PORTLAND, Oregon — The closure of Pho Gabo, a Vietnamese restaurant in Northeast Portland, has sparked a firestorm of controversy over the city’s enforcement of an odor ordinance.
According to city records, a neighbor complained about the smell of food coming from the restaurant. Portland’s Bureau of Development Services found the restaurant in violation of a seldom-used city code that prohibits odors impacting a nearby residential neighborhood. Rather than paying up to $40,000 for a new filtration system, the owner decided to close the restaurant — which had been there for five years with no complaints.
So how common are odor complaints at Portland restaurants? Not very, according to city records KGW obtained through a public records request.
Over the past decade, the city’s Bureau of Development Services has received 82 complaints about foul odors — 32 of them involved restaurants. The rest were industrial sites, auto shops and marijuana dispensaries.
Most restaurant complaints involved neighbors who griped about smoke odors, the greasy smell from deep fryers or bad odors coming from dumpsters in the parking lot. Nearly half of the complaints about restaurant odors, 15 of the 32, turned out to be unfounded or the inspector was unable to verify. Other cases were listed on city records as “owner abated,” one was voided and a few appear to be ongoing.
The restaurants generating complaints were located all over the city. They included Asian, Latin, Mexican, BBQ restaurants, a breakfast spot, bars, pizza places and burger joints. Several complaints involved food carts. Only one restaurant — a BBQ pit in Northeast Portland — received two complaints of odor and smoke going to the residential neighborhood in 2016 and 2019. One of the complaints was unfounded. It’s not clear how the other complaint was resolved.
This week, Portland Commissioner Carmen Rubio directed BDS to pause investigating odor complaints until city regulations could be re-evaluated. Community and trade groups have also expressed concern about the closure of Pho Gabo and raised questions about the city’s smell code.