16 Superb Restaurants and Cafes in Portland’s Old TownChinatown Neighborhood
Jan 27, 2025
Kaizen Sushi
This hub for Japanese and Chinese culture and cuisine has become a global dining district, home to everything from sushi and chop suey to Mexican tacos, Moroccan tagines, and more While Old Town tends to get passed over for its glitzier neighbor, the Pearl District, there are a number of worthy places to dine — including options serving stellar sushi and old-school Salisbury steak — in this area that’s still bouncing back from the pandemic.
Portland’s Old Town encompasses the city’s Chinatown, originally a Japantown; the neighborhood consists of a small concentration of restaurants and businesses marked by fu dog-flanked decorative gate flanked on Burnside. Over the years, though, many of the Asian American-owned businesses have closed or moved eastward to the Jade District, attributing the flight to rising rents and a lack of city support for the neighborhood. Despite squandered redevelopment funds, local business owners — new and old — have put time, energy, and money into revitalizing the area, particularly with events.
Old Town is also home to Voodoo Doughnut and other restaurants that are more popular with out-of-towners than locals. See Eater PDX’s visitor’s guide for more options, and for broader geographic choices, see the downtown map.
...read more read less