Allora — Restaurant in Portland

We went here for our anniversary dinner with our two teenage kids and sat outside in the covered patio area. They do take reservations, but not for the patio. The inside space is on two levels, and great for date night or groups of 4 people. There's also a private dining space next door.

Overall, we enjoyed the food and wine. We weren't blown away by anything and some dishes stood out above the others, but it's definitely worth a visit.

Polenta Fries - nice and crispy on the outside, served with a spicy dipping sauce (which we think is the same as the calamari sauce).

Calamari - my daughter wasn't a fan (and she loves calamari) but I really liked how nicely the calamari was cooked and the slight sweet/salty combo of the seasoning in the breading.

Spaghetti Carbonara - my son loves carbonara and the one at Allora got two thumbs up. I had a taste and it was, indeed, delicious!

Rigatoni Pomodoro e Prosciutto - my husband ordered this and we loved it. The sauce was just right and while he didn't care for the way the prosciutto was sort of just torn by hand and thrown into the dish, it tasted amazing.

Spaghetti al Sugo di Carne - I was sadly disappointed in the dish I ordered. The spaghetti tasted old and stale (totally different than the spaghetti that came with my son's carbonara), and the sauce was very bland. I love sugo di carne at most Italian restaurants; this one was a miss.

The wine list is a solid list. My husband had a glass of Chianti and I had a glass of Nebbiolo; both were enjoyable.

You'll pay $3 for a half order or $6 for a full order of focaccia bread with olive oil. The bread has some red pepper flakes so some bites have a little kick, but the bread itself was fluffy and tasted fresh.

Overall, Allora is still a nice neighborhood Italian eatery and I look forward to visiting again. It's a great spot for a glass of wine...

I was in such disbelief that my $26.00 Chicken Piccata consisted of two boneless chicken thighs, that I asked the server to verify with the kitchen that I wasn’t imagining it. Adding to my disappointment were the skimpy sides of two small croquettes and less than a cup of sautéed spinach, no pasta and maybe $1.50 in ingredients. The $20.00 bowl of chicken pasta in garlic cream sauce was clearly small and then we discovered it was more chicken thigh! The only restaurants I’ve ever seen serve thighs are teriyaki joints and the occasional Mexican place. I’ve worked in all classes of restaurants and by the end of the meal, it was clear that someone is cutting food costs at the customer’s expense. Our meatballs were small and covered with sauce so I don’t know how many there were, but I ate one and we dissected one because they tasted either commercial or mostly filler. The restaurant still charged us $8.00 for them. There was olive oil on the table but no bread was included so that was just table decoration. The final blow was the $10.00 Tiramisu served in a small well drink glass but instead of using ladyfingers so the cake was light and fluffy, they used something that was heavy and grainy. Basically it was the consistency of biscotti soaked in coffee. Our service was excellent but our experience wasn’t a result of one bad night in the kitchen. There are plenty of better options for Italian...

We went here last night; I loved the atmosphere. Great interior and the service was also very friendly as we sat at the bar.

The downside was the size of the portions. I am used to European-sized portions; but for the special I had last night it was just too little for too much money. And trust me; I have been to Sicily, Lago Di Como, Rome and Milan.

I had the Penne Pasta with Creme Sauce and Crab. Sounds great, right? Well, the portion was so small that I finished it in less than 10 minutes and I am not a huge eater. We got the bill and it was $24 (!) for this dish. There were barely any crab pieces in the dish at all- and there was lots and lots of sauce but not much Penne.

My spouse had the Carbonara- it was lower priced- but it was also not that much.

Cocktails were good- but it doesnt make sense that they are all $12. Some of the liquor is less expensive than others in some of these drinks. A flat price doesn't make much sense to me. I had the Negroni and later on ordered the Limoncello cocktail. Decent cocktails but I would expect to pay $8-9-10 for these instead of $12 I highly recommend going to Piazza Italia. They have excellent food with a bit larger portions for a decent price. This is why Piazza Italia is always so busy. Good portions and the food taste is excellent.

I won't be coming back to Allora,...