Mama Bird

If you really need some chicken and you’re in Slabtown, this is the spot.
It’s pretty good and the drinks look nice, but some of the food is kind of missing the wow factor.
Overall the plates look very nice but for us, it felt like it was not executed to the level we hoped it would be. One nice positive is that the front of the house staff is quite nice except 1 interaction that we had with a staff member.
Overall the service started strong but after the food came it was difficult to get assistance. Our party ordered a full chicken, two orders of the seasonal vegetables, a large side of potatoes, and a half rack of ribs. Overall I would not suggest ordering the pork ribs.
Unfortunately it’s pretty clear that they have not quite mastered how to cook them.
Our ribs were pretty severely undercooked, they needed at least another hour.
They were somewhat rubbery and also missing flavor and or smoke.
In addition, there was also very little barbecue sauce. Because of this we thought we might ask for more to try to make the ribs taste better.
As we couldn’t get anyone to come to our a table for about five minutes, we walked up to the front.
Politely asked if I could get a side of barbecue sauce for the ribs.
Was met with a solid no we don’t do that.
So I asked if they would be willing to look at our ribs to see if the appropriate amount of sauce was on them/how they were cooked.
(They were totally dry and also not fully cooked).
After a bit of negotiation, the wait staff member finally agreed to talk to the chef.
They then returned with more barbecue sauce, which certainly made it more palatable as the ribs really were not very flavorful, especially considering they were finished on an open flame.
I think they’re still learning about how to make ribs.
I would suggest sticking to the other items on the menu. Corn/summer veg was tasty but overly charred / one ear was fully burnt (beyond black and crisp) The chicken was well cooked; juicy, and the sauces are good but could be more interesting.
But the big difference is the chicken is missing herbs or spices or lemon.
But the chicken seasoning was really just salt and pepper which made it a bit plain.
As far as the sauces, you get three.
But they give tiny portions - no way enough for a full bird.
The potatoes were ok but nothing to write home about. Overall the best thing was the chicken and the corn.
There are a lot of great chicken places in Portland.
In another city the score could be higher. The ambiance is nice, and it’s easy to park in the area.
Overall, some adjustments could really help the food shine.
It’s hard to know if it was served as intended, or we just hit it on an off night.
But what is absolutely clear is they do not show any experience in cooking ribs.

We've done dinner takeout from here and were impressed so decided to try their brunch and were extremely disappointed.
The servers were friendly but it took a long time for food to come out (and the restaurant wasn't even half full), they were out of several menu items, and the portions were laughably small for the price.
Our veggies in the skillet meal were undercooked and apparently they are only able to poach eggs, so if you don't enjoy runny yolk don't consider getting anything with egg (my request for them to be on the side was ignored).
The only saving grace was the chicken and waffle, which was delicious.
But otherwise super lackluster experience, there are many better brunch options in the area.

This is a revenue for brunch.
Our drinks took forever to receive, $11 mimosa had literally a splash champagne.
The chicken chorizo and eggs is Calabrian Chili’s mixture with 1 tbspn ground chicken and a singular egg (pic for reference).
My husband said the Bloody Mary was undrinkable.
No kid friendly options.
You can get a lot more high quality food with an interesting menu/concept many other places for brunch.
It’s a good location.