Fino Bistro & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Portland

Fino, formerly Pizza Fino, has never really had the best pizza or the best food. Their idea of pizza sauce might as well be ketchup and their crust is always black on the bottom even when you ask them not to overcook it. Their Pizza comes out greasy, floppy and devoid of any Dynamic taste. So if you like greasy, plain tomato sauced and floppy burnt crust pizza they are for you. ADDITIONAL NOTE: The owner snapped back at my review with a quickness and energy that only lets me know I struck a nerve. I am sorry to have been so negative, but I am so tired of restaurants serving mediocre food and thinking we should bow down to them and thank them profusely. Sorry, that is not me. So you (the owner) say that the base for your pizza sauce is the same one used by many other restaurants in PDX,... really, that is your defense of your tasteless sauce? I know the restaurant biz is tough… Trying to please varied tastes, stay relevant and keep the doors swinging. That said, one must be ready to rise to challenges in the perception and actual performance of your endeavor. In your rebuttal you did not ask for more detail, did not even offer any placating let alone genuinely reassuring words and no invitation to try it again. Whatever the reasons for my experience of your food over the years, I truly wish Fino loads of success with the hope that the food will evolve and be refined until it truly is "Fino". Another note: Please let me know if any of you have found Fino to be improved. I keep meaning to drop in there and try a slice to see if it is better than my last experience, which was over two years ago. Hopefully they have dialed things in a bit more. Either way I hope my review has born some good fruit one way or another. Thanks for reading and...

A nice neighborhood place to go eat. They always have some standard pizzas and you can count on some creative named pizzas with creatively put together toppings. This is not some giant thick crust pizza place. If you like that kind of thing you can certainly take two slices of pizza that are generally under $5 each put them on top of each other and what do you have? I got to know a few of the workers there and they've been there for some time and seem quite dedicated to their work. The owner and the first in command are quite cool we chat up on occasion. Very friendly cordial. The music is usually really good and I can eat to the beat. I am a keto person which makes it kind of tough so if I have a day off I'll go there or else I'll scrape all the goodies off of the pizza on to another one and take a little nibble of the tasty crust as I down the rest of it. They have desserts there which are verboden for me. They have all kinds of nice wines. I usually sit up in the front because I don't do a complete dinner there but interestingly enough I thought to go out and do that soon. Definitely a good place that deserves...

Update 8/24

BLUF: Sorry, I will not be dining here again.

For $130 lunch had on of the least memorable meals ever. Our starter, garlic knots, were OK but nothing to write home about. Fettichini Alfredo was soupy and tasted like no Alfredo I have had round the world. Spaghetti was OK but the meatballs were way over done. Beer (Hefeweizen) and wine were both good

Update 12/21

Have changed to primarily take out. Now open for lunch. Menu is all a-la-carte so a pasta and a salad can easily be $25+ with appetizers, bread (garlic knots is what they served when I asked for a side of bread with my pasta), drinks, etc. additional. Food is average. Order at the take-out bar, apparently no table service. $80+ tip for an average meal. Table cloth prices for take-out quality food. I thought our pasta dishes were on the small side.

Good: Friendly and prompt service staff Good food: Well presented, with good flavors. Nice outdoor seating Off street parking

My preferences: No lunch menu... out shopping but can't get a bite on my way home or early dinner. What I call white table cloth prices without the white...