Tabla Pasta e Vino

Come here if you want to eat really good, rich food and then feel like a fat pig the rest of the day/​night. Just kidding (kind of). My husband and I had a wonderful meal here. The staff was very attentive — always filling our water, taking dishes away, and bringing us new silverware after every course (although when we visited it was fairly quiet so I can’t speak to their service on a busy night). The food was great, really great — I love places with simple menus; it usually means each dish is perfect. I had a citrus arugula salad with a shallot vinaigrette. My husband had the caesar and liked it but preferred mins because he loved the dressing. For entrees, he ordered the duck confit and I ordered the risotto. Both were great. Very rich. I don’t normally eat so much pasta but even if I did I don’t think I’d find a place as good as Tabla in Florida (where we live).

I enjoyed the Tabla Giant Ravioli, with Chard, ricotta, poppy seed butter. This was the 3 course dinner, and everything was delicious.

I really enjoy the food, wine, service and atmosphere at this restaurant. The pasta is always fresh and the flavors are inventive and uniquely presented. Usually I have been seated at the window and chose a nice cushy bench. When I ate there a few nights ago with friends we had a table near the back. The chairs were extremely uncomfortable. They are too small and not as upscale as the food. Please consider replacing chairs so your patrons can eat in comfort. It makes a difference and I would definitely have to limit which dining friends I can invite in the future based on the petite, hard seats.

I have been here before and I must say that the food is always excellent! We had a party of 10 and reserved the back room. We could hear everyone fine and they graciously turned down the music being piped into the room. Our large party received attentive service — I think our waiter’s name was Jake.
The chairs are horrible! Bring your own cushions — hell, bring your own chairs! They are going for a style and not anyone’s comfort. Maybe they’re taking a page from the fast food industry so that you won’t stay long — if so, don’t offer a 3-​course menu.
My other point is with the restaurant industry in general — when we order coffee, we are looking for a hot beverage… if you put down my coffee… make a serve a table of 10 their coffee — then sometime, oh 5 – 10 minutes later bring the sugar and cream — I now have lukewarm coffee and NOT an enjoyable experience. Simply, put condiments, spoons, forks, etc on the table first before you bring the food. Also, fill the cup — ½ a cup is what I call the «Waitress pour» — their perspective looking down.
Otherwise, amazing food… had the cheese app, and others had the mushroom app, which I tasted and was amazing! Radiatore and bolognese for the 2^nd course and the pasta was perfectly cooked. Then the Wagyu steak and it was delicious!

We used to be fans, not anymore. Outside chairs were hard and uncomfortable; loud music blasting on us from speakers overhead; first course choices were all salads, which seemed odd; our cavatelli pasta had been stained pink with beet powder so it looked like Klingon food, very creepy; duck confit was OK but the rhubarb sauce did not go with it, and Brussels sprouts seemed an odd choice for a spring dinner. Wine list was shockingly limited; the Nebbiolo for $ 57 a bottle was just OK. We will not be going back and cannot recommend.

Undercooked pasta, overdressed salad, upcharges for $ 29 Portland dining month, uncomfortable chairs. Won’t be the near the top of my list to go back to.

Had dinner there on Saturday night. The meal was okay but the bill was not. The computer generated bill posted prices on three items higher than the listed menu price. The difference on a $ 100 bill was $ 12. The restaurant insisted on giving us cash back as opposed to running a new, corrected bill. I suspect other customers will be similarly overcharged as the computer program probably wasn’t corrected. Normally I’d give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt, but not when the overcharging occurred on 3 of the 6 items we ordered.

What a fantastic Valentine’s night! All of our food was delightful and our server was a sweetheart. I thoroughly enjoyed each course of the dinner — including an unexpected duck and Brie crostini served due to an extended wait between courses.
I asked for wine pairings with each course and loved all recommendations!
I would highly recommend checking out this delightful dining destination for everything between a night out with friends to a night with the beau.
First course: octopus salad with the most tender meat I’ve ever eaten from the cephalopod!
Second course: crab tortellini with ricotta that was completely yummy.
Bonus course: duck and Brie crostini with figs
Entrée course: scallops and collard greens
Dessert: goat cheese cake with sour cherries
Our only issue for the evening was an extended wait between each courses — I think that was largely attributable to a crazy holiday evening but still probably ding-​able.

Seated at a side table where every time the door opened cold air blew in. 33 degrees outside. Ordered hot cider, requested different table, they complied. Ordered food. Very slow service. One meal sent back because it was cold. Food cry tasty. Busser asks if she can remove fishes. Along with dishes she takes my unfinished hot cider. I tell the server I did not appreciate this. She consults with the busser and comes back with a new glass of cider with one inch of cider in it. An apology would have been acceptable but this was an insult. You need to review service and etiquette with your employees. I will not go back.

Best restaurant in Portland! I’m there as often as I can be! Sit at the kitchen bar and say hello to Byron or Adam!

Had meat, cheese and crostini appetizers. Excellent. I had the radiatore and bolognese sauce. Wonderful. We also ordered the tajarin pasta in truffle butter and parmigiano. Holy moly. Yummy. Service was excellent and prices are tasty too. We will definitely be back.
I wear hearing aids. I was seated in middle area near kitchen and no problem with sound or hearing. The room in the back is even quieter. Bar area seating was a bit harsh on my hearing. Seating is comfortable and plenty of room to move about. Top notch.

I’ve never rated a restaurant based on their furniture before, and I’m sad that this whole review will focus on that. But, their furniture was soooo uncomfortable that it made me focus on my weight, eating less, and leaving quickly.
I loved Tabla’s food; it was so great that mid-​way through my entry, I forgot about how physically uncomfortable I was. And the server was so wonderful that I was too shy to comment on how awful their chairs were to sit in. He couldn’t have done anything about it anyway.
I am overweight — 30 lbs. — but not morbidly obese. I’m guessing that Tabla’s chairs were chosen by small men with narrow hips. You need to be fairly thin to fit all the way back in their chairs. If you’re a size Large, do what I did and put the chair at an angle, with one corner edge facing the table and your legs straddling that corner.
Tabla does have bench seating along the wall, but it’s limited. And if I could always be guaranteed one of those seats, I’d be there on a regular basis (I’m still dreaming of the duck confit). The food is fabulous, wait staff over the top, but maybe they only want the young, thin, beautiful people as customers?

Worth. Every. Penny.
While I wasn’t blown away by the crostini appetizer, everything else was amazing. The pasta was top notch and the salmon was to die for. The white peach sorbet was the best I have ever had.
The staff were kind and overwhelmingly accommodating of dietary restrictions.
You will not be sorry.

Always a nice meal. Consistent. Bar menu a great value. Nice wine list, above average ambience

Great restaurant in Portland. Loved the price fixe menu, where you got a salad, pasta, and entrée for one price. The clientele seemed to be neighborhood based and adult rather than college aged. Highly recommend.

Very impressed with this spot! Nice ambiance, great music and fabulous food! I had the ricotta pasta with smokey mushrooms and bacon and it was amazing! Homemade pasta which you can order gluten free. The wait staff was friendly and attentive. I had the pound cake with nectarines for dessert which was yummy! Will definitely be back soon.

We went for my wife’s birthday dinner. The food is very flavorful. The server was very helpful in guiding us through the menu. He was spot on with the timing and answering the questions we had. The serving size was perfect for us. Not too much and not skimpy. Thank you for the great meal and service!

OVERPRICED. It gave very little WOW factor for how expensive it was. Add to this the fact that they did not allow the meal to be added to by your specifications. And the wait for food, I guess the expense comes from getting drunk to try and forget how long it takes to get an over priced and tiny portion of food. Even tried dessert to salvage the meal but I guess a tiny cake that you could get at a 7 – 11 covered in a tiny bit of strawberry compote and set beside a ‘fancy’ slop of Lemon curd (Because my plate needed it not the cake apparently) did not manage to salvage the meal in any way.
Just to clarify it was overpriced, uncompromising to personal tastes and easily forgotten by the time you left the door.

We came last night for first time
Sure enough so good we are back the tonight!
Super friendly staff, great drinks…
I think coming back so soon speaks for itself
Brian is fantastic server

Had a wonderful earl tonight. One of the best ducks I have ever had. The tajarin was phenomenal.

Ah… booo. Portland Dining Month is supposed to be a great opportunity for restaurants to not only show off their food, but to prove that their service is above and beyond the rest. Never complain about being too busy. Never be too busy to talk to a potential customer inquiring about availability for the FOLLOWING day.
Owner: When your staff says, when asked if he can tell of availability for the following night, «I can’t, I’m too busy», that says a lot about how you’ve trained your staff. Pretty disappointing when owners don’t emphasize and demand courtesy and intelligent revenue building from their staff. Pathetically amateur and painstakingly foolish. ALWAYS take a reservation for the following day. Why wouldn’t you?! If the food’s good, it does not matter if your host «doesn’t have the time» to make a reservation. Hard duh.

Wow, just wow. If there has ever been a place more deserving (in my opinion) of 5 stars it is Tabla.
A friend and I came here for the Portland Dining Month special and we were not disappointed. All of their salads, pasta, and entrees were available for the choosing which was so generous. No fixed menu! My friend and I ended up getting drinks with our meal and it came out to about $ 45 each, which was cheap for this quality and quantity!
My favorite was the duck. The duck leg was perfectly cooked and the meat tore from the bone easily. Plus the crust. There was this thick, crunchy crust around the whole thing that tasted like duck chips! I wanted to be able to just buy that crust. It was on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes and greens, with big granules of mustard seed that only intensified the savory, fattiness of the duck.
Their pasta is so fresh, we asked if it was made in house and the chef laughed and said of course. And the mountains of cheese on top of everything! Even their salads were creative and well executed. Nothing was short of perfect.
We sat at the kitchen bar and had a wonderful conversation with the chef. The waitstaff was outstanding. I’m so surprised I had never heard of this place before this Dining Month, because it is a very high quality restaurant!

Best meal I have had in Portland! Works for casual night out or special occasion! Fun to sit at the back and watch the prep! Don’t miss the macaroons!

If you’re into a neuvo ecklectic… this is your place. The 3 course meal is good. The crêpe appetizer was good, followed by a duck tortellini that was excellent, followed by a skirt sreak that was tasty, but about the size of a appetizer.
I wasn’t a big fan of their wine choice
had some very good wine over the week… this didnt come close in taste or price.
All that said, the service was excellent.

Two amazing things about Tabla —
1) the tajarin with truffle butter (pasta)
2) the insane happy hour from 5−6pm. It’s a total steal at half off for the pastas and the charcuterie, cheese and crostinis
We’d eaten here on a visit from Seattle, years ago. Our motivation to come back to Portland was to find out if the truffle butter pasta was indeed as spectacular as we remembered it… Or if we’d just been famished after a hike and had put it up on a pedestal it didn’t deserve.
Incredibly, the pasta was as as good as we remembered it. Maybe better :) I will come back from Seattle just to be able to eat here!
Other things we tried and liked included the crostini and the charcuterie. Panacotta was just ok. BTW did I mention the Tajarin? :)

Fantastic, freshly made pasta! The house wine is a beautiful compliment to the creations from the kitchen.
The crab tortellini was amazing and the giant ravioli was an unexpected delight. Make sure you try the crostini assortment to start. The cheese and tomato one was scrumptious.

That Happy Hour at Tabla is one of the best deals in Portland can’t be a secret. That Tabla is now open on Monday nights might be based on how few people were inside during our couple of hours there on a recent Monday. It was a lovely evening for vibe, service, food and value as we started with the HH menu and sampled the dinner menu too. This is one of the best examples of the neighborhood restaurants that make Portland special and keep us coming back for culinary vacations.
VIBE & SEATING
Unpretentious, warm, «all people are welcome» vibe. You enter in the bar area to find high counter stool seating at the bar and also standard height (yahoo) tables and chairs along with wall. Windows make this is the brightest of the two rooms that make up the public spaces. The main dining room is through the bar and has both high seating at the open kitchen, high seating tables and standard height tables. (Also another room in the back for private parties.) Music at a mix and level to support the ambiance and not intrude on it. Lighting just right for being subdued and making you want to settle in.
THE DRILL
HH is 5:00 — 6:00 daily with reduced prices on some menu items and beverages. HH menu only applies if you sit at the high counter at the bar or by the kitchen. (See Accessibility below for equal access note.) Dinner service starts at 5:00 too.
SERVICE
Friendly and efficient. Our server, also the bartender, knew the menu well and coordinated with the kitchen and other staff to get the food to us in the order we requested and at just right temperatures. She was expert on the wine list too. The restaurant wasn’t busy and we were in no hurry and the service was perfectly timed to let us linger and feel welcome.
FOOD
Dinner menu is divided into four parts: Starters (like crostini, charcuterie, cheese), Appetizers (including soup and salads), Pastas and Entrees. There are a limited number of items in each category (half a dozen or less) but something for everyone including omnivores, vegetarians, those who eat gluten free and folks following a Paleo diet. The menu changes to reflect seasons and farm to table ingredients. (Dessert menu is offered separately at end of meal; save room.) Tabla makes wonderful pasta dishes and even better that you can order any pasta in a half serving or full serving.
In addition to HH deals, worth noting another great buy here is the three course dinner for $ 33. (One item from the appetizer, pasta and entrée menus.)
During HH the Starter menu options are roughly half price (starting at $ 3.50 for some), all half orders of pasta are also half price, well drinks and house wines are only $ 5 and beer is $ 3.
Tabla unarguably makes some of the best pasta in the city and at the HH offering of half price on half orders is a steal of a deal. It means for as little as $ 4.50 you get a perfect serving size of perfectly prepared pasta for a lighter eater’s meal or even to share with someone as part of a grazing meal. (Note for gluten free eaters, a gluten free option is on the menu each day.)
Although one of our choices was not something we’d order again, we enjoyed our meal as follows…
…Four crostini, each with a different topping of which our favorite was confit mushrooms. (HH price $ 4.50)
…Pasta with winter squash and nuts (HH price $ 4.50) was fantabulous; perfectly al dente, perfectly dressed and served piping hot. Of many good things in our dinner, this was the best of them all.
…Crespelle (Dinner price $ 9), Italian version of crêpe, was the only disappointment for us; filled with fig, caramelized onion, goat cheese and pomegranate we found it a bit greasy and lacking the flavor punch we expected.
…Duck confit with braising greens, squash mash and balsamic reduction (Dinner price $ 18) was succulent and the mash was outstanding on its own.
…House made gelato ($ 5) to share was our choice from a short list that also included Panna cotta, warm chocolate cake and cheese plate with mostarda.
LIBATIONS
We lean to wine service and were delighted to see five or six each by the glass choices in whites (including a sparkler) and at prices ranging from $ 6 to $ 12. These were good options too, like Arneis, an Italian white difficult to find and one of my favorite varietals, for $ 11 /​glass. Good list by bottle of Oregon and Italian wines in par range of $ 30 to $ 95. Good (Illy) coffee service and espresso.
VALUE
Dinner for two as above with two glasses of wine and espresso was @$ 68. A great value.
THIS N THAT:
1) PARKING: On street in this neighborhood is always a challenge but seemed easier on a Monday night.
2) ACCESSIBILITY: Level in and throughout. Given the requirement for HH menu is to sit at the high counter in bar or at kitchen, if you are unable to climb up on a bar stool, they will offer HH menu at standard height bar table if you ask.

So we had spent almost a full week in Portland and the surrounding areas. We got to eat in some great little places and saw the amazing coastline and downtown areas. This was our final dinner in town, and it ended up being a really great one.
Tabla is a great little spot, with really cool photography on the walls and a very clean design to the space. I always love when you can see the kitchen and what they are doing. The menu is mediterranean with nods to Italy. It is a small menu but that just means they do those items very well. They have a very good assortment of starters with options for crostinis, apps, cheese and charcutiere, some from Olympic Provisions which I got to try at a farmers market downtown earlier that day.
My brother and I split a salad and we ordered the kiddo a bowl of fusilli with garlic and butter. They had great options for pastas and really nice ones for meat/​fish. Halibut, duck confit, pork tenderloin and hanger steak. I went with a pasta dish consisting of radiatori, house made Italian sausage, pomodoraccio tomatoes, asparagus and mozzarella. and it was simply AMAZING. Rich and light, the tomatoes just popped and that Italian sausage was just sooooo good. My brother had the ravioli, father the duck confit and step-​mother the halibut (which was a little small) and brothers girlfriend had a pasta dish as well.
Everyone was thoroughly happy with their meals and our server was attentive. The kiddo did not leave one piece of fusilli behind. Apparenly she inherited my stomach for good food.