One of the many great things about Portland is the variety of restaurants! We surveyed Lincoln students, asking what their favorite local restaurants are, and we visited three of them to see if they were worth the praise: Dough Zone, La Bonita, and SeaSweets Poke.
Dough Zone, recommended by senior Everett Hoffman, has two local locations; one by the West Waterfront and the other in Cedar Hills. Hoffman recommended we try the soup dumplings and the wontons in chili sauce. We ordered the Pork Xiao Long Bao and the Chicken & Vegetable Wontons in Chili Sauce. The Xiao Long Bao was $9.95 and came with eight in each order. They were extremely tasty, and had a light dough wrapping and a very flavorful soup filling. The chicken and vegetable wontons were $7.30 – they had an excellent flavor balance between the chicken, vegetables and sauce. In our opinion, they were not spicy and could definitely be enjoyed by someone with a low spice tolerance. In comparison to other dumpling restaurants in town, we thought Dough Zone was affordable for students. Our overall rating is a 9/10.
Freshman Scarlett Shinn recommended the restaurant La Bonita because of its “delicious food, giant servings, [and] cozy atmosphere.” Shinn’s favorite dishes are their tamales and burritos. We ordered the $11.75 grilled chicken burrito. We found that the burrito was delicious; it had a really soft and subtly sweet tortilla. The rice and beans had the perfect consistency and flavor. If we were to change one thing about the burrito, it would be the amount of chicken. We agreed that there was not enough chicken. As for ambiance, they played “Hoedown Throwdown” by Miley Cyrus at one point, which made the experience ten times better. Overall, we definitely recommend La Bonita to Lincoln students and we rated the burrito an 8/10.
SeaSweets Poke was recommended to us by an anonymous sophomore. We visited their SE 31st Ave location. SeaSweets offer a variety of different types of fish and sauces, various toppings, and plenty of options for vegan customers. We both ordered the Shoyu Ahi poke and got different toppings – the regular size cost us each $14.75. The fish tasted fresh, the flavor was a great balance of umami and tang, and there was a good ratio between all the toppings, rice, and fish. Our favorite topping was the crab salad. Though it was a bit pricey, we think it was 100% worth it. We rated SeaSweets a 10/10.
Overall, we loved all of the restaurants we visited and we think other students should try them too!