Porta — Restaurant in Jersey City

I’m from NYC and often meet friends for food and drinks in Jersey City, and last Saturday this was my second or third visit. We made reservations for the rooftop and were seated at the bar. I was excited about the vegan options, but the Rita & Mark was just ok. My friend and I decided share a cocktail while we waited for the pizza and ordered the “Pump Master Flex,” since it was a seasonal pumpkin drink. The bartender brought a small glass which what appeared to be a shot instead of an actual cocktail. The glass was small and it was literally a quarter full. I didn’t get to take a picture of it before he took it away, but I took a picture of the whiskey neat we ordered, because it was literally the same amount of liquid in the glass. We both laughed and looked at the bartender with crazy eyes, we asked if this was a shot or a cocktail, because it WAS on the cocktail menu. He said that was how it came and just looked that way because of the glass it was in. My friend took a sip and immediately made a face of disgust. When the bartender came over I told him that she didn’t like it and if I didn’t like it he would have to take it back, which he did. My friend and I were just shocked that they would actually serve that as a cocktail, and if it tasted amazing maybe I would’ve been ok with that. I’m from NYC I’m used to getting overpriced drinks, but my cup is usually full when I ask for a cocktail anywhere. As we were laughing about it with the couple sitting next to us, because they too were shocked when they saw the “cocktail” we were served, the bartender walks over and tells me that if I don’t lower my voice he is going to have to ask me to leave. I asked if I was not allowed to voice my opinion about the way a drink looks and tastes, and he answered “not if I can hear you at the other end of the bar.” Meanwhile, this is post Covid, we needed reservations just to sit at the bar, so there are only four other people at the bar, in an open air rooftop. This triggered me to the point that I am taking time out of my life to write this review. In the state the world is in right now, these micro-agressions are showing their faces everywhere and they can’t hide any more. The AUDACITY of this young white man to tell BIPOC to lower their voices just because he took offense to our opinion of his bartending skills is ridiculous. Most bartenders would do their best to make the customer happy instead of threatening to have them removed. I am a yogi, I am not an aggressive person, so at no point was I intentionally raising my voice to create a hostile atmosphere or draw attention to myself. It was just another example of someone trying to suppress another based on their own insecurities and lack of self esteem. His bartending and people skills are severely lacking, he also gave us a peak of his asscrack every time he bent over which added to the lackluster of the experience. We should’ve just stayed at the Rooftop at Exchange Place where the drinks were delish and the view...

Let me start by saying I am extremely understanding to restaurant and staff given the current circumstances with the virus and economy, however the service we experienced last night was just unacceptable.

First, we sit and after about 15 minutes server #1 approaches us to take our food order. We politely let her know that we have not even ordered drinks and we were ready to order everything at once. All 5 of us order at the same time, everyone doing the restaurant week special. She’s kind and takes our entire order. Ten minutes later serve #2 brings over all 5 of our appetizers. About 7 minutes go by and server #3 brings our drinks. Ok, not ideal to get appetizers before drinks but that’s fine.

About 15 minutes later server #2 brings over 2 of our entrees. We tell our friends to eat before it gets cold our food can’t be far behind. Fast forward 20 minutes later both girls are finished eating. Another 20 minutes later server #3 brings over the same two girls desserts. Before he can drop them, we stop him and let him know three of us are still waiting on our entrees. (Note: we are sitting directly behind the open kitchen counter) so we watch him place the two desserts under the heat lamps. He goes and talks to some people, comes back to our table to confirm what we ordered and who we ordered from. 10 minutes later he tells us it’ll be another 5 minutes. 10 minutes later the manager approaches our table asks how everything is and tells us another 1-2 minutes and our food should be out. About 8 minutes later we finally have our dinners. (About an hour after our first two friends have gotten theirs). Immediately after we receive our dinners we watch server #3 pick up the desserts that have now been under a heat lamp for 40 minutes and try to drop them at our table. We politely ask for fresh dessert letting them know we’ve seen them sitting there.

After we finish eating, server #4 brings 3 desserts (now wrapped to go), and we have to remind them two are missing. As this is happening we notice the entire kitchen behind us is cleaned and the staff had jackets on ready to go, yet we still haven’t received all our food.

Not once did any previous server come to apologize about any issues or admit to messing anything up, instead the entire night they sent a new server after new server. In the end the last server was super apologetic and blamed restaurant week and for being busy. In this situation it is hard to accept all these issues were due to being busy considering the restaurant was pretty empty and the staff had the kitchen cleaned with jackets prior to us receiving all of our food. Not once was anything offered; an apology, a dessert, a drink, a discount, nothing. The fact the staff could not recognize and make up for the horrible service is...

I was so excited to try Porta but left SO disappointed!

My sister was visiting so we took her to Porta. We didn't have a reservation and they only had seating downstairs or on the rooftop. The rooftop only had a select menu we opted for the lower level. The lower level did not have the fun atmosphere as the main level. It felt very secluded but since we didn't make a reservation that's on us.

We started with 2 cocktails (white door and blue crush) and a beer and the meatball appetizer. Cocktails were ok. The meatball appetizer was really good but came out barely warm.

My sister had the spring Betty pizza, my boyfriend had 14 1/2 pizza and I had denoma pasta (double portion). One pizza came out first then 5 minutes later the other one came out and then another 5 minutes later my pasta came out. These were individual meals so I wish they came out at the same time.

My pasta was SO bad. The noodles were very soft and very wet and the sauce did not stick to them. There was barely any sausage in it. The double portion is not worth $28. I had to ask for Parmesan and chili flakes to season it. My sister and boyfriend agreed that the pasta was not restaurant quality. They're pizzas we're good but, nothing special.

Our sever was nice but service was very slow. We wanted to order more drinks but our server didn't check on us and ask if we wanted more. After we asked for the check we had to wait close to 15 minutes to get it. I had higher hopes for Porta since it's always so popular but I can't see myself...