Pretty Ugly Opens in Portland: What We Know

Cocktail at Pretty Ugly. Photo credit: Pretty Ugly.

A new bar from the folks behind LULU and Silk Road (Vijay Kumar, Gilbert Leon) has been in development since early 2025. It’s called Pretty Ugly, and tonight is their official soft opening date, though they have had some informal events and soft opening evenings going on since the start of the year. Here is what we know so far.

Sister to LULU, With Burgers

Pretty Ugly (not to be confused with Dirty Pretty on East Burnside) is located just up the street from Silk Road, and occupies the space on NW Hoyt Street that used to be home to Mio Sushi for many years.

They identify as the sister bar to LULU. And while LULU offers Nikkei cuisine (Japanese cuisine influence by Peruvian tastes; think Chifa and Indian Chinese cuisine as cousins to this), and Silk Road offers Chinese food, Pretty Ugly looks to offer American food.

This is in the form of a half dozen burgers—complete with melty cheese, as well as bacon and an egg as options—and fries. They use local meats (beef and chicken), locally-baked breads (the sesame seed brioche buns are from Gabriel’s Bakery), and sauces, pickles, and smoked components are made in-house.

It also looks like they may offer some (likely boozy) shakes, too.

Not a smash burger. — This is not a smash burger. Photo credit: Pretty Ugly.

All three establishments are solidly cocktail bars, and offer a wide range of mixed drinks.

Pretty Ugly: What’s in a Name?

The name hearkens back to the earliest days of LULU.

Eater wrote on one of their cocktail roundups in 2019 that LULU “was reportedly almost called Pretty Ugly.” And Pretty Ugly has been the name of a cocktail on their menu for a while now. It’s made with Ilegal Joven Mezcal, kiwi, lime, agave, and yuzu bitters. From what I can tell it’s one of their most popular drinks.

Soft Opening

They posted on their Instagram on Friday, January 2 that they were soft opening that day starting at 4pm and ending at 1:30am with a DJ spinning around 10pm. Throughout the evening they offered “burgers & cocktails.” For whatever reason, this gives me a touch of Burger Joint vibes but without the hidden part.

Earlier this week they hosted Diageo Hospitality National Educator Shane Mulvany, who was available to folks interested in competing in the organization’s World Class global bartending competition. To me, this indicates they are serious about professional development in the art of bartending.

Their attitude about hospitality also seems robust. In their online ad for barbacks, they want individuals who are “passionate about hospitality” and committed to giving guests a very positive experience while in their establishment. Of course, excellent service should be the standard, but it’s nice to see it out there in digital black and white from Pretty Ugly.

As an aside, the ad also emphasized under the Responsibilities section, “Squeeze fresh citrus to the required standards.” I didn’t realize how important this aspect of making cocktails is. You learn something new every day.

I will admit that it’s been hard to pin these guys down for a chat about their restaurants over the years. But I did reach out to them again earlier this week and will update things here with any new information given to us.

Pretty Ugly [soft opened January 2, 2026]
1317 NW Hoyt Street, Portland
Instagram