Portobello Grill - Redwood City

The food and service at this restaurant were excellent. Our server was friendly and efficient.

This place is now LOUD on Fridays Saturdays, according to our server (who was excellent . We had a 7pm Saturday reservation “away from the door”. We were escorted to a perfect corner table with a “reserved” sign on it. Wonderful. But it felt like everybody in the place was practically yelling to be be heard by their table mates. This is a post pandemic change, as this used to be a fairly quiet place. We’ve eaten here many Fridays and Saturdays in the past 5 years, including since reopening, and it was never this loud. (Our server told us that Wednesday, Thursday and Sundays are much quieter. . There is also outdoor dining, and we may need to do that as the weather warms. Our server was excellent. She gave us time to look at the menu; we were not rushed. Our Pear Salad and Ribeye steak dinners were excellent, but we could not finish it as the restaurant was loud to the point of discomfort and we had to leave without having dessert coffee. Oh I ordered a glass of Syrah, and it was bad almost vinegar y. Our server gladly exchanged it for a Coppola wine, but even that did not taste of Coppola quality. Hmmm… Hopefully, the owner will get some sound absorbent panels up soon.

We arrived at 5:30 and there were few people inside. Our waiter was pleasant and attentive. The server brought bread and butter and there was no separate charge. They provided glasses of water without having to request them. We split a Caesar salad and there was plenty for each of us. We each had wine, and there appears to be a full bar. My partner ordered the seabass dinner and I had pasta with frutti de mare. Each were well-seasoned. For dessert we split carrot cake. As more people arrived for their dinners the noise level rose as expected, but we still did not have to shout to hear one another. This is a nice place to have a reasonably-price good dinner out.

The Caesar salad was fairly standard and the added chicken was dry and lacking in flavor. The service was good and attentive.

The food and drinks at this restaurant are excellent and reasonably priced. The dessert menu looked enticing, but we were too full to indulge. We will definitely be back and would recommend this place to others.