By Memory Maker Diva
Portobello is an Italian restaurant located at Walt DisneyWorld®’s Downtown Disney between the Marketplace and Pleasure Island. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and is one table service credit on the Disney Dining Plan for 2013. Reservations are accepted up to 180 days in advance.
I had eaten at Portobello’s years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so on our last trip to Walt Disney World® I wanted to try it again. We had gone to Typhoon Lagoon all day, and made dinner reservations for 7:10 pm. Our plan was to head over to DisneyQuest after dinner for a few hours before bed. Luckily, we had decided to stop in at DisneyQuest before dinner for a few hours, or I am not sure we would have gotten over at all, the service at the restaurant was that slow.
To be fair, there were several tables in our section alone (including ours) that had various types of food allergies, which required the chef to come out each time. But all told we were there for well over two hours – and that long with a 6 year old is over an hour too long! I am not sure if it is always this way, but if it is I definitely wouldn’t recommend going there with kids.
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They definitely hit the mark as far as Italian flavor and atmosphere – it felt and tasted like an authentic country Italian trattoria. The meal started off with warm bread served with roasted garlic in olive oil….mmmm good! From there I ordered the Chicken Farfalle. It normally comes with snow peas, asparagus, and tomatoes in a parmigiano cream sauce, but I omitted the snow peas and asparagus. It was a lot of food, but the cream sauce was surprising light.
My husband ordered the Grilled Pork Chop, which was served with polenta, and Florida sweet peppers. For not being a pork chop guy, he really liked it! The restaurant has a pretty extensive menu – including a variety of pasta dishes, fish, chicken, beef, and pork – so there should be something for everyone.
The children’s menu isn’t quite as extensive, but includes the usual suspects – pizza, pastas, and even a chicken and steak. My son went a little rogue and just ordered ziti with butter and some grated cheese, but they were happy to oblige.
Next we were on to dessert – always a hit with our family!! I ordered the White Chocolate Custard – basically an Italian Crème Brule – which was good-to-the-last-scrape-delicious!!
Being ice cream guys, my husband and son both ordered the Gelato Sundaes – which came with chocolate sauce, toffee crunch, whipped cream, and a cherry. I was surprised my son liked the toffee, but he gobbled it up. Maybe he was just excited to be almost done with the meal…so he could go back to DisneyQuest.
Service aside, the meal itself was delightful. If you decide to go, hopefully your meal will not take over two hours to complete – and your wait staff will be a bit more attentive.
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