When I crave carb, I choose this place. House made fresh pasta with regular or seasonal menu. Came here for lunch today and I could not help ordering their squid ink pasta with clam (and comes with thick pancetta) again... My friend tried a vegetarian pasta with garlic, chili flakes, olive oil and breadcrumbs was simply nice. Added some sautéed mustard green as a side. They also have salad and antipasto if you don't feel like a big bowl of pasta... It looks big but I finished all :) conveniently located in NW 23rd and SW die downtown. Only one thing is the music was very loud that day, had a little difficult time talking to my friends (need to find a seat away from the speaker). Other than that, good place for lunch! read more

Grassa - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Tried this place on recommendation from a friend. Great value for great pasta. Budget friendly. Highly recommend the Luke, the thickness of the spaghetti let's your appreciate the unique texture and the meatballs and sauce are yummy. The aglio olio is good but has a lot of excess oil and since the noodles were thinner, it was harder to appreciate the texture and they seemed pretty standard. Friendly service. Outdoor seating is cute , picnic benches in a wooden patio. read more

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Fabulously good food, with a wide variety of food and beverages to choose from. Quick ordering, but food took a while to come out. What's the deal with blaring hard rock music in a restaurant? It just doesn't work for any kind of conversation. read more

Great pasta usually love this place, but a woman who was working was wearing a Charles Manson shirt not really appetising to look at a white supremacist while eating read more

Grassa - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

The ambience is great, but the food gives culinary blue balls, it's just not quiiiite satisfying. Everything tastes under seasoned and watered down. For great homemade pasta, Gumba and Piazza Italia are far better. read more

I loved this place so much in the past. Super bummed that they boil the rice noodles (Gluten free/celiac option) in the same water as the wheat noodles. Seems like a simple solution to boil them in a different pot of water (I thought they did in the past). Bummer deal. :( The person on the phone definitely didn't seem like she wanted anything to do with anyone with any sort of wheat allergy or celiac. It makes me sad to see old fave business go downhill like this. Gluten free folks are not going away anytime soon, maybe being open to that large community again would be good.... read more

We finally got the chance to stop by this spot to enjoy some delicious pasta! The food: I had the Spring Scampi, it was delicious! Well balanced notes of lemon zest and garlic. The scampi shrimp was juicy and lightly breaded. This dish is what you think of having in a sunny Spring day! However, you shouldn't wait for one to try this. My boyfriend had the Carbonara- he thought it was the absolute best and amazing with the runny egg. The costumer service was great, we were greeted as soon as we walked in and checked on our table during our meal. There are tables outside where you can seat and with this great weather it's a plus! There is cleaner and table wipes to for the table before seating. The restrooms are available, just ask the front. Overall, I would recommend this place for everyone to try and make it your Italian spot. read more

Grassa - Spring Scampi - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I LOVE Grassa. One of my all-time favorite pasta spots. The menu is nice and short but all of the dishes are tasty. The pork belly Mac and Cheese and cacio e pepe (that truffle mmm...) especially. When you look at the menu you wouldn't expect Grassa to be this good, but somehow it's all just so well executed that you can't not be amazed. Well priced too. Big fan! read more

Grassa - Exterior - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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SO GOOD! We ordered a few dishes, everything sounded delicious and we couldn't choose! So we had leftovers, the leftovers were also delicious! Warmed up the leftover Fritto Misto in our air fryer and it was as good as at the restaurant. read more

Disappointing. Used to be hot. Delicious and cheap. And now is run by angry employees. Took 25 minutes to get my pasta. Not ok. And it was luke warm. Another case of workers running a place into the ground. The owner needs to work there and stand on their heads. Otherwise close. read more

Thoroughly enjoyed my meal here! Grassa is a fast casual restaurant - order at the register and sit down with a number. Portions are generous and priced well. We ordered the squid ink and the pork belly mac and cheese. Both were delicious, with the pasta perfectly al dente. All their pasta is handmade and you can watch them roll it out at the counter. We arrived early so there wasn't a line and ample seating, but it definitely got more crowded later in the evening. Would come back for sure! read more

Grassa - Pork belly Mac & cheese - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Great counter service Italian restaurant. The menu isn't huge but they seem to do each item well which is a plus. The chicken Marsala was amazing as the chicken was crispy and the sauce had tons of flavor. The cacio was Pepe was also a winner with the flavor of truffle you can't go wrong! read more

Grassa - Cacio e Pepe and chicken Marsala - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

You need not enter if you're afraid of carbs. This place is all about the very thing that will make Dr. Atkins cringe. This is where you come to indulge in HOMEMADE pasta without paying $$$ and at the same time getting an amazing atmosphere for your dining pleasure. All those things above sound like a trifecta to me. With that being said, you should also go crazy. Here's where I'd start. 1. Mixto Frito - fried calamari and vegetables 2. Squid ink malfadine 3. Cacio e pepe - truffle butter pasta read more

We came here to celebrate a birthday and was very pleased with the food and service. Everything we ordered was absolutely delicious. Our waiter was attentive and made our dining experience memorable. read more

I gotta say the food was good but I don't think I'll ever return. So my bf and I grabbed a table and I went up to order. I ordered two entrees and a drink . As I sat down I looked down and saw my bfs drink had food particles and a greasy film over the top of it. He said he would wait til they drop off our food and notify one of the serving people then. 40 minutes go by and no one even comes to check on us. A girl walks by every table and avoids ours. At this point we are annoyed. since you pay prior, I tipped but If I would've known prior that the service was terrible I would've opted to give no tip. 5 minutes more pass and I flag down one of the girls walking to the kitchen, I asked her status of food and notify her of the drink issue. Couple minutes go by and( I assume to be the manager) stops by with our food. She then asks what about what we want to do with the drink. My bf opted for just water. With that, I asked for a refund of the drink. She looked at me dumbfounded as if I was ridiculous for asking to refund it. We finished our meal and waited for her to return. Nothing. I went back up to the front and explained again what happened to the kind older gentlemen(he was the only one who was friendly and helpful). Usually I wouldn't care since it was a few bucks but it was just the principle at this point. Only then she came to the register and fixed it stating that she didn't know how the food got in there. She only fixed the situation AFTER I had asked prior and AFTER I asked someone else to rectify the situation. The gentlemen offered me another drink after the refund which was sweet but we were already done eating. In conclusion, good food but bad service. read more

Grassa - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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This place was recommended by the locals, so we had to try. We got the carbonara and spaghetti al pesto. I preferred the carbonara a bit more than the pesto, but both were underwhelming, dry, and bland. After a few bites, we didn't want to eat them anymore. Friendly service but disappointing food. read more

Grassa - Carbonara and spaghetti al pesto - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Very good fresh pasta served timely. Small menu of pasta, wine, and apps made to perfection read more

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First time coming here and I was not disappointed. I didnt really know what to expect but I like how you just go up to the counter, order, and then bring your number to your table and wait. Unfortunately I thought they took a little too long to bring our food out but besides that the food was delicious and for a reasonable price. I really like how they make their own pasta and that their dishes are very tasty. They have good beer choices as well. I will definitely come back again read more

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Amazing pasta spot in Portland! Super casual and delicious food - what else could ya want? The pasta was delicious and came out really quick . read more

Delicious!!! I've been wanting to try this place for awhile and my husband and I loved it! We ordered the Cesar salad and the Pork belly Mac n cheese. The Cesar salad came with slices of anchovies and preserved lemon slices which gave the salad an incredibly pleasant twist. If you didn't know.. you can't ever go wrong with pork belly piled on top of Mac and cheese. It's one of the most perfect combinations. They've somehow managed to make this combination even more amazing by adding a delicious sauce on top. It's happened!!! We've found our go to comfort food spot! We'll be back very soon! read more

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Environment: spacious and I like the simplicity of it. Staff: kind and friendly Food: I can't pronounce or spell the dish I got but I got the one with lamb, lol. It was $14 but they do give you a good amount of lamb. I was surprised by the amount of it. Sometimes when they give you nicer meat they give you smaller portions. One downside was that they put a load of cheese onto my dish. It was not mentioned on the menu and though I personally am not allergic to it, I am not a huge fan of cheese. It so made the dish super filling. The flavor was strong and as you keep eating there is a tiny hint of heat. The noodles were handmade. For me, it was a little more on the harder side, a little before 'aldante' (sry for spelling) it was super filling so I saved half of my plate back home. Overall, not bad but I will personally go there occasionally. read more

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Was told by a friend that the fresh pasta here was a must try. I am no longer friends with them. The pasta tasted like it was boiled in water that was not salted. The rigatoni was overboiled and had a mushy texture. The meat in the rigotani tasted like it was boiled in water. The red sauce tasted vaugely of tomato. Overall, the pasta was so bland I thought I had covid (I could taste nothing). I'd recommend eating anywhere else, even olive garden if you want to eat pasta. 10/12 Update: I went home and had some chef boyardee and it had more flavor than what I was served read more

We have had some good experiences at Grassa but this was a HUGE disappointment. Got an order to go. Got home and opened up our pasta to find 6 noodles in a butter sauce. Did not have any truffle flavor and there was literally two bites of food. This is insane. If you are going to charge $15 plus tip for noodles and butter you better at least give a reasonable amount of food, and food with flavor. Very disappointed with this experience. Only gave 3 stars because we have had okay experiences before. read more

Grassa - BLACK TRUFFLE PAPPARDELLE - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Food is so so good and this is my go to pasta place! Sometimes the wait is a little long though :(. We waited 45 minutes as one of four parties in the restaurant for two kids items and we were a little bummed about that, so maybe be prepared to wait for food and apps when heading in. HIGHLY recommend the Miles mac... there is nothing like it. read more

If you love fresh pasta, this is the restaurant for you. Grassa servers the freshest pasta I've ever had. Everything is made on site and in front of your eyes. This location has happy hour weekdays from 3-6pm, which is exactly when I happened to walk in. Nice! During happy hour, they offered 3 dishes for $6 each...meatball sub, cacio e pepe (pasta w truffle butter, sea salt and pepper), and spaghetti and meatballs. I tried the Spaghetti and Meatballs ($6 HH), which was pretty good. It comes with long, hollow pasta and 3 meatballs in marinara sauce. The highlight of eating here is their pasta. It's pretty unique so it's up to you how you want it sauced. Most choices are going to be winners. During happy hour, they also have house wine and draft beer for $3, which we took advantage of as well. I also tried the house made marion berry soda which is also pretty good. Food and drink are all ordered at the counter, then you choose your seat. Out of my few days in Portland, Grassa is the only place I dined out twice. Except this time at their second location in the Alphabet District. Staff is friendly and food tastes great. It's definitely worth the trek out here. read more

Grassa - Spaghetti and Meatballs ~ $6 HH - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Grassa walks a fine line between value and quality. "You get what you pay for" applies perfectly here. A step up from a Chipotle-style eatery, Grassa offers Italian food at a reasonable price point. Think local Olive Garden. However, execution is lacking. One of our dishes came out 30 minutes after everyone else's food, for a total 45-minute wait. The biggest issue is that other tables were receiving their food before our final order was completed even though the other customers arrived after us. Unfortunately, the staff did not see this service gap, and expressed frustration at a simple request to convert this late delivery into a to-go. To gain an additional star (or maybe two), I encourage Grassa's management to train their employees to a standard where they fairly address service gaps like this. I'm not sure how likely I am to come back after this experience. Perhaps I will have to adjust my expectations. read more

Having heard horror stories of the long lines and equally long waiting time for food to be served here, I decided to try Grassa for a late lunch. Yay, my plan worked! There was no line at all and only a couple tables were occupied. You place your order as soon as you walk in. No problem. I always view menus on-line before arriving to save time. We began by ordering Cacio E Pepe. The man at the counter acted like he had no clue what that was. He stated that it was his first day and the lady standing there training him came to his aid. Next we ordered Spaghetti Pomodoro, garlic bread and tempura green beans. After placing your order you're given a number and your food is delivered to your table. Silverware and napkins are already on the tables in a bucket. You fetch your own water from the counter. Our tempura green bean appetizer arrived quickly. Since we planned to share it, we asked our server for side plates. We found it odd that he only brought us one plate. We both enjoyed this item but my friend thought the portion size was skimpy. Our entrees arrived soon after. These were both pretty tasty although my Spaghetti Pomodoro was too al dente for my liking. There's al dente and there's AL DENTE. This was the later and quite chewy. The garlic bread was really good. The place has lots of seating inside. There are booths around the windows and communal tables. The music was ok but a bit too loud. All things considered, Grassa wasn't all that great. read more

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We were looking for a place a quick lunch. There was five in our party so we thought we could order ahead of time. I called our orders in and we were told it would be ready in 20 minutes. After getting ready we were out the door. We arrived at the 20 minute mark. It turns out they thought we called in for a take out order. We were informed they normally don't take dine in orders up front. We were fine with eating out of the to-go boxes but our cashier asked the cooks if they were willing to transfer our meals to dinner plates . The cooks said , No Problem. After paying for our meal we took the large booth in the corner. Our meals were out within minutes. All the dishes looked delicious. My co-worker thought the Carbonara was pretty good and commented she had not eaten this type of carbonara before. She was a little disappointed that it did not have peas but we were told they are out of season. Another co-worker had the Rigatoni. She said the sauce has just the right spice and the pork was perfect, not at all dry. Another one tried the Lemon Chittata. He said it was delicious and that the pesto sauce was amazing. I had the Chicken Cacciatore and it was delicious too. I really loved that the sauce wasn't too overpowering and I was able to taste the other ingredients. The restaurant itself is pretty modern and was very clean. They even had some blues on an old record player. read more

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A place recommended by a few locals, we were a little underwhelmed by this place as their pasta was a bit... bland, yet overly salty at the same time, a weird combination. Their most redeeming factor was their meatballs, although still quite salty, they were tasty. We ordered to-go so this review is based solely on the food and not service or atmosphere in the restaurant. It seems this may be a spot focused on late night drunk pasta runs, but compared with their hours, they may be missing that market. Not a bad spot for some quick, inexpensive pasta, but be sure to grab a water to wash down the salt. read more

Both dishes were delicious, but the pork belly was my favorite! Pork Belly- I didn't know pork belly and pasta would make a good combination, but it was great. The pork added a very unique taste to the Mac and Cheese (a sweet taste). Recommendation: make sure you mix in the green onions when you take a bite. It adds a flavor of freshness!! It's so good! read more

Grassa - Pork Belly Mac & Cheese - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Never disappointed with the pasta when I come here. All the flavors are incredible. The portion sizes are pretty generous as well. I would say skip any veggie sides though. They tend to come with odd sauces and overall not a fan. read more

Grassa - Carbonara - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Have came here for years. Usually stick to the pork belly Mac and cheese as my go to. This was the first time to say it was truly disappointing. The sauce was really watered down and tasted terrible. I really like this place but had to report the lack in quality read more

I went because of the reviews, both here and on other social media streams. If I can prevent one person from wasting X number of their life time calorie allotment on this restaurant I will be happy. My friend and I went for a late lunch. Cacio e Pepe and their Rigatoni Sunday Ragu. I started with the Cacio e Pepe. It was a gut bomb. SO. MUCH. FAT. And where was the pepper? The antithesis of delicate. I took 1 bite and tried my friend's hoping for something better. Meanwhile... she took one bite of her meal and tried mine hoping for something better. Her dish, the Rigatoni Sunday Pork Ragu was similarly lacking. I was expecting a rich sauce, with deeply flavored pork and tomatoes. Thin, sour with no discernable pieces of pork it was by no means a rich, all day cooked Sunday pasta sauce. Both pastas were terrible. After 2 bites each we grabbed to-go containers so not to appear rude and left for the pizza place a few blocks away. I was so disappointed. This was not what I was expecting based on the largely favorable reviews. Save your money. Portland has so many fabulous restaurants. Don't waste a single calorie here. And... 2 of their white wines were sour (says the girl that never met a white she didn't like). read more

The taste of their pasta contributed to the idea that life is good and we should cherish it. read more

Grassa - Miles Mac & Cheese - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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I didn't know about this location until I put Grassa in the maps on my phone and two of them popped up! This one was closer to where we were at so that's where we went. Parking is a little hard to find since it is a popular area but so is the other location. It was busy but the food came fairly fast. I ordered the carbonara and everyone else ordered the pork belly mac and cheese. The staff is so nice! We were so into our conversation that we didn't realize they had closed until five minutes after because it was empty. They were in no hurry to rush us out, we felt so bad. After reading other reviews, I found out they have happy hour so I will definitely be back for that! read more

Grassa - pork belly mac and cheese - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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This second Grassa establishment in PDX is just as good as the original, and actually is better in many ways: - way more seating space - more beer/drink options - happy hour 3-6pm on weekdays for drink and food discounts - and still the same amazing, fresh, handmade pasta sold at a fair price I can't wait for them to put one on the east side!!! read more

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I ordered the pasta Pomodoro. I liked the pasta more than the sauce. The pasta was quite firm cooked to perfection. The sauce needed more basil and probably some thing else. I actually prefer Olive Garden's cappellini Pomodoro to this dish. What would bring me back though was there delightfully delicious brussels sprouts. I had never thought to put a mustard sauce on brussels sprouts, but they were amazing. read more

Grassa - Brussel sprouts with mustard sauce - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon

First off this is a self-service deal, you order inside and then you go outside and find a place to sit ,when they call your name you walk back in and get it. It's all bagged to go and in containers, if you need utensils water etc...you get it yourself. We waited 45 minutes for our food , and one of the three meals was cool - not hot as it should be - and it included meatballs. The pesto meal was extremely greasy and the spaghetti was very bland. My Rigatoni was very enjoyable . They also charged us for a meal we did not order - which we noticed and brought to their attention at the meals end , they have us a refund on that . They also forgot our drinks which we picked up after having her pull up our order to see if we paid for them and indeed we did. Disappointing to say the least. read more

This was our second time coming here and we loved it! We are from Sacramento and tried Grassa for the first time last year. Came back last night and it was just as great as we remembered! Servers were very nice, the vibe was relaxed and the pork belly mac n cheese is SO GOOD! We definitely also recommend the garlic cheese bread and the Brussel sprouts. read more

This place claims to be casual since you order at the counter, but the wait-time for the food was about the same or longer as a regular sit-down restaurant. They do make all the pasta fresh which is why it can take a while. We had the Squid Ink Chitarra, my husband loved that it was cooked al dente, I prefer my noodles a bit softer. He loved the lemon flavoring, which I found too strong. We got a mac and cheese for our daughter which was super good, and definitely large enough for an adult. Nothing on the cocktail menu stood out to me, and I didn't really like the one the staff recommended. read more

Grassa - Squid Ink Chittara - New American Near Me - Portland, Oregon