The Rialto Poolroom Bar & Cafe sits at 529 SW 4th Avenue, and it has held that corner of downtown Portland since 1920. It is a billiard hall, a sports bar and an off-track betting parlor stacked into one old building, per Wikipedia. Few rooms in the city carry that much history under one roof.
The draw is the format. Two floors of Brunswick pool tables, screens for the games, a kitchen turning out pizza and burgers, and an OTB counter for the racing crowd, per the venue's official site. It is open daily from 11am to 2am, which makes it one of the later downtown options for a game and a rack.
The room reads as classic poolhall, high ceilings, green felt and the low knock of cue on ball under the noise of whatever match is on. It runs steady through the afternoon and louder at night, when the downtown crowd fills the tables and the screens take over.
What to order is bar-first and honest. A cold draft, a slice or a burger off the cafe menu, and a table for an hour of nine-ball between innings. Pricing sits at $$, fair for a downtown room that doubles as both bar and pool hall.
Who it is for: the group that wants pool with the game on, the racing fan who needs an OTB counter, and the downtown worker after a late table. For the wider field, our ranked guide to the best sports bars in Portland sets the Rialto among the city's most durable rooms, and the full Portland guide maps the blocks around it.
Best time to go is a weeknight after work, when the tables open up before the late crowd arrives, or a weekend afternoon with a full slate of games on. It sits in the core of downtown, a short walk from the SW 5th and Morrison MAX stops and easy to reach from anywhere on the transit mall. For two more rooms with screens, Spirit of 77 covers the Blazers crowd near the Moda Center and Horse Brass Pub holds the English-pub end on Belmont.
The basement bar, the Jack London, gives the place a second life after the felt closes down. It runs literary nights, lectures and weekend dancing, which is not what you expect under a poolhall but fits the Rialto's century of odd corners. It is worth a look on the way out.
The longevity is the headline. A room that has run as a poolhall and bar since 1920 has outlasted nearly every downtown competitor, surviving Prohibition, redevelopment and a dozen shifts in what Portland drinks. That staying power is the best argument for walking in.
For sports, the Rialto plays a specific role. It is the spot for a long, low-key session where the game shares the room with a pool table rather than running it. The off-track betting counter keeps a steady racing crowd through weekend afternoons. Fans who want full attention on a screen go elsewhere; everyone who wants pool, a beer and a glance at the score comes here.
What keeps the Rialto on the shortlist is that it does several jobs and never pretends otherwise. Pool, sports, racing and a late kitchen in one downtown building is a rare combination, and the longevity says it works. For a fan who wants a table and a game without leaving the core, it is a sure call, and our guide to the best bars for watching the game in Portland and the national sports bars index round out the map.
Sources: The Rialto Poolroom (official) · Wikipedia · Tripadvisor (updated 2026)
