Cafe Porto Bello

This place isn’t a cheap date, but in this case you get what you pay for. Their homemade pasta in a bolognese sauce is as good as it gets anywhere, but I’ve yet to have a bad entrée or dessert in the three times that I’ve been. The service has also always been pretty decent, now that I think about it. My one complaint, and it’s always my same complaint: no draft beer; though in my experience Italian places pride themselves more on their wine and mixed drinks and this place is no exception.

I have had dinner at Porto Bello many times over the years but unfortunately this evening the meal was very disappointing. I had chicken piccatta which had a very strong lemon/​vinegar flavor and the chicken was dry. The pasta with marinara was disappointing since the portion of pasta was sparse. Overall, the meal was disappointing although the service was excellent… I do not plan to have dinner at Porto Bello anytime soon… if at all… very disappointing!

Food was bland. Server was great. Quiet Thursday night. Had rigatoni with sausage. The sausage was sparse chopped into little pieces. Chef is nit cutting it.

Went here with the family on a slow Monday night, seemed ok when we got there, nice guy who looked like maybe he was the owner sat us right away. Started off with clams casino app special. Sounded good, they came out basically uncooked with a semi-​raw piece of bacon on top of each. Sent them right back. Owner/​server apologized, they returned a few mins later properly cooked. But to be honest they were just blah… no seasoning, a whole clam vs chopped and some breadcrumbs, and a ½ slice of bacon folded on itself so one side was crisp (after sending back) and the other side raw, so not edible… Tasted like they were frozen.
Next course was salads. My wife and I both got the house, with their homemade dressing. I bit over dressed for my liking but I rolled with it, flavor of the dressing was too sweet but the lettuce seemed fresh. So at this point they are 0 – 2.kids are now getting hungry because they were out of bread on a 6:30pm on a Monday.
Entrees, kids got pizza and plain pasta, wife got shrimp scampi (came out hot) my chicken and broccoli with rigatoni (Ice cold) WTF! So that goes back. 2^nd thing I’ve had to send back, this is not good. So while I’m waiting I taste my wife’s scampi. No flavor or seasoning, and the pasta is way overcooked, like you would find at a nursing home were they have no teeth! My pasta comes back hot at least, but again no flavor or seasoning. At this point I need to get some cheese and pepper to make my dish edible, but no one comes to check on us. I finally just got up and went over to the service station and took what I needed. My Wife and I ate my dish that we doctored up, and at this point were ready to get out of there. Everyone can have a bad night, I’m in the biz, but it’s how you deal with it and this owner as nice as he was, is clueless that he and his kitchen blew it tonight. He noticed that my wife didn’t eat anything, she told him the truth, at this point he offers to make her another one? Really, buddy I want the check. You went 0 – 3 on our courses tonight, I have to send back 2 meals and the other ones just plain suck… so we get the check, everything’s on there, $ 78…first time in my life I’ve ever given a 10% tip, like I said I’m in the biz, but this owner type guy was also our server and both the kitchen and our service just plain sucked! Sorry never again.

I could see why it has 3 stars, but Im giving it 4 strictly for the bartender, Tina. She hooked it up with the amazing drinks.
We strolled in one night, it was «busy», but we found a seat at the bar. Tina was incredibly friendly, and it is definitely a «locals» restaurant, we just moved in from out of town. We order food, it was quick to come out, and kinda delicious. Not worth 5 stars, but it was hot and tasted well mixed :)
We will definitely be returning

I’ve been here twice, always at off hours. This place is fabulous! I went with my bf and we got two drinks apiece, an app, an entrée, a special, and a dessert for under $ 75! Both. times. Hahaha. Our server is always so kind and I’ve never been rushed through my meal.
We’ve had the calamari which is not breaded but delicious. I always get pasta. My bf gets a special. I usually end up talking him into a cannoli.
The food is so good. Fresh Italian food that sticks to your ribs. I always say I’m going to take mine home but I never do. I walk out with a food baby but it’s totally worth it. :)

Had a great meal here. We got the fried mozzarella to start, with their delicious homemade marinara. Ate every bite and sopped the rest of the sauce up with their bread.
Also got the chicken parm (4 out of 5 — small chicken portion, perfectly al dente rigatoni and amazing sauce) and chicken broccoli Alfredo (4.5 out of 5 — really fantastic, the broccoli was super fresh and amazing, I ate them all first, when does that happen?)
Got a very fresh salad (homemade dressing — was hoping for Italian but tasted more honey mustard, still very good).
Overall, everything was great and their marinara is amazing. Truly loved the chicken broccoli Alfredo dish!

I ate here tonight for the first time in over a year. The food is fine but I will never return. The service is horrible. I had to leave my table and ask to be waited on. I had to leave my table again and ask for bread. Restaurants often make good for these types of issues with a free app or desert. We weren’t offered either. Never again.

One of my favorite places for take out pizza. It is thin crust, Italian style, and has a garlic olive oil brushed onto the crust that makes it extra good. Parking can be a bit of a pain, but it is worth it.

I was a big fan of Café Portobello but I have to believe that the ownership has changed. We went this past Friday night. I ordered the Chicken Parmigian, as did my wife. In the past this one of the best items on the menu. When our meals came the chicken was so oily that both were inedible. This is not the first time this has happened. I will not write a bad review unless it happens at the same restaurant multiple times. My opinion is drive the extra 20 minutes to Federal Hill

I come to café porto bello regularly and I keep updating my review. This time it receives 5 stars. My waitstaff was amazing. Rocco and Alex my busboy couldn’t have been more spot on. Rocco was quick with appetizers and my drink was never empty. Alex kept giving me water and my husband loves bread and he made sure he was never without. The food is as always amazing. I had the pizza this time and my husband enjoyed the veal. You can never go wrong with this little gem we have in my town.

We have eaten here many times before, but haven’t been back since last month. What a terrible night. It was a Wednesday night around 7pm and it was about ¼ full. Worst service I’ve had in some time. Waited an hour for our food. I told the server I saw folks come in after us and were leaving. She argued with me about when they came in, and what they ate!!! Out of our 4 dinners only one was GREAT. The rest were hardly OK. It will be a long time before I go back and give them any of my hard earned $$$. Rude staff, poor service, and the food is about as good as you get at a pizza chain. There is no where to park either. DONE and DONE

I was in town staying with my aunt and uncle for the wedding of one of their daughters, my cousin. My aunt was very excited to bring us to her favorite restaurant in her town. She made a reservation for 12, so it isn’t like they didn’t know we were coming.
When we showed up we were quickly seated. The dining room was small and quite cramped. There was another large party (also around 12 people) seated right next to us. The rest of the dining room was sparsely populated. We practically had to yell at each other to hear one another.
Our waitress showed up and quickly took our drink orders. At this point only 10 of our party of 12 was there. By the time drinks arrived our final two guests had shown up. This would be the only thing she did quickly the rest of the night.
Upon brining the last two their drinks, our waitress disappeared for 15 minutes without asking if we were ready to order… not even appetizers or anything. When she finally did show up most people were ready for a drink refresh.
We placed our orders, with some people opting for appetizers in lieu of actual dinner plates. Most of us never saw our drinks refilled, at least not for another 10 minutes after we harassed a nearby busboy.
Our meals arrived in a 5 minute procession nearly TWO hours after our arrival. Orders were incorrect, plates were cold and others were obviously dry from sitting under a heat lamp for too long. None of our party was satisfied.
After finishing the meal my aunt and uncle spoke to the waitress about the level of service when she came with the check. She was belligerent and ornery. After arguing with my aunt and uncle about the service provided, she went to get her supervisor.
When the manager showed up he was equally arrogant and was consistently giving us excuses as to why the service was so poor.
«There were two large parties at once.» — We had reservations; you knew we were coming
«Our kitchen is too small to handle that many people at once.» — Well you should have thought of that when you accepted our reservation.
Never once did the manager even consider making an adjustment to the bill. Due to the fact that we were a party of 12 gratuity was automatically included as well. As a group of upset customers this did not play well.
Meanwhile the large party sitting next to us was a birthday celebration… all the servers and bussers came out singing and carrying a cake. Unacceptable.
On any other night this may be a wonderful restaurant. However, the night of Saturday, November 22, 2014, this was the worst restaurant I have ever been to.

Nice spot. Very cozy. We loved the piano player in the back ground. As far as the food — I will start with the Lobster ravioli. I had this as my meal and it was absolutely amazing. The white cream sauce had a sweetness to it that I wasn’t expecting. I will come back for this alone. As far as the other meal, we had the chicken part. I felt this was just okay. The chicken wasn’t as crispy as I would like. And I was not wowed with the red sauce like I was with the white sauce.

We used to frequent this place. However I must say that we will be hard pressed to ever return.
We started off on the wrong foot. My wife’s aunt and uncle were in town visiting us from London and we wanted to take them, and my parents to one of our favorite eateries. So we made a reservation for 6 people at 7:30. On our arrival the table wasn’t ready because another group was lounging and taking their time after dinner. Not a big deal, we just headed over to the bar to grab some drinks. The host (maybe manager) was very apologetic that our table wasn’t ready.
We were finally seated at 8:10 (+/​-​5mins). The waitress takes our drink orders and gets us bread and oil fairly quickly.
Those drinks were consumed fairly quickly and it was a while before she came back. She casually asked my wife and I if we wanted another drink and left the rest of the table out. When we asked her to return to get the rest of the table another round we were met with attitude and a sigh.
Thankfully, we had a lot to catch up on and we hadn’t noticed that it was 9:30pm. When we did, we were slightly annoyed. We approached the waitress who then offered us coffee and desserts (before we even had our main meal, mind you). This was unacceptable. So we asked to see the manager.
We had explained how annoyed we were that we had been at our table for almost 90 minutes and we still haven’t seen our meals.
The host/​manager was less than sympathetic about the situation. He told us it was because a large party got their ticket into the kitchen before we got ours in.
Which didn’t make any sense at all because we watched other people leave with their take out orders. When we asked him how he was going to make this right, the manager was very apathetic and made comments like «there was nothing he could do.»
Trying not to make a scene we further explained how we would like him to somehow make it right since it’s been (at this point) now 2 hours before we’ve gotten our food. We had a 7:30 reservation. He told us how «they seat the whole town at 7:30, and people eat dinner at 10pm all the time.»
It was that comment that made us get up and walk out for the evening.
I have never been so insulted by a restaurant manager before. I will certainly never return.

Let me start off by saying that we went on a very slow Tuesday… it was pretty dead.
We were seated quickly and the server was nice. We both ordered salads which were super underwhelming and boring– the dressing was just icky with something in it that just didn’t seem right.
I ordered clams vongole which was very tasty and a great portion.
We weren’t served any bread and oil which I always love with my pasta… good for my waist but I still would have liked it.
$ 25 for a meal and salad, no drinks, with tax and tip. Not bad at all… wouldn’t run back but wouldn’t stay away either.

Back again and amazingly — the food got even better! The fusilli was handmade with hands down the best lemon caper sauce on the planet. The North End doesn’t have anything on this North Att spot. The waitress was attentive and polite and having the chef come out and ask us how the meal that he cooked was, felt like an artist that was proud of his masterpiece. If you want to know more about our experience at this family favorite — I can surely tell you more, but I wanted to keep this review short. We will be back with empty stomachs ready to be filled again and again… Bravo for staying small and personal!!!

Just got done eating here !
A-​mazing the best Italian this side of Boston’s north end !!!
Staff friendly, great food !
Comfortable atmosphere.
Live performances piano player some nights they say, other nights a jazz band.
Size able bar ! Signature dishes .
You must try this place !
If your on the south shore your missing out.

Had dinner here yesterday with a friend of mine. I really don’t get the complaints here because I’ve eaten here many times and never had anything bad. We ordered garlic bread, caesar salads, and a margherita pizza. Everything was really good. Their personal pizzas easily feed 2 people in my opinion. We also ordered the lemon cannoli and chocolate soufflé with coffee and cappucino. My only gripe is a lack of prices on the dessert menu, never an excuse for this. I should not have to ask how much a cappucino is. Also no free refills on soda, something that should always be included when fountain pop is used.
Our server was a kid named Jimmy. He said he just turned 18 and was new to this. Well they should make sure they keep him because he was better than most servers even after a lot of experience.

I had read about Café Porto Bello from other Unilocalers, but hadn’t had a chance to try it. So one day for lunch, two friends and I decided to go. We went just after they had opened on a Thursday — 11:45 I think. We were able to park easily on the street, but I hear there is a parking lot down the street. One person goes a lot and loves the food, so she was able to give me some comments about what she had eaten in the past.
It is charming inside. There is a place for a musician to play and the bar is intimate and cozy. The dining room wasn’t that big, which created a sense of intimacy as well. There was one other table filled when we got there with 2 women– both who spoke very loudly, and without other diners, the acoustics were a bit loud. We heard then better than we did ourselves.
I thought the lunch menu was small, but did cover a meat, fish, chicken and then of course pasta and pizza. I had a side salad that was great. I asked for no tomato and onion, so the server added some black olives and a few pieces of cheese and that was perfect. Their dressing was tangy and obviously homemade — excellent citrusy /​garlic flavor. Fresh lettuce as well I s always appreciated! Both my friends had the tortellini soup on the day and said it was very good. The bread was yummy– I don’t think they make it as there were loaves in bags behind the partially closed screen in the room, but it was fresh and crisp, and the olive oil was mild and fruity with the spices grated in it.
I had the chicken parmesan which was good– a lighted breaded chicken breast cutlet with sauce and ziti. The chicken was perfectly cooked and moist. However the ziti was overcooked and too soft. One friend had the fish — franchese I think, with pasta, and said it was very good. The other had the ricotta and eggplant pizza and was able to take half of it home — bit said it had an excellent flavor. Lunch prices ranged $ 8 – 12 and apps and soups were under $ 9. I would definitely try it again for dinner when there was more variety.
One negative– they had just cleaned the kitchen or somewhere just before they opened, because the smell of cleaning products was very strong and had us breathing through our noses until they began cooking some food. So they may want to check on that in the future and plan accordingly.
Excellent service, water filled constantly. Lovely customer service!!!