Enoteca Nostrana — Restaurant in Portland

We were guests of a friend and it was a set menu. Our group broke into smaller groups with people jumping into and out of conversations. I didn't see the bill. I imagine it was very expensive. The food was delicious and well prepared, especially the radicchio salad, the two pastas and the desserts.

At least two wait staff were serving our group. At times there were three, possibly more. Overall, the service was not in keeping with the caliber of the restaurant or the food. My first ordered cocktail, an old fashioned, had not arrived. When I asked again about 20 minutes later, I had a choice of a classic or rye old-fashioned. I ended up having both that evening with the rye having much better flavor. The classic was strong and heavy on bitters. The straggling forgotten old-fashioned was offered to me two hours later.

The antipasti was served without utensils, without bread and not bite size. Not that all antipasti needs bread, but full sized slices of prosciutto and large slices of cheese are a little unwieldy. Something was definitely amiss here. The bread showed up 45 minutes later.

The house wine served was not palatable and not the same as the sample approved prior to receiving a full glass. The bottled wine was exceptional, among the best I have ever experienced, with a true leather and berry bouquet and super smooth and balanced in the mouth. I will look for it again.

The food was served family style. Everything looked unremarkable (no garnish, no flair) except that the complex flavors were truly amazing. You would do yourself a disservice if you ordered only by appearance of your neighbor's plate. My compliments to the kitchen staff.

If it wasn't apparent yet from other clues, while the wait staff wasn't totally absent, they didn't seem overly concerned with serving. At the end of our meal, half our group suddenly had coffee, the other half not. Dessert had been served. When I asked with a smile if our half of the table could also have coffee, the server glared at someone else's wife seated next to me who happened to meet her gaze. "You can have as many as you want if you ask." We laughed at the obvious animosity and how it was our fault for not asking (and for asking!).

If the menu is set, why would one have to ask for coffee? If you think that we aren't done with our wine, why not ask if anyone would like some coffee soon? Was it my job as a guest to get a coffee head-count for my end of the table? She must have reached her monthly goal for tip income and didn't need ours or maybe the set menu came already with a set tip that she decided wasn't enough.

We had a wonderful time with our group, are grateful for the venue and the meal and would come again for the food. However, I would be curious to see if the service is any improved. There must be other wait staff who would appreciate a job and higher tip income that working in such a fine...

Wow what a disappointment. We were thankful for getting in last minute, but that’s about it. We were seated at the bar. The bartender actually ignored us for sometime after saying hello. It took them 10’ to come over just to take a wine order. After delivering the wine they disappeared for more than 15’. Every encounter they had with us was filled with pretentiousness. It was as if they were doing us a favor by letting us just be in the restaurant.

We decided to split a dinner because we weren’t that hungry. The steak was full of grizzle and 1/4 of the small serving was inedible. They disappeared for so long that we couldn’t even say something and by then what was the point. Again it was another long wait to get our bill. For 2 glasses of wine and 1 meal were left with an $86 bill that wasted 1.5 hrs of our time. The fine print was the restaurant charged a 20% service fee on the whole bill, and we observed that we were not the only ones at the bar surprised by that part. Just to put it in perspective, a $15 glass of wine is actually $18.

We love going out and pairing wine with our food, but for a shared micro meal, this was not worth it at all especially with the involuntary service fee. Was this the worst meal…no, but just be prepared for the price tag. The only real plus was the diversity...

The atmosphere is nice, clean, dim lighting (I like this, I know some people don't). The service was ok. Our waitress was average, the guy who served our pizza to us was super friendly and nice.

The food was alright. I didn't care much for the arancini or the tiramisu. Arancini is very onion-heavy, and the tiramisu has a thick, hard layer of ganache on top. When you try to stick a fork in, it just smashes the desert into the plate because of how hard the ganache is. I feel like that, generally speaking, tiramisu is a creamy, smoothe, delicate dessert. At least it has been everywhere else I've had it.

I'll say that while the pizza is definitely solid, my overall thought is that for the price of everything, I really don't think I should be leaving and feeling hungry. I don't feel the food, as good as it, is worth the prices they are charging for it. Bill was...