Piazza Italia

Recommends

joycet62

Joined 5 years ago

great food rude service. made reservations for 2 at 7pm thursday yesterday..have been here lots of times know the owners et from costco...brought my niece greeted and seated promptly...had an antipasto..two glasses of wine great bread with wonderful olive oil..we ordered our food and some more wine i got a box to go and ordered a cappucinno...they brought me an americana which i did not order and a cappucino ..then one of the owners came to my table and said you need to leave we need your table...well that was soo rude my niece cud not believe it well there are plenty of fine restaurants in portland and i am sorry but i hope they never do this too another person rude..wont be back friends or not jt

Doesn't Recommend

blue88

Joined 3 years ago

Usually Good - Not Today. We have eaten here several times in the past and have loved it. Sadly, today was a baaad experience. We were seated quickly, took a few minutes to decide, but ordered relatively quickly. Once we ordered, we waited and waited and waited. The table next to us, seated later, were paying to leave before we ever got our food. We ordered a salad and lasagna to share...yet the people next to us, who arrived after us, were finished before we even got our food, and they each got full meals and appetizers. What took so long?

While we were waiting, we were about ready to pull our hair out. The restaurant was looping the same song, with loud horn sections, and yelling, over and over and over. Finally, after hearing it 6 times, we requested them to please change it!

Finally, our food arrives. The $10 salad was full of wilted, brown rotted lettuce. Something in the salad was so salty we could not eat it without puckering. The lasagna was ok. It was not very flavorful. The waitstaff should have had an easy time noticing how gross the salad was that he brought us. It never should have been served that way. When the lettuce is a dark brown, that is not good.

After waiting such a long time, to get what tasted like a plate of salt was beyond a disappointment. We decided to skip coffee and dessert, as by this point, we had no trust left for what we'd be served. Previously, the wait staff have seemed very attentive and professional. Today they seemed a mess...dropping our silverware off our plates onto the floor when they brought us our food, bringing us drinks that were meant for another table....

Thankfully, the waiter took the salad off the bill. The whole thing was quite a disappointment. I hope this was a one-time thing, but I'm afraid we won't go back.

Recommends

hobbester

Joined 4 years ago

if your looking for italy. If you want the unhurried casual neighborhood experience of a Rome cafe, this is the place. Great food, good banter with the owners and customers. Fun, boisterous, engaging - always great - ever since they opened . If you are looking for the quiet intimate dinner or having a perfectly choreographed multi-course experience with no attitude, perfectly scheduled with your reservation - pick somewhere else (and you probably won't like Rome either - don't go).

Recommends

DDN

Joined 4 years ago

Great Pasta. The pasta is what you come here for. They have perhaps the best lasagna I've ever had. It just melts in your mouth. The prices are also very reasonable, with the exception of the salads, which are priced almost as much as the pastas and not that good. We also have found much better antipasta at other places. Try to get a table outside as it's pretty crowded and noisy inside.

Recommends

trendydiner

Joined 4 years ago

Great every time!. My husband and I have been dining at Piazza Italia since it opened. Every time it is excellent, we have never had a bad meal. The food is just like what we had in Italy, perfect. The servers are gracious and prompt. My husband mispronouced a dish and was served the wrong meal, they replaced it with the correct dish, no questions asked. I highly recommend Piazza Italia for true Italian food.

Recommends

nrkmann

Joined 8 years ago

Same taste as in Europe. My wife and I have been searching for the "taste" of European Italian food. We lived in Europe for 15 years returning to Portland in Oct 03 and have been searching for "real" Italian. Well, here it is! Food to die for with a European flavor, not like the imitation tastes of Portland's Italian chain restaurant (Past....). This is the 2d restaurant (the first was La Dente in Vancouver with a Hungarian cook) we have found in the Portland metro with the "taste". Our son's have confirmed the "taste" and now we all eat here often. If you don't see what you want ask. I love spaghetti aguli e olio con frutti de mare and they had no problem making if for me. Wonderful!

Recommends

pdxgal08

Joined 5 years ago

Piazza Amazing!. I love this place! It's busy and a little crowded, but feels cozy and festive. You can even catch customers dancing. If you can catch the spaghetti with mussels as the special, order it! It's amazing, but so is everything else. There is a wait, but it's totally worth it. You can make a reservation, which is probably a good idea.

Our server was very friendly and helpful, all of her recommendations were right on. I've heard bad things about the service from friends, but was pleasantly surprised.

Overall, if you want great, authentic, italian food without pretensions, check this place out!

Doesn't Recommend

psycholili

Joined 5 years ago

Good food, HORRIBLE service!. We went to this place last night on the recommendation of one of my Italian friends. I wish this place was a good as she said because I was really disappointed. We had reservations for 8:45 and arrived a little early. There was a line waiting for tables which confused me since we had to make reservations. We were waved forward to a super small table wedged between two other very small tables. I couldn't hear my husband talking to me over the conversations at the two tables not more than a foot away from us. It took them 10 minutes to get us a menu and the waiter practically threw it on our table. In the meantime, these 2 women walk in and tell the waiter they have reservations and they get a nice big table without strangers piled on top of them. I told one of the waitresses we had reservations and that I was confused as to why we got such a small table and her reply was that they needed to fill the small tables. What?!?! That makes no sense especially because there were small tables open when they sat the 2 women at the larger table. It took at least 1/2 hour to get a wine list and when our waiter finally came to take our order, not once did he look directly at us but kept looking around the room. He was rude and arrogant in his demeanor and attitude. Our food came out quickly, too quickly after the appetizer. The food was exceptionally good, nice portion size, al dente, hot and tasty. But when I asked to take my leftovers home, the older gentleman there took my plate and gave it to the guy behind the deli counter and I never saw it again. Long story short, if you want good pasta, these guys know pasta. You want to be treated like a lowlife, eat in the restaurant. It sucked.

Recommends

Christina1983

Joined 5 years ago

This place rocks my socks off. I "heart" Piazza Italia to my core. The food they put out is an expression of my very being. The fresh pasta, cheeses, meats....Oh my! Get ready to get your grub on if you are planning on eating as this hunble joint, as every single item on this menu will rock your socks off. Literally. The caprese salad is fresh from heaven and Gino's favorite can't I repeat, can not be missed.

What are you waiting for?....Don't forget to bring your best Italian accent.

Recommends

ekoss

Joined 5 years ago

Outstanding and Fun. The service and the food was authentic and fun. Great food and wine. We sat outside on a funny fall day in the middle of the afternoon. So, no rush and lots of sunshine. One of the owner's sons was our server and he was wonderful. Really cared about the food and our experience. Lots of pride in ownership.

Did I mention the great pasta and gelato? We'll be back.