Ava Genes — Restaurant in Portland

If you’re looking for the old Ava Gene’s, I’m sorry to say, it’s gone. Don’t bother with the current iteration, it will just sour your memory of the beauty that was!

We’ve been visiting Ava Gene’s since it opened, and have always loved the creativity of the veggie dishes, the stellar service and the lovely atmosphere. In particular, for special occasions, we look forward to ordering the tasting menu because it’s always been extremely generous in the amount and variety of dishes you’re able to taste, and it’s just a fun experience for a small group.

Last night we visited for the first time since the pandemic (and chef change), and sadly Ava Genes missed the mark on every measure.

The tasting menu was limited and stingy. In fact, by ordering the tasting menu we ended up paying DOUBLE what we would have if we’d just ordered a full size version of every dish we received straight from the menu. DOUBLE! This feels unethical.

The servers were all lovely when they actually engaged with us, which was rare. Dirty plates were left on the table uncomfortably long, the timing between dishes was awkward, especially combined with the inattentive service. We had only six words said to us between our Secondi being served and our bill landing on the table: “I’ll be right back with spoons” when dessert was dropped.No one asked if we wanted coffee or digestives, no one asked how our meal was.

All of this might be forgivable if the food met the mark, but sadly it has fallen so for from its former glory. The best dish we had was the hamachi crudo, which was delightful. Everything slid downhill from there. The salads were okay, but a little salty and weird. Nothing like the shining veggie all stars from the past. The worst offender by far was the final dish, a sad airline chicken breast cut in three served over a bizarre fatty/fishy dollop, with a pile of undercooked but greasy Brussels sprouts plated with absolutely zero care. It felt like a dish one would get in a “fancy” airport restaurant. So sad.

Finally, the automatic 20% gratuity. I wish someone would have mentioned it when they dropped the bill. If it was clearly noted on the receipt we didn’t see it, so we ended up tipping an additional 20% on top of it all, and didn’t realize until we looked at the AG’s website when we got home. We honestly feel robbed

I have never written a poor review for any business ever. But our experience was so bad I feel a duty to warn any poor souls like me who are wondering if the new Ava Gene’s lives up. Let me save you the...

Ava Gene’s was one of my favorite restaurants pre Covid era. I kid you not, it is now far below average and a huge disappointment. The ambience is wonderful. The server was great. The food quality was so poor that I’m astounded. One of the main dishes was mediocre at best. Pasta we make at home (and we are not good at making pasta) is far better than the mediocre dish we got . But the other main dish we ordered was so terrible that neither of us could take a second bite. It was hard to process what was wrong with it because it was so inedible. The first thing that hit me was that it was salty with no other flavor other than salt. It was a clam pasta and while you could see the clams you couldn’t taste anything remotely resembling a clam. If you bit into the clam it tasted as if they had been boiled in water to the point that the flavor was gone. There was a tremendous amount of bacon and salted pork in the dish even though it was described as clam pasta with no mention of pork whatsoever. This might have been fine if the pork had flavor but this too tasted as if it had been boiled in water to the point of becoming flavorless. As if this were not enough… the pasta was undercooked, chewy and also lacked flavor. It’s hard to imagine how any restaurant let alone the Ava Gene’s I once knew could serve a dish this ridiculously poor. As we tried to respectfully describe our disappointment to our server as cordial as she was, all she could do was thank us and that’s helpful to pass along. No offer for a dish that they felt could please our palate or improve our experience end of discussion period. Sadly we’re not done…. One of the appetizers was described as with shrimp, mint and chillies. It did not mention fish sauce. This was actually the best tasting dish we ordered, but I need not tell you how odd it is too get a Thai dish at an Italian restaurant. Not knowing it was a Thai dish we ordered bread and olives these do not pair well with Thai or wine. Whoever the chef is at Ava Gene’s has no clue what there doing. They are clearly ridding on the name of Ava Gene’s as people knew it used to be. It is not even an average restaurant anymore. It is a joke. I’m sorry to say it …. But it really is some of the WORST Italian food I’ve had in a long time and that’s...

Alright guys I've been on a mission to try "portlands best Italian" and this was high on the list. The decor did not disappoint but the attitude and atmosphere was quite arrogant, ruined it for me really, The people and some staff. You might as well eat from your neighbors plate you are seated soo close lol It was the "oh you've never been here before (weird eye roll)....." when we were seated that left a weird taste in my mouth. The staff seems like they kind of worship the place which is good for the establishment but they also include a 20% on the bill. Service was fine The wine list is not large which I like, I hate having a million options, gives me anxiety sometimes. I was excited to try the wagyu tartare and ohhhh boy was it disappointing. I hate hate hate when you order tartare or similar and it doesn't come with bread, a cracker, something! If I would have known I would have ordered the $14 bread. It did have thin pieces of cheese garnish on the top and some small rice crackers? not sure if this was meant to be the cracker? Maybe just put them on the side and add more? The beef was cut into tiny cubes, gave me more of a tuna vibe. I definitely did not like the giant blob of mayonnaise in the middle. I would not order it again. Oh and I don’t know what the point or why half of the dish was covered in a dark powder

We shared the ORECCHIETTE with Fennel sausage, kale, fennel pollen. It was good but not great, there was a pool of oil on the plate when we were done and I think we both ended up with heartburn later. Not bad, I would say better than ok. But for $29..

The PAPPARDELLE with Venison Ragù Bianco, rosemary, was um a mouth full of rosemary. I love rosemary but damn! $29, I would pass next time

I think the best thing was the ice cream I got for free as a surprise at the end. I appreciated that.

Unfortunately we were still hungry and headed another place.

Would I come back? Sure. Is it one of the best? I would say it's a good try but I tried another Italian spot the next day that was...