Ken Black (the awesome owner) was super enthusiastic and friendly, served up the drinks (and those butter mints you never get but always love), and he even offered "table service" to the folks who had to stay up front in registration. He checked on folks, circulated when no one was at the bar, and he seemed genuinely interested in the guests and what we were all doing. He was part of the event instead of "just" a bartender. He was so great. I'd totally bring him in for any event I was planning in the future. He and Toi (also behind the bar) were a delight. Oh, and Ken found out this event maybe a day or two before. And he still got all the prep done and cleared out his schedule for that--it was kind of amazing. 150+ people for an open bar is no small feat to get that all together. He did it, got there early, and the drinks kept flowing--as did the smiles. 10/10 would drink with again! read more

Portland Bartender Express - Toi and Ken cover the bar. Catbert watches the tips! - Bartenders Near Me

Unfortunately, I have to give Portland Bartening Express a bad review. After calling the owner, Ken Black, 8 different times and sending two emails with hopes of rectifying the situation, without a single response, people need to know they should not waste their money with this sleazy company. Read this entire review before booking! Don't make our mistake. Do not hire Ken Black with Portland Bartending Express, or prepare to be entirely ripped off. I first hired Ken in April of 2021 after contacting him in hopes of finding a bartender for my July wedding. He responded with two different packages available. I ultimately chose the "all-inclusive" package that included everything; all the alcohol, ice, cups, napkins, mixers, sodas, water, etc. When talking to Ken, I told him it was very important to me that the signature cocktails would also be made into mocktails, as many of our guests do not drink alcohol. He assured me they would do that. He told me he would purchase 4 types of wine, 3 signature cocktails and mocktails, 2 kinds of beer (one IPA and Bud Light), champagne and sparkling cider for the toast, and would have other types of liquor for those who do not like the signature drinks. I signed a contract that stated he would have licensed bartenders from 4 PM until 10 PM (with an hour set up before and an hour clean up after) and would provide everything else we needed for the bar on the day of the wedding. On my wedding day, he didn't show up, but sent three girls to bartend instead. They arrived with NO ice, only 2 kinds of wine, no extra liquors, only Bud Light, and NO champagne. They were unable to make any mocktails. My dad had to leave the wedding to get ice, even though we paid Ken to provide that. By 7:30, ALL of the wine, beer, and liquor was gone, so when the DJ invited everyone to go to the bar to get a drink for the toast, not only was there no champagne, since Ken hadn't purchased any and nobody even told us, there was NOTHING to toast with. Everyone had to toast us with their water glass from dinner. SO embarrassing!!!! read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!! What a nightmare. Hired them for my daughters wedding. Paid for the all inclusive so they would buy all the liquor, beer, ice, glasses, napkins and garnish for the 150 guests. They showed up an hour late and had NO ice, 2 cases of beer, not enough hard alcohol and were rude to guests. We had to make 3 trips to the store to get ice, beer, alcohol and mixers. So basically paid them just to serve. This was such a stressful part of the evening. Highly discourage you from even considering them. read more

READ THIS REVIEW: my sister and her husband chose this company for their wedding and did the all inclusive package. It was a 100 degree day and they showed with ZERO ICE and only 3 cases of warm beer for 150 people. The beer was not even the beer they requested. They also ran out of the two signature cocktails before dinner and when the bride went to order a summer punch named after her they told her they were out. Multiple people noted that the staff were not friendly and did not know how to make the cocktails. My aunt and uncle had to go to the store 3 different times during the wedding to get beer, ice and mixers. I would highly discourage anyone from using this company. read more

This company sucks. Ken is unprofessional and should not be in service. Hired him for my wedding and paid in advance. He didn't bring any garnishes or ice, ran out of alcohol and did not make any of the drinks he said he would. I tried calling and emailing to complain and he completely ignored every attempt. The worst part is that my guest had to have warm drinks until they ran out three hours before the wedding ended. Huge waste of money. I would give 0 stars if i could have. read more

Ken and Lori did an amazing job with our launch party. We just launched our company, FlyHomes, here in Portland and Ken has been nothing but amazing in terms of responsiveness, getting quotes, making sure we had everything covered, and even helping us find a great caterer as well. Lori was our bartender for the night, and she was great as well. From set-up to take-down and providing drinks throughout the night, all the guests loved her and she was really great to work with as well. Would recommend both of them to help with any type of event, no matter the size. Thanks again guys! read more

Beware! Owner Ken Black did not honor his contract and refused to respond. I hired Portland Bartender Express and paid for the all inclusive package for my daughter's wedding. The alcohol ran out after 2 1/2 hours. They did not provide champagne for the champagne toast. They did not bring ice. One of the bartenders was completely inexperienced and needed help making every drink. They left 2 hours early, leaving us liable, as the venue required a licensed bartender. It was a disaster and Ken has not responded to repeated phone calls and emails - unprofessional and total lack of integrity. read more

I had the pleasure of working with the owner Kenyatta at one of our wedding s. Very professional. Will definitely look forward to working with his company again. read more

We hired Portland Bartender Express for two professional networking events we did at Oakwood Portland Pearl District. Our bartender was Sugar Ray who was friendly, attentive, on time and was fantastic at engagement with our clients. We will continue to use this fantastic company and it's great employees. read more

We hired Portland Bartender Express for our wedding and we were so pleased! They were friendly, professional, and very likeable. They were on top of everything leading up to the event and on the day, we can't sing their praises enough, our guests were raving about them all night! Would definitely recommend them for any event!!! read more

They did a great job in our wedding yesterday. Their price was decent, they sent us a shopping list with details, they would work with our own menus. We wanted to offer several cocktails, beers and wines to the guests. They were totally fine with that plan. They arrived early to set up the bar, and they even helped bussing the tables after dinner. They were a lot of fun to work with. Highly recommended. read more

I hired Portland Bartender Express for three different non-profit fundraising events, and was so happy with the fantastic service! Ken Black is professional, reliable, and so personable. Ken engaged guests throughout the events - always with a smile, and a wonderful sense of humor. I highly recommend Portland Bartender Express for any type of event! I will hire him next chance I get! read more

Ken Black and his partner, Ray, offered terrific bartending services at a private party this past weekend. They were on time to set up, had everything ready to go in time for the party with about 44 adults attending. They were pro-active at serving guests and very professional. And also very nice to have with wonderful personalities. Minor details but I do think the following would add some nice touches to your service: a) have table cloth that goes all the way to the ground so that you can hide things under the table without it looking cluttered etc (just adds more glamour and keeps the party nicer looking and b) invest in nicer large ice container for cocktails; c) have nicer looking containers that hold the alcholo that needs to be kept cold. If plastic, have them all black perhaps even or get big nice metal containers (heavier I know). and finally if you can invest in a real setup wooden bar like the one we had present, I think that would be really nice. We also didn't have a lot of room for glasses for the party size so maybe some way to display glasses (book shelf behind you so they can all be out and there available. Overall, terrific. Thank you very much! read more

I used Portland Bartender Express for a wedding, and I wish I had done my due diligence first. I thought it would be a simple thing to hire a bartender as we were providing the liquor and venue, we just needed someone to make the drinks. So after finding the site, I provided our details through email and signed the contract. Pricing was reasonable, but everything else was extremely disappointing. The owner kept getting our information wrong and I followed up with several emails to correct things. It was very unprofessional and disorganized in my opinion. He kept asking me if we were just serving beer and wine and I told him multiple times that it was a full bar. We even talked by phone the day before and I told him again it was a full bar. The contract itself was very clear that it was to provide "Bar service, cocktail and beverage preparation", so I didn't think too much of it, but I should have trusted my gut. On the day of the event, the bartender was replaced without notice (which was fine), but the owner didn't even mention that he wouldn't be the one bartender when we spoke the day before. Unfortunately. the person provided appeared to have no knowledge or training as a bartender. When she arrived, she told me directly she works in real estate and doesn't bar tend. She could not mix even basic drinks. For example, I asked for a Manhattan. She proceeded to pour whiskey into a glass and handed it to me. I had to hand it back and walk her through each step of adding vermouth, bitters & a cherry. She also asked me what goes into a margarita. I even had a bar tending book on the bar with drink recipes. I showed it to her and said it's fine to look things up, but never saw her use it or even try to learn the correct recipes over the course of the night. She did not measure or shake any of the cocktails that we did walk her through making. I didn't even see a cocktail shaker. She simply free poured into the glass and didn't even stir the drinks. Honestly they were some of the worst cocktails I've tasted. Several people told me they were turned away from the bar and told she could not make simple drinks like a bloody mary. She told the guests it was because we didn't have the mixers. We spent over half a day preparing the bar before their arrival and not only had triple sec, lime juice, Margarita salt, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and celery, but we had premixed bloody mary mix as well. All of these mixers were sitting on the bar right next to the liquor. When I complained to the owner, he said that services were rendered and wouldn't refund the full fee (he offer about a third back). At first he tried to tell me that he had to cover hotel cost for the bartender and assistant because the event was out of town, but they told me they drove down in the morning and headed back the same night. When I told him that, he them proceeded to say that it wasn't their fault because there were no mixers, garnishments, and liquor in the bar area, which was outright dishonest. This was a wedding, so there are plenty of guests who can provide statements and there are tons of photos.The liquor and mixers were literally right at the bar. In my opinion, this vendor has been extremely dishonest and very unprofessional. I would definitely steer clear and do your due diligence in checking reviews and getting references before you use their service. read more

NO SHOW AT MY CHRISTMAS PARTY, Sunday, 12.17.17. I hired this company, signed a contract a month ago. I met with Kenyetta Black providing the deposit for services. KENYETTA BLACK'S COMPANY FAILED OUR FAMILY IN SO MANY WAYS. DON'T USE HIS SERVICES!!!!!!!! Sunday, I tried to contact Kenyetta@ 535p and then 540p, the last contact by me was 6p, I texted him, no answer. I had to hit the ground running to set up a bar for our 30 guests arriving in 1/2hr when I realized I had no bartendar!! Kenyetta assured me they would come an hour before to set up. I finally got a text from Kenyetta stating, "he had the wrong date." I spent so much money on products that I will never use, gallons of Mango Juice, Orange juice, bags of lemons, limes and ice, and rim salts, etc. Kenyetta left us running around with no idea how to make these drinks he suggested. We didn't know how to mix the ingredients, so we didn't have the cocktails we planned to have. I am so mad, I trusted that he would deliver services, he didn't!!!! Today is Tuesday, 12 19. 17, and I haven't heard from Kenyetta Black, you would think he would say, I'm sorry! He still has my deposit that I will get back. Did he get a better offer Sunday night??? Beware of this guy!!!!!! read more

Ken Black (the owner and bartender of Portland Bartender Express) is truly fantastic! He is such a friendly, kind, and down to earth person! He got back to us right away when we initially contacted him, and he answered all follow-up questions via text, call, and/or email very promptly too. We hired him for our house party of about 55 guests this past Saturday and couldn't be happier with his services. He served beer, wine, and mixed drinks of all kinds. All of our guests loved him - he was always smiling and welcoming and had great drink suggestions. It was my birthday, and as soon as I my drink was even near empty, Ken magically knew and replaced it right away :) His set up was smooth, quick, and very professional. We love Ken and will absolutely be hiring him again for our parities and would recommend him very highly to anyone looking to have a party with a wonderful bartender with amazing service :) go Ken! read more

We were well pleased with the professional service provided by Portland Bartenders during our Holiday Party. We would recommend them without hesitation. Many of our guests mentioned how friendly and attentive the service was. We also appreciated the additional assistance with clean up of beverage items that was provided. read more