Fantino — Restaurant in Portland

This place is cooking up some killer food amongst a quaint and lovely atmosphere. That said, be warned that without a reservation system, you are likely going to be waiting unless you come at the right time.

My girlfriend and I came here for a celebratory dinner on Saturday and arrived just after 5pm when they opened. This wound up being just the right time as they were already more than half full but could still accommodate us as a party of two.

The interior is not huge with maybe 10-12 tables and is definitely catered more towards a nice dinner date with only a few larger group options. The decor is charming and timeless, with some lovely bar seating, nice lighting, and fun art all with the horse motif.

Service I will say was quite good. Everyone seemed attentive to us and it wasn’t just a one waiter per table type situation where you don’t see someone for 20 min. I will say the water glasses themselves are quite small which required ample fill-ups. But the team was on it and it never became a problem.

Now to the food. Overall things were delicious with a couple standouts. The peach and burrata appetizer we had was fantastic with the hot honey and oil. Paired perfectly with the focaccia. Classic Caesar was also nice. The real star for me was the lemon bucatini pasta. Wow, at face value it appears to be a simple dish but the flavors were absolute perfect with the hint of lemon and creamy sauce. Could have had multiple bowls of that and would definitely order again. The pasta all vodka was good but not as much of a standout. The branzino too was tasty just a bit hard to eat with the bones and tapenade that adorned the fish. My gf loved it though and I know that’s typical for ordering a whole fish. Drinks were a solid cap to the night.

All in all, really fun date night spot and would...

The short version: This place should be reservation only Food influencers most likely get comped meals to highlight a restaurant, so have a little skepticism when it comes to new restaurant recommendations Honest criticisms mentioned in this review might not be a common experience, but some things are worth mentioning

Our experience: Arrived to wait in line shortly before 5:00pm, seated right away. Ordered focaccia and 2 pasta dishes. Focaccia was underbaked, served at room temperature with only a teaspoon of herbed butter for 3 rather large slices — an odd ratio. The pasta dishes are for sure overpriced for the small serving size.

Al Limone - sharp lemon slightly split the sauce, overly salty (some red sauce was also dropped on the plate) Ragu - overly sweet, unusual flavor

Is there an expo person at the restaurant? Not sure, but it seems like it’d be a benefit.

Sent the focaccia back. Kitchen staff proceeded to make an awkward interaction at our table. If a customer doesn’t want to smooth things over by retrying a dish, let them move on to something else. It’s fine, things happen. We probably should’ve also sent the pasta dishes back, but we were super hungry after waiting 40 mins.

Very limited seating, rather loud at times… but a beautiful space. Sitting right by the door and hearing the host tell every party that arrived 30 mins after opening that it’ll be at least a 45 min - 1 hr wait was a little bothersome. Just do reservations only, so most folks won’t be disappointed when they walk...

I’m genuinely sad that I did not have a good experience here. Absolutely beautiful restaurant, loved the decor and ambiance. The staff seemed knowledgeable and friendly. With that being said, this was not the best dining experience.

I arrived at 7 PM on Saturday night for 2 people. Was told the wait was an hour which was totally what I expected. Came back an hour later and was told it would be another 40 minutes. Also fine, I understand weekends are busy. We were finally seated 2 hours later.

Once we get to the table it is 9 PM and we are told many entrees and appetizers were sold out. Bummer. We ordered an appetizer, 2 pastas and a steak. The Fantino salad arrive right away and was fantastic. Another 40-50 minutes later our pasta arrives and it was… okay…. It was not terrible but it was not worth a 3 hour wait.

The final nail in the coffin was after we completed our pasta the steak arrived completely cold. It was not even lukewarm. We alerted the waiter and they took the steak off the order and gave us a shot of limoncello as an apology.

All in all, I feel like this needs to be a by reservation restaurant only. Most of the issues tonight could have been remedied with reservations. I am not sure if the restaurant was having an off night but there was a lot going on and it was a very rough first impression. I most likely...