Gino's

Love it or leave it I suppose.... So I've read a number of the reviews for Gino's and I'm pretty surprised that so many people have had such terrible service experiences there. Its certainly not the best service ever but in a town of notoriously horrendous service its not bad enough to even register on my service radar.

I've been there when they are FULL (among other times) and it was a longer wait but we hadn't made a reservation so there ya go. We drank wine, hung out and got over it. Once seated everything went swimmingly.

The cioppino is so amazing that we talk about it when we're out of town and can't eat it. That's food love people! We split one order of cioppino and a salad and leave full, happy and satisfied.

If you want to fill up on bread this is not the place for you. If you are looking for fine dining this is also not the place for you. If you want $2.00 drinks? Not the place.

Do you want fresh local seafood that doesn't involve a bun or batter fried anything? This is TOTALLY the place for you. Do you want an authentic atmosphere that's fast paced and noisy yet cozy and romantic? This could be a place for you. Do you want a meal that's focussed on your entrée and all its wonderful flavors rather than bread? I think this could definitely be the place for you.

Ultimately it seems as though Gino's inspires people to either love the hell out of it and become loyal regulars or hate the hell out of it and swear to never go back, cursing its name and giving it the evil eye. Give it a try. If you love it, YEA!!! If you hate it, well, its unlikely to kill you so if you ask me you're still up by at least one.  View Less … View More

I used to love this place. The menu is limited, but the food and atmosphere used to be the best. They no longer have the chicken on the menu which was a favorite and the waitress had a real attitude. I asked how long the cook had been there and she asked me why I wanted to know. When I told her the salmon was the best I ever had about 5 years ago, she told me that Gino's was great and had been in business for 15 years and was a great restaurant, blah, blah, blah. It has always been slow which is fine when you want to talk with the person you are with, but I felt like they wanted to give us the ole heave-ho when it got busy. The food used to be simpler. Now it seems they rely more on oil (butter, etc.) and the taste of the food is not as clean. Portofino has much better food.  View Less … View More

Great Italian food and bar atmosphere. This place is a wonderful Sellwood restaurant. I love the Cioppino and the bar provides a unique experience. If you want to watch a game and have great food, this is the place to go.  View Less … View More

Portland's Best Italian Restaurant. Three of us had heard about Gino's so we gave it a try. Had a little trouble finding it because the entrance is through a bar on the corner, on block north of SE Tacoma on 13th. Worth the hunt, this place is incredible, we started with great wine, then their famous Caesar Salad, which is huge, enough for 2 people. We had Salmon Dijon, Raviolis, and Cioppino. The salad and italian bread were excellent. All the italian dishes were wonderful, will return soon.  View Less … View More