Cafe Porto Bello — Restaurant in Boston

The bloom is officially off the rose. Terrible inattentive service, overcooked pasta, and really poor quality wine. At one point in time this was a nice little find. Now it’s less than mediocre, and not cheap.

Went for dinner the other night with my wife and some friends. The server was completely absent (place was DEAD btw) in fact my wife had to go into the back on three occasions to track our server down. Meanwhile the socially awkward busboy interrupted us and put his hands on my shoulders like he knew me (I hate when strangers put their hands on me and consider it a violation of my personal space…pet peeve). He was completely clueless not taking any social cues and continuing to ask the same stupid questions about the food. We just wanted him to leave, but he really had no sense or situational awareness, and showed a complete inability to read the table. They should keep him away from people. He needs work. The food was utterly subpar. My eggplant parm was a soggy mess, and the pasta seemed like it was boiled forever.

We’ll never go back. I’ve never been to an Olive Garden, but it’s probably better than this place. You should...

This is definitely a diamond in the rough. Who would have thought you could find a great Italian restaurant in Irish South Boston. This place not only meets but beats expectations. The outside of the restaurant is very deceiving and leaves you completely surprised when you walk through the door. Inside is very quaint and probably only seats about 20 people which is perfect. Staff is great and knows the menu perfectly which takes your attention away from the weathered menus. We started with the Italian Mussels which were great in the homemade marinara sauce. The only issue was the mussels themselves were very small compared to other mussels we've had. We moved on to our entrees and my wife's meal was amazing. Fusolini pasta with Broccoli Rob and spicy sausage made for an amazing combo. I got the Veal Sciambatta (apologize for the misspelling) which was loaded with a great white wine sauce, spinach, and prosciutto. Definitely better than many entrees I've had in North End. And the portion sizes are perfect. Add to that the bargain prices of their wine and it makes for an amazing meal. Just make sure you head to the ATM beforehand because this pearl...

My friend & I stumbled upon this place while I was in town for a conference and wanted pasta nearby. The server was friendly and answered our questions about vegetarian options. Let me tell you, the pasta HIT THE SPOT. I got the cheese ravioli with pesto cream sauce and I HAD to take the leftovers with me — another friend & I ate them later that same night at our hotel!

The cherry on top for us was that towards the end of our meal, the server came to tell us that one of their regular customers, a gentleman seated across the restaurant, paid for our meals! He and his friend, came by to our table on their way out to tell us that they noticed my friend & I having a great time laughing, eating, and talking and just appreciated seeing that and decided to pay for us; then they left — how kind!

My friend that lives in Boston will probably be back soon and I’ll be back the next time...