Higgins Restaurant & Bar

The Verdict

If you are deciding between Higgins and a newer, more Instagram-driven Portland dining room, book Higgins. It does not have the buzzy opening energy of some younger spots, but it has something more durable: a track record that keeps earning Opinionated About Dining recognition year after year, a wine program built for the food-focused diner, a room on SW Broadway that rewards a slower, more deliberate meal. For food and wine explorers who want depth over novelty, this is one of Portland's most reliable reservations.

What Higgins Is

Higgins Restaurant & Bar is a New American restaurant helmed by chef Greg Higgins, one of the figures most associated with Portland's farm-to-table identity before that phrase became a cliché. The address; 1239 SW Broadway; puts it in the heart of downtown Portland, making it one of the more accessible anchor restaurants in the city for visitors staying nearby. The room reads as the kind of place that has earned its fixtures: settled rather than studied, with the visual grammar of a serious restaurant that does not need to announce itself. Think dark wood, considered lighting, a bar area that functions as a genuine destination in its own right, not just a waiting zone.

The cuisine is New American with a strong Oregon terroir sensibility. That means seasonal Pacific Northwest ingredients, a kitchen that takes sourcing seriously at the plate level. For diners who want to understand what the Willamette Valley and the Oregon coast put on a table, Higgins is one of the more coherent arguments in Portland for that proposition. Compare that to Coquine in Southeast Portland, which leans French bistro with local ingredients, or Tasty N Alder, which favors a broader, more casual all-day format. Higgins sits closer to the formal end of the casual-to-formal spectrum, dressy enough to suit a special occasion, relaxed enough that you are not out of place in good jeans.

The Wine Program

The wine list at Higgins is the clearest reason to choose it over comparable New American spots in Portland. Oregon wine, particularly Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, is well represented, which matters when the food is built around the same regional ingredients. A restaurant that sources produce from local farms and then pours Willamette Valley wine alongside it is making an argument about place, Higgins makes that argument consistently. For a food and wine explorer, this is not a generic list padded with safe California labels. It is a list that takes a position. If wine-food pairing at a regional level is important to your meal, this is a stronger pick than most of Portland's casual dining options. Visitors who want to compare Oregon wine programs at the fine dining level should also consider Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg or The French Laundry in Napa for context on how Pacific Coast wine programs scale up, but at Higgins the price of entry is substantially lower.

Awards and Recognition

Opinionated About Dining, one of the more credible crowd-sourced critical guides in North America, has ranked Higgins in its Casual North America list in 2023, 2024, 2025, with a peak ranking of #91 in 2023 and a 2025 position of #151. That kind of consistent presence across multiple years is a more useful signal than a single-year spike. It tells you the kitchen is not coasting. For New American dining at this level of recognition elsewhere in the country, the comparators include The Inn at Little Washington and Bayona in New Orleans, though both operate at a higher price point and formality tier.

Booking and Hours

Booking at Higgins is classified as easy. Note that Higgins is closed Mondays and runs shorter hours on Tuesday and Sunday (11am–5pm), so a Sunday dinner is not possible, plan accordingly if you are scheduling around a weekend itinerary. Wednesday through Saturday dinner service runs to 10pm, giving you flexibility on timing. The bar area works for solo diners or pairs who want a more informal entry point to the same kitchen.

For broader planning in Portland, see our full Portland restaurants guide, our Portland hotels guide, our Portland bars guide, our Portland wineries guide, and our Portland experiences guide.

Quick reference: New American, downtown Portland, easy to book, closed Mondays, dinner Wed–Sat to 10pm, shorter hours Tue & Sun, bar seating available, OAD Casual North America ranked 2023–2025.

How It Compares