Portivo Lounge — Restaurant in Gloucester

Not worth the money. We went on a Tuesday evening, so not that busy. We went in, and were told to seat ourselves, which is pretty normal for these restaurants so that’s okay. We went upstairs and the overall vibe of the restaurant was very nice. That was the only nice thing!! My friend wanted the soup of the day, and to find out the flavour, we had to flag down one of the very few staff that only came up to deliver food to the tables, as of course ordering was done via QR code. We asked one girl, she didn’t know, and just responded “does it not say online??”. No, it did not, so my friend and I went downstairs ourselves. there was a sign that said the soup of the day was “shakshuke”, and after discussing (within earshot of several staff members!) what a shakshuka soup would look like (tomato soup with some eggs in it?) we finally tried to ask a lady behind the bar. We were stood DIRECTLY in front of the sign, and so it was obvious that we’d read it, and yet when we asked “what exactly is the soup?” we were met with a very rude “…shakshuka??”. I get that if we hadn’t read the sign it would have been a bit of a silly question, but the tone in which she spoke to us was so rude!! would it have been so hard to say “oh, the sign is just here, it’s shakshuka today”? we went on to ask about whether there were eggs or not in it, and once again were met with a very rude tone and “it’s the vegan option, so no there’s not eggs in it.” Secondly, the food we did order was terrible. i got the cali brunch bowl, and for £11 the portion was tiny, and it had clearly been sat under some lights for a long time as everything had congealed a bit and nothing was crispy any more, but the worst part was the large pieces of eggshell in the poached eggs!! and, this is a small note but since im writing this review anyway, they hadn’t removed the top root part of the tomato when they chopped it, so that was also in my bowl, inedible! My friend did end up ordering the soup, but i wished she hadn’t as it took about 30min to come out (again, it was a quiet tuesday and surely soup can’t take that long to serve?) and was less than a child’s portion. the tiny bowl was about 1/3 full! also, i ordered the watermelon iced tea, and this could potentially just be personal preference but it was absolutely disgusting. i had to send it back and i had the elderflower cooler instead. i am not the type of person to send anything back or write reviews, but this experience was so bad i had to! all of these things alone can be forgiven, but all together it made for a pretty dreadful evening. won’t be...

My experience went as such... Waited at the door for 5 minutes where the sign said to wait, the bar staff seemed to avoid eye contact and not want to delay with me . Went up to the bar to get a drink as I was tired of waiting. Paige the staff member I seemed to have the worst trouble with, took my order, a bottle of cider, she didn't know where the button was for it on the till, faffed about with that for a while, then when to remove the cap from the bottle, fumbled with that for a while, then she went to answer the ringing phone with the open bottle in her hand. I kept trying to reach over the counter to take it from her, she then walked off into the restaurant to talk to another member of staff who was sat at a table eating food, taking my bottle with her. At this point I walked up behind her and took it from her hand and went to my table. I sat and realized I didn't tbahe. The gluten free menu on the table ( understandably) so went back to the counter to ask for one where once again the members of staff seemed to be doing their best to avoid eye contact and interact with me. Sat back at my table to work out what I wanted, then went back up to order. Same problem once more staff not seeming to want to interact with me, a male member of staff walked by an thankfully took notice. Ordered and sat back down. Then a few minutes late Paige walked by again and flippantly splashed cutlery on my table that were dirty. The burger finally came and although very tasty was absolutely tiny for the best part of £17. At the point of ordering I consider ordering a bacon butty to take with my on my road trip. I'm glad I didn't. Walked out and went to buy a subway for later instead. Couldn't believe the service and would not recommend, the portion sizes were discrascful. This was my third attempt that day trying to find a place local to eat and the others were shut for renovation, or not serving food for some reason. I wish I'd have just gone to subway to...

Well worth the visit!

There are Vegan and Gluten-free menus upon request with MANY options. There is also a kids' menu with coloring. Allergy food requests/orders are made at the bar - the manager took the order himself out of respect and concern for allergies. Make sure you know your table number when you go to order. For normal humans ordering, you can order via QR code at your table or at the bar. I was hungry and ordered (all Gluten-free) soup of the day which was carrot and orange, falafel & Advocado sandwich, strawberries & cream milkshake, and finished off with Banoffee cheesecake. In the burger, good balance of ingredients and the falafel was crispy and delicious. They gave me a GF bun and with the soup a toasted GF roll with butter on the side. The soup was smooth, blended well, was a pleasure and had a little kick - but I am sensitive to Spices, so you might not find it "spicy" like I do haha; a little kick like a curry has. It reminded me of a nice, warm carrot bread with the seasonings, highly recommend. Well, I recommend everything I ordered! The Whipped cream on the milkshake and Banoffee cheesecake was on point! If I lived closer, I would be here once a month for sure. On my list for whenever I am back in the area.

There is self-serve Tap water on ground and 1st floor. There are also high chairs for toddlers upon request or, if you are inclined to retrieve it yourself, behind the stairs by the handicap bathroom. Seating outside (ground floor) as well as inside, downstairs and upstairs. The regular toilets are up 2 flights of stairs but there is a handicap bathroom on ground floor with a baby changing station. By the stairs, there are some books for kids and adults as well as some games if people are willing to put down...