In 2012, Portland Monthly's Brandy Crowe said the bar "remains a heavily trafficked destination for cool kids and fans of mixology alike.

"[1] Jay Horton of Willamette Week wrote in 2016, "Once a withering lounge attached to a de facto extended care facility whose name described furnishings and patrons alike, the Driftwood Room has been reborn as a windowless jewel box of luxe tippling that lures a cosmopolitan array of visiting guests, West Hills dowagers, and genteel bohemians sniffing happy-hour bargains like half-price Champagne cocktails, in one of the few bars in Portland that has bothered to make such things into a house specialty alongside flights of Manhattans.

"[2] Condé Nast Traveler's Jen Stevenson described Driftwood as "a small, sultry, retro hole-in-the-wall bar, local legend, and destination all its own".

"[4] Time has described the bar as "one of Portland's iconic lounges" and a "dark, wood-paneled" space where "local deal-makers hobnob in cushy leather banquettes".

[11] In 2019, the Portland Mercury's Megan Burbank wrote, "The Driftwood Room at the Hotel deLuxe isn't cheap, but it's one of the comfiest, loveliest places in town to drink, and the happy hour menu's heavy on full-fat delights and fizzy champagne cocktails.