Portico Monroe — Restaurant in Monroe

First let me start off by saying if it was up to me I wouldn't have left any stars. The service here is horrible. It was very slow when my wife and I arrived. We figured we would have a great experience since it was slow and didn't have many tables but boy was I wrong. When we arrived another server told us Trenton would be our server and he would be by soon; however, he never showed so the other guy took our drink order and brought them out. Ten minutes later Trenton arrived to the table smelling like cigarette smoke and seemed as though he did not want to wait on us. He did very little talking, did not remove the extra menus & saucers from the table, acted as though he was bothered by the questions my husband asked pertaining to the menu, and was very standoff-ish. After taking our order we waited approximately five minutes or longer for a refill on drinks. Trenton was in no hurry to bring them or treat us in a friendly/kind manner. While waiting I observed Trenton's behavior with the table who came in after us and he treated them totally different. He was talkative, suggested items for the husband to try, and even removed the extra items off the table as well as keep an eye on their beverage so they wouldn't go without. Eventually our appetizer waa brought out and my wife asked for utensils b/c the ones on the table were dirty. It took Trenton five minutes to bring the plastic utensils my wife aaked for. Later on our food was brought to the table and we began eating. Trenton immediately brought over our tab without asking us if we wanted anything else, needed dessert, or anything else from the menu. BTW this really upset my wife b/c her fries and grits were cold and we both wanted dessert but after feeling as though our money wasn't good enough to be spent here. I asked for a to-go box so I could pack up my wife's food to be ate at home. Trenton finally brought the to-go box and on the credit card receipt my wife left a detailed message about Trenton's actions during our visit tonight. Hopefully someone from management will read this and the message on the receipt & assist Trenton with some kind of training. My wife ate at this restaurant several times this week and she stated this is by far the worst experience she's ever had. It makes me question whether or not I will be back again. I honestly feel it would be in the best interest of this restaurant to allow Jess to train Trenton. She is the best server you all have. She is very friendly, energetic, has extensive knowledge of the items on the menu, and is truly a...

The place was virtually empty on a Tuesday evening, but there was nobody ready to greet us when we arrived. We seated ourselves, as we were invited to by the board at the host station, and once seated we deliberately made enough noise for someone to notice we were there. When the server arrived she was friendly and nice. She took our drink order (for three people) and got two of them wrong. She took our appetizer order and when she delivered it, said she would come back with more napkins. She never did. My daughter eventually went and got them herself. When taking our food order she struggled to understand how to make a substituion my husband asked for. She eventually delivered our food inaccurately and when she later realized her mistake, she tried to blame my daughter. When she offered to bring another salad, which was one of two side items that came with my meal, I told her I didnt want it because I had tasted it and it wasn't good. She did not offer another option, presumably because my husband ate part of the salad she had out in front of him. When my meal came which was now a steak and one side, I couldnt eat the steak. I ate most of the 4 oz of mac and cheese because I was hungry, but the steak tasted like they had poured A1 over it on the grill which ruined it for me. My daughter had asked for wings "well done, as an entree not an appetizer" and they were inedble as well. Not well done, and presumably cooked with our other appetizer but served with our entrees. She said they had clearly "been sitting". My husband said his cajun chicken pasta was ok but what they said were "crab cakes" weren't. And what they were was "horrid". We spent over $100 including tip, and two out of three of us went home hungry. The only part we all agreed was good was the 'dillas appetizer. We chose Portico in part because we had liked it the last time we were there, but apparently that was a long time ago and we shouldve quit while...

After walking in and looking around I told my wife let's just leave, she smiled and we were off to somewhere else. The story.. We walked in and it wasn't busy at all. The sign on the kiosk said "no hostess seat yourself." It was a nice day temperature wise and we walked to the patio first. The glass doors were down, the bartender said nothing to us and the floor and tables outside were filthy! I said want to go try inside? & my wife happily agreed. We walked almost all the way to the back because there was food on every bench table and all over the floor. By the time we got to the back a young man who was playing on his phone said how many and my sweet wife said two please. I looked at her and said honey let's just leave. She said great! It was filthy all around there and I cannot eat in place with such disregard for cleanliness. The only person even working was the bartender and maybe whoever was in the kitchen. I have stopped visiting two other restaurants in the Ouachita Parish area because of filthy floors tables etc. I won't be back here for at least 6 months. Management you are doing a poor job & it may be time for staff changes. It looked like no one had cleaned the Portico in three days! Unacceptable to me. We left and went to another restaurant which was neat clean and had impeccable service. The servers were cleaning when not waiting, had a good sense of humor & it was twice as busy. 2/3 full. They also shared hosting duties. It was like night & day. It really drove the nail in Portico's coffin for me to see such a wonderful...