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March 2024 by Rosie Pierce
The pizza and spicy cheese bread were fabulous and so was our
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March 2024 by Chan Wilson
Perhaps a bit harsh, but Porta Bella has become little more than an upscale Olive Garden. Oh the atmosphere is great, cozy dining nooks and so forth but the food isn't what it used to be.
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March 2024 by Alex Tovar
They told my wife and I our wait would be 40 minutes. We waited until about an hour after that. Asked the host about our wait and she assured us we were next. They continued to let people go before us. We talked to a coupled while waiting who came in after us and they told us they did not have a reservation. They were called before us as were others that came much after we did. The host claims these were all reservations which were backed up, but she accidentally showed me her wait list where names after us were crossed off. She did in fact skip us on purpose. I can only assune she is some kind of racist, since, we were both dressed nice and ate here quite often with no problem prior to this night. I am non-white, which may have rubbed her the wrong way. Other than that, I am not sure why they felt like we did not deserve to eat there. Will not be coming back again.
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March 2024 by Thomas Action Acton
I loved this place. The food was great and a little different. I would hold the almonds from the alfredo, but it was good to try something different. The atmosphere was great. I love the round booths. Our server was polite, fast and accurate. This place deserves 5 stars.
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February 2024 by James Ackerman
What a disaster this place. My wife and I went yesterday, a Monday at 5pm. Now, there was a Journey concert which started at 7:30pm at the Kohl Center. We thought we would enjoy a nice dinner before the concert. The owner knew there was a concert because I called two weeks prior asking if we needed reservations but only for larger parties. And I told them Journey was playing. But did he prepare his staff for this? Absolutely fricking Not! We got there at 4:50pm. All of the two tops were taken and we were told it would be about 25 minutes to wait. We sat at the bar and had a drink while the one bartender waited on the crowded bar and made drinks for the restaurant also. One hour we were seated and it then took twenty minutes more to have our order taken. Some guy came by and said, “I guess I’ll be your waiter tonight.” Also saw a different bartender taking orders. We saw just ONE waitress in our area with probably at least six or seven tables waiting for service. Where was the help?! The food came, it sucked. Cold, no flavor and now we were so rushed to make it to the concert. At the same time all of this happened there was a line out the door waiting to get in. Did Ed Schnick owner prepare for the night? No way. Or maybe take reservations so you know what you’re in for. I don’t know man. Listen Portabella’s staff: you can find another restaurant to work at in Madison easy so you’re not abused, like at this place. And the customers were abused too. Also, the other one star reviews tell the same story about the poor food. My God, close this place down or take some pride in what you do.This place is a disaster. Ruined our dinner and probably dozens more.
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February 2024 by J
Worst quality food I’ve had in Madison, extremely overpriced. Asked for olive oil with my bread and got a cup full of Crisco and pizza flakes, inedible. No parmesan only soft mozzarella. No way they make their own pasta (as stated on menu). Paper napkins, cheap silverware. Regret eating the food, writing this on my way to the bathroom. Great ambience, friendly waitresses.
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February 2024 by Max Rahder
I asked for olive oil for my bread and they gave me crisco. I kid you not. That should tell you everything you need to know about their quality standards. Really really bad food. Expensive too. Nice ambiance though, and friendly service.
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February 2024 by Angie Whitiken
I hadn't been to Porta Bella in a decade and was hesitant about going, but I was pleasantly surprised. I remembered the rules from the old days that used to also be true at Paisan's-- only order Porta salads with French Bleu combined dressing, pizza, and the Garibaldi sandwich. Their pasta is weirdly awful, but stick to those things and you'll have a lovely dinner in a place that feels like it's from another time.I was pleasantly surprised by the comfort of the booths. Outside seating had a few different kinds of chairs that looked like they varied widely in comfort.
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February 2024 by Brad Randall
Ed set up a great private room for our group of 41. Fantastic food! Great price. Nice way to make our event really special!
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February 2024 by Breanna
My spouse and I have had wonderful experiences in the past and decided this would be a romantic spot to spend our valentine’s. We called ahead and they let us know reservations were unavailable but we decided we would try to get there and wait if the time was reasonable. The hostess, a feminine presenting person who wore a bright red cardigan and has shoulder length gray hair, told us a 30 minute wait (we arrived at 6:35 so they wrote us down for 7:05). We checked in with them at 7:15 because it was past the time and it appeared others who arrived after us were being served. We were told we were next. At 7:30 my spouse and I overheard someone who was at the bar after us say that they were next. So we approach the hostess once more to say we were told 30 minutes and now it’s been an hour and we’ve seen others being seated. They say that those other folks had reservations and they were experiencing other issues so things are delayed. “You’re next” - again. Within 5-10 more minutes we see not one but several people get seated ahead of us. My spouse and I tell ourselves we’ve had good service before so we must be mistaken that we are being treated unfairly, that somehow we are misunderstanding. Then, the people who were at the bar with us and we overheard had also been told next were being seated. That was the last straw for us. We exited the bar to leave and told the hostess to please remove our name from the list because we clearly were not next ( if we were ever even on the list) — and as we were leaving they had the audacity to say “But you are next!” We calmly explained this was surely not the case because we had been told that repeatedly and others were seated time and time again… It left my spouse feeling gaslit by the hostess and questioning if the hostess was racist (we are an interracial couple)…. we felt so unwanted and uncared for and like this person had been lying to us. We were dressed nicely and were polite to the hostess. We’ve always ben respectful in past visits as well. Our only complaint previously to tonight’s trainwreck was that they charge a high amount for credit/debit card payments and it’s a percentage of your order… this feels unreasonable since it’s not just a flat rate for whatever the fees are that they have for running the card. Anyway, we’ve never had such poor service before today but this hostess made us feel so unwanted, uncared for, and dehumanized that sadly we will not be returning to what previously was a favorite spot in Madison. I highly do not recommend going on valentines day and now I do not recommend it at all :(
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February 2024 by Christine Bergan
Stopped in to get a dinner to go and the hostess and bartender were fantastic while I waited for the food. It was Sunday evening and pretty quiet...thinking of going back on a Sunday night to dine in. The food was excellent!
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February 2024 by Elizabeth Kim
i would give the food a zero if i could. i could’ve cooked better food in my dorm using a microwave. if the restaurant menu was created by Kraft foods it’d still be subpar. i ordered the toasted ravioli and it tasted like unflavored soggy pizza rolls. i got a porta salad which was fine if you like purple looking ham that you can’t eat bc ur vegetarian. i got the penne with sauce and cheese and it had no flavor, it was like eating the color gray. the service was quick and the waitress was very nice. the atmosphere was like luigi’s haunted mansion and the back rooms had a baby.
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February 2024 by Paul Quella (PQ5876)
We had not been here in years. Overall a good meal. Service was great until the server went AWOL for 25 minutes. We could see him on the phone, in a bar area and could not get his attention. It was weird. The toasted ravioli had no flavor, but the toasted bread with cheese was awesome. The main dishes were very good. The place needs a good cleaning and some touch ups of paint etc.... the easy stuff to make it better.
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February 2024 by Drew Denson
Excellent food service and atmosphere, just like we remembered it.
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January 2024 by Marni Forsberg
We were there for restaurant week and dined from that menu. The seafood duo entree, appetizers and dessert were fabulous.
