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.
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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.
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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.
Great Food Is Mandatory
+4.5
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. :)
Great food. Seafood was very fresh. Attentive staff. Highly recommend.
A true hidden gem!. Absolutely love this restaurant.
This was my second visit to this restaurant, and I have to say I only have good things to say about this restaurant.
Great ambience, dishes with superb quality and very reasonable price, very pleasant service, and kind and sweet owners. Perfect restaurant for romantic dinner.
Definitely a hidden neighborhood gem. The first time I went to Portobello was in March 2010 and they didn't impress me back then (i think they were quite new at that point? not sure) as the service was horrible - the server didn't know what he was doing and gave us the wrong order (of something that i don't eat), which in turn left me a bad memory about the food quality (can't help it because i didn't like the particular item).
Revisited this place recently and i kept going back. Service improved majorly, and food quality is awesome, along with reasonable prices. Their pasta are always flavorful, and they have awesome creme brulee :)
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.
Chic Italian. It's nice to see this sort of quality, traditional italian cuisine being done with such care, and without any pretensions or extravagances, in such stylish surroundings.
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.
We were lucky to be here during the Bite of Burnaby promotion, so were able to try three courses at a special price. Everything we ate was delicious. Burrata salad was tasty with the perfect texture. Short ribs were all that you'd hope for - tender and delish. Spaghetti di Mare was perfection, pretty much the best pasta/seafood I've had. Finished off with a yummy molten chocolate cake, rich and not too sweet.
Portobello has always been a favorite restaurant for us and we've visited their West Broadway locations many times over the years. Recently, they moved onto the old Pear Tree location on Hastings in Burnaby Heights.
They start you off with some really great complimentary crusty warm bread. And then we moved onto the garlicky Caesar salad and juicy mussels.
For my main, I picked the braised prime rib short ribs. Super fork-tender. The Petti di pollo con carciofini (thin slices of chicken breast, sautéed with butter, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, white wine sauce) was good too.
Service is attentive and friendly. Make sure to get the tiramisu for dessert.
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I think Ive found my people! Haha, but seriously I love this place and their people. Took my Mom for dinner here tonight, and as we walked in the door another couple of customers said " you are going to have a happy belly". We were greeted by a friendly woman (one of the owners?) and shown to a cozy corner table. Walking through the dining area, other diners looked to be enjoying themselves, lots of smiles and visiting happening. We had plexiglass between the tables which was comforting. We ended up ordering two kinds of white wine, both imports from Italy and described to us by our friendly server (nice Aussie young man). For dinner we had the spaghetti di mare and the braised shortribs. Amazing! Bursting with flavor, piping hot, and generous portions. The seafood in the pasta was fresh and delicate, the shortrib tender and slow cooked. We ended with the homemade lemon ricotta cheesecake (wow) that had berry coulis, fresh berry, and an slight almond flavored whipped cream for garnish. Also ordered the lemon sorbetto served in a lemon shell. So refreshing and beautiful to look at. Even the coffee was stellar.
The owner came over several times to see if we were happy, which we really appreciated. We also appreciated the white linen tablecloths, heavy cutlery, and pretty wine glasses and dishes, it really does add to the experience. Oh and the homemade bread with oil ...yummm. When we left the owners, chef and servers all wished us a good night, waved from the kitchen and thanked us for coming. I cannot wait to go back and already planning my next visit.
Instead of waiting in line for Anton’s come to Portobello’s. Such a great experience, food was amazing, service was top notch and there was a steady stream of regulars coming in so this place must be good. A fantastic Italian restaurant in Burnaby heights.
It was great to be back at Portobello restaurant for the first time since their move from West Broadway. Their new Hastings Street location in Burnaby is comfortable and chic, and the food, as always, is wonderful. My husband had the seafood pasta and I had the braised short ribs. Both were excellent. We both started with the very flavourful roasted red pepper and tomato soup, a perfect blending of those classic flavors. The service was excellent. We were happy to see that our favourite waiter, Randy, is back. We very much enjoyed our evening at Portobello. Highly recommend it.
Myself and 3 others came here to try this new restaurant. The intimate ambiance and décor was lovely. We ordered the fungo portobello gratinato and italian burrata as our appetizers - we all agreed it was so tasty. For our main meal, we ordered risotto and gnocchi - which was even better than anticipated. There was just enough flavour but not too much where it ruined the dish. The service was above and beyond as our server checked in on us and refilled our water often. We learned that their desserts were hand made so we had to give that a try -- the crème brûlée was SO delicious. The restrooms were clean along with hand sanitizing stations. What we would have preferred was our bill to be split however they were unable to do that. This restaurant definitely exceed our expectations and would come here again!
I had an extremely pleasant experience here for dinner. It's a small but cozy spot, despite it being a bit too warm inside for my liking, it was a nice place to relax and chat. All of the staff that we interacted with were very nice and happy to have us there. We had the braised ribs and the seafood risotto and both were delicious. Creme Brulee for dessert was very nice as well, some of the best I've had.
Highly recommend this place if you're looking for a great date spot or just a nice dinner in general.
chucky “Google man” begg
+5
Warm and cozy the minute you walk in to Portobello. Fantastic food, truly the best outside of Italy. Serving staff welcoming taking care of all needs. Save room for dessert, Lemon ricotta cake my favorite Yummy!!! Will be back soon.
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