PORTO by Chef Jason — Restaurant in Robbinsville Township

I love dining out and trying different restaurants…it’s become a hobby of mine to try as many new places as possible. I always read the reviews to get a feel for where I’m interested in trying so I always like to give a fair review myself in return.

We heard about this restaurant based on Chef Jason’s following so we booked a Mother’s Day dinner well in advance.

We were greeted immediately and sat pretty promptly by a nice gentleman in the side hall space by the (busy) kitchen door area. It was a bit warm in the restaurant so I was glad we weren’t up front where it was all windows and much warmer.

We had a few young wait staff all stopping by to take our drink order one after another which made me appreciate their attention and they were all so sweet and helpful with refills and any other small things we asked for (salt/pepper/stores/ice).

Then an older gentleman came by and stated that the chef requested that we order everything all at one time because of how busy they were. We definitely weren’t ready that quickly and needed more time to choose everything if we needed to order all once. He said they had a ton of takeout orders which made them very busy so they were handling orders in this manner.

He came back multiple times a few times in a few minutes and I stated to feel pressured to order versus taking our time. I asked a few questions and my mom asked one and honestly felt my questions were frustrating to him for some reason and that made me a little upset but it could very well be that he was having a bad day because it was a holiday and he was busy. No idea…but I prefer to feel that I’m not being annoying when I’m asking about menu items I’ve never tried before and waiter is always the guide in a restaurant for the patron.

We were brought out our waters and they provided 6 very small pieces of bread with garlic on top for the three of us to start (wish there were more like the pile the table of three next to us received but I imagine we could have asked for more).

The meals do not come with any type of salad.

We received our lobster bisque shortly after. My mom and sister and I all enjoyed it but I wished that it had actual small pieces of lobster in it versus being all ‘bisque’ (especially for the price). My mother said it’s the best she’s tasted and it was her day so I’m glad she enjoyed it.

I asked for a Pepsi but was informed the Pepsi was broken. I opted to just stick with water.

My sister and mother ordered the lobster ravioli with shrimp (around $32) and were very happy with the amount of lobster in the ravioli and portion size. Mom complimented it many times.

I ordered the surf and turf which was an 8oz filet and I believe 4 or so pieces of scallops ($52). I kindly asked if there was anything that could be changed out for the asparagus and the waiter pointed to the menu bottom which I hadn’t noted and stated “no substitutions” which I understood (but couldn’t help but be disappointed for the price and the fact that it wasn’t mobbed. It looked like a typical weekend dining crowd.)

For my meal I asked for ‘medium well’ because I don’t like to see a lot of red in the center and the waiter even came out and confirmed twice how I wanted it. When I received it it was medium or close to medium rare. I don’t send my food back in restaurants for various reasons so I just ate it as is but was a bit upset… again for $52 I wanted to be pleased with my meal.

The seasoning on the steak was very good. I enjoyed it. The mashed potatoes very very creamy if that’s your preference.

We did not order any desert or drinks in the end.

Our three dinners and three soups with only water came to $164 + tip so we were over $200 for this experience.

My mother really enjoyed her food and that is what is most important to me. The pricing is the thing that would hold me back from visiting again. The ambiance of the restaurant didn’t match the cost and the food was comparable to other great little spots I’ve found around the area. I hope they would consider re-evaluation of the pricing...

This is an American-Italian restaurant with slightly dim, warm lighting. It has a family feel to it, and all the diners on the night we went were families, although it could also be great for date night. I'd say casual to business casual would be the appropriate attire.

To start, we were given some very tasty bread, not too soft in the center or too crunchy on the edges, with olive oil and parmesan cheese. I know it sounds a bit silly to focus on the breadbasket, but in my experience, the standard of bread does very much correlate to the standard of the rest of the food, so for me, this was a very good sign.

For one appetizer, the cherry pepper glazed calamari, we had perfectly cooked calamari with a crunchy exterior and non-rubbery interior, and breading that adheres well to the squid. The calamari on its own is not seasoned (no salt or pepper), but the cherry pepper glaze is more than enough flavor. My dad adored the cherry pepper glaze. It's spicy and sweet and very flavorful. I admittedly have zero spice tolerance, so wasn't able to have much of it, but even then, I could appreciate the taste. It's a huge portion - about the size of an entree.

We also had a beet carpaccio appetizer, which comes with a burrata ball on a bed of greens, drizzled with a sherry reduction. It's actually more greens than beets, which is fine - nothing wrong with greens, especially if you dip them in the cherry pepper glaze from the calamari dish.

One of our mains was a combo filet mignon and crab cake, which came with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The crab cakes were soft inside, falling apart on the fork, with a nice crisp on the exterior. The filet mignon was nice, but not as impressive as the pork of our other entree.

The second entree was a pork chop lou, which came with mashed potatoes and spinach. Absolutely incredible pork - it cut effortlessly, and the seasoning was lovely. It had great texture.

The tiramisu we had for dessert had a bit too strong of an espresso flavor for my liking (it wasn't balanced with the ladyfingers and mascarpone).

As far as service goes, our servers were very kind and accommodating when we asked for e.g. extra cutlery or sharing plates. They seemed a bit busy, though, like there weren't quite enough servers (which was surprising, since the place was mostly empty), and we did need to flag for our water to be filled up.

Overall, though, good experience. The food comes in large portions and is very filling. The bill for us two with 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 1 dessert came out to $180 including the gratuity, so definitely pricier than the majority of restaurants in the area. I think keeping the price point in mind, the food is as good as I'd expect it to be.

One thing that was really our own fault was that we were sat in a drafty location that was quite cold compared to the rest of the restaurant, so do keep in mind that temperature varies a lot depending on where you're sat. We did not realize that some parts of the restaurant are warmer and that we could have asked to move to a different table, so don't be afraid to ask for a different table if you find yours is in a drafty place like ours was.

If this were all I had to say, I'd give the restaurant a 3.5-ish. However, I should note that you must make a reservation beforehand, or the kitchen will close. We walked in at 8:00 PM one day (the website says they close at 10:00 PM) and they said their kitchen had closed due to no reservations, so we had to go somewhere else. We came back another day with a reservation.

I feel that mentioning on the website, "Reservations Required," would save the headache of thinking we could walk in when we effectively couldn't. Because of this, I'm going...

We went last night for my friend’s 40th birthday. Unfortunately, this was a huge let down. The desserts we were served thrown on the dish and clearly not home made. Our service was nonexistent. Food we were ordering was being served the other tables that were sat after us, and then we were being informed that they ran out and needed to make a change. I ordered the Don steak… and unfortunately it was inedible. It was probably one of the most bottom barrel quality steaks I’ve ever had. I ordered the warm spinach salad. And it had one skinny piece of bacon in it. That was cut into little strips. No mushroom. Covered in oil… clearly not the pork belly and mushroom I was expecting for 15.00. But again our waiter was nowhere to be found. We ordered club soda. We ordered a Pepsi. From which we never got. I ordered an espresso and it came in just a little cup from which my waiter spilled a good amount of it when he plopped it on the table. No plate. No spoon. No sugar. No cream. Especially for the other people in our large party, Who had ordered coffee. None of this was provided until another waiter brought us 2! Creamer cups. My friend had ordered the scallops with saffron risotto. Not only were his scallops undercooked. The risotto was awful! Completely undercooked, and all you could taste was overpowering salt. There was no saffron flavor to it. The comment was made that it tasted like Rice-A-Roni that wasn’t cooked correctly..

I did call after we left because we were a large party. And spoke to the manager on shift. He explained that this is growing pains. Unfortunately, this is an establishment that just moved locations. That should not cause a rift in the quality of the product you’re using to produce the food or in the service you provide. The price for the quality of food was way off kilter. I personally don’t have a problem spending $40-$100 on a steak dinner. But I expect a decent quality meal. And this was extremely bottom barrel. So, if your looking to go have an upscale meal, I would personally avoid this...