Review: Ritz-Carlton Portland, A 5 Star Hotel Showing Both Greatness and Major Flaws

Founded back in 2024, I had been waiting to finally stay at the Ritz-Carlton Portland hotel. We had a four night stay there for some rest and relaxation. This was the first actual week off I had experienced all year and the stay had some definite highs and lows. In some ways this hotel is considerably better than The Nines, another great downtown hotel. But in other ways our experience at the Ritz-Carlton was actually worse than what we experience at The Nines. Considering The Nines is half the price and sometimes more than half the price, this doesn’t exactly exude value in being at the Ritz-Carlton Portland. Check-in was excellent and quick. You expect that at any Ritz-Carlton. Service downstairs was thoughtful and excellent throughout our stay. The valet which we utilized was also excellent.
We checked in and then made our way to our room, located on the 12th floor. I decided to upgrade our room to a suite for an extra 200 bucks. We had already booked a room with Club Lounge access. It was a special weekend for my wife’s birthday. The downstairs staff definitely tried to make it special, albeit not always succeeding.

The suite had a big living room with great views of the city. The beds were remarkably comfortable. The bathroom was large and spacious with Dipthyque products. This was a really nice touch. All of the roughly 900 square feet were well-appointed and well-cleaned. There was an espresso machine which made great coffee. The feel of the room was spacious and has terrific floor to ceiling windows.

Bathrooms have both a tub and shower which was really nice for bathing our three year old. Overall the rooms are everything you would expect at a 5 star hotel. People answered the phone when you asked for something which is something you should absolutely expect at any Ritz-Carlton.

The room view was incredible and the nicest I have seen in Portland. The bed itself was incredibly comfortable and brand new. We slept really well. Temperatures in the room were easy to control. It was great having the extra space for our three year old especially during nap time. The room was not loud and the noise levels in the hotel generally were very good. You can tell that the hotel was well-constructed with a lot of steel and concrete.

The room and the service downstairs was the clear highlight. There were a few challenges with the downstairs staff getting something for my wife for her birthday as she did not initially receive her dessert or card that we signed and had staff also include. This was fixed and they were apologetic.

Now to the less than savory aspects of my stay.

CLUB LOUNGE REVIEW:

I have never stayed at a more disappointing Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge. This was a major distraction for our stay and I will go into greater detail in a minute. There are positive aspects of the lounge, and it was not purely doom and gloom.

The main positives in the Club Lounge were the food and wine, particularly the wine. The views were also good. Breakfasts particularly on the weekend with the omelette bar were particularly outstanding. This is not a cheap lounge as my friends paid $275.00 a day to have the access. Lunches were not as good in terms of food quality as breakfasts. The same is true with the small bites before dinner.

The wine selection had several decent Rose bottlings including Whispering Angel and the better option, Chateau Miraval Rose, which retails for about 25 bucks a bottle. Even better is the vintage Argyle ‘Brut Rose’ that they have on hand for you. It retails for 32 dollars a bottle. We enjoyed several glasses with friends with stunning views of Portland. Elk Cove, a local winery and their new 2023 Pinot Noir was a really nice option to have in the lounge as well, as I regularly review their beautiful wines.

This is what the hotel website says about the Ritz-Carlton Portland Club Lounge: “Often referred to as a “hotel within a hotel,” Club enhances your entire stay by providing a dedicated Concierge, a private Club Lounge, unique in-room amenities, and exclusive experiences that immerse you in the best of the destination.”

Nothing like this happened for us at the Club Lounge.There was no concierge there. There was nobody there that really wanted to do anything for you or make your stay special. Requests were poorly responded to. I even told the lead lounge attendant that it was my wife’s birthday and she did not think to try to do anything or make our stay special.

While the views, ambience and wine at the Club Lounge were excellent, the service was nothing short of abysmal. It was by far the least attentive I have ever experienced at any Ritz-Carlton. The lounge service was as if they were doing you a massive favor if you asked them for anything. Sometimes it took ten minutes for them to bring you something.

The first moment I arrived in the Club Lounge I felt uncomfortable. I went to grab some food and was immediately reprimanded for not using tongs to put chips on my plate. It was nearly physically impossible to use tongs in this way and the lounge attendant said that it was a “hygiene issue.” This did not really make sense as there was literally no-one else eating the chips.

Immediately after this we had another issue. I opened a bottle of wine that I was going serve to friends the following day. The main lounge supervisor, forgetting her name, came up to me and said that I could not do that and I could not open the wine. I explained to her that I was going to open the wine to serve to my friends the next day and she then said that I can do that but I can’t pour any wine for myself in the lounge. I explained to her that I am a wine critic and that the wine is not for current personal consumption. I have no idea why she presented with such a poor attitude throughout our four night stay. Service was also so bad that I didn’t consider bring my local friend there for wine. That was really disappointing.

Throughout the four days of our stay the service by the lead lounge attendant was so bad and brusque that we decided several times not to use the lounge and instead have some wine in our rooms. This shows you how bad the service actually was. Service was not only brusque but was disingenuous as at times the servers would say something under their breaths after you asked for a request. We travelled wth our three year old so we did have several requests for food, etc and this was met with a really poor attitude. It is my hope that the hotel eventually makes serious changes to the staffing at the lounge. This was a huge contrast to how good the service was on the main floor and during check-in and check-out.

RESTAURANT BELLPINE REVIEW:

We had a really poor meal at the Ritz-Carlton Portland and it was so poor and so ridiculously priced that we did not go back. Our first night we decided to check out Bellpine and it was massively disappointing. The CACAO-RUBBED WAGYU COULOTTE for 62 bucks was particularly tiny and made me have to eat half of my wife’s entree. The Halibut for 48 bucks was a paltry portion and was massively overcooked. They serve a 45 OZ PRIME TOMAHAWK RIBEYE for 300 bucks. I guess that pricing tells you almost everything.

Wine was also very poorly priced on the wine list. Our cocktails were adequate but not good for a 25 dollar old fashioned. The first one was so bad that I had to send it back, their Olive Oil Old Fashioned.

You expect your cocktails to be world-class in such a great foodie town but they were very disappointing. Want a 40 dollar bottle of Moet Champagne? That will cost you 180 bucks at this restaurant! We had some great food in Portland but it was definitely not served at the Ritz-Carlton which is a totally wasted opportunity by them. For my palate I find that the food and drinks at Urban Farmer Portland at The Nines is so much better. Service was not bad at Bellpine but the cocktail and food quality/value as well as the wine pricing was extremely poor. There are so many better options in the city. We had a world-class meal at Canard the next day.

The pool at the Ritz-Carlton Portland was one of the best parts of our stay. Our kiddo was constantly in the pool and the views from the pool were amazing. They also have a large hot-tub there. The pool was as major reason why we chose this hotel and it did not disappoint.

BOTTOM LINE:

The Ritz-Carlton Portland is a 5 star hotel that has some major highs and lows. We were there for four days so we really got to know the property. The room itself was big and spacious. It was incredibly relaxing being there. The Club Lounge was really such a disappointment and other than the wine selection and the views (which you also have in your room) I can’t recommend spending the extra money to use that. They have to change their staffing there who were cold and brusque — unfortunately unlike any Club Lounge I have ever experienced at any Ritz-Carlton. The service there definitely made this a less-fun stay and marred my wife’s birthday weekend. Fortunately, the service at anyplace other than the Club Lounge was exemplary, particularly the extremely friendly and helpful concierge.