Alessandro's Restaurant

Skimpy portions (and they run out of what you want).. I had passed by this restaurant several times and was curious to try it. My husband and I went on a Saturday night after 9 pm. The place was nearly empty. The staff was very courteous, but that's about all I can say for Alessandro's. We had to settle for the house wine (which was very expensive!) because they were out of our first and second choices. On top of that, my husband had to settle for his second choice of entree because they were out of his first choice. Then, the food came. My portion was very small. I'm a small person, so I wasn't hoping for a portion suitable for a lumberjack, but this was a very skimpy portion--about half of what you would expect to see on your plate. We decided to order dessert, mainly because I was still hungry! We ordered the tiramisu to share, and it was very large and quite delicious. At least it ended well. Alessandro's, why such small entrees? We paid full price for them!…

I couldn't even finish the salad. I have looked forward to having lunch at this resturant. It looks so charming from the outside. I went in on a Friday afternoon. They had run out of San Pelligrino. I ordered the spinach salad with scallops. It is so ugly. They marinate the scallops so that they are a deep purple color. Very tough. Everything in this salad was so salty, no balance. No flavor. I couldn't even eat the spinach. The egg was ok, the olives hadn't been drained so ....more salt. The tomatoes were not ripe and were flavorless. The chef either does not taste the food or is a smoker. I found it disgusting and I will not be back. What guts to ask $12.00 for this dish. Also, they do not validate if you park in the garage they are under.…

Alessandro's has gone downhill. I went to Alessandro's on Jan 23, 2009 for happy hour. I've been there dozens of times in the past 9 years for lunch, dinner, and happy hour, but was sadly disappointed on this visit. We walked into the bar, and though only 3 tables had customers, all the spots at the bar and the other tables had dirty dishes and glasses. We sat at the bar anyway. It took a bit of time to get served but it wasn't busy at all.

I ordered the "house red." (It ended up being $7.75 - for the house red?) The bartender said she was out of a number of wines, so I choose a chianti. The wine glass was filthy looking - lipstick stains all around the glass. The glass may have been sterile because presumably it'd been washed in hot water but it was still very unappetizing. When the bartender came back from the kitchen, I asked for a new glass. The second glass also had weird stuff around the rim, which she noticed. She explained that the glasses were being hand washed and it was probably water stains. She finally had to go to the kitchen to get a clean glass.

We ordered the linguine with pesto. We got it and it was lukewarm, at best. (Again, very few customers so I don't know why it sat on the counter getting cold.) The flavor was fine, but we counted 3 pinenuts between the two plates.

The place has deteriorated since I was last there a year or so ago; I won't go back. There are too many good places to eat in Portland. I'll miss the cute Italian waiter, though.…

fair to average food. My wife and I stayed in downtown Portland a few weeks back and decided to eat at Allessandros. We had eaten there about 10 years ago and remembered it as a good place. Dinner was a huge disappointment. The wait staff was good, which is why I gave it the 2 stars, the problem is the kitchen.

We ordered an antipasto salad, and salad with tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella. First they brought out the salad, and the basil was old and wilting. We thought it still tasted okay, and we didn't say anything. Then they brought out the antipasto salad. The cheese was square cheese (like Kraft cheese) that was cut into a triangle, and they brought a slice of square ham folded in half instead of prosciutto. I asked about the prosciutto and they said they ran out, so she brought me some cold (but cooked) stuff that she said was prosciutto, but it looked like panchetta. It was so mediocre that we should have canceled orders and left before the main course arrived. The main course was average and uneventful.

With so many great Italian restaurants in Portland like Tuscany Grill, Cafe Mingo, etc, there is no reason to consider Allessandros. It's kind of sad because I think this place was good at one time. Time for a new chef and a remodel.

Our weekend dining experience was not a total loss. The next morning we had breakfast at Kenny & Zuke's Delicatessen which was awesome! (see my review of Kenny and Zukes on citysearch).…