Daniel B.
Yelp
Our group of eight had a good time at Birdie Time Pub in the Buckman neighborhood of Southeast Portland. This is a great spot to meet up and hang out, grab drinks and snacks (food truck on site), and play mini golf and other games. The atmosphere was fun and service was good. The staff was cool.
This is a single-location local business with a lot of Pacific Northwest sports team pride, evidenced by the colorful mural by the bar and nice wood carvings on the mini golf course featuring the logos of teams like the Portland Timbers and Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon and Oregon State, Washington and Washington State, and the Seattle Seahawks. This place also serves as a sports bar, but I think they could use more TVs in this regard. When it comes to sports bars, I prefer the seating distance and TV density at a place like The Sports Bra: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-sports-bra-portland
We visited Birdie Time on a Thursday from around 2:00 to 4:00pm. It expectedly wasn't busy, which was kind of nice because it wasn't crowded. It looked like there were a couple different work groups doing team-building activities at the same time as our visit. We enjoyed food and drink on the string-lit patio outside and then played mini golf and a custom, golf-themed version of shuffleboard inside. The place has an open, spacious, industrial/warehouse feel to it, decorated with distinct, colorful artwork and neat light fixtures.
I ordered the Thai Chili Fries ($8) with Breaded Chicken (+$5). They were delicious and hit the spot. I recommend them. The fries were crinkle-cut and topped with sweet Thai chili sauce, ranch, cilantro, green onion, and chicken. One of my friends ordered a Jumbo Pretzel ($6.50) with a side of cheese. To drink, I had a can (19.2 fl oz) of Liquid Death in Mango Chainsaw flavor. If you've never heard of Liquid Death before, it's just sparkling water that's hilariously marketed to look like hardcore tallboy beers and energy drinks. The Liquid Death was actually hydrating and refreshing, and healthier than sparkling water like Clearly Canadian (which I loved as a kid). You order and pay for both food and drink at the bar. Drinks are served inside at the bar and food is served outside at the food truck, by the patio.
Mini golf was $10 per person for nine holes. We split into two teams of four and had a competition. A couple of the guys kept score on their phones (I think Birdie Time uses an app or website for the scorecard). The holes were creative and had a unique, hand-crafted quality to them, unlike other mini golf courses that you typically find as part of a chain, in a suburban shopping center or strip mall, or at a theme park. There's nothing large scale or extravagant here, just a charming little course. Birdie Time's course is indoors and has more of an adult vibe to it. For example, there are beer holders on every hole and you can watch sports on TV while playing. I didn't see any kids during our visit, but that may have had to do with the time we visited.
Something that differentiates Birdie Time from the mini golf competition is the spin wheel on certain holes. Before teeing off, you spin a wheel which changes the rules on how you play the hole. Examples include playing an entire hole with a baseball bat or hockey stick instead of a putter. We had to use a hockey stick on one hole and we had to tee off on another as if we were shooting pool, not putting. I thought that was fun.
Street parking is available all around the pub, but I don't know what the rules are. We paid to park in the surface lot, catty-corner, at 1300 SE 10th Ave. It felt safe and secure enough. That said, as an Atlanta native, I took my backpack into Birdie Time with me.
Check out Birdie Time Pub on Instagram at @birdietimepubpdx: https://www.instagram.com/birdietimepubpdx/?hl=en They shared one of my stories back in September 2024.
The business opened in/around October 2019.