Garden Patio | The Back Patio

The Garden Patio

Our garden patio is the heart of The Back Patio experience. It features fire tables, a gas fire pit, cornhole, and outdoor seating surrounded by greenery. It's the perfect spot to enjoy food truck fare with a drink.

The space was designed by Portlanders for Portland weather. Portland rain is a feature, not a bug. Our garden patio has covered seating areas with a pergola and propane heaters that keep things cozy well into fall. Indoor seating is also available with full bar service. We've got you covered, literally.

Patio Views

Why "The Back Patio"?

The name comes from co-owner Jennifer's own back patio at home — the spot overlooking her vegetable garden that she calls her therapy spot and her happy spot. When she and Mike toured a former cannabis dispensary on NE Cully Blvd and found a forgotten, overgrown patio hidden behind the building, the concept clicked: build a venue around that feeling.

Two and a half years of planning and hands-on work later, that overgrown lot is now the garden heart of the venue — raised beds, a string-light canopy, covered seating, and fire tables, all visible from nearly every indoor seat.

Year-Round by Design

Portland gets nine months of questionable weather, and the patio was built for all of it. The pergola and covered sections shed the rain, propane heaters and fire tables hold the warmth, and the string lights make even a gray Tuesday feel like an occasion. Summer means open-air evenings; winter means huddling around the fire with a hot hand and a cold pint.

The patio is where the food carts live, so every order comes with a garden seat if you want one. Grab food from the carts or a board from the bar, pick a fire table, and stay as long as you like — lingering is the whole point.

Life on the Patio

Day to day, the patio is Cully's outdoor living room: kids working through a cornhole game, dogs settled under the table (leashed, well-behaved dogs are always welcome in the garden), neighbors sharing a charcuterie board between the food carts and the fire. Outdoor foosball runs most dry afternoons.

Evenings, the string lights take over. Vinyl Night Mondays, live-music Fridays and Saturdays, and monthly bingo all spill naturally between the bar room and the garden — check the events page for what's on this week.

Good to Know Before You Grab a Seat

The patio keeps the same hours as the venue — open every day from noon, with last seating winding down as the bar closes. All seating is first-come, first-served, and there's no reservation to worry about. Food cart hours vary by cart and day, so check the food page or the whiteboard out front if you're coming specifically to eat.

Dogs stay welcome as long as they're leashed and friendly, and kids are welcome until close every day. If the evening turns cold, the fire tables and heaters go on — just ask. On rainy days the covered sections fill up first, so come early and settle in for the evening.

The Garden Itself

Jennifer hand-selected every plant in the garden and every piece of furniture out here. The raised beds are planted with native Pacific Northwest ferns and climbing vines, chosen to look good in February as well as July — this is a garden built for a Portland patio, not a postcard from somewhere drier.

Season by season, the space shifts its mood without ever closing. Summer is open-air and golden; fall is heater season, when the fire tables become the most fought-over seats in Cully; winter is string lights in the rain, which regulars will tell you is when the patio looks its best; spring is when the vines come back and the whole garden wakes up with the neighborhood.

Cully's Backyard

Cully is one of Portland's most diverse, welcoming, and under-appreciated neighborhoods — and it's home. Rather than trying to change Cully, The Back Patio exists to add something good to it.

With accessible pricing and a welcoming atmosphere, creating a neighborhood gathering place isn't just good business — it's community service. Food carts at varied price points and a garden patio that serves as the neighborhood's unofficial backyard all reflect this commitment.