portobello ristorante

an italian gem. been there two years in a row for our wedding anniversary. love the place so much even took our work monthly dineout there even though our rule was to try someplace new so everyone could experience this place. cute husband/wife (?) run type restaurant with a gourmet flair. price fixe dinner is a great deal. love love love the risotto piled with fresh seafood.

lovely little italian place. excellent service- prompt, polite & attentive. shrimp app w/ garlic, butter @ spice was fine. linguine al vongole w/ 2 types of clams in a light white wine sauce was excellent. ate solo while in yvr on business. with a glass of decent red wine ($12) & tip- $53.

my entertainment book coupons brought us to "portobello". i had three of them and planned to take up their offer for "one complimentary dinner entree when a second dinner entree of equal or greater value is purchased". we were three women and this would have given us each, one dish to eat in and another to take home. no where was there a limitation posted on the coupon or their website. but upon presentation of them i was told i could only use one at a time. we were then asked to invite another guest to join us to make our three a party of four, so we could use two coupons. i thought to myself what difference would it make if we are willing to pay for it all the same? the owner was unmoving on this, as he communicated through our server. instead of coming to address us personally, he hid behind his employee. our middle aged server had to bring our message to him, and his to us; this went on back and forth several times. this was a bad start, and an omen of the worse to come.  it was no

food was good, atmosphere was nice, staff were friendly. giving this place 1 star because they screwed up our meal and handled it very poorly. 

we were brought the wrong food, we agreed to eat it out of convenience, waiter thanks us and says "i'll take care of it" multiple times. we finish and say we're not interested in dessert, but the waiter brings us a tiny lemon meringue tartlets anyway and insists we eat it. bill comes and we're charged full price for everything. i ask the waiter what he meant by "he'll take care of it" and he said "oh i meant like a dessert or something" even though we told him many times we did not want a dessert. i pay the bill (by visa) and the second i hand the machine back to him he says "i spoke with my manager, we'll comp your meal". "oh you finished paying already? come back next time and we'll do something special for you."

we will not be taking them up on that offer.

portobello ristorante is a tiny italian restaurant located on west broadway that we’ve often frequented in the past.

we started out with the fungo portobello gratinato ($12) – portobello mushrooms stuffed with crispy garlic croutons, fresh herbs, and served with a roasted red pepper sauce.

that was followed up with the ossobuco classico ($28) – generous serving of fork-tender veal shank braised with red wine rosemary, carrots, celery, and served with risotto.

all of the food was great… including the chocolate pistachio torte dessert made with pecans from sicily.

dine out 2014. went to a dine out, i didn't expect much due to the reduced price set menu, my group pretty much ordered all the possible variation of the set menu, so pretty much we tried it all, this is my rating:

food: it was good, but nothing was really out of the extra ordinary. 3.5/5

portion: the portion is good, i was very very satisfied at the amount of food given, despite my thoughts of typical dining experience 4/5

liquor: i didn't drink this time, but was looking at the liquor collection, pretty good, 20 bottles min - 30 bottles max collection ready, i didn't notice anything special or that can't be bought in canada or the states typical liquor store. not rating it, because i didn't try any of the drinks.

ambience: ambience is a romantic, rather small, calm with many repeat customers. 4.5/5

service: service was great, nothing to complain about. 4/5

overall i would say it's a 3.5 base on the food itself, hmmm i would recommend the place, however it's not going to at top of my mind during my recommendation during most of the time.

good food poor service. the waiter doesnt know how to treat customer

great resto. excellent food and services. they did a really good job even if it was very busy for valentine's day

veal marsala. they miss named this dish. it should be named veal carmala. the caesar salad was also terrible

wanting a light pre-show supper, protein-based with flavourful fresh salads or vegetables, we chose portobello restaurant before going to see underneath the lintel at pacific theatre. our needs were perfectly satisfied though we had to conscientously (and sadly) decline their delicious bread.

went to portobello to celebrate my aunt's birthday.  the three of us ordered two appetizers, two main courses, and two desserts and we were all stuffed full by the end of the night. as appetizer, we had the  cozze alla marinara  and  fungo portobello gratinato . both were good choices. as our main course, we had the  linguine alle vongole  and  vitello al marsala con funghi. for dessert, we ordered their dessert of the day, ice wine grape cake, and the tiramisu. this is actually the second time i visited portobello. i enjoyed it so much i returned, so i will definitely recommend.

never disappointed. we went to portobello for dinner last night. it had been awhile since we were last there but when we talked about italian earlier in the day i started dreaming portbello and we were not disappointed. the food is always delicious , the veal tender the vegetables cooked to perfection and the flavours almost make me swoon.
the service is excellent and it is a treat to watch pino work the kitchen while rosa tends to the patrons with such style and grace.
can't wait to go back.

portobello remains one of our favourite italian restaurants to go to in vancouver. their regular menu has a lot of good items like the roast lamb and the chicken parmigiana but they also often have set menus which provide good value too.

above my expectations. fungo portobello gratinato (portobello mushroom stuffed with garlic croutons, fresh herbs served with roasted red pepper sauce) $10 4.5/5 - there was 1.5 portobello. the crushed croutons made it even more filling. the top was baked perfectly to make it crunchy.
insalata caesar (crisp romaine lettuce with our own homemade croutons, grated parmesan cheese) $7 3/5 - fresh but nothing exciting.
linguine con gamberi & rombo (tiger prawns, halibut, sautéed with vodka garlic, olive oil, fresh herbs, spicy tomato sauce) 3/5 - good plain simple, just like homemade. the pasta looked dry but it wasn't.
gamberi al cognac (1dozen tiger prawns pan seared, flambéed with cognac in a light rose sauce. served with risotto) $24 4.5/5 - i'm not a big fan of risotto but that was good. it wasn't bland as some of the ones i had. there was more sauce that what i wanted. i put some of it on the risotto which made it even better. i want to order this again.
tiramisu (our own made-in the house savoiardi biscotti soaked with espresso coffee and rum italian mascarpone cheese and zabaglione dusted with organic belgian cacao) 3.5/5 $8 - this was bigger than the creme brulee. i could taste the liquor.
the appetizers were big and they could be the entrees in some restaurants. the restaurant charged our host $120 because she made a date change. she said she emailed the restaurant but they said they never received anything. our server was nice enough to deduct the $120 off our bill.

fabulous and finished everything on my plate. if it were not a restaurant, i would have licked the plate.. great food, wonderful people, should be enough said. that being said , i will expand, cause some people might want to know more. just a couple of highlights from my recent visits - cioppino made me want to eat tentacles, and i did. generous portions of prawns, halibut, squid, clams in a broth that was made for bread dipping. risotto, creamy delicious. meringue desert complementary, made me think nothing could taste better in my mouth. being a diabetic, after one bite, i decided, you only live once, so i finished it. the place is family run and the love for the food and sharing is evident in what comes out on the plate. :)