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    Porta Bella

    2.8 (195 reviews)
    ModerateItalian, Seafood, Pizza

    Porta Bella Photos

    Business Info

    PORTA BELLA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Intimate
    Good for groups
    Outdoor seating

    Recommended Reviews - Porta Bella

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    Menu shot
    Dan D.

    Ate at PB the other night, and was like: Ya. Nothing outlandish like in the some of the other reviews, but nothing 'great' either. The food was Ok, could've been better. The service was good & attentive (server did a good job), ambiance was [as has been said elsewhere]- dated. I read in another reviews that "...Fazoli's (or Olive Garden) has better food." I've never eaten at either, but *owch* that stings. Madison has an _awesome_ restaurant scene with so many *amazing* places. Unfortunately, I'd recommend another spot :/

    Porta Salad
    James I.

    Massively disappointed. It really feels like their food has gone down hill. My father wanted to come here sooooo badly to capture some of his Madison nostalgia. Fail. Our porta salad was wilted greens with a lettuce core. Our sandwich was...lacking and had a banana pepper core. This is supposedly decent Italian? False. Decent Italians take the basics seriously.

    Garibaldi
    Lori H.

    This place has a lot of atmosphere. Be prepared for a dark, romantic slightly gothic/deco setting with many cozy booths. It's right off campus and has an excellent outside dining area. The food is very good. They start you out with warm bread and olive oil for dipping. This also include butter in the basket in case you don't want to dip your bread in oil. My husband had a cup of the soup du jour which was tomato Florentine. It was very good with a rich tomato broth and included Italian sausage and pasta. You cannot dine here without ordering the porta salad. They are known for it. A small salad is large enough to share. The salad consists of Romaine lettuce topped with a blend of ham, salami, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, fresh green peppers, and garbanzo beans They are famous for the Garibaldi sandwich. French loaf topped with layers of ham, salami, pepperjack cheese, sliced tomatoes, and your choice of green or hot banana peppers (or both). You can also have it made on their spicy cheese bread. This is how my husband ordered it with both hot and sweet peppers. He gave it five stars but said he liked it the original way a little better -- traditionalist. I ordered the super hot pizza -Pepperoni, yellow onions, spicy cheese, hot banana peppers and added Italian sausage and sliced tomatoes. Excellent as always. Looking forward to having leftovers for breakfast. We were there during Christmas break when all the student are gone so our waiter was one of the owners. Very gracious and excellent service, of course. We chatted a bit and remarked that we will miss their sister restaurant Paisans which closed due structural problems in their building. He shared that they intend to remodel the basement of Porta Bella for a new home for Paisans. It was a really good lunch and I recommend this place for its pizza, sandwiches and pasta. It won't break the bank and you'll have a great time.

    After I received this text for my carry-out order, I still waited 90 minutes for my order!

    My friends and I ordered carry-out, since we knew the restaurant would be busy on a Saturday night. I placed my order online separately from them, and it only included a small pizza and an order of bolognese. Soon a text arrived, saying the food would be ready in a few minutes - 5:18 pm to be exact. When I arrived at the restaurant, they were busy, and they told me the order had just been put in. So I waited. And waited. And waited. When I asked about my order, the greeter was apologetic and went to check in the kitchen several times. But every time they would come back, they would just say the kitchen was behind, with no real explanation for why a small order would take so long. After a full hour had passed from the original 5:18 estimate, they brought my food out, but the pizza was completely wrong. She showed me a shrimp pizza with banana peppers - not what I wanted! - and admitted that it had been sitting in the back for a while. Finally, after another fairly lengthy wait, they brought my food out. By then it was nearly 90 minutes after the originally estimated time. The food was OK, but definitely not worth the wait. My friend had asked for no mushrooms in his bolognese, and that request was ignored. My chicken pesto pizza was better, but I'd choose something different, if I were to go back. However, that seems highly unlikely.

    Host area
    Ryo Hanalei Z.

    I really wanted to love this place. There are elements to this restaurant that deserves to be a place to enjoy but unfortunately the food didn't live up to its charming facade. The whole look and feel of this restaurant made me feel like I was transcended to a nostalgic time of an era that's no longer here. My friends and I were excited to try this place but it's the food that made us sad for this restaurant. Sam was our waitress, she was pleasant and gave us pretty good service. I think it's the chefs cooking our food who may need the help. The bread basket was ok, in the bottom of the basket had pats of butter in wrappers to use. Suggestion: perhaps but real butter in ceramic portion cups at temp would be better. Our pasta dishes came out Luke warm, almost cold. The cheese garnish on my raviolis didn't melt because the sauce wasn't hot enough. My friends dish was the same, she made me try it see be sure. So we asked that our dish be brought back to be heated. My friend suggested they remake her lasagne and Alfredo dish again. My dish came back a little more better heated and shortly after my friend received her dish. Mine food was ok, I could tell the raviolis weren't fresh. The meat inside was mushy. My friends dish came back remade but still cold. She put her finger in the sauce and was disappointed on how this happened twice in a row. Also, while picking through the lasagna, we all discovered that there wasn't any lasagne noodles in the dish at all. My friend decided she couldn't eat her dish and had it sent back. The only thing we all liked was our small house salad. When we get the check, we discovered that our waitress Sam, had charged us for every soda refills. We checked the menu and it doesn't say that refills are charged. So we asked for the manager and even he didn't know and had to asked a more tenured coworker to find out. We were reimbursed for the extra charge for the refills but when we left, I relooked at the receipt and found that they charged a "non cash fee" of $2.79 I feel like this place can level up their food and create a more polished dining experience if they stopped doing premade food and stopped creating unnecessary charges to nickel and dime their customers. I won't be recommending this place to anyone - good luck!

    Lovely outside patio
    MaryDan H.

    The best part of Porta Bella restaurant is their outdoor patio and their famous Porta salad. I love their enclosed patio in front of the restaurant. It makes you feel like you're dining in Italy! I appreciate that they have nice plants and decor in the patio. And that most, if not all tables have optional sun umbrellas. We started with a Calamari Strips appetizer. It was a generous portion and came with their marinara sauce on the side, but the texture for us was a little off. The texture did not keep us from eating most the dish, as we were famished. Most dishes come with either a salad or soup. My husband tried the chicken dumpling soup, and just thought it was so-so. But it was a creamy based soup which was unexpected. I thoroughly enjoyed my Porta Bello salad: fresh lettuce mixed with crumbled cheese and salami. I recommend getting their house Italian salad dressing for this salad. My husband had the chicken parmesan entree. He felt it wasn't the best he's ever had, just ok. My Vegetarian Pesto pizza was a bit disappointing. I think it's because I just had a very tasty Porta salad and then when I tried my pizza it was just not as flavorful. On the plus side the pizza was much better the next day warmed up at home.

    Erin R.

    This place has a beautiful courtyard, but sadly that's really the only thing positive to say about this restaurant. To start off in the bar, the taps were down and they were out of several bottled beer. The bartender was frustrated and you could tell. The awful tasting wine came in a filthy glass which because it's very dark in there (which I usually love), I didn't notice until we got outside to sit. The courtyard is nice, but it needs a thorough cleaning and removal of random junk. I tried another wine with another dirty glass. Our food arrived and we ordered: Mantova's Bolognese - A regional recipe from Mantova, Italy, Madison's sister city. A thick marinara sauce of Italian sausage, beef, bacon, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes and onions served over penne. Steak Alfredo - Slices of tenderloin tossed in Alfredo sauce, and topped with toasted almonds, and four Italian cheeses. Served over fettuccine. Oven baked. The bolognese was in no way an authentic Italian recipe from Italy! It was filled with hamburger meat and looked like it sat for a while, watery sauce under the overcooked noodles. The steak dishes "steak" looked grey and was definitely not fresh. There were no toasted almonds and again the pasta was overcooked. They did have a tasty French blue dressing that we got on the porto salad, which was good. I appreciate the history of this place and what I think they're going for, but I can only assume COVID and just not changing with the times has greatly affected the success of this restaurant. There are great Italian restaurants in Madison to dine at instead; Osteria Papavero, Bar Corallini, Lombardino's, and if you're looking for one that isn't pricey, Nonno's is good!

    Holly M.

    Absolutely disgusting all-around. Burned out lightbulbs, vacant tables still piled with plates and decor that hasn't been updated . . . ever . . . was the first indicator we should leave, but we were nostalgic for the Porta Bella of the 90s and thought our kids would like the throwback experience. After a long wait, our waitress delivered warm, ice-less water and raced around like a maniac, shouting things like "It's Food Time," which was alarming in the low-lit, quiet atmosphere. When our meals finally arrived, the waitress accidentally dropped two entrees on the floor, which happens, but the way it was handled was completely inappropriate -- no visit from a manager and no real apology, just a crazy "I don't know what happened" from our waitress. And we were still charged full-price. As for the food, we had 9 people in our party and the only decent entree was the cheese pizza. The bolognese looked like dog food smothered in tomato sauce, the lasagna was just a heap of cheese and sauce (oops, they forgot the noodles) and even the meatball & chicken parm subs were somehow disgusting (how do you mess that up???) and the white wine sauce was Alfredo. The presentation of the food was also sick -- sauce smudges all over the sides of the plates and the waitress used a stack of napkins to carry the hot plate and left the stack of sauce saturated napkins on the table. Did I mention the waitresses hair was long and hanging in the food as she served us? I don't know how this place would pass a health inspection and there's clearly no one in charge. I'm sad to say they either need new management (or even just a manager!) or it's time to close the doors. There are too many great options to waste your time and money here.

    Fried calamari and garlic bread

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    7 months ago

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    7 months ago

    *but porta bella is nothing like paisans!! cannot compare to paisans at all. service or food!! oh. well. . . . .good luck

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    3 years ago

    Great food and service. The chef made a mistake and made us a free pizza. They really care about the customer. Thank you!

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    3 years ago

    My favorite restaurant in Madison! Love the place!! Highly recommend! Amazing ambiance. Great service. So memorable.

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    Page 1 of 5

    Ask the Community - Porta Bella

    Cento

    Cento

    4.1
    (589 reviews)
    0.4 mi
    $$$

    Had a late dinner at Cento and it did not disappoint! I ordered the Tuscan kale Cesar salad and the…read morescallops entree. Both were impeccable! My server, Prasad, was really the highlight! He was so sweet and informative. Went through the menu and described everything in such detail. My friend and I were visiting Madison for work and he offered us so many options to fill our free time. He takes so much pride in everything and it shows. The ambiance of the restaurant is a little on the nicer side, but they do allow casual attire. 10/10 recommend and can't wait to come back for the wine flight with the in house Somm.

    First time at Cento for a friend's birthday today and spoiler, will be back! We all went ahead with…read morethe Boozy Brunch for $35 a person, which comes with 2 cocktails, unlimited coffee, a pastry of your choice, and any entree on the menu. Drip coffee was delicious to start. I had the lobster fettuccine and there was PLENTY of lobster in it. Pasta tasted fresh and it hit the spot! Some of our party got the French toast which looked amazing and I'll probably try next time-- peaches and pecans with it! A few of them ordered bacon on the side too and it came with plenty of it, 3-4 long strips. Cannoli was the pastry I chose and it was the perfect sweet treat. Filling had cinnamon and was dipped in pistachios, which I will be back for! Ella was our server-- simply amazing! Super attentive, knows the menu like the back of her hand, and went above and beyond for us many times. Michael was one of the hosts who went out of his way to practically give us a photo shoot to capture my friend's special day. Beautiful restaurant with an elevated feel. Open environment while still making the table feel private. They were piping pastries while we were there which was fun to see. Went on a summer Saturday around 11, and if you're from Madison, you know that means the farmer's market (aka, make a plan A/B/C for parking, plan plenty of time to get there and be patient with the crowd outdoors).

    Photos
    Restaurant looking from the kitchen.
    Restaurant looking from the kitchen.
    Crab cake Benedict
    Crab cake Benedict
    Fiore

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    Fiore
    Bar Corallini

    Bar Corallini

    4.4
    (265 reviews)
    2.4 mi
    $$

    Excellent food, service and atmosphere. It is a very cozy Italian restaurant setting with an open…read morekitchen concept, where you can also see them cooking the personal pizzas in a brick oven. I also love being in restaurants where they really bring in the traditions of the cuisine. For apps, we shared the eggplant fritters (which were amazing!), burrata and salad. Must get the eggplant fritters, they were little balls of eggplant delight! And I am a huge eggplant parm fan so this was right up my alley. For my main, I opted for the shrimp scampi with homemade pasta! I loved the homemade pasta! However, I felt the sauce was very light. I wish I could've ordered this pasta dish with the san marzano sauce. I think that would've made the flavor pop more for me. And for desserts, they were also incredible. Tiramisu, cannoli and the lemon sorbet! Highly recommend the lemon sorbet, was such a strong lemon flavor. Overall, definitely recommend in the Madison area, one of my favs so far!

    Solid Italian food in Madison, Wisconsin. I thought the Rigatoni ala Bolognese was the best dish…read moreI've eaten in Wisconsin and if you served me that in the West Village I'd be impressed with it as well. Pasta cooked very nicely and a fantastic flavor profile on the sauce & meat. Pizza is also decent; I'd get it again although I I much prefer the Novanta in the area. I didn't like sauce on the pizza and the cheese & crust were only okay. I'd come back again.

    Photos
    Bar Corallini
    Paccheri
    Paccheri
    Pizza oven

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    Pizza oven
    Fratelli's Trattoria

    Fratelli's Trattoria

    4.2
    (55 reviews)
    3.7 mi

    We went to Fratelli's during Madison Restaurant Week and had an excellent meal! I ordered the…read moresteak and lobster, while my partner has a linguini with seafood in a tasty cream sauce. Each came with a choice of lobster bisque soup or crostini with lox and other yummy toppings as the first course. Dessert was panna cotta or tiramisu, and both were excellent. But what I was really impressed with was the service. Even with a full dining room, everyone was on their game and provided a great experience. If you haven't eaten at Fratelli's, make a point of visiting there. You won't be disappointed.

    This had been our local Italian eatery. I never thought the food was very good but my parents who…read moreare in their mid 70s liked it because it was close. The ambiance sucks. We came one evening about 40 minutes before the kitchen closed an hour and 10 minutes before the business closed. It immediately became clear that the hostess/server was not interested in serving us, but refused to tell us that they were done for the evening and instead provided the single rudest serving experience I've ever had in my life. It was absolutely appalling. It felt like a Saturday Night Live skit, and she seemed shocked when we decided to leave halfway through ordering. I'll never come back here unless that woman is fired. I'm not a person prone to complaining too much or getting upset with servers. This was just so far and beyond anything I've ever experienced. Just crazy.

    Photos
    Lower level
    Lower level
    Fratelli's Trattoria
    Lobster Risotto.

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    Lobster Risotto.
    Lombardinos Italian Restaurant and Bar

    Lombardinos Italian Restaurant and Bar

    4.0
    (317 reviews)
    1.7 mi
    $$

    They were super busy, so service was a little bit slower. Our server was super friendly and got all…read moreof our orders correct. The mushroom pasta dish (tagliatelle) was definitely the stand out of our meal. While the budino was delicious, I didn't get the butterscotch flavors as it was noted in the menu. It almost tasted more like pumpkin and cinnamon. Warm fresh bread and the traditional cesear salad were delicious. I really liked my white sangria but my husband didn't care for his barrel aged Negroni. Love the tiles behind the bar and the history of this classic place.

    The service here is wonderful. Everyone is kind and talkative, so my reduced star is really because…read morethe food was kind of hit or miss for me. My boyfriend's family and I came for a Sunday dinner and despite being a larger group, we were able to snag a table immediately. Don't let that fool you though - this place is popular and we seem to have gotten one of the last tables available. When it came to food and drinks, I got a white wine sangria, which I really liked, but it only came with an orange wedge on the side of the rim. I was disappointed because I was expecting fruit in the sangria. It wasn't a big deal, and was an okay drink. When it came to food, Lombardinos had a couple specials, one of which was a wood grilled broccoli and cauliflower appetizer, and their blueberry salad. We also got the calamari and olives. Overall, I really enjoyed all of the appetizers. We then all got our own entrées - unfortunately they were out of the veal entrée for some of our family members. I ended up getting the scallops which I thought were overcooked, and I didn't like the couscous that came with. It was too acidic and the roasted tomatoes that came with the couscous didn't help with the acidity levels. However, my boyfriend did share some of his crab and clam linguine. I really liked that dish, but they were out of clams as well, so it really was only a crab pasta. I hope they are able to offer their full menu in the future, because I think I would come back, but only if they had some of those dishes available.

    Photos
    Bar area. Note: I edited out anyone who I could see their faces so some areas of the photo look a little strange.
    Bar area. Note: I edited out anyone who I could see their faces so some areas of the photo look a little strange.
    Eggplant Napoletana
    Eggplant Napoletana
    Special gin drink

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    Special gin drink
    The Harvey House

    The Harvey House

    4.5
    (250 reviews)
    0.4 mi

    This is one of the best meals I've head. Harvey ticks the box on every dimension - beautiful…read moresetting, great vibe including the music, fantastic service, great cocktails and of course the innovative, unique, delicious food. Our waiter gave us great tips in navigating the menu and experiencing the variety - and it could not have been a more special experience celebrating my brother's 60th birthday with my 91 years old dad. They have 3 Old Fashion options - we tried 2 and they were both rock solid. The ravioli and trout almandine are savory entrees that didn't disappoint. The baked potato is an innovative cloud pleaser but highly recommend sharing. And don't sleep on the onion soup - I've never experienced anything like it. The smell that emanates when you first pierce the creamy foam layer will make you say 'whoa.' Will definitely return.

    My friend scored a last minute dinner reservation while I was visiting, and I'm glad she did! We…read morecame for dinner with a group of 4 on a Sunday. The restaurant was beautiful and the service was amazing. I appreciated that our waitress was very knowledgeable about the dishes on the menu and what ingredients they contained, which is perfect for anyone with allergies or dietary restrictions (like myself). We were seated near the open kitchen which also added to the dining experience. I tried: - Scallop toast - I really enjoyed this. It was mild, not fishy tasting at all, and the brioche was toasted very well. I'm not a huge seafood person aside from sushi and poke, and had never had scallops before, so I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. - Ricotta Raviolini - I was not a huge fan of this, which was especially disappoint since it was my main entree / the most expensive on this list. It was essentially a folded sheet of pasta with a tiny bit of ricotta, topped with barely cooked asparagus and snap peas. The menu also lists lemon infused olive oil, but I didn't taste that at all. The parts of the raviolini with a good amount of ricotta were delicious, but the dish overall was bland and tasted like raw asparagus and peas. My friends also tried it and none of them liked it either. - Baked Potato with The Works - super simple and perfectly executed. It comes with bacon, which we got on the side since I don't eat red meat. Potato was fluffy and salted perfectly, with a good amount of other toppings. My friends who do eat bacon said it tasted more like ham than bacon, and they actually preferred the potato without it. - Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding - Loved it. I love bread pudding and chocolate pudding, but never thought to combine the two. It was delicious - soft, not super sweet, and great portion size. I would recommend sharing, it's pretty rich which can be overwhelming at a certain point. - Flightless Bird mocktail - this was one of the best mocktails I've tried. It has a black tea base but tasted more like a regular cocktail without the alcohol burn rather than tea. Everyone at the table enjoyed trying it too. Despite the raviolini being a miss, the rest of the food, service, and ambiance made this such a wonderful dining experience that I can't wait to come back and try more.

    Photos
    Kitchen View
    Kitchen View
    Dirty gin martini
    Dirty gin martini
    Relish tray

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    Relish tray
    Eno Vino Downtown

    Eno Vino Downtown

    4.1
    (436 reviews)
    0.7 mi
    $$$

    We had a great experience dining at Eno Vino Downtown last Saturday evening. The service from Abby…read morewas simply amazing, and it made the whole evening event so pleasant. We went there to celebrate the 50th birthday of a friend from New York who was in town for the art fair. Abby was attentive, with good recommendations. She's such a sweetheart. We really had a wonderful time chatting with each other and eating the great food. The mocktails were excellent, and we decided on 2 sets of their special - a two-to-tango meal. The dishes were very generously served and delicious. I would highly recommend Eno Vino Downtown for any celebration.

    I was staying in the hotel on a business trip and arrived later on a Sunday evening. Most of the…read moreother restaurants in the area were closed, so figured it was easiest to have dinner here. As a solo female diner, it's always intimidating to eat alone. When I arrived, I asked to sit at the bar, but saw free spots at the tables along the window. It was a beautiful night and I figured I was alone and could watch the sunset. I asked the bartender if I could sit there and she said yes, but I would have to order with a waiter. We'll I waited for a good 20 minutes without anyone checking on me before moving to the bar. The bar was really no better. Service was abysmal and the bartenders were not so friendly. The bar was also not well kept with glassware and napkins still in my space from the previous patron. I had to ask for water, napkin and utensils after my food came. I also had to ask for another drink, while the 2 girls next to me were attended to constantly. I ended up ordering the shrimp risotto and while tasty, it was too salty after a few bites. I'm giving 2 stars because they have a decent wine selection.

    Photos
    The Pearfect Elyx-ir - delicious
    The Pearfect Elyx-ir - delicious
    Grilled lettuce - something new for me.
    Grilled lettuce - something new for me.
    View from the restaurant

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    View from the restaurant
    D'Vino

    D'Vino

    4.0
    (65 reviews)
    0.7 mi

    Great spot near the Capitol! Cute spot with NYC vibes. I was traveling alone and asked to sit at…read morethe bar. As soon as I sat down, I was asked what I wanted to drink and if I was dining at the bar. I ended up ordering a Negroni Sbagliato since I rarely see that on a cocktail menu. It was very well made. Kudos to the bartender, Warren! He also explained the nightly special and I ended up ordering the pasta dish and the fennel salad. The pasta special was so yummy and the tomato sauce reminded me of my Italian grandpa's sauce. The owner, Dino, checked on me and told me a little about himself. Dining solo can be hard, but I'm thankful that the staff here made me feel comfortable. It was the best meal I had on my business trip and will definitely recommend to anyone traveling to this area!

    Discovered D'Vino on our first trip to Madison. It was so very good. Such really great attentive…read moreservice. Have to recommend. We dined outside and watched the action go by. The GM and staff took really good care of us, offering wine tastes, menu questions. This is pretty authentic recipes and some items with a twist. Must say it was disappointing to have a vinegar glaze drizzled on the pizza...it seems in the Midwest people love everything a little sweet? Not a good match for a savory pizza. There was fresh silverware for each course, offering of more wine and water. Never had a need. This I appreciate so much. Definitely check it out.

    Photos
    Inside
    Inside
    Lasagna
    Lasagna
    Tiramisu

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    Tiramisu

    Porta Bella - italian - Updated August 2026

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