Elephants on Cedar Hills 2905 Southwest Cedar Hills Boulevard, Beaverton, OR 97005

"UPDATE: If you value good service and not having your meal ruined by rude staff, then I recommend going elsewhere. The tables are scarce here and there is no wait staff but the busboys seem to be empowered to rush you out before being done. I originally recommended this place but my family, which includes a 5yo kid, had a terrible customer service experience here. We arrived for lunch before the rush on a Sunday. This place is often short on tables so we often try to arrive early to avoid the wait. We are 3 people, so a table for 2 wouldn’t work for us. Luckily since we arrived early we managed to get two small tables for 2 for all of us to have a seat and a surface to eat. We didn’t take very long but as anyone with kids knows, our son was taking the longest as my wife fed him a few last bites. It was then when a busboy (this place has no wait staff) approached my table and literally asked with an annoyed and rude tone if he could take my table and give it to someone who was waiting for a table. We were all perplexed. My son was still eating, my wife was sitting across him feeding him, and I had no place to sit other than where I was sitting. What was I supposed to do??? Sit awkwardly between a stranger and my son without a table in front of me? Stand awkwardly next to my wife and son’s table for two? Honestly, I can definitely understand the challenge with the shortage of tables at this place, and can understand even understand having empathy for those waiting. But the place has extra tables on the covered, enclosed and heated patio; there were tables available there. We were almost done with our meal, others next to us were almost done. It wasn’t as if we were taking too long or lounging around carelessly. The aggressiveness and attitude of the staff member who approached us was completely out of line and he was totally oblivious to the fact that we are parents of a young child; trying to do our best to finish lunch in a timely manner. I have never been asked to vacate a table before being done at any restaurant; in or outside of the US. As someone who frequents all sorts of types of restaurant establishments, this amounts to a total failure in customer service and a complete lack of common sense. If the busboy had paid attention, he would have seen that there was no need to push us out as it was obvious we were almost done feeding our son and close to leaving. Instead he chose to be aggressive with us and ruin our meal. If it was me owning this place, I would fire anyone who did this to any of my customers. Especially customers like us, who go there frequently and spend quite a bit at this place. For reference, the busboy wore glasses, had a lot of acne on his face and was wearing a nose ring. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Way better than a Biergarten and not at all like Panera Bread, and that’s a great thing. I understand some folks are not put together to like a deli style establishment, and that’s ok. If you are one of such person then this place isn’t for you, and Panera might be more your cup of tea. But if you want a great variety of great quality, healthy and savory foods in a deli-style atmosphere, then this is your place. I had the Bistro Burger with the House Salad minus the Blue Cheese. My wife had a nice cup of Soup and my son the Mac and Cheese. All great! The salad next to my burger was an excellent compliment to it. The Mac and Cheese was cheesy and tasty and the Soup was delicious. On top of that the atmosphere was great. Some tables inside and many tables out on the covered and heated patio. I would recommend for management to provide a few more extra floating chairs and let people accommodate themselves a little better with the given tables. The place offers coffee, wine, sandwiches, ice cream, cheeses and few pastries on top of breakfast, and lunch options. I do not see at all how this place could ever be compared to a Panera Bread, and again, that’s a really good thing because this place is quite a few notches above their weight. I think Beaverton is well served by this business!"

"Nice shop for a grab-n-go meal. They have many soup, sandwiches and coffee options and plenty of unique food items on their shelves too! There is two checkout stations that you can order from, one next to the soup and main kitchen and another where the coffee bar is. There is limited seating inside but they do have some seating on the outside area that is still covered so it doesn't get too cold. The sandwiches were toasted well and pretty good. The mama leones soup was my favorite. It was very creamy and delicious and the Elephants cure soup was also very good."

"I've not had a bad meal of any kind at any Elephants location I've visited (I've tried four so far), including the new Beaverton Cedar Hills location. There is a wide array of baked goods, soups, salads, comfort food (the chicken pot pie and meatloaf are outstanding), unique creations with influences from all over the world (I love the chimichurri steak sandwich), and many options for carry home to heat up. The quality of the food is top shelf and the people working there are astoundingly friendly and treat you like family. They remember my preferences and go the extra mile to advise me and accommodate my dietary needs. The 22nd Avenue NW ("uptown") store and at least the south Corbett store have very good pizza. I haven't had a bad slice yet (cheese, arugula, Italian sausage, are my favorites). If you time things well before closing time, you can get some of this wonderful food at half price. I've managed to get some good sandwiches, pizza, other entrees, breakfast sandwiches, salads, cookies, and that ridiculously good cardamom bread at a great price. As if that weren't enough, even the containers make it easy to carry this good food home and heat it up. All the locations I've visited so far have this wonderful atmosphere and energy. The music, the dècor, the friendly staff, the seating (the Cedar Hills store has handy outlets for your devices and fast internet), and meeting space make Elephants a nice place to get work done and meet colleagues while drinking in that energy of the customers, who seem to be happy to enjoy such good food (and good Stumptown coffee and other drinks) together. I could say a lot more about Elephants, including the handy market, the delicious offerings in the deli case, and the top-notch catering service (I see a bunch of people at all locations picking up large orders, I'll tell you, each time I'm at any store), but suffice it to say that somebody did their homework in setting this place up. This place is a Rose City jewel: it deserves to be cherished and is a must-visit for your out-of-town visitors."

"Good hamburger. Fries were very tasty. Price not out of line with other restaurants. Can get food to go or dine there. Worth going to."

"Elephants Deli is a very good local Portland deli that opened in 1979. They now have several locations in the Portland Metro Area. This is their new location on Cedar Hills Blvd in Beaverton. Elephants has a hot food counter, indoor and outdoor seating and beer, wine and cheese. Chimichurri Steak Sandwich, cup of Mama Leone’ Soup (chicken breast, tomatoes, onion, celery, tarragon, spinach and cream with chicken stock) and a Migration Brewing 1979 Pale Ale"