Chaval - Portland

During our late summer visit to Portland, a local suggested this restaurant, and we couldn't have asked for a better experience. We were seated at the bar, right in front of the kitchen, which was an exciting spot to watch the action. The cod was absolutely delicious, and the desserts were equally impressive. Make sure you try the churros—they're perfectly sweet with just a hint of salt. Overall, it was simply exceptional. Food: 5/5

I stopped by on the recommendation of our inn, the Blind Tiger, and had a fantastic meal at the bar. The staff was friendly and attentive, and both the cocktails and food were well thought out. You definitely don't want to miss the deviled eggs—absolutely delicious! After all my recent travels, I'm going to sleep well tonight. Thank you, Chaval! Food: 5/5

After spending over $350 for a table of four, we were left utterly disappointed. The menu promised intriguing dishes with unique flavors, but everything we tried was bland, with the exception of the blue fish, which was excessively salty. I reached out to the restaurant to discuss our experience, but unfortunately, I never received a callback. My advice would be to save your time and money. As for parking, it was fine; we had a 4:30 reservation and were the first customers there.

Chaval was recommended to us by a family member as a great date night location, however it was okay at best.We had reservations for dinner and we were able to be seated within our time frame. The staff while friendly did seem a bit disorganized as three different people came to our table to start service. We ordered drinks and appetizers but the appetizers took almost 45 minutes to arrive.When dinner arrived the only dishes that looked good was the venison and the burger. The beef cheeks looked thrown on the plate and the pasta looked like a bowl of solid black noodles with a pile of gelatin on top.Everyone agreed the venison was the best dish. The burger was overcooked and dry. The lobster noodles tasted like a salt shaker was mixed in the noodles and the beef cheeks were unflattering.Not quite sure what happened in the kitchen but it did seem like someone was trying to copy a recipe.The final nail in the coffin was our server left for the evening and once again we were bounced between three different people.For the price $50+/per person) there are definitely better options in the area. We actually went for other food after dinner since people did not want to finish thier dishes. Not sure if they just had an off night or what but for the price it shouldn't be that off.

As a frequent travel who does research in places and loves dining in high quality places, the experience at Chaval was deeply disappointing. The short story: the food was mostly good, a bit overpriced, but the service was horrendous. We arrived at the beginning of the dinner shift 5:30p and had our full order before 6:00p— we ordered lots of things, drinks, appetizers, first and main courses. The appetizers came quickly, and then… we waited well over an hour !! for the main course dishes to come. We were very patiently waiting despite the delay. After an hour wait, we asked the server to tell us how long more we had to wait, and instead of offering an apology, a round of drinks on the house, or anything, he tried to justify the delayed, saying they had warned one of the dishes “took a little longer,” and that “this is how long food takes. “ we were so taken aback. We have dined across the world and never had this fully unapologetic experience in a place with so much hype. Notwithstanding all of this, no apologies, no compensation of any kind, they even felt entitled to include a 20% tip. I hope I the management reads this and takes actions. I am not coming back and will discourage all my friends from dining there.