The restaurant had an "eclectic" interior decor and, in addition to coffee drinks and hookah, served fondue, desserts, mezze platters, and wine.

[1] The menu included coffee-based drinks, cheese fondue, mezze platters, hummus, desserts, beer,[2] wine, tea,[3] and hookah.

[4] Dylan Jefferies and Delaney White of the Daily Vanguard called the Pied Cow "whimsical", writing that "numerous Victorian paintings and eclectic items adorn the walls, and a staircase is built up like a kind of altar, with various flowers, silks and dolls ornamenting every step".

[7] In 1996, Jennifer "Jenny" Joyce painted Keep on the Sunnyside, a ten-panel mural celebrating the "history and character" of the neighborhood, along SE 30th Avenue at Belmont.

The building, which has housed Buttertoes and the Pied Cow, is reportedly haunted by a "kind and gentle" woman named Lydia,[5] who "made items fall off shelves in the kitchen on a regular basis".

She is known to be seen with her hair pinned up, wearing black boots and a high-collared dress... Aunt Lydia would often rearrange table settings and move things in the kitchen.

"[18] In his 2012 book, Peaceful Places Portland, Paul Gerald wrote: The lingering image after having a cup or plate at the Pied Cow could, depending on the season, be of an opium den, a Casbah, or a picnic on some hippie's farm.

Servers come and go from a tiny kitchen, and the looming space of the big old Victorian house adds a sense of mystery; not only does it feel somehow hidden from Belmont Street, but one is also left to wonder what's upstairs... At the Pied Cow it always seems like nighttime, but it's far from gloomy.

[20] In her article on the "best secret nooks and hidey-holes in Portland cafes", the newspaper's Shannon Gormley called the restaurant "a goth's approximation of an Old World cafe" and wrote in 2017, "Since the Pied Cow doubles as a late-night hookah bar, it's rarely crowded during regular coffee-shop hours, which makes the tiny tables pushed up against large windows perfect loner havens... [T]he tent houses a few tables, but during off hours, you're most likely to have it all to yourself.

"[4] In 2018, Lauren Yoshiko recommend the pecan pie "on the back patio (hookah optional), where there is often a very friendly neighborhood cat awaiting your attention".

[21] A writer for The Columbian found the wait staff friendly and opined in 2014, "On a warm summer evening, the ample outdoor seating of Pied Cow under light-strung trees is just chill.

The guide said, "Beautiful meets bohemian at this Sunnyside coffeehouse set in a grand Victorian, where regulars fall in love with the exquisite desserts and other sweet and savory nosh plates; the romantic patio doubles as a hookah garden, and while it can get crowded, it's still a date-worthy choice, especially on summer nights.