Trio: Porto Cantina

We went there last night for a birthday sushi dinner. Like the previous post had a very new waiter,. Was his first day, he did his very best so no blame on him. The sushi on the other hand there needs a lot of help. The rice wasn’t the right consistency. The rolls were very unattractive and were lacking flavor. I honestly would have been better off getting it from the Kroger deli.

WOW… what a difference (not quite) a year makes. I can’t help but notice all the negative reviews. How does a place that starts off with such promise, take such a dive? SOMETHING needs to work here. So many have tried and failed. I know my co-​workers and I can’t afford to eat lunch here anymore. It is no longer an option in the let’s walk somewhere downtown for lunch spots.

We were visiting Port Huron via boat and decided to stop in here for dinner, before checking Unilocal — our first mistake. This place doubles as a French restaurant through some weird identity crisis. We were the ONLY ones in the place at 7:15 on a Tuesday evening, even though they had tons of tables. Because I could go on and on, here’s a summary of our poor experiences…
— It took ten minutes to get water and another 10 – 15 to get our drinks from the bar. Remember, we were the only ones here!
— They charge $ 2.50 for chips and salsa. What kind of Mexican place does that? The salsa was bland and the chips were too salty.
— Speaking of charges, they also charged $ 2 for our drinks to be «on the rocks.» We checked the menu on the way out and it is not stated anywhere. Ridiculous!
— One of our group ordered enchiladas and received tostadas instead.
— I ordered the shredded chicken nachos. They were bland and very light on the chicken.
— The rice was under cooked and crunchy.
— Brand new self-​admitted first time waitress, poor girl. We literally pulled her aside after the meal and told her to find a job at another restaurant because this one won’t be here very long.
This place had many opportunities to make it right and failed. I was very disappointed and look forward to returning to Port Huron to see what new business has taken the place of Porto Cantina.

Bad food –I think they served us a Taco Bell Kit from the grocery store–

What the… HELL is going on here!??
We’re In Port Huron for a graduation, we make reservations for Bistro 1882, drive to the location listed… and find out it has moved…
We arrive at the new location — (which is) aka — Trio: Porto Cantina. I wasn’t even sure where to list this review, but since I had a mexican dish, I went with Trio.
The Hostess asks us if we would like the Bistro or Cantina… We decide on the Cantina, but learn it’s basically the same restaurant, and the lower level is the Cantina, and the upper level is the Bistro… When I say lower level and upper level, we’re not talking about a winding staircase separating the two. we’re talking literally one step! (?? confusion begins to hit us.) We ask if we can order from both menus (because there are two!) and we are warned that yes, they can accomodate us, but it may take longer because of the different types of dishes on each menu… but we brave it, as we are the only table in there at 5:30 on a Friday night (more confusion.)
Our Waitress is new (VERY NEW) and everything we ask her consists of her leaving our table to find out, as she is unsure… by the sixth time I am slapping my thighs… dammit! Fuggeddaboudit!
The good = Guacamole, made fresh to order (you must specify how many avocados you want!) so… you really cannot go wrong here, the salsa wasn’t bad either, also the house Margaritas at $ 4 a pop, pack a punch and are worth it… it made my dining experience a tad less painful. The dessert was really yummy too! I had the raspberry lava cake! Delish!
The bad = the food… My Grilled Mahi Mahi was dry. not even sure what those things were that they called refried beans… they were orange… I dunno. and two other bean side dishes with it…(beans beans the magical fruit took on a whole new meaning!) Our table of four ordered from both menus, and everyone said their meat was overcooked… from chicken to steak, to my fish… blah!
The wierd = The whole place. By the time we left, nearly two hours later, only one other table had been sat so the place was empty… and it’s no wonder… They need to pick a side, and make it great… none of this… two restaurants in one, that share a kitchen, and a dining room basically. The menus are too vast to be picking between the two… They also had a guy show up to perform, he played the guitar… he was doing annoying sound checks while we were eating dinner… it was odd… and so was he!
It’s too bad… this place is wonderful with floor length windows that view the canal, it’s a darn cute place… maybe something better will come in… or maybe I don’t really care, because I’m rarely in Port Huron :-P

I’ve had lunch and dinner there a couple of times. At lunch, there’s some guy, probably a manager, that insists on doing paperwork, and discussing business at the bar. Mr. Manager… stop this. It is off putting. Go to your office. I do not want to hear about how your business has been «So slow,» while I’m having lunch. As for the service, our servers try to be nice and attentive. They need more practice, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Porto Cantina opened in late summer and I’m here to report that while service kinks have been somewhat ironed out, the food has gone from mediocre to down right awful, except for the chorizo, and the reason for the chorizo’s continued goodness is that Porto Cantina doesn’t make it themselves, thankfully.
Here’s why I will never eat there again, last night I ordered the pork Carnitas, and my companion had the grilled Mahi Mahi. My dish, the Carnitas, was a plate of luke warm leftovers. The beans and rice were insipid globs of «food.» The beans were straight out of a can that was opened yesterday, warm around the edges, but cold in the middle as evidenced by the bagged cheese’s inability to melt while on top of the beans. Seriously, pre-​shredded garbage cheese that one could buy at Kroger couldn’t melt on these beans. Disgusting. (And seriously, pre-​shredded bagged garbage cheese? Disgusting. Would it kill you to actually use Queso Fresco, which by the way is also available at Kroger and other places?) The rice was a sticky, pasty blob on the plate, better fit to calk my windows than put in my stomach. As for the carnitas, let me first say that carnitas, typically, are a twice cooked chunky bits of pork, once boiled, once fried. The idea is that chunks of pork are boiled and then fried to add a semi-​crunchy, and sweet exterior, while keeping the inside of the meat juicy. The carnitas as delivered to me was finely shredded mound of dry, underseasoned meat that was «fried» to the extent that it was merely warmed up. While there were a couple of pieces of the pork that met the grill and had some crisp and flavor to them, the majority were not, and again, the meat was not very warm. Included with the carnitas was a boat of shredded iceberg lettuce, some chopped tomatoes, and more insipid bagged pre-​shredded cheese, three flour tortillas, which my server failed to inform me of, because no self-​respecting Mexican joint should serve flour tortillas as the default tortilla. Corn tortillas only please.
My companion’s Mahi Mahi… I’ll make this brief. First, the menu states that cilantro and a lime butter comes with the dish… on my companion’s…none. The menu also states that the dish comes with beans and «chef’s vegetables.» Evidently beans only come from a can, and chef’s vegetables are re-​warmed frozen corn, and Lima beans (I might be wrong on the type of beans here). A chef that only opens bags and warms up food is not a chef. Finally, the fish itself. Let me say that I’m not opposed to frozen fish. However, I am opposed to over cooked and dry fish, which is what my companion was served. There were fancy, square grill marks on the top of the fish, which look like attention was paid to the cooking, but sadly the fish was dry, chewy and otherwise bland.
Finally, let me say the following, I’ve only eaten at the Mexican restaurant portion of «Trio.» The other portions, «Skybox» and «Bistro 1882» remain a mystery to me, and sadly will stay that way. I’m not going back in that building, because with the Mexican food being so bad, I’m scared to try the other offerings.

Well, tried Porto Cantina after seeing some good reviews. Left kind of disappointed but I definitely see potential if they can work out the kinks.
Walked in, and the waitress was sitting at the bar. She asked if we wanted to eat at the Bistro or the Cantina. We answered Cantina, and she pointed for us to sit at the lower level of the restaurant closest to the water. We were the only people there besides those sitting at the bar.
On a suggestion from a Facebook user, I tried the chicken BBQ tacos — they were pretty good and I loved the fried flour shell. However, if someone is going to be spending $ 16 on steak fajitas, there had better be more than 8 TINY slices of steak. I’ve gotten much more on a $ 14 fajita plate from Applebees.
We rarely complain about food, but my bf’s steak was undercooked (asked for medium-​medium well, received medium rare) and that the peppers on his fajitas were way overcooked. My refried beans were crunchy and undercooked, and my rice just tasted off. I told our waitress (who was great) about the rice and beans, and she said she would take it off our bill. She returned a few minutes later and said that the «regular» chef happened to be in the restaurant and went back to try the rice and agreed it was off and that there had been a similar complaint earlier in the day. She also said there was a new cook, so I think we will wait until he is accustomed to cooking Mexican food before I try this place again (or come when the «regular» chef is working).
It seems like this particular space is owned by someone different every 1 – 2 years, so hopefully Porto and the other ²⁄₃ has better luck. Looking forward to seeing the sports bar (which I’m guessing will be upstairs?).

Food was not as good as the first time we went and the prices were excessive for the product.