost less. The fried risotto balls fell completely flat. They were incredibly greasy, full of bland cheese and basically had nothing at all special about them. We each took a bite and then left them alone.

The sweet potato fries, however, were by far the BEST sweet potato fries either of us had ever had. They came with what seemed like a spicy sour-cream based sauce that perfectly complimented the sweetness of the fries. They had exactly the right amount of salt and were cooked perfectly. We would go there again just for the fries.

One other thing worth noting is that the menu says happy hour beer is $2.50, but this price only applies to PBR. We each ordered a microbrew expecting them to be $2.50 for happy hour and were disappointed when our bill listed $10 for two beers. We asked our waiter about it and got an apology but no price reduction.

Overall, happy hour at Mint was a positive but less than perfect experience. The hit-or-miss quality of the food would make me hesitate to try out the regular dinner menu, although I would highly recommend the bar for cocktails and sweet potato fries. It is definitely the kind of place that is good to know about and visit occasionally to change things up, and I could also see it being a somewhat impressive place to take a client for drinks or dinner. With tip, we ended up spending a little over $40 and both felt like we could have gotten a better dinner elsewhere for the same price. Next time I'll know just to get the fries and a drink.

Mint Hours: Tuesday - Thursday: 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.; Friday - Saturday: 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.; Closed Sunday & Monday
820 Hours: Sunday - Monday: 4 p.m. - 1p.m.; Tuesday - Thursday: 4 p.m. - midnight; Friday - Saturday: 4 p.m. - 1a.m.
Happy Hour: Monday - Tuesday: 4 p.m. - 8 p.m.; all night on Wednesdays, Thursday - Saturday 4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.; all night on Sunday

Mint/820; 816 North Russell, Portland, OR 97227; mintand820.com; 503-284-5518

For more information about the author, Lisa Chinn, please visit their profile page.