Nostrana

Laura S.

Joined 4 months ago

A friend and I went to Nostrana to celebrate our birthdays today and we were very pleased! The food, service, and ambiance were excellent! We'll be back!

Recommends

apdxer

Joined 2 years ago

One of my favorites in Portland. This place is always has delicious food, warm friendly professional service and a fun atmosphere.

My first experience there was on an anniversary years ago.

We walked in and thought it might be too busy and not private enough...the matridee literally took us under his arm sat us at the bar with a complimentary bottle of champagne-we had so much fun at the bar we just stayed there all night and everything was delicious. They have a great happy hour, yummy pizzas, the drinks are great with special handmade tonics and syrups. Cathy has won those awards for good reason.

Doesn't Recommend

oregon producer

Joined 2 years ago

NEVER going back to Nostrana!. Yesterday, I invited my new business partner to Nostrana to celebrate our new partnership and discuss business. We arrived at 1:30pm (lunch ends at 2pm) and were getting ready to leave at 3:00pm, when the hostess came to our table and asked us to leave!! She grabbed our napkins and water glasses (which she spilled on the table) and walked away. Our bill was over $100.00. The food was good but the service was crapy. I will NEVER go back to Nostrana. I don't care if Cathy Whims receives the "Super Chef" award of the world. We have other talented chefs in Portland that provide fantastic service!

Doesn't Recommend

SRG2903

Joined 2 years ago

I don't expect alot - just to be treated like a fellow human. My husband and I were excited to treat his counsin and her husband to an anniversary dinner while they were in town from Gig Harbor. What an embarassment. We ordered Oatmeal Stouts- our server brought Oatmeal IPA and acted like we were stupid for questioning what she brought us. Next, we ordered dinner entrees and pre ordered desserts. To our chagrin, the desserts came out an hour after we finished eating. How does that work? Again, we asked our waitress where our desserts were and with contempt and attitude she said they were still cooking. If I'm dishing out that kind of money for a meal and not asking for unusal things - don't treat me like a leper!!

Future Customers- Go elsewhere for food and drinks, these people don't deserve to stay open.

Recommends

CeeJaay

Joined 2 years ago

Always outstanding always reliable.. This is one of our favorite spots. It's always a good "go to" dinner date. In all of our meals here we have NEVER had poor service or a bad meal. They continually provide outstanding service, recommendations, drinks, and entrees.

We always start with the charcuterie plate, some cheese and a salad. The entree options are always diverse and tasty. We have tried to taste everything on the menu. The waitstaff always provide good recommendations and some extra help with any questions about side dishes, preparations and pairings.

We love Nostrana! We always have a cocktail (such a good menu) and generally bring our own bottle of wine. We love the atmosphere. It's always busy, people are always waiting and the food is always spectacular.

We love that they use fresh ingredients from local farms and we have always felt like part of the family whenever we have dinner there. Keep up the good work. No wonder the Chef is nominated for the 2011 top honor.

Doesn't Recommend

supsonic3

Joined 6 years ago

Free parking, neat atmosphere, bad service. Good: the flavor of the food was great. Gnocci was superb, pizza was fresh and the bread was buttery without any butter. Nice.

If only we got to eat what was on our plates! The server cleared off our table with food left on every person's plate, without even asking if we were done. We were more or less ushered out the door; this is not a place to meet up with friends you need to catch up with. We actually finished our "dinner" conversation in the cold parking lot so the server would quit hovering over our table (with several still open in the dining room).

Recommends

SteveWilson

Joined 5 years ago

Spectacular NYE. We had our last meal of 2010 at Nostrana: a four course set menu that didn't disappoint.

The meal began with an aperitif of prosecco upon arrival. From there, some shared small plates for the first course. All were delicious, but the souffle stands out as the most memorable. Since there were two of us, we were able to sample both pastas. My favorite was the rich, simple tagliarini.

For our mains, B had the trout and I had the pork. The trout was a nice option,a adorned with lots of crab, but the pork was magic, great flavors and texture. To drink, we shared one of each of the wine flights, champagne and barbera. Service was knowledgable and friendly.

All in all, a very memorable meal, we'll definitely be back in the new year!

Doesn't Recommend

SoupGoddess

Joined 3 years ago

Save Your money and go elsewhere. Finally had a chance to try this after wanting to for about a year. Summary: save your money! Food was very tasty, but fell short in most categories. Two items on the menu featured radicchio in the starters (appetizer and salad), both of which we had, both good, but not something you could not do at home. We ordered the one kilo Bistecca for $60, thinking it would be excellent. The favor was wonderful, but it was a challenge to eat it due to not being trimmed properly and way too rare, resulting in chewiness. Huge bummer, and hugely overpriced. Recommend the porterhouse at Ruth's Chris any day of the week over this. The desserts were OK - the butterscotch budino would have been great, except that the caramel topping was overcooked and gave off a burnt flavor. The service was cold and stuffy. Our waiter barely broke a smile, despite the fact that we were giddy celebrating our anniversary. We had to ask for bread, which really bugs me at an expensive place. Summary: definitely not what it is cracked up to be. We would go there again if the price was at least half what we paid, maybe more like 1/3. Also - tried to email them privately about our experience, no luck as their website does not have a "contact us" link! Maybe for a good reason.....

Doesn't Recommend

happyhourgirl15

Joined 5 years ago

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. Awful, horrible, terrible, DON'T GO! A group of us ladies went there last night 12/18/10 and will tell everyone we know to never spend a dime at Nostrana. We spent over $250 (not including a $50 restaurant dot com coupon), and left hungry and angry. About half way in we were approached by a management person to tell us to be quiet, that a table of snooty, $50-paying people wanted us to hush up. Really? It's the holidays and we were enjoying the wine (WE brought at a $20 per bottle corkage fee - really???). Give me a break. The food sucked, service sucked (minus the one gal who actually came to apologize for her shitty employer), and add public humiliation on top of that? Never again. Pretty unfortunate that all of us ladies are in the food/wine industry. Buy bye Nostrana.

Doesn't Recommend

JWilliam

Joined 3 years ago

Why does anyone eat here???. My wife and I had dinner at Nostrana last night and will never return. The only reason we went was to use a gift certificate they sent us to make up for a previous disappointing experience.

This restaurant just does not get it. The menu is unimaginative and rarely changes. While the food is not bad, the portions are small and very overpriced. If you do make the mistake and go to Nostrana, buy your wine at the wine shop 2 doors down and pay the $20 corkage fee. You will save money and avoid listening to a pretenious waiter. Also, the pizza is mediocre, go to Ken's Artisan Pizza for the real thing.

Portland has many excellent restaurants where you can enjoy great food at reasonable prices-Nostrana is not one of them. There are many reasons that Nostrana has so many negative reviews as of late.