The Matador sits at the corner of NW 23rd and Quimby in Nob Hill, in a building that once housed a distillery, and it has anchored this stretch of Portland's NW 23rd shopping street for close to a decade. It is the Portland outpost of the Matador group, a Pacific Northwest Mexican restaurant and tequila bar concept, and the agave list is the headline, running past 150 tequilas and mezcals.
Who would love it: drinkers who want a deep tequila pour and a late kitchen on a walkable corner, and the happy-hour crowd hunting value. Who would hate it: anyone after a quiet cocktail den, because this is a loud, dark, busy room that fills on weekend nights.
The space leans into the distillery bones, with dark wood, low light, and a long bar that stays two-deep after 9pm. The reason most tables come back is the margarita program rather than the room, built on fresh citrus and a rotating set of specials alongside the tequila wall.
Order a craft margarita first and ask what is on the rotating list. The cucumber jalapeno margarita is the one reviewers name most often, and DoPDX singled out the tamarind-ginger version as a standout, so those two are the safe opening moves. The kitchen runs late, which makes The Matador one of the few NW 23rd rooms still serving real plates close to midnight.
What regulars say: visitors on Tripadvisor and Yelp return to the happy hour and the margaritas as the value, while the common complaint is noise and a wait for a table on Friday and Saturday. It reads as a happy-hour and late-night stop more than a sit-down dinner reservation.
Best time to go: the weekday happy hour, when the margaritas and small plates are cheapest and the corner is calm, and late evening for the kitchen that keeps serving. The NW 23rd address sits on the Nob Hill streetcar route, which makes it an easy first or last stop on a northwest Portland night.
The tequila wall is the part most reviewers fixate on, and it backs up the billing. The Matador group built its name on agave, and the NW 23rd bar carries the full range, from accessible blancos to aged anejos worth a slow pour, which makes the room a place to learn the spirit as much as to drink margaritas. Tripadvisor regulars flag the happy-hour value first, then the tequila depth.
The former-distillery shell gives the room its character, with brick, dark wood, and a long bar that draws a young, loud crowd after work. The kitchen runs a full Mexican menu late into the night, which sets The Matador apart from the cocktail-only rooms on the same street, and the late close means it doubles as a last-call option on NW 23rd.
The address sits on the Nob Hill streetcar line among the shops and restaurants of NW 23rd, so it is an easy walk-up rather than a destination drive. Arrive for the weekday happy hour for the best value, and expect a wait for a table once the weekend crowd lands.
It sits among the best cocktail bars in Portland and earns a place in our global cocktail bars guide. Map a wider crawl from the Portland bar guide.
Sources: Matador official site; Yelp (updated 2026); Tripadvisor; DoPDX; Matador happy hour menu.
