Portalli’s

Came here for lunch on a weekday! We got there right when they opened and requested a seat on the rooftop which was nice. We had a groupon ($ 15 for $ 30) which definitely made it worth the price. It was my first time here so I definitely was surprised by the prices, $ 6 for a non alcoholic Mojito??? It was just cranberry juice, club soda, and lime? I got a tortellini pasta with chicken, spinach, and creamy tomato sauce ($ 17). My friend got this seafood pasta ($ 21). We both LOVED our dishes. You could tell the ingredients were fresh. I don’t think I would come here regularly because of the prices, but definitely with a groupon! The food is delicious and the service is good.

I was referred to Portalli’s as the best Italian food, like ever. However, I am sad to report that Little Italy in Baltimore has much more to offer in terms of delectable, cheesy, saucy, Italian dishes. I ordered the green pea risotto, which had prosciutto in it and my fiancé ordered the tortellini al la vodka. Upon receiving our plates, I noticed the smaller portions and the watery consistency on both of our plates. My green pea risotto was salt water risotto, with prosciutto bites that hurt when I bit into them. I thought maybe I just ordered the wrong item on the menu, so I grabbed a tortellini from my fiancés plate and EW. It tasted like a tangy hot sauce/​ketchup concoction, with a strong aroma of booze, on delectable cheesy tortellini’s. The bill for the very small, very sad dishes that we received was astronomical and I wonder why I ever leave Little Italy in Baltimore because it never seems to disappoint.

Tucked in the heart of historic Ellicott City, this restaurant has quite the charm. The drink specials here were quite a treat and portions were reasonable. The lamb shank was excellent. Good flavor and fall off the bone tender. Our seafood carbonara came out initially bland but the server corrected that promptly. Server was very knowledgeable and very prompt with all aspects of the service. Overall a very good nice place for a date night.

Had the crab and corn chowder… this is the best bowl of soup I have ever had in my over 50 years of life. Yes I do consider myself a soup conus our.
Bookmaker salad after soup was perfect lite lunch. Salad was dressed perfectly. enhanced each component of salad but still able to taste the full flavor of each component.
Staff here are bright and cheerful, pay attention too there tables and patrons

Just OK. My husband got the duck confit, which was pretty good, and I had the green pea risotto, which wasn’t anything special. The molten chocolate cake for dessert was good, but standard restaurant fare. Our waiter was attentive and good at answering our questions. The décor was nice and on a Saturday night, it was busy but we were seated immediately. A minor thing unrelated to the dining experience — the water in the bathroom was ice cold, as was the air coming out of the hand dryer. Not so much an issue for me, but I would like to know that those preparing and serving my food have washed their hands with warm water. For the same price, I’ve eaten in more exciting Italian restaurants.

This Portallis visit was pretty good overall. The service was solid, friendly, and a little on the slower side. We sat outside upstairs, which likely contributed to the slower service since it’s two flights up. The food was delicious, though not as gluten-​free as advertised. We ordered two dishes one of which normally contains gluten. We asked for everything to be prepared gluten free. Our salads arrived with bread. Our main entrees did not have any overt gluten, but were probably cross-​contaminated in the kitchen or were accidentally not gluten free. If you have celiacs disease or a wheat allergy then this is not the place for you. If you are looking for great food and tasty cocktails at a leisurely pace accompanied by lots of bread and pasta, then Portallis is an excellent choice.

Last night my husband and I went to Portalli’s to try something new because we received a gift card to go and we wanted to explore more of Old Town Ellicott City since we have recently moved here a little over a year ago. We had a nice seat next to window in the bar area and that was awesome. But that is the only good thing I can say about my experience. Long story short, the service was absoulutely horrible. I felt like I was in a real episode of MYSTERY DINERS or RESTAURANT STAKEOUT. The crazy thing is I didn’t believe these shows were real but I found out last night that it does happen. The bartender who was our server was socializing A LOT which it to be expected, but to completely forget about the tables that were also at his service was unbelievable. We only saw him a few times, drinks were getting low I had to yell across the room to ask for a refill, which of course is completely out of my character. I had to also do the same thing requesting the check when there was just one person at the bar. The hostess joined in the fun at the bar and was on her cell phone majority of the time. Having experience working in a restaurant setting I know how unprofessional it is to have an employee sitting at the bar on their shift. To make things worse my food was luke warm and it took forever for it to come out. I understand the kitchen can get back up from time to time having experience as a server, but for the server not to check in at all is just ridiculous. But on the other hand the kitchen couldn’t of been that backed up since the restaurant was almost empty.
As a business owner I believe costomer service is most important. I was really in all about the whole experience besides where I sat for the evening. I will not be going back to this place ever again. I will keep my business at the Stanford Grill where I know I will get great service 100% of the time and hot food. My total check was $ 118.00 and I only left the bartender a $ 20.00 tip. I believe that is what he deserved and wanted to give less. My husband and I are heavy tippers and I just couldn’t find it in myself to give him more. I do not like giving bad reviews on other private business establishments but when it’s this poor I have to say something. Overall the whole operation was a mess. The bartenders name by the way is Abraham.

Walked out feeling very very disappointed, and felt like I wasted my money.
We got the Prince Edward Mussels ($ 11) as an appetizer, and it was decent. For entrees, my fiancé got the lamb shank ($ 27), which I wish I had gotten since that was very good (which is why I didn’t give 1 star). I ordered the veal porterhouse ($ 28), recommended by the waiter, even though I initially wanted the duck confit (waiter told me it wasn’t ready and would require another 30 minutes). It’s this veal porterhouse that killed my whole experience there. It was extremely sweet, which is very very weird for a main entrée of a porterhouse. I know there was supposed to be a glaze of some sort but it was definitely more of a sauce. The mushrooms on top of my steak tasted like small candy bits, and even my spinach was sweet since it was drenched in the same sauce. The porterhouse itself was very thick and sweet on the Outside but flavorless on the inside. I was eyeing the Salt from the table next to me since we didn’t have any salt at the table. After eating about half (the whole thing was mostly bone, hard tendon, and fat), I couldn’t take the nauseating sweetness and just asked the waiter to pack it; I plan on taking it home and just re-​seasoning it, since it is an expensive piece of steak. After we paid and everything, we were waiting for the box and the waiter grabbed the check and said thanks and have a good day. Then we told him that we are waiting for the box, and he thought I said I didn’t want it since it was too sweet but he will get it. When he came back with my box, he told me he didn’t know I wanted it since I was unhappy with it and he had packed it for himself so he could give it to his dog. I’m not a fussy customer so I just smiled it off and just took the box and thanked him and left. But that info was definitely a little too much for him to share.
I don’t like making a scene and hate asking for dishes to be returned, which made me hesitate until the end, where it was simply too late for me to consciously asked for another dish (my fiancé had already finished his dish).
Bottom line: I will not be going back.

Attended the Sunday brunch but was disappointed. The selection was less than impressive and the lay out was disorganized and confusing. Very crowded in the entrance and it was difficult to access the area with the buffet. The servers seemed overwhelmed but were still very pleasant. The upstairs seating area was very loud. The food was fine and the omelet that I ordered was good. The chocolate cake was very good. Probably won’t go back for brunch though.

We arrived for a 6 o’clock reservation and a mostly empty restaurant. After all it was a Wednesday night, early, and the weather was terrible. I was a little bit nervous from reading other reviews, both here and on Unilocal,but purchased gift certificates on a great deal from Costco, so figured it would be worth it even if it were not «all that».
I have to say we were blown away by the service, it was fantastic! Water order taken and brought immediately, wine ordered and brought soon after. We started with the crab chowder and the calamari. Bread and apps come out in quick order, the bread was delicious and warm, oil and herbs were in perfect ratio for dipping. The crab chowder was the best I have ever had (I order it everywhere we dine that offers it, from Florida to NE Pennsylvania and everywhere in-​between), Calamari was strangely 100% devoid of salt, both the squid and the batter, and slightly under-​cooked (batter was not fully fried and gooey in spots) in any other restaurant I would think they just forgot the salt, because it was completely and utterly devoid, but I have seen other reviews and it seems to be a recurring theme. My husband ordered the green tomato salad. Grilled green tomato slices, warm and layered with mozzarella, evoo, arugula and thin slices of prosciutto, this was amazingly delicious! My husband does not like tomatoes (I know… why did he order this then?) I don’t know, but I am so glad he did!
For entrees, I had the lamb shank… Fantastic! potatoes were good (I’m not a big potato fan) I also ordered a side of bacon roasted brussel sprouts, they were perfectly seasoned and had the perfect amount of bacon. These are far better than ones I roast at home and I thought mine were terrific! Husband had the duck leg confit… crispy skinned and Fantastic! Son had the seafood carbonara… loved it!
On to Dessert, disappointing… I had the chocolate ganache cake, it sounded so good but when it arrived it was strangely salty? (Maybe got the salt missing from the calamari?) it was not very chocolaty at all.
End result? We will definitely be back though we will steer clear of the calamari and cake.
If the calamari had any salt at all (and maybe another 30 seconds in the fryer), this would be a 5 star review.

This is the last time I will come here. It’s Valentines and while I’m sure they were trying to be prepared… all the pasta tasted like it had sat in an oven for hours! Grossly overlooked and not edible :(. I will admit that even though their presentation of the tiramisu is lacking, the taste was on point and the tiramisu coffee was very good.

Decent fare and good panna cotta. Great place to eat if stopping in Ellicott City, Md.

I really hate to only give 2 stars, because this is a local, independent restaurateur who deserves your respect. It just was a bad night. We had a large party (9) for a holiday gathering, and the service was ridiculously slow. We were seated upstairs, which makes service a challenge to begin with.
Food and drinks were fabulous — no one was unhappy, especially those who got the porterhouse — I think it was veal. But to spend almost 3 hours and to have to ask to place a drink order and then wait and wait and wait for it is just inexcusable. Fix that, and you’ve got a real winner on your hands!

If you are starving don’t come here. Service sucks! You’ll just be sitting and wondering what the hells taking so long. The servers don’t even bother to check up on you. Thank god we were just here for a snack or just something to hold us over.
1– Our server took forever bringing us our drinks, appetizers, and main entrée. I believe we were at the restaurant. for about 2 hours because of the wait time on our orders. Here’s the thing we only ordered 2 things. 1 appetizer and 1 entrée to share. It took them over an hour to bring us both. What’s even more upsetting is he came back to ask us what we had ordered after about 30 – 45 which kind of made me wonder like wtf happend to our food. Did they forget? Did they give away ours and had to make another one so we had to wait? Also the people who came after us started receiving their food already which was a bit annoying since we arrived wayyyyy earlier than they did.
Another reason for the 1 star besides the lack of great service the food was OK. The calamari we ordered was fine, but we have also ordered the choppino. You should of seen what it looked like when we got it. Took over an hour to receive a measly portion of flat long pasta and a few pieces of seafood with this mediocre sauce. I didn’t even eat it. My husband just ate it just because he didn’t want to waste food. Since I knew we would never see our server for who knows how long right when he dropped our food off I automatically said we wanted our check took probably another 10 min to get it.
All and all. Don’t come here. Food is blah and service really is lacking. There are so many more other options better than this restaurant in and around ellicot city. We should of known seeing 3 stars for this place. Save your TIME as well as your MONEY!
I totally forgot but also as I tried the choppino. I had serveral shells that they weren’t able to get. Loss my appetite!

Went on a Friday early afternoon. Very few diners so we were seated right away.
4 couples in our group ordered drinks & apps. Calamari, oysters, bruschetta all very good. My wife got grilled salmon & I got the seafood carbonara. They were very tasty & cooked perfectly. The problem we all had was the portions were too small! If you’re on a diet this is your place. Warning though… the prices are high for the amount of food you get. Fail!

Nice simple atmosphere and great service.
Happy with the calamari and butcher’s plate. The crostini on the butcher’s plate was flavored really well.
I had the chicken marsala and it was a generous portion. The chicken was tougher than I would have liked, but the noodles and sauce made up for it.
Surf and Turf pasta was great too.
When it came to dessert, what happened? Took a tiramisu to enjoy at home, but was really disappointed with it. Too much espresso (made it bitter) and barely any sweet mascarpone cream. The cream was only inside the lady fingers instead of being layered like you usually find it. There were a couple of decorative dollops on top. We chose not to eat it.
Mondays are half off bottles of wine.
All in all, I’d go back. I would just order a different dessert.

I must agree with the Unilocalers on this one. This restaurant is NOTHING special.
In searching for good dining in the Old Town Ellicott City, we decided to try Portalli’s. There seemed to be a lot of back-​and-​forth reviews. Some rave about the restaurant, others regret they ever even tried it. So what gives? I wanted to give them a shot out of curiosity more than anything just because of the controversial reviews! Not to mention, the pictures of the food *looked* good.
As a side note, we were seated by the host who we *think* was faking a British accent. The more he talked, the more we started to question the authenticity of his accent.
I ordered the special, the gnocchi with pork belly fat. I’m not quite sure why the chef thought this would be a good idea, and I regret ordering it. The gnocchi and the sauce was phenomenal tasting. However, there were massive chunks of cubed pork fat all throughout my dish. I ate one and had a gag reflex, so decided that those chunks would be pushed to the side. Additionally, there was something else in there that I couldn’t tell if it was part of an animal or a vegetable. All I know is, it was hard, strangely textured, and tasteless. All signs that I should not eat that either. When the waitress came to gather my plate, there remained all the chunks of fat and mystery matter in a big pile. So, I can corroborate other reviewers that couldn’t finish their food. I can’t remember the last time I wouldn’t eat something I paid close to $ 20 for…
My wife ordered the lobster pasta. Pretty dang bland. Yes, there was lobster, and there was pasta… and that was about it. Pretty anticlimactic. The pasta didn’t taste fresh either, closer to microwave meal pastas.
If you’re coming to the Old Town, I recommend other places on the street that are far better like Terseguel’s or The Wine Bin.

Yesterday was our fourth visit for brunch and we won’t be going back. Was it because we had a Groupon that our service was lackluster? My first bloody mary came in a water glass without any garnish (lemon wedge, olive, lime wedge) or chesapeake seasoning around the rim, I had to hail the waiter down to ask for refills. The brunch is unlimited mimosas or bloody mary’s but you pay for each OJ? Makes little sense even if they DO use cheap champagne.
It was VERY loud and busy at 11:15 when we had our reservation. You could barely hear each other talk much less the piano player.
Almost everything was running very low and dry or empty when we went through. I waited for cocktail sauce for almost 10 minutes and when I came down a second time it was empty AGAIN. The smoked salmon/​caper/​egg/​tomato/​onion platter was empty EVERY time I tried to enjoy.
There are no signature dishes or even salads. Melon and pineapple cubes for fruit.
Made to order omelettes are a nice touch and that means you might have eggs that aren’t dried up.
The french toast was dry and the syrup pitcher was empty.
I passed on desserts but my husband’s comment was that they were hohum grocery store renditions of carrot cake and red velvet cookies.
We got home and my husband got sick and pronounced that our once favorite brunch to enjoy a leisurely and quiet time together before doing Sunday errands is no longer worth the drive.

I came here with a friend for brunch back in November. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving so there weren’t many people in the dining room. A lovely piano man serenaded us and even took our requests.
I had a Groupon or LivingSocial deal that granted us the full buffet and bottomless mimosas and I’m pretty sure I paid less than $ 30 for it. The service was friendly and the mimosas flowed.
The food was good, not great. I can’t say that they have a signature dish like some other places, but all the options were cooked well and served hot. I particularly enjoyed the omelette. It was made to order with fresh ingredients. I also enjoyed the cocktail shrimp and one of the pastas they had available. The service and the ambiance made the afternoon. It was a lovely experience and I’ll go back.

Service is okay. Food is mediocre – definitely not mind-​blowing.
I have been here three times for the Groupon brunch experience. All three times have been about the same experience – ok. I always make the group or date I come with dress-​up because it is recommended that you do so, however, most of the people who are dinning for brunch are in jeans.
Their brunch does come with unlimited mimosas or Bloody Marys. I have not had the Bloody Mary simply because I won’t drink them (gross) but I have had the mimosas and two out of three times they were great. The one time I took my Mother, they were AWFUL – we asked that they add Orange juice to them and upcharged us $ 3.00 to do so… WTH. The variety on the brunch is the SAME each time I have been, therefore, NO variety switch up. In addition to the buffet in the dining room (which is self-​served) you can order as many egg omelets as you would like which you order via your designated server. The buffet consisted of dessert, eggs, ham, smoked salmon, capers, bacon, sausage, calamari, potatoes, pancakes, some sort of gooey looking chicken thing, pasta and other things not worth mentioning.
I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant for a brunch, unless you want to shop around Main Street, but you would have better food and drinks at Lapas!
Also, if you are unable to move about and cannot go up and down stairs, you HAVE to make reservations to sit on the bottom level. It is not first-​come serving and sitting, you must make a reservation.