Portalli’s
February 20th, 2010
Went out with the family last night (always enjoyable) to the new Italian restaurant in old Ellicott City that took over the space from the recently defunct Jordan’s Steakhouse. It is now called Portalli’s and offers Italian food from both the northern and southern regions of Italy. The dining room aesthetics haven’t changed much, but that doesn’t bother me as the upstairs dining room was rather pleasing. The piano player would have been a nice touch if I could have heard him. Now on to the food. |
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| Our service started off with a bang! While ordering a bottle of wine for the table, our waitress put her hand up to me (signaling to stop talking) and walked away. Five minutes later she came back to a table of disgruntled diners. I believe we were mere seconds from walking out as everyone looked around not knowing what to do next. |
| My wife and I started with a mozzarella & tomato crostini. It was very tasty. The toast points were still crunchy while the acid from the tomatoes balanced the cheese. |
| Next course, all the food except mine showed up! We let the waitress know, and then I was able to eat my Shrimp and Spaghetti Carbonara while everyone watched. Despite that, It was the highlight of my dinner. Nicely cooked firm pasta, not too heavy pancetta cream sauce and a nice poached egg that offered delicious richness to the dish. |
| Next all of our entrées arrived. Cheese Tortellini w/ Grilled Chicken – the tortellini was very nice but the chicken was a dried mass of protein. Broiled Mahi Mahi w/ Arugula – clear winner of the night. Nicely cooked & still moist. Chicken Picatta with crispy Polenta – miserable. Again the chicken was solid without any remains of moisture in it. The polenta was nothing special so it too was abandoned. Lastly, a nightly special NY Strip w/ a rich demi-glace. My brother took one look and that was it. I love a good NY strip steak with proper marbling, but this was easily the most gnarly, covered in grissle subpar cut off meat I’ve seen in a long time (It was sent back and not one bite was eaten). |
| All night long the service was lackluster – one example was the food runners reaching over people at the table to serve. The waitress at one point while clearing some plates, picked up a used fork and set it back down on the tablecloth. (really? zoinks!). Before you say it – I’m OK with that, but it isn’t acceptable at the price point of this restaurant. When a restaurant sets itself up with smaller plates fully intending for you to purchase three or more courses, then my expectations elevate. Our server and the food runners clearly lacked from any hospitality training. This was no more evident in the handling of the fresh pepper. We were asked if we would like fresh pepper and upon saying “yes”, someone, minutes later, would arrive to grind it. Should we have started eating? |
| Coming in at a moderate price during a touch economy, I’ll be surprised if this place can stay in business without some big changes. Very sad due to my high hopes for this place. |
| I will not be heading back anytime soon. Other reviews here! |
| Update (2/21/2010): Upon seeing my review, the owner of Portalli’s requested that I share with everyone that they bought us desert and coffee at the end of the meal due to our experiences. |
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Send this review to the manager. Maybe you missed your calling!