In truthfulness, I feel like I need to give this spot a 2.5, not so much for the quality of the food, which was good, however, for the claim that it is "authentic genovese".
Having been to Liguria, my companion being from there (born and raised) and family that is from there and lives there, to make the claim that certain items on the menu are "genovese" when they are not prepared in that manner is not a good thing.
For the record, the food is not bad...it was good. My issue is with the fact that I was told that this restaurant makes "authentic" genovese cuisine. The chef is from Rome and is good at what he does. However, he is NOT genovese. The owner, very nice person ran a restaurant in Milan (also not in Liguria region).
The focaccia bread we were served to start was quite good and well done. The outside was crisp and the inside had a really nice texture and you could taste the olive oil :-) Hurrah!!
The "Vitello tonnato", the appetizer was quite tasty and good. My enthusiasm continues :-9
It is at this point where my enthusiasm starts to waiver.... We were served the "Minestrone alla genovese". There is NO pancetta in Minestrone alla genovese....as well, it is MUCH thicker than what we were served. It was tasty, no question, however, call it "Zuppa di Verdure" which is a much more accurate statement of what you are really serving. Along with the "zuppa", we had the "Lasagne al Pesto". For as good as they could have been, they included Besciamela sauce (NO such thing to add to anything "pesto" in Liguria) with the Pesto :-( which hid the taste of the pesto. Of everything I had, the Lasagne were my least favourite, I have to admit.
For dessert, we had Panna Cotta. Again, NOT a Ligurian dessert ...in fact, given the time of year, Pandolce would have been wonderful (a nice, dense cake with candied fruit, NOT to be confused with Panettone).
I won't not recommend Porta Romana. The food is solid and reasonable. Again, when we went, I was told (and thus really looked forward) that it was an Italian restaurant that focused on genovese regional cuisine....call me a pain in the palate, but when I am told (and assured) such a thing, I look forward to it as I do miss Italian REAL regional cuisine.
Perhaps I will venture out to it again, however, given the distance, I won't be going anytime before the first day of Spring....the drive out to Spruce Grove can be brutal with our pitch black evenings now and icy roads are not kind. read more