Portovino - Montréal

This location has been my go-to place in the past, but this is the second time my lunch with friends has been sub-par. Mostly, it was the waiter, who treated us like an inconvenience. Some of it was the food. Rushed us to order without telling us the specials, which we had to request to learn about. Served us the "warm rolls" which were spongy microwaved doughballs. No salt and pepper on the table until requested. Once service started the green salad and carrot soup was ok. I had fettucine with a creamy florentine sauce, it was tasty. My daughter-in-law had tortellini with a rose looking sauce. She said it was o.k Her plate and mine combined were $29. Our friend had catch of the day, striped bass on a base of vegetables. That's all that came. The fish, the veg, no garnish, big empty looking plate, $28 after tax. She seemed to enjoy it, but it was not a good value, and there was a fish bone. They were all out of chocolate mousse for dessert, only choice was a tiny champagne flute of tired fruit salad and ok coffee. We were not offered refills of water or coffee. We stayed a while talking with no additional attention from the waiter until we left, and then he eagerly ushered us out. Portovino Decarie, I'll give you one more chance at dinner which I've really enjoyed in the past, but I'm not going back for lunch.

I wish I can have something good to say, but all I can say is YUKKKKKKK, first of all, I'm an avid foodie, love great restaurants, and from the second we walked in to the second we left , I wanted to puke all the way from being seated, to leaving.First of all, we were seated and welcomed by a waiter named Zach, who at first was nice but as we ordered and the appetizers started coming, all I can say is the food was horrible, expired and recycled. First we ordered the beef and salmon tartar, and a cesar salad. The cesar was wilted and had a nasty aftertaste, the salmon was old and made to put in a mold to serve and look like new, which it was definitely not, and the beef was ridiculously crappy and not fresh, exactly presented like the salmon.The worst part about it all , was that we felt bad for the waiter, and kept reassuring him that he would get a good tip despite the food that was offered, yet all he was able to do, is defend the food and run away when spoken to. Which brought us to the conclusion of leaving 0$ tip, since he was not even capable of hearing our critics. On that note, please spare yourself the trouble of being rudely waited on and the low shelf quality of food and go to baton rouge next door, because that's exactly what we did!

It has been a while since last eating at Portovino. Our friends suggested eating the Rack of Lamb and am delighted I did. The portion is very large and well worth the price. It was cooked to perfection. The ambiance is nice with a large menu selection. The service was excellent.

We were invited to this BYOB restaurant and I just have to say that my meal was scrumptious. The salmon was cooked to perfection and sat atop of a mound of yummy mashed potatoes.The food was better than at some very expensive restaurants I have been to. Portovino is at the back of a shopping mall area and it's not a hip scene.But who cares about being hip when the food is so delish!

Went there for a party of 25 to celebrate a milestone birthday (one of those with a 0 behind it) . Had one of the big private rooms which the restaurant set up in a U at our request. Perfect venue for a party, especially since the restaurant was accommodating with bringing in giant balloons, and other reasonable party touch-ups. The servers added bigly to the night. These guys (especially Abier, Melissa, blonde hostess) were amazing- funny and professional. Our main guy was Diego, was super attentive and got all 25 orders right. BOOM! Without these guys, I'd give the place a 4 star. With them, the review gets a 5.Large parking lot is convenient too. The food ranges from good to very good, but comes with the price-tag. Highly recommend the minestrone.