McMenamins White Eagle

The only reason I won’t give the White Eagle a 1 Star is because they have a great bar, with awesome live music and some pretty haunted and interesting history lessons... it’s also in a great location to some other beer bars and breweries... But we were there as hotel guests first and foremost... We arrived around 9:45 pm on a Saturday show night. There were a handful of tables but I wouldn’t say it was busy... the staff were just hanging around looking bored for the most part. We waited for a manager to check us in, and when he arrived, he seemed inconvenienced by us. He mentioned he didn’t have time for us because this was a bar not a hotel... uhhh? Whatever... We got our room key and up we went. The hotel itself is just fine. Lots of tiny rooms but nothing spectacular. Just right for a stay over on our way through town. We went straight downstairs for dinner and live music before bed time. The music here really is quite loud which you can hear through the hotel. This didn’t bother us, but light sleepers beware! Thankfully ear plugs are always provided at McMenamins. We woke up expecting coffee like the manager had mentioned there would be, but upon our surprise... nope! No morning coffee service. A quick call over to Kennedy school and we found out coffee service wasn’t brought over until 10 am... really? We decided to lounge around and take our time, but alas, the coffee never came, and we wasted two hours we could have been making a move on... The White Eagle doesn’t have any hotel staff after or before open hours of the bar downstairs. This means guests should expect minimal service as the closest hotel to help you is Kennedy school. I’m sure this is a headache for McMenamins staff as well, as the manager that night didn’t seem thrilled to have us either. Don’t bother staying here unless you just need the stamp... a hostel or a motel 6 could serve you better...

Small basic rooms above a bar with shared bathrooms. The bar closed at 2am so there was no problem with noise at all. The tram around the corner takes you to the centre of Portland in minutes. I would happily stay here again.

The hotel decor - rooms, hallways, pub, everywhere - was amazing! It's the best I've seen in a hotel, ever, and I've traveled around the world, literally. The McMenamin brothers are collectively the Elon Musk of Portland's hospitality industry - they have big ideas that change everyone's sense of what's possible in a hotel stay. So what if the walls are paper thin, and the toilets are in little closets without sinks? You can lull yourself to sleep listening to the live music in the pub, and every room has stenciled themes and lyrics matching the name on the door.

You need to have an open mind to stay at a McMenamins property, and this is no exception. We stayed in one of the bunk bed rooms, and while the beds are certainly comfortable, the room is really small and not well ventilated. It really is just a place to sleep as the live music definitely goes until midnight and even the canned music is on until 2am. There are 3 toilets, in separate stall-like rooms down the hall. There are two showers located at the front, which really have great water pressure but there's no place to put anything, either in the shower or just outside of it. It was a lot of fun, but as I'm now at 40mumble I feel like I need more creature comforts. But it's much more affordable than downtown hotels, the staff is really friendly and there's no penalty for late check in.

This was our second visit to a McMenamins property and they are fun. The rooms are clean, comfortable, named/decorated with a theme, ours was music related. FYI there's a sink in your room and shared toilets and shower rooms. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The decor of the hotel and restaurant is great. There's often live music at night. The craft beer selection is good and the Ruby is a nice almost cherry tasting beer. Our hamburger, fries (huge serving), and tomato basil soup were all good. My husband and a friend played at the White Eagle on July 18 to a small but very attentive and appreciative audience. I can't wait to go back.

The White Eagle is a fun old hotel with a lot of interesting history, like many of the McMenamins locations. The rooms are very small, basically just a bed and a pedestal sink. The queen bedrooms are a bit larger with a small table & chairs as well. They supply earplugs in the bedside table in case you can't sleep with the sounds of the bar & live music downstairs but I had no problem sleeping. There is a large fan in the room that you can use to supply enough "white noise" to drown out the music. Supposedly this hotel is haunted with the sadness of former prostitutes and the fear & violence of men who were shanghaied into service on the ships... but I was not bothered by any ghosts during my stay. :) There are showers & bathrooms separately located just down the hall from the bedrooms. The bed was comfortable and they had an extra pillow & blanket in the room.

Went here on our last night in town. They had an 80's cover band and another Elvis Costello Tribute Band. Not a big crowd on a weekday. Drinks are average but pours are exact! We ordered some Tacos which were sufficient. The first band was great playing a great playlist from the Cure to Police. We drank, sang and danced! Even got to hang with band after. They have a great fire pit outside!