Libbie's Restaurant Milwaukie, OR

 

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Notice that the door and big window you can see through only shows half the dining area. The door next to it which has a sign saying that minors are not allowed because it is a bar is the entrance to where everyone was eating. It is a solid door with no window.

 I wonder if this restaurant wants to cater only to locals and others who know about it. After all the menu says it is Milwaukie's best kept secret.

The Libbie's website

It was Sunday night and the plan was to eat at either Cha! Cha! Cha! or Ovation, our two favorite restaurants in the closest town of Milwaukie. There are about a half dozen restaurants on their Main Street and one, the popular Grandma's Corner Kitchen (website), on the heavily traveled McLoughlin which runs parallel to Main Street. Both Cha! Cha! Cha! and Ovation were closed so we decided to try Libbie's which is next door to Cha! Cha! Cha! We'd looked inside the window several times before but there were never any diners inside. 

Above: From a website

None-the-less we went in and indeed there was a large dining area which was totally empty. It turns out that all the diners were in a room through the door into the bar section. 

The liver and onions were quite good. The soup of the day was Italian wedding soup and it was delicious.  Below, the Manila clams were average but they were serve in a clam shaped bowl.

This is one of the better humorous bar signs I've seen:

The person writing the menu who described a BLT  as "Come on! You know what's on this one!" had a sense of humor:

Below is the backroom which is available for functions:

Here's a YouTube video from 2012 about Libbie's:

The menu (click to enlarge each page) is extensive and the prices can't be beat.

Libbie's has only one TV. It was tuned to a professional basketball game but nobody was paying any attention. There are two or three lottery type game machines.

I asked the the seventy-ish year old waitress who wasn't particularly friendly (perhaps she was having a bad day) who Libbie was and she said she didn't know. I gave her a 30% tip anyway.

The Libbie's website has photos taken some time ago and it doesn't look like these today:

There's no more Golden Nugget Bar.

The closest restaurants to where I live are actually ones I've never been to. It makes sense to try them out. 

One is McQueen's Bar and Grill (website) a few minutes drive on River Rd. The other is in the other direction - The River Roadhouse. It is just to the right as you drive up the hill on 22nd Ave. coming back from Milwaukie. I may check them out. 

Above from the River Road House Facebook page.