Updated: 1/17/16, added Ya Hala Restaurant
If you’re a Caviar courier who gets around by bike, here are the 7 restaurants you should not deliver for in Portland.
Thick Pizza
This is a food truck that makes Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Mike, the owner of Thick always tell couriers to keeps the box flat when driving to the customer. If you’re not familiar with this style of pizza, they’re very viscous. Couriers on bike should avoid accepting jobs for Thick Pizza because the toppings will spill over if you can’t keep the box flat.
Roman Candle Baking Companies
This is a bakery that also makes pizzas. Their pizzas are so large that Caviar has to supply them with special bags to transport their pizzas. These bags must be returned to Roman Candle. I’ve delivered for Roman Candle a few times and know for a fact that couriers on bikes will not be able to properly transport these gigantic bags. You literally need a car trunk for these bags.
East Glisan Pizza Lounge
This pizzeria is the farthest east of all the restaurants currently on Caviar in Portland. It usually takes me 10-12 minutes by car to get to this location for the pick-up. It will take even longer by bike. At the moment, Caviar isn’t available to a lot of the residents near this restaurant so you’ll be traveling long distances to and from this restaurant for folks who live in central and west Portland. The amount of time it takes to get to a restaurant isn’t accounted for in the payout so it’s best to reject this delivery if you’re on a bike.
Ya Hala Restaurant
I’ve never delivered for this restaurant, it recently started using Caviar. I can’t comment on the food but this restaurant is located exactly 2 blocks south of East Glisan Pizza Lounge. These two are on a remote island in the Montavilla neighborhood as far as Caviar restaurants goes.
Buffalo Gap Saloon & Eatery
This saloon is located on SW Macadams Ave close to the perimeter of the zone Caviar is currently operating in. It’s the farthest south of all the restaurants currently on Caviar in Portland. Typically, couriers are clustered near downtown Portland and the Buckman neighborhood where most of the restaurants are. A courier on bike will have to commute a long way south to get to Buffalo Gap. If the customer lives in the Sellwood/Westmoreland neighborhoods, you can’t ride your bike across the Sellwood Bridge to get there at the moment and need to use a shoofly detour bridge.
Pollo Norte
Located at NE 42nd and Killingsworth, this tiny Mexican kitchen is one of the farthest North of all the restaurants currently on Caviar in Portland. The long distance to get to this restaurant is not suitable for bikes. This restaurant typically have their food ready in a matter of minutes once it’s ordered and they don’t like waiting on Caviar couriers while their food sits at the counter. If the customer is located in NE Portland, it’s not too big a problem, but if they are ordering from Downtown Portland, you’ll have to cross a bridge.
Tamale Boy
This Mexican restaurant is at NE 18th and Dekum St. It is the farthest North of all Caviar restaurants. Everything that made Pollo Norte unfit for couriers on bike applies to Tamale Boy.
I recommend you check out the interactive map I’ve created here to get an idea where these restaurants are located in Portland.
I never accept orders from sizzle pie since their pizzas are so huge. I’ve received poor ratings after accepting jobs from Kure juice Bar. I believe this restaurant should be avoided. The containers are top heavy, smooth, and round so they tip over easy. The lids even when sealed do not keep the smoothie or whatever contained. The other day I deliver 2 bowl of the gods to healy heights which is a beast of a hill climb and dangerous for bikes. I get to the dropoff and one of them has spilled and the other one is a mess. This is all happening during the lunch rush and here I am in healy heights. No tip, low star rating, unhappy customers, nowhere near downtown, and to top it all off my brake pads burned out on the way back down those hills so I had to drop my bike off at the bike shop. I regularly have to make deliveries in the Portland Heights, Healy Heights, SW Hills areas. I am in good shape but it is bad for everyone involved.
Does anyone else have to make deliveries in the hills of Portland? The hills are steep, curvy, no bike lanes, and dangerous.
Has anyone else felt like their safety was in danger while making a delivery in the hills?
Bikers should avoid the hills. Avoid SW Portland in general if you’re on bike. Stay downtown. Especially with items that are fluid like the juice you’re talking about.
Sizzle Pie, Trifecta Annex, Baby Doll Pizza, and several others have those large 18′ Pizza. Very hard to do with bikes.
During lunch hours, pizza deliveries are common so if you can’t delivery pizza during lunch hours, you’re missing out.
Thanks for the reply. I would gladly avoid drop offs in the SW hills but Postmates does not reveal the location until after the financial transaction is complete:(