I was drawn to Rose & Thistle by the patio. They have a lovely patio out back, just round patio tables with umbrellas and plastic chairs. There's lots of greenery around though—it's quite pleasant.

As Portland's only Scots pub, Rose & Thistle is quite a bit like you might except, and you would be right. There's draft beer, single malt scotch, darts, and scottish food, most frighteningly the Authentic Scots Egg (hard boiled egg wrapped in pork sausage, then deep-fried). You can hear your arteries slamming shut when you bite into one of those babies, but they are yummy.

Know this: when the Scottish gentlemen come into RaT, they don't order food.

They serve their draft beer in 20 oz imperial pints. Last night they had:
-Guinness
-Boddingtons
-Stella Artois
-Blackthorn Cider
-Mirror Pond IPA
-Amnesia Porter
-Widmer Hefeweizen
-Drop top Amber
-Lagunitas IPA
-PBR
-Miller Lite
and they have two rotators, which last night were
-New Belgium Skinny Dip
-Widmer Broken Halo IPA

Service is quite friendly but can be glacial. In addition to the scotch egg, they also have sausage rolls and haggis on the starter menu. The sausage rolls aren't the best in town, but they are a decent snack. Most mealy things are in the $8-$13 range, but I've had nothing worth writing home about.

People speak fondly of the burger here, and it is beautiful. However, if you like it cooked to order, don't bother ordering it here.

The HVAC system keeps the smoke away from the non smokers fairly well. There is also a video crack closet.