Unfortunately, for the price, I simply expect more consistency. The service was really the highlight for us, as our waitress was really friendly, and the food came out at a nice pace without us feeling rushed through our meal.
My biggest disappointment was the food. We tried the roasted carrots, grilled octopus, lobster sliders, grilled lamb chop, and Brussels sprouts from the Meze menu, and the risotto, grilled bavette steak, and arctic char from the Plates menu.
The highlights from all of that were the lamb chop, Brussels sprouts, and the carrots. The lamb chop was perfectly cooked, lightly salted, and I didn't need any of the sauce to enjoy the tender meat. It was nice that you could order a single chop, but one chop is $7. The carrots were perfectly roasted, with a slight sweetness, and the Brussels were really well-balanced. Not too saucy, not too oily, and the right amount of crispness.
Unfortunately, the rest of the dishes were all begging us for reasons to really enjoy them. The grilled octopus was far too salty and prepared to that rubbery texture that turns many off of octopus. The lobster sliders came on really dry...like, falls-apart-in-your-hand dry...bread and were also quite salty.
The bigger struggles were with the entrees. The risotto was undercooked, so the texture was a little too far on the al dente side and became a real distraction. Flavor was fine, though. The grilled bavette steak was cooked to a nice medium, but was hardly the preparation that you feel happy about experiencing at a restaurant. It tasted essentially like a steak with Worcestershire sauce that anyone could cook up at home. The same underwhelming experience was the signature of the arctic char. Skin-on (no problem there), and overcooked, but saved somewhat by the curry lentils underneath. As you can see, every dish had redeeming qualities with lots of potential, but just couldn't pull it all together.
Overall, the inconsistencies across dishes and within dishes, themselves, leaves Porto as just another run-of-the-mill Mediterranean restaurant. The location likely adds to the steeper prices vs value on the plate, but it's the cost that requires us to be more critical of the dishes. Smaller portions, higher prices, and unpredictable results on the plate? I can't see any reason to rush back, as we can get a comparable experience at tons of places around the city...or around the same block. There are tons of high ratings for Porto on Yelp, though, so perhaps we experienced an off night. Regardless...for us, on that night, we had an unfortunate 2-star experience. read more