Hey Luigi brings the Italian aperitivo tradition to Slabtown, on NW Raleigh Street in Northwest Portland. The bar opened in October 2025 from chef Gabriel Pascuzzi of Bistecca, and it pairs an Italian-spirit cocktail program with a pasta menu.
Who would love it: anyone who treats a pre-dinner spritz as a ritual rather than an afterthought. Who would skip it: a guest looking for a late, low-key night, because this is an early-evening, food-forward room.
Hey Luigi opened in October 2025 from chef Gabriel Pascuzzi, already known in Portland for the steakhouse Bistecca. The name is a nod to the owner's father, and the whole room is built around the Italian aperitivo tradition rather than a generic Italian-American template.
The Infatuation reviewed Hey Luigi soon after it opened and flagged the aperitivo hour as the reason to arrive early. The cocktail team works with Italian spirits and amari, with non-alcoholic options built to the same standard. That makes the bar read as a serious drinks destination and not just a restaurant add-on.
What to order: lead with a spritz or a negroni variation off the Italian-spirit list, then let the pasta menu carry the rest of the evening. The aperitivo framing means the drinks are built to open the appetite, so they belong first rather than as a nightcap.
What to skip: treating it as a late bar. The kitchen and bar both wind down by 10pm on weeknights, so this is a place to start an evening, not to end one.
The crowd fills in from 3pm with an after-work and pre-dinner mix, and the Friday and Saturday midnight close gives it a longer runway on weekends. Slabtown has grown into one of the busier Northwest dining pockets over the past few years, and Hey Luigi has quickly become one of its anchors.
Best time to go: the 3pm to 6pm aperitivo window on a weekday, when the room is calm and the spritzes are the whole point. Weekend evenings run busier and lean more toward full dinner service.
What reviewers note: early Google Maps reviews praise the pasta and the cocktail balance, with several singling out the amaro-driven drinks. The recurring caution is that the room books up on weekends, so a walk-in on a Friday can mean a wait.
Because the kitchen and bar share the same billing, the smart move is to treat dinner and drinks as one sitting rather than splitting them across venues. The aperitivo framing rewards arriving hungry and early.
The drinks list runs through Italian classics and house variations, with the spritz and the negroni doing the most work. The non-alcoholic side is built with the same care, which makes it a workable room for a mixed table. For a first visit, an aperitivo and a plate of pasta is the template the bar was designed around.
Hey Luigi sits on NW Raleigh Street in the Slabtown corridor, walkable from the rest of the Northwest dining strip and the streetcar line. For a full Slabtown night it pairs naturally with a tropical room a couple of doors down the same street. Hey Luigi takes the early seat, and the later drink can happen nearby. The room is small enough that arriving before the weekend rush is the surest way to land a seat without a wait.
Pair this bar with Clyde Common, Scotch Lodge, or Palomar to round out a Portland night.
See where it sits among the best cocktail bars in Portland, or browse the full Portland bar guide for more rooms nearby.
Sources: Hey Luigi official site (2026); The Infatuation Portland; Portland Monthly; Google Maps reviews.
