Bar Casa Vale — Restaurant in Portland

Last night was my first night in Portland after relocating from Austin, TX. Though I have spent plenty of time traveling to Portland and exploring their dining scene. Unfortunately, this was the worst experience I have had in Portland.

We had a 5-top and were celebrating my arrival to Portland. I was out with a group of friends who work in food and beverage (chefs and servers), and I am a hotelier, so we understand service and quality.

Coming from Austin, I have been graced with some amazing Spanish tapas establishments, and was excited to visit Bar Casa Vale because I heard it is one of the hot spots in Portland. However, I was left wanting more.

We ordered a couple items within each category and created our own tasting menu essentially. I told the waitress to bring items as they were done, since this is tapas and we had a larger table, a single plate goes quickly.

We ordered the charcuterie board, ceviche, flatbread, carrot salad, cod skewers, beef tartare, Spanish Octopus and Paella. Below is my review of each item-

Charcuterie & cheese board- I wish I could talk about this board, but even though we ordered it, we never received it (yet we were charged for it on our final bill).

Sourdough Flatbread- The sourdough had a good texture and the squash puree was yummy and so was the dressing used on the greens, however the balance of the plate was thrown off by too many greens.

Carrot Salad- had good flavor, but something was missing. I feel that if the carrots had been smoked prior, they would have brought more depth in palate to the plate. The carrots were tender but still could have used a few more minutes to cook for an even softer texture.

Ceviche- The flavor profile of the ceviche was monotonously citrus. The kitchen uses a grapefruit juice (which tasted canned) to cook the ceviche and it overpowered all other flavors within the dish. A lighter hand on the grapefruit or choice to use a more mild citrus would have better suited the fish and allowed other flavors in the dish to take an accompanying role.

Cod Skewers- were by far my favorite tapas of the evening. The cod had a nice sear on the outside and was tender and flaky on the inside. I also loved the salsa verde on top. The profiles were nicely balanced with fat and acids. I would highly recommend this dish.

Beef tartare- was nice and fresh but the beef was again overpowered by citrus. There also was a chipotle mayo used on this dish and several others that just didn't pair well but provided the fat to the tapas. I loved the charred sourdough that accompanied the tartare.

Spanish Octopus- we had to send back. After taking one bite, I needed to chug a glass of water because the octopus had been brined to the point where it was salter than fast food french fries.

Paella- we also had to send back. When is was dropped on our table the presentation looked nice and I was excited to dive in. There has a good crispiness to the rice in the bottom of the pan, like a good paella should have, but the dish was frigid. They served the paelle pan on a wooden board, but if you picked up the pan is was cold to the touch, as was all the seafood within the pan.

Service was slow throughout the night, and yes they were busy, but we were waiting 20-30 minutes between each dish. Our server had to come over several times to verify what we had left to try and ended up missing our charcuterie & cheese board (as I mentioned earlier, we still were charged for it).

The expos that were dropping items on our table would bring the dish and tell us the basics of what it was. For instance, when an expo brought the carrot salad, he said "here are your carrots". When a member of our party asked him what is was, he repeated "your carrots" without giving any more depth into explaining the dish. He seemed he didn't care or understand the menu.

Even though we experienced multiple issues during our dining experience, no member of management came to apologize for the issues.

The only redeeming things for BCV were their wine list and the...

At one point in February, I went to Bar Casa Vale for brunch and had a moderately priced meal that was excellent. The flavors were bold and memorable. My girlfriend ordered a Bloody Mary and it was excellent. Service at the bar was pleasant.

Based on that strong experience, months later my girlfriend wanted to try their tasting menu for her birthday. At $40 per person, it is really reasonable for a tasting menu and seemed like it would be an easy win. Regrettably it seems as though something has happened to Bar Casa Vale in the interim.

Service could only be described as awkward. Some of the servers seemed to not know anything about the food they were bringing us (does that suggest recent turnover?). Some of the servers seemed just downright uncomfortable. It was strange and almost tense. When I arrived, one of the servers looked at the signed tip from a diner who had recently departed and audibly/visibly groaned. So, things were off to a good start right off the bat.

On this visit, the food was not as magical as I had remembered. Not even close, in fact. Some of the dishes/presentation seemed like somebody just didn't really care that much (see attached image). The bold flavors were replaced by salt and not much else. It kind of felt like the type of food you could get at a food cart pod - which is not a bad thing per se, but not the type of food you would expect from a finer dining experience.

So, as the evening unfolds, I am progressively feeling more like something is not quite right. Then they dropped a dish off at our table (some sort of pork thing). I ate a bite from it and shortly after, our server came back and said "oops - that's not for your table" and took it away. He proceeded to put it directly on the correct table. The correct table was right next to ours (we were literally the only two parties dining at that time) and they had watched me eat a bite of their food. It was so awkward/bad I didn't even know what to do. The people at the other table laughed when the waiter left and I made eye contact as if to say "sorry that happened!". It might have been the most ridiculous experience I have ever had at a restaurant.

Bar Casa Vale, if you are listening: when you deliver a dish to the wrong table, remake the dish. Please. It's unsanitary and you're ruining birthdays. (Actually, it was so laughably bad that it became the highlight of our evening; but still!)

To the people who's dish I unwittingly pilfered, I'm sorry. I owe you a bite of salty/chewy pork. Contact...

I came in with high expectations, but I must admit this place left me a little bit disappointed. I do love when places take a more modern/innovative approach to authentic dishes, but a lot of the items on their menu where a little too innovative - to the point where they no longer were Spanish or Catalan. When I order a simple dish as Catalan tomato rubbed bread - I actually expect exactly what it sounds like (and I've had authentic tomato bread before). Not only was tomato not rubbed on the bread (you had to put a crushed tomato sauce on yourself), the bread was also too thickly cut. All the authenticity of that simple dish was lost. Ensalata Rusa was another dish that was not even close to the actual Spanish-style Ensalata Rusa. When you replace every single ingredient of the salad, it no longer remains that Salad. The only ingredient that belongs to Ensalata Rusa is tuna pretty much, everything else was ingredients that make up a totally different salad - both by looks and by taste. The salad still tasted delicious, it was just disappointing when you expect one salad, but you get something else. The meatballs were delicious - but they did have more of a latin/mexican twist to it, rather than Spanish/Catalan, especially since polenta was used. All in all, the food is delicious, just a bit disappointing that it was not even close to Spanish food. The service was lovely though and the...