Dessert Noir Cafe

Dessert Noir is a downtown portland quality cafe in the heart of Beaverton. I have never had a bad meal there. Everything from their shrimp appitizers to their chocolate Velvet Elvis dessert and all the amzing pasta in between is mouth watering tasty! The local musicians and artists that they bring in are just icing on the cake! Everyone needs to try this place out! Pros: Downtown quality food in Beaverton more

I wrote a review for this place last year and it was removed. I find that a bit sneaky. But I saved it and here it is again! We will see what happens! 11/23/08 I also went to this place dinner last night after seeing it on KATU TV’s AM Northwest. This is NOT a dinner place. It may, be a dessert place but would not be on our list to try again. I will go to Hydens instead! After being seated, the staff forgot about us for about 10 minutes. Then after taking our order, the server returned 20 minutes later with our appetizers and didn't give us any utensils. When it came time for the main course, I ordered the Salmon salad. The wait staff person forgot my salad. When I asked if it was coming up soon, she seemed like a " confused deer in headlights" unaware(or forgot) that I even ordered one. When it came to the table where was the salmon? The small salad had 2 small bits of salmon "jerky" in it hardly seen with the human eye. Not worth $10. Our friends sitting with us laughed and could not believe it! Everyone else's meals were "OK." They kind of reminded me of a deli (compare in quality to that of Panar bread.) The fries tasted just like they came from McD's! Only their Fries were $6. When it was time for dessert, the wait staff person forgot that we had already ordered them with out meal. The signature dessert, Velvet Elvis, was good but not worth the hype. The flour less cake was "OK' but nothing to boast about as well. I also noted that the lady at the next table was missing and asked for a fork. When the staff did not return, the lady went to the back of the counter and got one herself. Instead of cheap food on a fancy plate at double the price, I would suggest that they change their marketing plan and make it a quick deli lunch place and lower their prices. Also, hire more staff (they seemed to be short of staff) with experience. It was disappointing that we probably won’t go back for just a dessert. Thanks very much for trying! I hope my review will help improve your business! Pros: Nice young hip modern decor. Cons:One step above fast food. Seems like it should be changed into a deli. Pros: Nice young hip decor Cons: One step above fast food ...more like deli food in hip decor. Poor service Pros: Nice Young hip decor Cons: A step above fast food,like deli food Poor service more

Wow. I was blown away with not just the terrible reviews recently posted by unhappy costumers, but by the sarcastic, condescending and very unprofessional responses by the "manager" of this restaurant. My husband and I were planning to visit this restaurant for the first time tonight, but after reading the manager's posts I decided to pass on such unfriendly management. more

It was 35 degrees outside and when we entered Dessert Noir it was about 40 degrees inside. We had to keep our jackets on. I had a $50 gift certificate from LIVE PDX that I had been dying to use. I took my sister and her brother and our two kids. They have no kids menu but made them grill cheese sandwiches. Their prices are much to high for the quality. Sandiwiches are $10 and come with a few fries. Their pasta is $16 and doesn't even come with bread. My sandwich was disgusting but the fries were good. I didn't even get dessert because I had no money left over sicne the entree's and appetizers were much more than I expected. There were three adults and two kids, we had one appetizer to share then entree's and the bill was $80!! The picture on their website is not the same in person. It looks like a bar that is freezing cold and way too expensive. Pros: good fries Cons: cold, FREEZING, bad food, EXPENSIVE, no kids menu, more

Went to dinner last night after seeing it as the Restaurant of the Week on KATU TV?s AM Northwest. This is NOT a dinner place. It may, be a dessert place but would not be on our pick list. AM NW Restaurant of the Week Gift Certificate in hand, we decided to go for it and ordered the two most expensive dinners on the menu. Thinking, hey, at 50% off it would be difficult to disappoint. Nope. It was easy. The salad was good. The $28 Steak was poor in comparison to a $28 steak anywhere else. Vegetable item on the menu was left off both meals. Just meat and potatoes. Had to ask if something was missing and the waiter had to check the menu. Huh? Did not ask for anything in exchange for the mistake, but was given free desert. Unfortunately at 6:30PM the Creme Brule was not ready (at a Dessert restaurant?) so had to go for choice b. The signature dessert, Velvet Elvis, was really rich and yummy. The Parfait special dessert was very good! Suggest the higher priced diner items just be taken off the menu since, based on this experience, they seem bound to disappoint. It was so disappointing that we probably won?t go back for just a dessert. Seems odd that they get into a deal with KATU to promote the place and then are not ready to delivery. They know there where 100 gift certificates sold and people would be coming in to give the restaruant a test drive. Too bad. Opportunity lost. Seemed like they where trying but just couldn?t get it together. Pros: Casual happy hour or after movie place Cons: Not a dinner place so they should not even try. more

My daughter (age 12) and I went to Desert Noir for the first time tonight. I had heard and read good things about this place and had been dying to try it. We saw a movie and decided to celebrate her good report card by going in for a late night desert. The restaraunt was cute and trendy. It is supposed to be romantic and the colors are. However, the tables are sat so that a two person table the people sitting there are facing each other across and unusually long table. I can't see how that could be very romantic (in other words you are really far away from the person you are with... we were like, Hellooo down there!) Obviously I wasn't there to be romantic but my daughter did have to move her chair down to my end so that we could chat softly. The waitress was very nice. However, they were out of two of the deserts. One would have been my first choice (the pineapple upside cake!) but that happens, I understand. We decided on the "chef's selection of homeade cookies and ice cream" my daughter was really excited! I pictured an assortment like maybe an oatmeal cookie, a snickerdoodle, or chocolate chip or all of the above. What we got was: TWO HARD COOKIES THAT WERE UNEDIBLE. They were chocolate chip but they were hard as rocks. They tasted like Pepperidge Farm cookies on a really bad day. They were so far from homeade I asked the server again if they were baked on site ands he said they were. Odd. I said to my daughter, "I don't think I"ve had a bad cookie in a long time." She thought for a minute then replied innocently, "I don't think I've ever had a bad cookie." Well she has now. The waitress was really sweet and brought us extra ice cream but it had that freezer burn taste of stale refridgerated goods. Will we try them again? Yes. We're suckers for cute restaraunts with promise. The menu has so many fun things on it that I'd love to try. I hope the next time is good or I'll have a hard time giving it another chance. Pros: The menu looks promising Cons: Bad dessert and they're a dessert restaraunt. more

My friend and I went to Dessert Noir last Thursday night. We were seated and ready to order by 6:30. I ordered a sandwich and she "The burger". The prices were right in line with what one would expect to pay, and the soup (I believe it was Tomato-Spinach) was fantastic. However, when it came time to order dessert, we mulled over the menu for a bit and finally decided to order their most recognized "Velvet Elvis". Only to be told by the waitress that it "wasn't ready". Say what? You open at 4-we were ready to eat dessert by 7 and it wasn't available? So, ok, we take another look at the menu and decide to go with something different. Only to be told that that dessert also was not available, as it was supposed to be "taken off the menu", the restaurant just hadn't gotten around to doing it yet. Hmmmm...well, perhaps then on that note I will just not "get around" to going back to that restaurant or recommending it to anyone I know. Pros: Food is good Cons: Items listed on menu not available more

We frequently stop in to Dessert Noir for a snack at happy hour. I just had to respond to the other review right below mine..You seriously spent an entire paragraph talking about the music playing??!! You liked the food and the service but you just HAD to find something to complain about. People are simply baffling...If you enjoyed a restaurant and took the time to write about them, just say that!! I have eaten there with girlfriends and also after work with co-workers and have had EXCELLENT service pretty much every time, especially lately. We tend to go on Tuesday when they have a special deal for dinner and wine and the server is super helpful. There is only one complaint we all have...Drink prices are SKY high, higher than the pearl district, higher than really anywhere in the metro area and DEFINATELY higher than surrounding areas and competitors in the area. However, at happy hour they have plenty of inexpensive options so that is when we choose to come and we just order carefully! The desserts are VERY fairly priced, dinners are pricey and it seems the bar items are the only things off the charts. Great service helps to make up for this and the food tastes great. I would recommend to anyone, especially at happy hour! Pros: Dessert, happy hour, service Cons: Prices on anything from the bar more

As part of our 28th anniversary celebration, my partner and I visited Dessert Noir for the first time where we enjoyed very tasty appetizers, fabulous desserts and a couple of glasses of wine. This was early (6:30 ? 7:45) on a very pleasant Wednesday evening in July. While we enjoyed the food, the ?chick? music was a little hard to appreciate for us middle-aged women ? and probably for most straight men. It reminded me of waiting around at a salon while getting my hair styled, but without the chemical odors, of course. Neither of us found the atmosphere "romantic". Instead, it has hard surfaces and noise bounces around from other customers making it difficult to have conversation without raising your voice. Pros: Chocolate high, friendly staff Cons: Great Clips atmosphere. Not romantic. Can be noisy when it fills up with people. more

I met with some friends at Desert Noir recently and the only problem I had was finding it. I went there on a Sunday, and parking was a bit hard to find, since it is on the backside of the mall near the movie theaters. Once there, I had a hard time deciding what to order. I decided on the chocolate mousse, which was excellent. One of my friends tried it and decided to get one too. The mousse had a sprinkle of toasted hazelnuts and a small dollop of whipped cream. I found that the amount of mousse was just right for me, however, one of my companions thought it was not enough. Pros: Great chocolate mousse Cons: Price, I could have made a whole batch of mousse for what I paid for a portion. more

I went to Dessert Noir a while ago for dessert after a high school dance. The ambience of the restaurant was cute, remnant of more expensive places in the pearl. My dish was heavy on the chocolate but had exellent flavor. My date had the creme brulee, which was cooked just right. The location is misleading as it is behind cedar hills crossing, rather then in front. The movie theater right there would make this a great date spot. Overall the experience was good, the bar in the restaurant made our group seem out of place, yet the staff was very polite and welcoming to us. Pros: cute place, good dessert considering area Cons: hard to find, expensive considering neighborhood more

I am planning my best friends 40th birthday party. I checked out dessert noir to see if they would be adequate and they fell short of my expectations. The prices were not cheap, and the food was not great. I got the shrimp cocktail, it was a waste of the cocktail sauce. It comes in a huge glass with I believe 6 shrimp, it is a little spicy, and about 3 cups of sauce, no one needs that much sauce. I also got the brochette, it was extremely garlicky, I have had boring home made brochette that was much better. The desserts were good and the ambience as well. We also got the dessert sampler and it was very good, small portions but rich enough that you only wanted a small portion! We split it between three people. All in all it was not worth the $47 tab, and I do not plan on going back, okay maybe just for dessert. Pros: romantic little cafe setting, good dessert and great hot chocolate Cons: average service, okay food, hard to find, its on the back of the mall, not really on cedar hills. more

Been there once. Loved the ambience and the friendliness of the wait staff. The lighting was just right. On a Thursday night before closing there were two other couples who seemed content. The meals we both had were delightful: the pommes frittes, the beef tips and bruschetta style bread, and the cheese sandwich. All the meals were abundant with flavor. However, we ordered the elvis for dessert and did not care for it. It was a little too stiff and tasted cheap. We'll return soon as I often crave the beef tips! Pros: Romantic scene, good wine, great food and service, ample parking Cons: A little pricey, ok dessert more

I like going to restaurants, Papa Haydens, Pazzo, Jakes, etc. ----I got my lady friends to go to Dessert Noir for a Stag-Girl's Valentines night. It was great, they loved it. The atmosphere was great, exotic, european, with filmy metallic sheers separating tables, concrete floors. Clean bathrooms, single occupancy. The everybody loved their wines, we all tasted each others. I had the tomato soup, 2nd time, still great. Before, I'd had the panini-grilled sandwich with pesto & chicken--excellent. I'd wanted it again, but the panini-press was broken. (Time to stack two cast-iron skillets with panini in middle getting cooked & squeezed.) ----Valentines, I had the pasta with pesto sauce & chicken. It was really, really good. My one friend had a chicken pear dish which was very nice. Creme Brule was good. I think the gals loved their flourless chocolate cake and mousse. The hummus plate looked huge and nice--excellent for the other Stag-Girl groups on Valentines. ---Note I think this place would be a disaster for permissive parents with small children. It's very echoey, and nothing to entertain them with. Better take the kids where everybody will win --Chucky Cheese, McDonald's playroom, etc. Pros: Beautiful rich colors on walls, nice decorations, good food, intimate small setting Cons: echo-ey, cold, not good for kids, or big groups more

Once there, we noticed the place was fairly empty and yet no one greeted us as we came in, we stood around for a minute and finally seated ourselves. Someone came over and started to hand out menus. We let him know we were just getting dessert, in case there was a separate menu. He gave us a dirty look, took the menus back and disappeared into the kitchen. 10 minutes later the bartender came over to take our order. We were very upset because we hadn?t even seen the menu! She then brought back the same menus the busboy had brought out in the beginning. That?s when I noticed that all she was wearing was spandex. Her cleavage was showing way too much and her shirt was low-cut in the back, showing off a tattoo and every time she bent over it was not a pretty picture. We ordered one Velvet Elvis, which was pretty good; one Creme Brule, which was good but too small, I could only take 4 or 5 bites before it was gone, and it was also in a weird-shaped bowl, which kept tilting over unless I held it as I ate. Finally, we ordered a Tiramisu. Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts, and I have had it in many restaurants. What we received was NOT tiramisu. Tiramisu looks almost like a layered cake. What we received looked and tasted like a layered chocolate and vanilla pudding with one tiny cookie with chocolate on it that could not be called a lady finger. What they call tiramisu is NOT tiramisu. The bartender spent most of her time flirting with men at the bar. At the end of our meal, my female friend and I went to use the restroom. The restrooms are only single occupancy and it turned out the women?s room light was burnt out. My friend used the MEN?S room, and I went to tell the bartender the light was out. She brushed me off, stating that she knew and that they didn?t have any replacement bulbs. I find that unbelievable because I worked in the food and retail business for years, and lightbulbs are a basic necessity. I will have to think twice before I go back. Pros: The Desserts are Ok Cons: Fake Tiramisu, bad/lack of decent uniform requirements for bartender. more

I have traveled Europe, I have lived in several parts of the Country, including San Francisco, but I am also a long time Portland resident. If I ever wanted to go out for fancy dessert, Papa Hayden was the only place to go, until I stumbled upon Dessert Noir. I bought the cheesecake, and the flourless chocolate cake, im not sure if they still have both of these items, as it has been a while since I was there, but they were wonderful. The Flourless chocolate cake was pure ecstasy. The portion size was almost to large, only because it was so rich, but since we were eating them as the end to a romantic evening, and split everything, it worked out perfect. I had worried that this restaurant wouldn?t make it in Beaverton, but they are still there, and I am excited to return for my next round of delicious desserts. more

I have been going to Dessert Noir off and on for the last year or so and it's a mixed bag here for sure. The best part is obviously their desserts. The Velvet Elvis stands out as others have noted, as well as a Toffee-topped cake with chocolate icing between several layers they once had but can't recall it's name. I find the food is not really the reason to visit here...best if you are looking for a unique cocktail and dessert after a movie or for a late-night treat. The decor is colorful, creative and has a cozy feeling about it, however during cold weather, the heat needs to be turned up because the wind coming in from the doors opening and closing can be a bit drafty. Something I have missed is the live music. Perhaps they have moved it to another night and I've just been missing it, but in Beaverton you don't find abundant local musicians like you do downtown. It was a really nice touch. I remember a harp player who was pretty amazing! She was lovely and sounded like something straight from the Emerald Isle. Also heard some good jazz and singer-songwriter performers there. So, bring back the music! One reason I haven't been by in awhile is the 'vibe' of the place felt kind of negative. For one thing, I have never been in a place where dishes got broken so frequently by the staff! At least one everytime we have eaten there...pretty wild. And once we saw who I guess were the managers arguing at each other right outside the restaurant. Maybe they didn't think people would notice, but it was kind of obvious if you were at a window seat. I do say they are worth a try, I will come back sometime and see if they've improved on the general mood of the place and also because the peanut-chocolate-banana goodness of the Velvet Elvis is calling my name! Pros: Desserts, Specialty Drinks, Live Music (when they have it) Cons: Cold in Winter, Can Be Difficult to Park more

This gem blends classy decor with amazing desserts and small plates for relaxed elegance. I loved my chai martini--it was ultra creamy and smooth. The hummus plate was generously-sized with yummy extras like pickled onions and kalamata olives. The hummus had a subtle bite of spice that set it apart from the usual rendition. The Velvet Elvis dessert cleverly blends his infamous banana and peanut butter sandwich flavors to create a whole new sophisticated treat. I can still taste the pleasant crunch of the carmelized sugar on the warm bananas melting the peanut butter ice cream. Dessert Noir offers a uniquely satisfying dining experience. Pros: Service, Style, and Desserts Cons: AC set too cold. more

Conveniently located right next to the Century theater at Beaverton Mall, Dessert Noir is a great place to begin or end your evening. Great food. Generous portions. Charismatic servers and bartenders. Affordable excellence. Dessert Noir offers the best desserts in town. Their signature martinis are delightful. Make sure you ask for a lemon meringue martini. This fruity concoction is currently off the menu but they will prepare it for you by special request. Make sure you try the steak bruschetta. There is no better spot to take a date outside of Portland. Pros: Amazing service and fabulous food Cons: Their attractive bartender is spoken for more

I heard a lot of good reviews. So I thought I would try this place with my sister from out of town. When we arrived we thought the tables were uncomfortable. When we walked in the hostess did not seat us and we had to get are own menus. after looking at the menu with limited desserts we decided on the lemon napoleon. when they brought it out I was in complete shock on the small I repeat small portion. The phydo was like greasy paper, the blue berries were sour. the lemon custard was like instant lemon pudding. The Chef should try Papa Haydans on n.w. 23rd. I have tried many dessert places and papa haydans is the best. Honestly, Lemon dessert are my favorite and this was the worst,most over priced, flavorless combination. of lemon pudding snack that i have ever tried ,so your not going to get of that easy. I think the people you had trying it were being nice to you. not to be cruel but if you pay that much it should be really good and I am sure you do make other desserts that are better but you should try doing better lemon dessert and maybe i will try you again. Pros: none Cons: bad value more