Right down town from Disney, This is the type of place you dress up for. Very vibrant relaxing atmosphere, that really reflects in to the service here. The food looks and taste great. There wasn't a huge wow factor in the food, but pretty good none the less. Â i had the black linguine shrimp, would give it a 3.5 out of 5.
Review Source:We were in Downtown Disney on a Friday night without reservations. Â This was the only place available for a walk-in, that should have been a sign! Â The menu did not offer a wide variety of items. Â The food was ok but honestly I would have rather gone to Carabbas. Â Lettuce in the Caesar salad tasted like dish soap.
Review Source:Portobello was the very last meal of our honeymoon. We went for lunch on our very last day before we went to the airport and had a nice time. We had booked our reservation long in advance, but were surprised that it was probably the least busy restaurant of all the places we ate at on our trip. There were few people there besides us, which was kind of nice. It was the off season though, so I doubt it would be like this at more peak times.
The food was good, although I can't say it was quite as good as we had hoped, because we had high expectations. I did really like the calamari and the pasta we ordered was not bad, but we had much better food at other places on our trip. I did think that the prices were very reasonable though especially when you compare them with restaurants located in the Disney parks.
The setting is nice, but the service could use a little improvement. There was hardly anybody in the restaurant and it still took awhile for our server to come over to us. All in all though it was a pleasant dining experience!
Portobello is such a great little gem at Downtown Disney!!! Â I have eaten here plenty of times and the food is absolutely delicious, the service is pretty spot on, and the views from the back patio overlooking the lagoon, Saratoga Springs, and Fulton's is beautiful. Â
When you arrive, they bring you fresh rolls and foccacia with a whole bulb of roasted garlic and olive oil for noshing while looking over the menu. Â If you like roasted garlic...THIS IS IT!!
I have had many of the entrees on the menu, Chicken Farfalle, Black Linguine with Shrimp, Ravioli, and Rigatoni Calabrese. Â All of them are delicious and all of them are very different. Â My favorite of them all would have to be the Black Linguine. Â It is unique, the portion is hearty, the noodles are the freshest, and the shrimp were cooked perfectly. Â
If you aren't feeling a large, pasta dinner...I would recommend the meatball sliders from the appetizer menu and a side caesar salad. Â The meatballs are so delicious and they are a really great size. Â They are served on 3 small rolls with an additional side of marinara. Â They are awesome and totally filling! The caesar salad was delicious, but nothing out of the norm of any caesar salad.
Service is wonderful, they are very attentive, their staff is very knowledgable of the menu, and I always have a wonderful experience. Â Keep up the amazing work Portobello!!!
We went to Downtown Disney to kill some time before our flight and thought we would have lunch. Horrible idea. The menu look nice enough but Olive Garden on a bad night is still WAY better than this place. The pizza I had was horrible the cheese was some cheap stuff that was  un-edible.  Nothing was particularly appetizing that was served.  The only thing remotely okay was the Cesar salad. My husband and I had to go get smoothies and other food to wash the taste out of our mouth.
Review Source:Do yourself a favor and go here for the Meatball Bar. Right now, they have a special, which are meatball sliders. $1.79ish each or 3 for $5. You can choose between pork, chicken and beef or have one of each. They are HUGE sliders and even though there are only 3, we walked out of there very full and very satisfied. Definitely recommend!
Review Source:The pomeberry drink was AMAZING to start dinner off the right way. Then came the appetizers of calamari and eggplant fries which were also very good. We had caprese salads before dinner as well. My mom and I split a sausage pasta dish which I would definitely recommend as well as the ravioli! The other two people in my party got pizza which was good but not as good as the two pasta dishes. Our server was Jay who had a great sense of humor and was attentive. Next time we are in Orlando we would come back.
Review Source:Today was a Mommy and Daddy day. No kid today and we haven't had a day off together in a long time. We decided to go to Downtown Disney and walk around. Portobello was kind of just sitting there alone in the corner and we looked at the menu and decided to come in. We asked to be seated outside cuz the weather was amazing. Shawn was our server. Very helpful. Funny guy and extremely efficient.
@Tarajroth ordered the Mozzarella stuffed rice balls. Crispy fried risotto, fresh mozzarella, marinara sauce. Nice. Full of flavor. I ordered the Tony's Italian beef. Beef shave top sirloin, house made giardiniera roasted peppers. Very nice. Huge portions for both. @Tarajroth couldn't finish her order and I ate the sandwich but couldn't finish the fries. Great place for lunch. About 30 bucks for both of us. Typical price for downtown Disney. Dinner time I am sure has a different crowd. Lunch was awesome. Must do this again.
My sister and I came in for dinner with our little sister's cheer squad for their team dinner this past Saturday  night. We were told that we had a reservation for the entire team and their parents (us included) however when we arrived, the table wasn't ready, nor was it large enough to fit our party. The parents ended up having to be split and sat across the restaurant and to top it off, there wasn't enough seats at the parents table for my sister and I. Luckily, we were able to snag a bar table (first come first serve) and have dinner.
Our server's name was Luke and he was really sweet. He was able to describe a few of the dishes specifically and recommended a few of the menu items. He was very attentive in checking with us to make sure we were happy during our visit. Another really nice server came to our table and greeted us as well, I think his name was James. The other servers that came out and brought out our dishes were very polite.
I ended up ordering the Blackened Fettucine with Shrimp and my sister had the Penne Bolognese. To accompany my dinner I ordered a Lemon Drop Martini which was delicious. I like when the restaurant gives you the remainder of your drink in the shaker on the side because you get at least another refill - they do that here. Awesome.
The food came out very quickly, it was fresh and really good compared to most of your fettucine alfredo dishes. My sister was happy with her dish too - we both took the leftovers to go as the servings were very large.
My sister still wanted dessert so she went for the Pistachio ice cream - which she also liked as well.
So overall, aside from our musical chairs experience in the beginning of our visit, we had a great time and look forward to visiting this place during my next visit.
We ate at the bar because there was a long wait for a table party of 3. Â The bartender, Kat (Kaitlin), was very attentive. Â A large group of people waiting for a table, were very loud and obnoxious over our shoulders as we tried to enjoy our wine and meal. Â Kat kept apologizing and gave us a cocktail on the house. Service was great and Kat's recommendation of The Gnocci was spot on. It was delicious . Â With good food and service like that we will definetly be back next time we are in the area.
Review Source:I ate here last evening.
The service was outstanding. Â When I stated that I was gluten free, the chef came out to explain the menu. Â He stated that whatever I ordered he could adjust the dish to my needs (after steering me away from some things that couldn't be made gf).
The Caesar salad.... Very Good, but they need a person with fresh ground pepper to walk around the place. Â I would order this again.
My Chicken Pizzaiola needed some kick to it. Â More lemon or lime. Â A bit less salt (use the capers and caper juice for this) and more pepper. Â
My advice, more puttanesca, less manga cake.
Bring it on. Â This restaurant has it in it to be outstanding.
I recently saw a fellow local Yelper (you know who you are) check into this restaurant and realized I have never reviewed it, though I have eaten here several times. Â This restaurant is located at Downtown Disney. Â I like this place despite the high prices. Â It is a Italian Eatery. Â The last time we went there, we had to wait for a table despite having reservations, so we sat at the Meatball Bar which I thought was a cute name. Â Â Â
  The bartender was nice but It was 10 minutes and a lot of waving before she acknowledged our existence.  We paid  for our drinks and took them when we were seated,  I ordered the Portobello Mushroom (seemed like a good idea), Ravioli Gigante, and you get olive oil and roasted garlic complimentary.  Service was extremely slow and I found my water glass empty twice during dinner.  The roasted garlic was probably the best part of the meal, though the portobello mushroom was very good.  It is served with Gorgonzola, polenta, and rosemary sauce.  The ravioli is filled with ricotta and spinach and the sauce has tomato, basil, toasted garlic.  It was good but not great.
 When our check arrived, our drinks from the bar were charged,  When I pointed this out to the server, she proceeded to argue with me that she had brought them to us.  The bartender was still working so I brought the server to the bar to get confirmation that we had purchased our drinks at the bar. The server agreed, but 15 minutes later had not returned with the bill.  I went and found a manger and he fixed it immediately.
  I recommend reservations as this is the only Italian place at Downtown Disney and is usually busy even during slow seasons.  The place is cute, but the service could use a little kick in the pants.
When the service is excellent, I feel generous with stars, even if the food is not too good. Â This dining establishment is located in the heart of Downtown Disney. Â I wanted to eat here because it looked like a nice sit down restaurant from the outside. Â The inside looks even nicer, and the atmosphere is very relaxing. Â We had a very nice, energetic, and knowledgeable waiter. Â
We decided to order the mozzarella rice balls, portebello mushroom, and the margherita pizza. Â Before our order came out, we received some complimentary dinner rolls with fresh, roasted garlic, still in the clove. Â The garlic was delicious, but the bread was not. Â Some were warm, and some were cold. Â Regardless, they were all hard as a rock. Â Instead of being soft on the inside, they were flaky and crumbled easily. Â
The mozzarella rice balls were very unique. Â I have never heard of anything like this. Â I am glad we ordered it because it was the best dish of the meal! Â It was piping hot, and oozed with cheese as I took a bite. Â The pizza came shortly after. Â The pizza tasted alright. Â I thought it was kind of good, but the GF thought it tasted terrible. Â We were nearly done with the pizza when the mushrooms finally came. Â
The mushrooms deserve their own paragraph because the dish was absolutely rancid. Â They presentation looked really good. Â I was so excited to dive in. Â Then, my hopes came crashing down as soon as I took a bite. Â The mushrooms were drenched in what tasted like a mixture of rosemary and balsamic vinegar. Â It was so salty it kind of reminded me of fish sauce. Â Yuck. Â It's such a shame because every mushroom tasted like that. Â It ruined the dish because the polenta on the inside was cooked to perfection. Â I do not understand why they did not just drizzle some sauce on top. Â Why overpower the already flavorful dish? Â I told our waiter about the overpowering sauce and he asked if we wanted another one instead. Â I told him no, because we already ate half, and we were full. Â
Great service. Â Great atmosphere. Â Not so great food. Â Will I come back? Â Probably not.
With a restaurant being associated with Disney I would have expected more. I made a reservation for 5 adults, but we also had an infant with us, so 6 total. We made a reservation but we still had to wait around 20 minutes for our table to be ready. Our drinks didn't come for another 30 minutes, our food came 40 minutes after that. I can understand great food taking awhile to prepare but for cold and bland food we were not impressed.
Our server hardly spoke any English or Spanish, mostly Italian. He was short with us and never offered to refill our water or drink glasses. When I asked for the bill he came back 15 minutes later and to my surprise I was being charged 18% for the shoddy service. Apparently an infant that is sleeping in his seat is included as the 6th person to justify the 18%. I will never eat here again.
For DIsney food this could be a safe option to go with. My husband and I have celebrated our anniversary here and found their bread with roasted garlic as a really good starting point. We also highly enjoy their mashed potato and portobello mushroom combo appetizer. It's meaty and slightly nutty at the same time. I wasn't too thrilled with their pita bread style dough for pizzas, therefore I'd skip this and skip the honey lemonade- as the honey they use is not very complimentary to the taste of the lemonade- perhaps they should make it in house if they don't?
On the positive side, we've always had great service here, even on busy nights, so it would be worth just checking out.
I really wasn't sure what to expect when I made our reservation for 15 just two hours ahead of our desired arrival time (6:30). Â I also wasn't sure what to expect after reading the mixed Yelps. The young lady happily took our reservatin and was actually very accommodating when half of our party was late because they couldn't figure out how to get to the restaurant.
Missy, our server, was incredibly patient and helpful with the menu. With 15 people there was a bit if confusion, but we got our orders in and then the tastiness began. Delicious rolls with olive oil and roasted garlic...WOW! Â Then our salads-actually very simple, but well done. I ordered the black fettucinni with rock shrimp, tomatoes, and asparagus in a very light sauce. Best meal I've had while down here in Florida! Â My daughter had a simple spaghetti and meatballs, but she said it was just fine-meatballs weren't Mom's so they weren't good enough...
Place is a bit pricey...so don't expect a cheap night, but the meal was very well done. Everyone seemed to like their meal, even the kids. Missy offered to split the bill for us by family-something no waitress has EVER offered to do at ANY restaurant I've been to in NJ. Â I know this place has gotten some bad reviews, but I have nothing but praise for our experience at Portabello.
I visited here on 4/23/12 and I have such a NEGATIVE impression of this place.
Our party of 5 made a reservation through our hotel's concierge desk. We arrived and were asked to wait a few moments for the table.
While we waited roughly 10 minutes for our table, at least 6 additional groups walked in ranging from couples to a family of 4. Every time someone walked through the door...the front staff said.."Do you have a reservation?"...and the guests would say.."No"...and the staff would reply..."We are reservations only."
The way they said it was rude and they lost SO MANY customers within just that 10 minutes we were standing there! I'm not sure why they are reservations only, but the looks on the customer's faces made me feel so bad for them.
Based on that first impression, it just put a sour taste in our mouths since we all work in the restaurant service industry. It just made the food taste, "OK" and the service seemed "OK."
It's sad to see how those three individuals at the front can dramatically impact the service and profitability of this particular establishment.
If this place is reservations only, the staff should be trained on how to politely and professionally inform customers of this rule.
Okay for kids, Â enjoyable appetizers. Â I wasn't especially thrilled with the brisket sandwich but it wasn't terrible. Â I'd probably order a pasta dish of some kind on my next visit.
The menu was simple, Â but I usually like that in a restaurant. Â Having said that, Â If there isn't much on the menu I would expect anything offered to be excellent and not just good. Â This wasn't the case
Portobello staff was great and we were taken care off. Â This was significantly less busy than the other restaurants at DownTown Disney.
My daughter and I dined here on St. Patrick's Day. While the atmosphere in the rest of the Downtown Disney area was a little hectic, we found the restaurant to be calm, well-staffed and really receptive to our requests.
I had made a reservation, so we were seated right away. We thought we'd like to eat outside, but after being seated there, it was incredibly windy and we asked to be moved inside. We ended up with a very nice waitress who was super attentive, and our meal was hands down the best we had our entire vacation.
I would definitely return to Portobello.
- Service: POOR, the server was very rude and definitely was not worth the money we spent that night. As soon as I say down I asked for just a plain glass of water with a lime in it (I do this on purpose to see if they have attention to detail) and he brought me out a glass of water with no lime. I then asked 4 more times (over 35 minutes) for a lime and still no lime, so I went up to the bar to get my own. The same thing for my second glass of water (after 45 minutes of being empty), I went up to the server station to give myself a refill of water and he ran out right behind me to refill the rest of the water glasses. HOWEVER, he didn't have a problem refilling the alcohol beverages at the table! (I wish I could remember his name)
- Food: OAKY, nowhere near the worst Italian food I have ever had, but far from being worth the price!
*Pizza; okay (Me)
*Penne Bolognese; wasn't very good (Wife)
*Pork belly; okay, but a slab of fatty bacon is not worth that price (Friend)
*Pork Chop; AMAZING, my father in-law said it was one of the best pork chops he has ever had (VERY THINK and JUICY)
- Show: N/A
- Environment: AVERAGE
- Cleanliness: EXTREMELY
- Bathroom: STOCKED, but dirty. The men's bathroom was very dirty with pee all over the floor near the toilet, so I did not use the facility.
- Price: $18-30
- Location: AMAZING
- Coupons: NONE
- Special Comment: We might have had a better time if we had a different server, so we might return for a second try.
I want to say this is a typical tourist trap restaurant simply because of the location, but the food is good if pricey (entrees avg $20+) and it's the only Italian restaurant in Downtown Disney.
I had the spaghetti pomodoro. Simple and tasty although I would have preferred more basil in the sauce. Minestrone was excellent. I also enjoyed the panna cotta for dessert although the description of the desert on the menu seemed misleading. I thought I was just getting some fruit with honey on it instead the custard.
My friend ordered the ravioli and I thought it was bland to the point of being tasteless. I took two bites and understood why she did not want to finish her entree.
We had dinner last night and were not disappointed with the food, but disappointed with the service. Â Â Â The caprese salad and the garden salad were just ok, nothing special. Â We both had pasta dishes, the penne bolognese and the rigatoni calabrese. Â Both were full of flavor, plenty of meat and substantial portions. Â The roasted garlic with olive oil was good, but the rolls were cold and hard, and would have been really yummy if they had been warm and fresh.
Our server was practically non-existent. Â We had to flag him down for water, and he never even checked in to see how our meals were, which he didn't even deliver. Â We normally give 20% tip, but would definitely have given less, but unfortunately we have a Tables in Wonderland package which automatically gives 18%. Â He didn't deserve that much since he barely waited on us.
This place seems to get hot and cold reviews, we went knowing we too might be dropping 2 stars on the review but happy to report it was great 4 star night. Wonderful service.
 The eggplant fries were amazing. Thin and crisp. My pasta with chili and pancetta was perfectly cooked, though accepting the generous grind of Parmesan my have taken it from well salted to over salted. Taste before you accept the Parmesan or put it on the side. The pizza was indeed smokey but the crust seemed made yesterday.
 Sliders were huge and nice. I think the salmon one, has been removed from the menu. We would go back. A reservation is a must and for best results dine early.
Service: Very nice server who welcomed us in and was asking about our day and really interacted with us! She gave us suggestions and gave us the recipe for their oil infused garlic bulb!
Food and Taste: For appetizer we got from the "Meatball Bar" a trio of meatballs inside of the hoagies and a tomato home felt soup that was very scrumptious! Â I got the margherita pizza and it came out warm fresh out of the oven and the crust was delightful not too crunchy not too soft, just perfect. Each entree is brought out with bread and oil infused garlic bulb that spreads like butter on the bread. It all went very well with my italian cherry cream soda!
Atmosphere: Â The atmosphere is very rustic italian with a flair of class. A relaxing mood that made the food that more tasteful.
Excellent presentation overall with food, service and atmospher.
Such a great place to dine. The atmosphere is relaxed, laid back and fairly romantic ( if you dont happen to be seated near children). I had been dying to go back since the first time I went last year. Well my husband and I went back tonight and it was still good but not as great as last time, I suspect that the server and seating have a lot to do with the experience here.
The food is good and reasonably priced. The roasted garlic and portabello mushrooms are honestly delicious no matter what anyone else here says. They also have iced coffees that are (in my opinion) the best.
I fall midway on my rating because no one is perfect and hey...there's always room for improvement. The first service was top notch...and the second was a little lacking so I adjusted my tip to fit. I still have every intention of revisiting Portobello when I'm in the mood for some delicious food.
My only real complaint is the difference between seating and wait staff. The food is just as good as it was last time and im sure it will be just as good next time because trust me...there will be a next time...I'm already looking forward to it.
Service = super friendly
Food = subpar. Â My penne bolognese was barely edible and I sent it back. Ny husband's pizza was okay--ricotta and pesto chicken.
Their bread (semolina bread and ciabbata) with roasted garlic and add some olive oil = to die for.
Prices = moderate...more than you'd want to spend.
When I go to a new Italian restaurant with my Brooklyn-Italian wife, I often ask her "Do I like this?" I think I know what her opinion would be on Portobello, and I'm glad she didn't have to experience it.
In a word, atrocious. If this is magical Italian (and everything here is magical), then I don't want to go to Italy.
I had dinner here with a bunch of colleagues my last night in Orlando after a conference. I thought Olive Garden had borderline-offensive generic Italian food, but there I came here.
When I am going to be charged nineteen dollars for a plate of pasta with meat sauce, it should be something special. I am Irish and I can make better sauce.
I wasn't sure if the sauce was watery or if the "chef" had failed to drain the pasta properly. Either way, it was not very good. It had very little character, and the meat had no taste.
One of my colleagues was served a burned pizza. The waitress finished serving the rest of the table, and then asked if he wanted another one, since she noticed it was a bit crispy (as in, the crust was blackened.) Why was this pizza ever served? Nobody noticed it was burned? She put it in front of him and served everyone else, and then asked if he wanted another. If you know it's bad, don't bring it out at all.
(At that point, I decided complaining about my sauce was futile.)
We did have the roasted garlic and oil to "make our own garlic bread", that others have mentioned. It took quite a while to be served, as others have mentioned. Garlic bread is usually a split Italian or French loaf, not a hard roll.
Service was spotty, at best. I attributed it to the size of the party, although with conferences in town constantly, I was surprised they weren't better equipped to handle large parties efficiently.
As I looked around at the other dishes, I realized this place is not only over-priced, it's over-priced for Disney, and that is an accomplishment.
I had a gin and tonic, a Cesar salad, my pasta and iced tea and spent $39. This may actually be over my per diem - and that was only one meal. That amount of money would feed a family of six at my home Italian restaurant.
If you want to spend a lot of money on food at Disney, go to Shula's and have a steak. Don't waste your money here.
Perhaps I had too high of expectations for this place. The dinner started out well...
My friend and I ordered the Portobello Mushroom appetizer immediately and asked for bread for the table. (Wood roasted, gorgonzola, polenta, rosemary sauce). It was very delicious.
It took the waitress FOREVER to bring us the bread. I asked multiple times. I always thought it was the norm to be brought bread at an Italian Restaurant shortly after being seated. Everytime I asked, she was snippy in her reply and claimed she wanted to get us our wine and appetizer first.
When we finally did recieve the bread, it came with a clove of garlic. It was also very delicious.
THEN the entrees came. My friend was very happy with hers. She had the Black linguine with Florida Rock shrimp.
I had the Raviolo Gigante in an alfredo sauce. The dish was bland and certainly NOT worth the ridiculous $30 price. In fact, it was so tasteless, I took one bite and pushed the plate away.
If it was just my entree that was bad, I would have given this place 3.5 stars. BUT our waitress can be held accountable for the deduction of the 2.5 stars.
She NEVER came to the table to check on how we were doing/how we liked our meal. She was waitressing the table across from us and stopped there multiple times during the course of our meal and had to have seen my uneaten plate of pasta.
After about 25 minutes, some busboy came and took everything off the table. The waitress only returned to bring us the bill (which included the $30 ravioli dish) and take the bill.
Perhaps I am spoiled or have high standards but I was really bothered that no one asked me if my meal was acceptable. Eating out is a luxury and when I am going to go to a restaurant as expensive as Portobello, I expect to recieve good service.
I always tip double the tax. The bill was around $80. I gave her a dollar. :D
Price Level for Lunch: $15 to $35.99
Price Level for Dinner: $36 to $59.99
Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil (Complimentary)- This was probably the BEST part of the entire meal. This spread + Ciabatta Bread = Yum!
Penne Bolognese- Pasta was al dente. A plethora of beef and pork meat sauce. Good portion. Nothing in here was BURSTING with flavor. It was unmemorable.
Chicken Farfalle- The snow peas, asparagus, and tomatoes were fresh. The pasta was cooked to al dente. The chicken was bland. The cream sauce was watery and also lacked flavor.
Gelati- Creamy, flavorful, bursting with coffee and chocolate. They give you A LOT!
This is a nice place to relax and unwind after a full day of walking and standing in line at the parks. Portobello serves up good portions, but there was a definite lack of flavor in the dishes WE tried. If this restaurant was located in NY I'd give it 2 stars. However, since this is Downtown Disney and I don't see any other Italian restaurants here, 3 stars is reasonable.
My friend and I had been traveling for most of the day, and we were tired and hungry. Â After walking around Downtown Disney scoping out the restaurant choices, we finally decided on Portobello. Â The restaurant was packed, and they weren't taking anymore names for the wait list. Â But they said we were welcome to eat at the bar, and that's just what we did.
The items on the menu were a bit pricey, but that's expected since Downtown Disney is a tourist trap. Â They have a "Value Menu" which was about the same price as one pasta dish, so we both decided to get that. Â You get to choose from soup or the house salad, penne bolognese or chicken farfalle, and gelato all for $24.95.
We both got the house salad.  I got the penne and my friend got the farfalle.  While we waited for our dishes, they brought out  some bread and freshly roasted garlic.  Our waiter/bartender was very friendly and kept us entertained the whole time.  The food came out pretty quickly, and we got to satisfy our starving bellies. Â
The food was good and service was great. Â I'll definitely keep this place in mind on my next trip to Orlando.
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