Al Porto Ristorante — Restaurant in Vancouver

For my combined 25th birthday (last one in Canada before I get married and move overseas) and engagement dinner, I looked tirelessly online for a week for a restaraunt that was classy, delicious and suitable for a young ladies' celebration dinner. I had high hopes for Al Porto to come through for me in this very special event, and I must say, I was very disappointed. We had a two hour limit at our table which was fine, except we ordered at 6:40PM and our food came at 7:25PM. Not only that, but four of us ordered pizza (not cheap, might I add) and they were ALL BURNT. ALL FOUR! They were literally brown, and very hard. I have never eaten burnt pizzas at a restaraunt before, and I was shocked that it was the classy "Italian" restaraunt did this. I felt so bad that my friends were disappointed with the food, on the one night that I was reuniting them for a celebratory occasion. Of course by then we only had 30 minutes before we had to leave, so we sucked it up. We very politely and gently "complained" to three people about it, one of them being the manager, and all of them just said "sorry" and didn't try to compensate in another way. Stephany was definitely a lovely and kind waitress and made sure I got a birthday cake with a candle, but she was visibly overwhelmed with the very poor staffing and this negatively impacted our experience. On top of that, we asked for our bills and this took about 15 minutes to get to us, within which the other big party arrived and were seated at a cramped table and STARING US DOWN the entire time, which was also an uncomfortable experience that the manager and waiters could have accommodated for better. We grudgingly paid full price for our burnt pizzas and I felt bad that this was my last ever birthday experience in Vancouver before moving to the UK. I wouldn't choose this restaraunt for a weekend special event again, or recommend for others to do so. The people who work there were very stressed and it clearly affected the customers' energy and...the pizzas. Felt very guilty for bringing my...

Tl;dr: all negative parts of my review can be avoided by reserving a table further in the restaurant.

Cute little alley entrance, makes it feel secret and it definitely has that European charm/aesthetic.

The older man at the entrance was obviously used to tourists wandering in to check the place out then leaving, because after looking at the menu for a few minutes at the entrance he asked if we'd "had a good look around." He'd seen us waiting there and staring pointedly, and didn't attempt to seat us. But my sister had recommended it so I charged on. I asked if we could be seated, he asked if we had reservations. No, we didn't, but they had a spot available. I can't remember that I've ever had to /ask/ to be seated.

We were seated, and obviously forgotten in a corner because we were poured oil in a plate and after waiting 15 minutes we asked if there was bread to go with it (There was).

$$$$ The minimum you can spend there is probably $30. This is an expensive sea food oriented restaurant with a decently large liquor selection. Definitely reserve a table, people were constantly being turned away. I recommend a window seat, and maybe going during lunch hours for a bit of a discount.

My partner and I had a Caprese salad and the Insalata Mista, which was well thought and filling and we could've almost left happy with that. Our main dishes were Veal Lasagna and the Gnocchi. The lasagna had prominent brown mushrooms, and tasted normal. The Gnocchi was tender and flavourful.

I appreciated our waitress a lot. She made a real effort to make us feel comfortable and welcome. Atmosphere was ruined a little by TV's, and was probably better further in the restaurant with maybe a window seat. Unfortunately I was disappointed with the condescending man at the entrance, our unstable table, and the unimpressive food at its price. I don't think I'll go back.

Edit/update: I'm not alone in my experience at...

I can't understand how this place has any good reviews - maybe my experience was unique but then again looking at what other people have written, maybe not.

I came here for my birthday - my boyfriend had asked for one of their best tables when he made the booking. When we arrived, we were led through the restaurant to the very back, where "apparently" the best table in the house was - hardly. It was right under a dusty window with a draft coming in, and right outside was the railway tracks. If I squinted through the mouldy blinds covering half the window then I could maybe see the top of a mountain, but even this was ruined when a train came past.

So unimpressed with the table, we went ahead and ordered our food and a bottle of house white. When the waiter asked what kind of house white, "as we have many house wines", I asked for sauvingon blanc (more on this later). I ordered rack of lamb and asked for it medium rare. When it came it was grey. Not even just slightly overcooked but grey. I had to sent it back - much to the waiters obvious annoyance. When it finally arrived, 20 minutes later, the lamb was great, but for some reason they had put an inch of mustard crust around the small rack - the whole thing was totally inedible.

We got the bill as we needed to get out of there as quick as possible. The final straw was when looking at the bill, the "house wine" was $75!! I mean, it was quite nice wine, but $75?? I couldn't believe it but of course we had to pay. Leaving little to no tip, we left.

I have absolutely no reason to go to this pretentious tourist...