Nonna Emilia Ristorante Italiano

04/05/09

The worst meal I've had in years.

by MrJones23 at Citysearch

I took my wife to dinner at this restaurant on the reccomendation of some coworkers. I knew ahead of time that they are uncultured slobs, but I generally take the advice of grossly obese people on the matters of walking path shortcuts and pizza, but no. this was in no way good food.

Walking in, I admit, it smelled good, and I saw some people eating what looked like a delicious pizza, so our hopes were high. We ordered a calamari appetizer, 1/2 carafe of the house pinot grigio, and a pizza that featured chicken, artichoke hearts and a bunch of other tasty sounding toppings. Then, our culinary nightmare began.

First came the wine. 10.50 for two glasses of truly lousy wine. I don't expect house wines to be top shelf stuff, but I could have paid 7 bucks for a box of better wine. It was pathetic, cloying white wine, served ice cold so you can't taste the turpentine going down.

As the headache from the wine started to take hold, we were presented with a slab of rubbery Shake-n-bake calamari with a side of ragu for dipping. It was like eating strips of battered rubber,the only flavors present being breadcrumbs and canned marinara sauce. This bland offering was the highlight of our meal.

After we were done chewing the calamari, we were assaulted with a pizza that will haunt my nightmares for months. It turns out that the dominant topping of our pizza was whole cloves of garlic. Whole cloves. I counted seven CLOVES of garlic on the one slice of pizza I managed to eat. All of the other ingredients were suffocated by the ridiculous overdose of garlic. Everyone likes a little garlic, but garlic is a seasoning, not a topping. In fact, the only indication of chicken that I managed to get was when I bit down on a chicken bone. I managed to choke down one whole slice after picking off most of the garlic, my wife didn't even finish one small slice.

After picking at our pizzas a bit the waitress came by and offered us desert. We declined, as we both had tremendous headaches brought on by lousy wine and too much garlic, and we fled while we still could.

This restaurant is terrible. I would not recommend it to anyone under any circumstances. You're better off with little caesars pizza and a box of wine.

Filth.

• Pros: The waitstaff was friendly and attentive.
• Cons: The food was horrid and overpriced

07/06/09

HORRIFIC SERVICE, MANAGEMENT, CLEANLINESS, FOOD

by Anonymous02 at Citysearch

The food at this restaurant is an absolute abomination of "authentic" Italian cuisine. The only thing worse is the service, staff and management.

The young man at the door, Jeff, was offensively arrogant and condescending in demeanor, our waitress was a rude slob who I watched wipe her snotty nose with a ratty kleenex from her apron pocket right before taking our plates of food from another server and bringing them to our table. I refused them and SHE was offended... go figure.

In short, if you are looking to enjoy a tasty dinner served promptly and politely under sanitary conditions by folks that appreciate your patronage, (and the $100 bucks you will spend on a standard dinner for two including an appetizer, salad/soup, entree and couple glasses of barely-better-than-boxed wine) this is not the place for you. AVOID IT AT ALL COST!

• Pros: Absolutely NONE
• Cons: Absolutely everything from the minute you step in the door..

02/08/09

*****ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC*****

by shaneq at Citysearch

My girlfriend loves Italian food. I often look for new places to take her. We have gone to many of the local places but since Nona's, it has become her favorite. I always know where to take her for a romanitic dinner that she will be sure to love.

• Pros: Great Food!
• Cons: well used tables

01/31/09

Never Again

by andreluispia at Citysearch

read the description of Nona Emelias and if big is your definition of good then this is the place for you. However if you are looking for quality, edible food - this is not the place. I cant believe that anyone who writes about food considers this worthy of praise!

The pizza was doughy and uncooked. It tasted like a frozen pizza with a pile of toppings in the middle. It is a shame that this place claims to be original italian! The only thing Italian is the name. I guess I should have guessed I was not going to get quality when the girl at the front counter was busy talking to her friends on her cell and the kitchen looked more like a taqueria than a pizzaria.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Fancy Menu, really bad pizza. Raw Dough

01/06/09

A terrible trap set by fools, don't eat here.

by youdontknowfood at Citysearch

This is probably the worst "Italian" food I have ever had. There is absolutely no excuse to go here, especially since there are such great restaurants down the road. Please take the time and drive an extra 7 minutes and go to Mingo's or Decarli, both of those restaurants are twenty times better, with fresh food, and thoughtful preparation. They do give you HUGE portions at Nonna, but the food is so bad, there is no reason to take home any of the left overs, let alone eat any of the food. The pasta was overcooked, the sausage was flavorless, and the tomato sauce was insipid. Their "calamari" was a breaded squid steak, which was overcooked. Ugly decor, silk plants, phony Italian pictures and memorabilia (which can be bought at any home decor store such as bed bath and beyond). I can put together a better menu in ten minutes, with a restaurant concept. If you want to be an adult and actually eat well instead of stuffing your face with gruel, please go somewhere else, otherwise if you are total white trash with no taste, culture, or idea of what food can be, eat here. I pity anyone who put a good review for this restaurant.

• Pros: Nope
• Cons: Everything

11/09/08

Romance in a not so romantic city

by kat2paw at Citysearch

This restaraunt is the one in which the love of my life took me out for our first date. My brother proposed to his wife at this restaraunt, and the food is wonderful! Nona Emilias has reasonable prices, great service,and is a place where many people create wonderful memories.

• Pros: Nona Emilias is one of those places that people go back to.
• Cons: I never liked the location.

10/15/08

Awesome Italian!

by PDXGourmet2 at Citysearch

We've been going to Nonna Emilia's for 10 years. This is THE best Italian food I've encountered in Portland. Big portions, fresh ingrediants, lots of standard Italian options, and reasonable prices. The service has always been wonderful and the atmosphere is fun.

Nonna Emilia's is one of our ongoing favorites!

• Pros: Great Food, Great Service, Reasonably Priced
• Cons: none

06/24/08

Horrible Management

by Leisel at Citysearch

We have eaten at Nonna Emilia's for quite awhile we always had good thick crust pizza until tonight! We got our pizza took a peice we could not bight it with our teeth, my husband immediatly picked up the pizza to look at the bottom to see if it was burnt, so we took a knife and for and had to saw a peice off.

The waitress came by to ask how it was, I asked her if they changed the dough recipe" she said no, she watched us try to cut our pizza and saw what trouble we were having, she said let me have them make you another so you can take home, I said we eat here quite often and it has never been like this, I also advised her it was not burnt but something was wrong, she came back 5 minutes later with the same pizza and said her manager said there was nothing wrong with it and handed us STEAK KNIVES, now come on!

We got the bill the cashier asked how everything was and my husband explained to her what had happened she said oh when I eat the buffet and the pizza has been sitting out for a long time it will be like that!!! Then she said oh thats too bad it should not be like that and charged us.

We did not want a full refund we did not even eat a whole 2 pieces out of the pizza but it would have been nice to have someone acknowledge there was something wrong or even given a coupon for next time.

Too bad we will never eat there again, very bad customer service and management, cutting a piece of pizza with a steak knife!!!!1

• Pros: Nice lights
• Cons: Horrible management

05/06/08

OMG I love thier pizza and so do my customers

by pdxmodchick at Citysearch

While the pies are quite spendy they are the best in Oregon, the best I have had outside NY and Chicago...

04/24/08

READ MY LIPS, "WORTH... EVERY... PENNY..."

by computerweasel at Citysearch

Simply amazing. I get full usually off 2 pieces of pizza there (and they're small pieces!!!) Generous with the ingredients. Ambience is great Italian. Service is highly rated.

I've been eating here since I was a kid and honestly, no pizza place comes close to this, nor ever has in the Portland Metro area.

• Pros: Un-matched pizza, great value for what you get
• Cons: Having to leave was the worst!!!