Polar King

My husband and I been here many times since we moved to Gresham. The breakfast are amazing and delivered with enthusiasm. Always tasting great. We go there twice a month. Great pancakes and eggs with bacon. If you have not visited we encourage u to do so.

Love this local restaurant. Food never disappoints. I asked for a chocolate malt and asked if they had banana to put in it. The waitress stated they only had banana flavoring so I declined. The waitress came back with my chocolate malt and said she used her personal banana she brought for her lunch today. Bless her heart! That's a great waitress!

Homemade meal and comfortable atmosphere. We will be back. Food was fresh and good taste. Ice cream and shakes are on point!

Old Timers Restaurant. Friendly atmosphere. I would be comfortable bringing my parents here for a good wholesome meal. Mom and I are lunch here. She ordered country fried steak that came with a salad. It had a huge mound of mashed potatoes and an abundance of gravy to top it off. Talk about mouthwatering 😋. I ordered a roast beef sandwich. It came with a small bag of chips. Found out my grandma use to love coming here. They have lots of booth seating. The seats and tables are worn down from years of use. I was told one of the waitresses has been there for 40 years! Even though it's seen better days... I absolutely love this little gem. The prices are reasonable considering how much things cost. They have video lottery in the back. I noticed a few individuals coming through the door that looked down on their luck.

Breakfast was lovely! Affordable, delicious and delightful all the way around. Will be back :)

Love this place, but the place like many others can't seem to pay people to work their or something. Very inconsistent hours and service from it... kind of happening everywhere. Maybe instead of making your workers fight over tips pay them a living wage and have the ability to accept tips from the kindness of people. Service industry is going downhill everywhere.

We generally come in on Monday mornings. I think they always do a great job. They server is very polite and the food is great.

Wonderful staff and excellent service. Early morning opening is wonderful. It is an old style atmosphere with minimal lighting.

We saw the parking lot full as we drove by and decided to stop, the place is full of character and the staff is jolly it's definitely a neighborhood dive. The people i'd give five stars the food although it states homemade on the menu:( alas nothing here is made fresh. My jimmy deans sausage patties were dry on my Benedict and went in a doggie bag for my pup in the car.. the gravy was straight from a can :( i could of cooked all this at home and saved $40.

God, I'm just so sick of the smell of Fabulosa everywhere it just ruins the taste of your food , place has gone to hell ..small shitty portions

We went there on Saturday afternoon. Roomy if you're thinking of a group gathering. We order the chicken fried steak, club sandwich and a side of sausage links. Everything was great! They are open every day and close early on Sundays. Get in while you can

OMG! So good, flash back in time. The restaurant isn't trendy, building is old and outdated with lots of charm. If you want great food, this is the place. The cheese burger was not skimpy... tots were crispy and perfect. Mom's breakfast had a HUGE piece of ham which she enjoyed. Her pancake was huge and she said had nice flavor... the syrup was served warm. We will be coming back on my next break from keto!

Let me start by saying that on this particular Wednesday morning, we had one of the best servers on the planet! Polar King has probably been is this spot over 50 years with no remodeling! Hence the space heaters and cords everywhere! Anyway about the food, Val had French toast, and it was pretty average. I went for the cheese and mushroom omelette! There were literally a1/4 lbd of mushrooms, and lots of sharp cheese, beautifully prepared. On the side were more than enough crispy hash browns. Bathroom was spotless as were the tables and everything else. Id have gone all in if it weren't for the space heaters. They looked a little dangerous! Place was spotless as was the bathroom, probably will go back and try a burger. PS, don't go early Monday morning as the place is crazy.

This place is SCRUB. $16 "Country Benedict", which was 1 biscuit with egg, sausage, gravy. Asked for over-medium, came barely cooked. Got one coffee warm up, then never came back. Oof. Fail. Go elsewhere.

Really good breakfast and the nicest servers ever! Kim is the best! Classic dinner look! Grew up coming here! Chicken fried stake is the best!

My family just ate there today the food was gross i ordered steak and eggs the stake was raw when I asked for ot to be med well and the eggs med the eggs was hard as he'll. I complained about the steak she took it back to cook it more when it came back, it was so tough I couldn't eat it . I thought I would take it home and dr it up . I asked fir a togo container and told her it was so tough I'll just bring it home . She said let me see your knife and started cutting my steak so now I really don't want it after she has her hands all over it after serving customers. But I never said anything to her . She then said fine I'll take your stake off the recept but I'm keeping your steak. Then she threw it in the sink or whereever she threw it it was so loud it broke the plate. So much for her tip now and I will never come back again.

Had breakfast today. New cook - first day. Very good but the pancakes were tough. Great service, clean and friendly. I will definitely go back.

We have driven past this place many times and finally stopped to give them a try. It wasn't fantastic but it certainly was not terrible. Very bare bones and no frills but decent. I had the Chef's Salad and the other half had Breakfast #1. Good enough for a quick meal but wouldn't make an effort to come here often even with the super friendly waitress.

Went to Polar King today and the food is outrageously Good home cooked! The atmosphere is friendly and pleasant. I had the chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, salad, and it was more food than one person could eat. I Will be Back.

Quaint little diner serving delicious American style food (breakfast served all day, hand-turned milkshakes), w/ friendly staff & comfortable atmosphere. You'll find your bill half of Black Bear of Shari's, with higher quality food & service. You might be discouraged by the slightly out-of-date decor or faded signage, but that just adds to the charm. This is true classic American diner without being flashy or faux-vintage. The waitresses are SO NICE and the coffee never stops flowing. They have an affordable kid's menu with decent portions. We will be back!

We drive by often and finally figured we'd stop in for lunch. I had a bacon burger which was great but also not terrible. Frozen pre made patty. Veggies were fresh and bacon was a decent thickness. One of my kids had the corn dog kids meal. Again just frozen premade corn dog with fries and a drink. My other boy had the strawberry waffle with whip cream. He said he liked it. What kind doesn't love strawberries and whip cream tho?!

Solid 7 out of 10 Food, Service, Price. Seating and tables older than dirt, but clean. I had a basic cheese omelet and substituted the corned beef hash for the potatoes for $3 more. Not sure it was worth it, but that was what I wanted.The locals seem to like it. Nothing special about the store bought day old sour dough toast. I think Sharis or Elmers nearby next time I am in the area.

This place has been around a long long time and I guess it must be good or it still wouldn't have stood the test of time especially in COVID. There was even a movie, Lorelei (2021), that came out earlier this year about a woman who puts on a mermaid suit and swims around in a restaurant which featured this place but I'm not sure if it's the same location, so fun fact. I've gone here multiple times at least in the last 20+ years and it's ice cream you grew up with, flavors you know and an ambience inside that feels nostalgic. It's just a place you go to when you want something plain and simple and yet delicious.

Friendly staff, good food, fast service no other place can top the coffee refill, will definitely come back

Absolute throwback legit diner. Very good French toast, scrambled eggs and Four pieces of delicious bacon!!! Coffee on the house, what?! Love this little place, look forward to coming back.

First of all the service here throws every other breakfast joint we've been to out of the water. Tracy is so welcoming and her smile is contagious! Food was amazing. We got a chicken fried steak and the Spanish omelette. Both meals were delicious! I've been searching for an omelette where the veggies are actually cooked in, not just poured on top, I had no idea I'd find that at this little diner. Needless to say we will be back! Should have given it a chance sooner.

I've been to this place a couple times and both times have been pleasant. The place is a bit dive-y but appears to be clean. The service is great. For the life of me, can't remember her name but she served us both times (Tracy?) Always attentive and on top of it whether it was water or soda or anything else. Good job! The first time, came here with my wife and a couple of friends for breakfast. Tried the biscuits & gravy with eggs over-medium and sausage (sorry, no pics). Overall, decent. For me, the gravy lacked, though. It had the overbearing flour after taste, a bit salty, and hardly any pepper in it. Good consistency and the biscuits were good. The second time we came here, we ordered the fish and chips and the double cheeseburger. Good portion sizes on both plates. The fish was a little overcooked but still good. The burger is massive but definitely tasted over seasoned, a little salty but still a decent burger. The fries were great with their tartar sauce! Over all, the prices are reasonable, the service is good, the food portion is more than enough, and the flavor of the food is a little across the board but nonetheless worth a try. I will continue to come here from time to time!

Every time we go here the food is great, prices are totally reasonable, and the atmosphere gives you that old timey right at home comfort type of feel! Service is great as well.

Omg I can't believe I have never been here and I've lived right down the street for over 10yrs! Just what I needed this morning. Steak and eggs and a pancake. Have been driving by it on Powell since 1997! This place is awesome!! Delicious food and the staff is so friendly. Prompt service and attention to detail. I even got a Christmas present!! Much love for this place. -cheers

Awesome food and service! This place is old school........unpretentious and consistently good.

Typically I like coming to polar king, but this experience was terrible. It took a long while to get menus and for them to take our orders. Yet their was only 2 other tables occupied at the time. Our food ended up over cooked. My son's fries were more like potatoe chips, and the chicken fried steak was awful. Something I always order and it was overcooked but also just terrible tasting.. Nobody came by and asked how we were doing. Then I saw someone walking through with an electric fly swapper. It took them 25mins at least for someone to notice we were done... I just wanted to see how bad it could be... Typically I am so pleased ... I am just super unhappy...

I spoke to an Angel on the phone .She was so helpful, letting me know if items were available. Before I placed my order on Ubereats. OMG fried mushrooms,A+ do good. Thank you, thank you. THE KING POLAR KING.

I LOVE restaurants and public places that are lost in time, not having been updated in decades. Polar King is one of these places. If a movie or television production company needed a period diner to film at, this would do nicely with a little paint and TLC. I found out about it through the travel website Only In Your State only recently and I've lived in Portland for almost 50 years. I'm glad I did. Polar King has huge portions of well-prepared food typical of an above-average family diner. I had a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate milkshake. I'm very particular and these items were perfect. My brother had the chicken fried steak and also loved it. The focal point of the restaurant is their dessert case--as it should be in any diner--and the homemade desserts are awesome. I had the huge chocolate cake with ice cream on top. And a nap not long after. The building itself is 1950s-1960s, with a small parking lot that fills up fast in a neighborhood that has few other options. It has some oddly shaped booth seating and counter seats generally filled with regulars happily reading the paper and gossiping and drinking coffee. No rush. It is popular with a wide variety of people. Why? Other than the food, the service is extremely warm and attentive and the place is CLEAN. There are some rough spots as the building has some miles and years on it, but the restroom and every surface is spotless. My only quibble would be with the original wooden sign, which really should be repainted. I'm not sure if it had neon at one point (I doubt it). Outstanding in every respect. I will be back.

I've been meaning to try this place for over 40 years and I finally did today. Bought a burger and fries - excellent burgers!! Old school diner style. In my opinion the burgers here are WAAAY better than Red Robin or Killer Burger. Wish I'd done this years ago! Next I want to try their breakfast, and maybe a milkshake too!!!

Words are hard to come up with here. The decor is a time warp. You cant help but feel is this the right place? Here is what gets the four stars. Cleanliness. I don't know, maybe I give too much credence to the old saying you never forget the first impression. It's overpowering. The first impression of this place is old and clean. That just makes the whole rest of the visit way more comfortable. If they pay this much attention to the look of the place imagine what they are doing in the kitchen. The food is great. It's a breakfast joint. Good for brunch also. I have never had lunch but I imagine you could expect more of the same. Is there anything fancy or new or trendy. The answer to that is a resounding no. Don't expect that here. A good solid menu with all the regulars for breakfast. I am a connoisseur of biscuits and gravy. This place earned them an extra star. The sausage gravy is awesome. Just a good mix of sausage and flavor, not runny or watered down. Real stick to your ribs stuff. I can usually smell out a frozen biscuit. The biggest disappointing meal is a great gravy on a defrosted biscuit that taste defrosted. Not happening here. Good coffee. Not burnt. Hot and fresh. There are enough regulars here that I think they are constantly making it. So, what else is important about a breakfast place? Service of course. This place earns almost three stars just for that. Fast, friendly, and attentive. Not overwhelming. Just on top of it. Just when you are thinking of asking for more coffee bam, there it is. Why not five stars? Well, I don't want to be misleading. It's not exactly a first-night date place. More of we are comfortable with each other in sweats place. Don't let the lack of a fifth star throw you. It's a top-notch food establishment. A dying breed. Good food and good service. Definitely, worth an early morning or a late brunch.

Came here for breakfast on Sunday, almost more as a joke since I always drive by here and I had not been here in 15+ years. But to my surprise this place was actually really good! The atmosphere was pretty out dated and more on the run down side, i think a little retro updating could go a long way here. The staff was very nice and attentive and we were seated right away. We decided on the Polar County Omelette with a pancake as the side. The food came out very fast and was a large portion. The flavor was great! The entire menu had very good prices. I will for sure be back here again!

Had the burger with ham and bacon. $10 and included chips. This burger was awesome. We had this after a day of snowshoeing and it really hit the spot. House coffee is $2 though which seemed a bit steep. Cute diner feel, lots of parking. They took cards easily. I'd go back.

I've been passing by this joint ever since I could cognitively remember as a kid. I've always thought that fun looking elephant creature seemed to be a hallmark of a great restaurant. I grew up eating homemade food and my parents never believed in eating out so I never got a chance to eat here until I was a big-kid adult. I was about to drive past it again but then decided to pull in and just eat dinner there. The inside seemed nostalgic to me; it brought me back to the 80s-90s, diner world. I ordered the biscuits and gravy. By now, I realize that biscuits and gravy can be colossally screwed up. I got my plate and the biscuits were...well...like, I had a little bit of biscuit with the gravy. The biscuits were SO HARD. The gravy couldn't even moisten them up. The gravy was slightly gel-like. Meh, I see a few other positive reviews and I'm a woman of second chances when it comes to food. But if someone were to ask me if they should eat here for dinner, I would not recommend, unfortunately.

Been getting breakfast from here for years and never a disappointment. The portions are very generous at an excellent price. Highly recommend the Polar Country Omelet but make sure you are hungry:)

Best little diner in Gresham! The food is good the staff are awesome. This has become our Sunday morning breakfast diner! Love it!!

Polar king is decent in my opinion but not amazing and it's like fast food I feel like and they could really use some updating to their building and inside structure the chairs at the front are so uncomfortable

Newsflash: "GLOBAL WARMING hits Polar King" ...3 soft serve cones for $7....the SOFTSERVES were sOOOOO soft they should be called milkshakes on STALE cones. Horrible. Never again. So disappointed as I want to support local business and double disappointed as I'll never see my 7 bucks again.

This is an establishment that has been there "forever" and we ate there twice in two weeks - mostly for the curiosity factor, "will the same people be there eating as last week"? YEP. Gal who runs it is super nice and the patrons are all friends and like to let you know where to sit. A true local hang out in a somewhat run down building and dated interior - go here if you just want to be treated like a local and you want some comfort food. Tuna Melt and Burgers were good - nothing fancy but tasted good. Waffle with strawberries and whip cream - yum! They can do a to-go box for you and they make sure you have everything you need before you leave - I call that good customer service!

geez. ive asked bigP a number of times to take me here. i usually dig the small, family owned, local business-type diners more than any other. i was wrong on this one. big time. sorry guys. first impression... run down, unkempt, kinda smelled but not filthy, a decent number of cars in the lot to make me think it was worth something. walked in and waited to be directed to a table or seat ourselves. our waitress was rude. not in the "be right with ya, wait till i get to ya honey" rude. ... more like "im busy talking to my friends and ill see ya when i feel like it" rude. okay. whatever. she gets to us. finally. we order the awful, bitter, burnt coffee. scan the vast menu. hmmm... well i guess i will try the country benedict...'homemade' biscuits (instead of eng muffins) topped with eggs and some of our country gravy and some hash browns, crispy please?... okay. bigP orders something forgettable with some tots, which turned out to be the best item of our entire spread. tots. food comes out. very large, very American size, portions for sure. i look at my hash browns. are you joking? what kind of chef, cook, culinary student, future culinary student, first-time cook, first-grader, *anyone*... would ever, *EVER* OO send this plate out to a paying customer?!?! super dry, burnt and scraped of the flat top with a pitchfork and shoveled onto a plate. a heaping mess of dry, dry, dry, burnt, dry awful and very unappealing poor potatoes. what?! i did not even eat one bite. no way. the country benedict... a non-descript plate of a mountain of gravy appeared before me. i cut in to find two very dense biscuits with super hard tops and bottoms, two over medium eggs and an Olympic pool of gravy. okay... dive in, take a bite. NOOO! the biscuits were dry, super-dense, pasty and gummy and cold all at the same time. the eggs were over medium as i asked, thank you. (??) the gravy was bland city and so, so, so, very obviously low-quality canned crap. i tried salt. i tried pepper, i tried tabasco. i tried closing my eyes and plugging my nose... i work hard for my money! ugh! it was just so gross. i mean GROSS. sorry. but the very, very best part was TRYING so hard to find something nice to say about the food, the establishment, the staff... all while listening to our waitress talking, in great detail, about the effects of her juice cleanse. in GREAT DETAIL, to another customer? fellow co worker? stranger? who knows! it was just altogether awful, AWFUL! and i will NOT return. sorry. hope you got all that cleared out of your system. seriously.... it sounded bad, honey.

I have a feeling that the breakfast here is better than the dinner. I got the Club, dad got the chicken fried streak, and not sure what my mom got. No complaints frmo anybody, but it just wasn't special. My dad did rave about his chicken fried steak though. I have a feeling that most of the things here are frozen/fake/etc, since the mashed potatoes were instant potatoes, and not real. The waitress was INCREDIBLY nice, I wish I could give 4 stars, but I can't. But definitely great service here at a local place.

Let me start off by saying I don't like giving a place like this two stars. I went wanting to love this place. I like dives. I like small diner type places. I like being able to hear the waitress banter with the cook on the other side of the window. I love these things. However, I can't give more than two starts and feel like I'm giving all of you an accurate portrayal of my experience last night. Attitude of the server - through the roof nice. The waitress was kind. Friendly. Called both my husband and I "angel". Service in general - we ordered mozz sticks with marinara (as the menu stated it would be served with) but it came out with ranch. When we inquired about our missing marinara, they said they were out. It would have been nice to be given the option to cancel the order then but sadly they brought it out assuming we A) wouldn't notice or B) wouldn't care. We did and we do. My husband's burger came out next... or so we thought. It didn't have the tots he ordered (fries instead) and the bacon was missing from his bacon cheese burger. He poked around on it, handling the burger with his bare hands looking for the missing bacon (this part is important for a later part of this story). He ate a couple of fries while waiting on his missing tots (again, important for later). The check was dropped at the table before my sandwich made it out and we saw listed a bacon burger with tots. Before we could ask about the missing bacon, the waitress swooped in with the right burger with tots and bacon and took the plate he ate off of and handled completely and put it down in front of someone else. The other customer proceeded to eat the burger and fries. I can't even... my husband has his bare hands all over that thing. My sandwich finally came out - I had turkey with cranberry. Not sure why it took so long. Food in general - order recap - mozz sticks, fried mushrooms, burger, tots, turkey sandwich (yes, we were hungry, don't judge). Mozz sticks would have been better with marinara. Mushrooms good. Burger good once we got the right one to the table. Tots good and hot. Turkey sandwich not good (bread smelled on the verge of moldy but it was soft so it seemed fresh - ordered the sourdough so maybe that brand smells that way? It was a turn off). I ate most of the sandwhich but left 1/3 on my plate - my stomach told me to just stop. More on that later. The cook came out to ask how the mushrooms were because they weren't his usual kind. He went on to mention his walk in went out over night and he couldn't take his usual delivery that morning (might explain the missing marinara). We laughed nervously. While I did see him using a small, non-commercial fridge in the back, I was curious as to how everything was being stored without his cooler up and running. Might explain why my turkey sandwich was neither hot nor cold. Just room temp. We sat there, nervously picking through what was left but needless to say, I was finished at that point. Back to the top, I wanted to like this place. Maybe breakfast is their bread and butter (the pictures on here look good enough). Maybe I'll never know though - I don't think I can risk this again. After leaving, I looked the place up online. They were had a dirty dining report come out this year. I can sometimes forgive that. One of my favorite restaurants in NOLA was on kitchen nightmares a while back and my fave Sonic growing up was always on the list of Dirty Dozen in my home town. Sometimes a bit of grime makes for a great greasy spoon, but i went to bed with stomach cramps. It never rolled into full blown food sickness but I can't imagine the cramps were random. A lot of people seem to love this place, so give it a go if you're interested. Our review is based on one very unfortunate visit. Take it for what you will.

Should have ordered breakfast probably. My partner and I both had the same, a Polar King burger with fries. Fries were cafeteria like and flavorless. The burger was a nice size, and my empty stomach had me ready for that 9$ burger taste, but it never came. In fact I am pretty sure there was gravel in my burger, like rock hard bits that hurt your teeth and just shouldn't be in a regular meat patty... the chocolate malt was good though, so they had that going for them.

Best milkshakes in Gresham! Service has always been great. Very friendly and inviting. My fiancé and I look very alternative (piercings and tattoos) and have never felt judged here unlike most of the places in gresham. They have great diner food at reasonable prices!

Small town feel. Great food and very nice staff. Cook went out of his way to make sure my special ordered burger was perfect. Thank you!

Awful since they got new owners. Food is gross. Service is worse. Cooks in the back to me to fuck off to my face in the restaurant. Don't waist your money. And they put sweet and sour sauce on the BBQ burger instead of BBQ!! blehhhh

Worst service. Decent food. Waitress took my son's order and totally ignored me. I won't be back.

I have lived in Gresham for a long time but had never eaten there and then one day a friend suggested this restaurant to eat at. We loved it. Not only is service excellent, but they remember you when you come in. Also the waitresses have been their for years. Some for over thirty years. They have their regulars and they always have room for the new customers too. We love giving business to non-chain business and this is one we go to all the time now.

The standard in old-fashion breakfast diners. My go-to for eggs, toast, coffee and ham while I organize my thoughts

The last couple times we have eaten here have been bad. Food over done or under done. Service was VERY slow. People who came in after us and ordered after us were served about 10 minutes before us. Our waitress did not check on us to refill our coffee. We had to ask for it. She also did not check on us after serving our food but managed to check on the other people a couple of times. What happened to customer service? Would not recommend and definitely will not be going back.

The food here is typcial diner food, nothing special or amazing. Its small and crowded but I loved them. I went here for breakfast and at 35 I was the baby of the bunch. All the old retirees are freindly and are great people. My coffee cup never stayed below half full because it was being filled up. OK food, awsome service, kind of small, freindly crowd.

I come here for breakfast only but i do like it here. I have only ordered their omelettes. My favorite is the polar king omelette. It is big enough for two or three meals tho. It has ham bacon sausage cheese smothered in country gravy.

worst food ever . its just that simple . food is bland and greasy. not to mention the bathroom was dirty and some sort of bug was on the floor