Tonight I decided to watch the Blazers play the Utah Jazz at a local Sports Pub. Before the season began I made myself a list of places a guy to go to watch a Blazer game on TV. McGillacuddy’s made the list and since I found myself in the neighborhood late in the day I decided to give them a try tonight. McGillacuddy’s is located at 11133 NE Halsey Street in Portland. I guess you’d describe it as a blue collar neighborhood kind of place. Its unpretentious and laid back. A comfortable place to hang with your friends or go by yourself to relax and enjoy watching a game in HD. They even have free popcorn. As I’m typing this I’m watching the pregame on a Sony DLP HDTV. Its one of 9 big screen televisions. McGillacuddys features 3 large DLP sets and the rest are all LCD or Plasma. All of the booths have their own individual LCD sets. In a good many of them you will find friendly signs letting guests know its okay to adjust the volume or change the channel. Gamblers have a few video poker machines here and keno, and there are a couple of pool tables set up as well. One thing I don’t like about playing pool in some places is when there really isn’t enough room. At McGillacuddys there is plenty of space to stretch out and make your shots. It’s not crowded at all, and the lighting is good. They do have wireless internet here. If you decide to bring your laptop make sure you have the battery charged up or you’ll probably have to sit at the bar, where one of the friendly servers will let you plug it in. Since McGillacuddys is in an older building they don’t have outlets everywhere like some of the newer places do. After seeing some pretty good looking food going by I realized it was time to take a look at a menu. First thing I noticed is that you can get a pretty good meal here without spending a fortune. On the weekends they even have an all you can eat breakfast for $5.50. You can get sandwiches or a huge burger for less than six bucks. Not only are the prices decent, but there is a lot of variety on the menu and whether you want an appetizer, or a sandwich or a burger or a salad there you will find many items from which to choose. McGillacuddys also offers nightly specials. If I’d been in the mood for fish I could have had all you can eat halibut fish and chips with soup or salad for 8.95. My original plan was to try to eat healthy, so I ordered the grilled chicken salad. Then I saw an order of potato skins go by and the fat man that lives inside of me insisted that I add that to my order. The salad arrived with garlic bread and two large containers of dressing. One thing I hate is when you order a salad and they don’t give you enough dressing. This was just right. The skins were really good. Topped with several kinds of cheese and bacon and served with a large dollop of sour cream.
Good tip. I'm always looking for new places to watch away games when I'm in PDX, and I didn't know one in that area. And since there is a fat man living in me as well, the potato skins sound great.
