Alba Osteria

05/10/09

I'd Skip This Place If I Were You

by MamaT

The portions are small for the price, and the quality is average at best. You will spend $16+ on pasta that comes with nothing. The atmosphere is bland, and the servers don't tend to pace themselves or give enough privacy for diners to carry on a conversation.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Over-rated, over-priced

06/05/08

One of our very favorites.

by nosnittap

I can understand where some of the negative reviews are coming from: you are paying a lot of money for somewhat small portions of, essentially, peasant food, and the service is definitely of a relaxed nature. However, those portions are of superbly cooked fresh ingredients--treated with respect, not over sauced or contrived. The Agnolotti is a good example of where differences in taste could come into play: to our mind it is a perfect portion of superb delicate hand made stuffed pasta with a beautiful subtle Sage butter, but to others it could be a tiny bowl of miniature ravioli with no tomato sauce.

The service is as we like it--allowing us to mull over our food without any pressure to turn the table. The knowledge of Italian wine is superb and the various house made Strega's are fantastic

.It's understandably not everyone's cup of tea but we count it amongst our top 3 restaurants in town.

• Pros: Simple, superb food
• Cons: Streetcar doesn't run to Hillsdale

02/26/08

Great

by dlee06

Everything was super yummy. The service was excellent, a perfect evening. (And that is really important to us as new parents; we dont get a lot of opportunities to go out.) I cant wait to go back!

• Pros: Food was great, service was very attentive
• Cons: Pricey, small space

12/22/07

Way too expensive for the quality and quantity!

by massajl

I'll start by saying that, overall, the food was good and the service was impeccable. However, I find that spending $7 for an undressed salad with uncut sections of red lettuce is silly! The wine was incredible, but at $50 a bottle, it better be!!! I had the sausage and tajarin -- not worth the money, though. I don't mind paying good money for great food, but this was a slight miss for me. They really need to re-evaluate the cost to the customer. I've reveiwed other semi-expensive restaurants and felt that i was getting what I paid for. Somehow, Alba falls short for me. I don't know what happened to the salad dressing, but when I'm paying as much as I paid for that meal, I shouldn't even have to wonder about it!

• Pros: Ambience and service
• Cons: Too much money and no salad dressing

08/15/07

Food did not do it for us

by polywog

We kept hearing much about this place and decided to check it out . We went with another couple and their teenager. Sorry to say the food was disappointing, the portions were small and no one really cared much for their meal. We may give it another try becuase of all the great reviews we got from friends--but I agree with the previous review and I like Olive Garden better too.

• Pros: liked the location

07/25/07

I've had better meals at an Olive Garden....

by chunke1

A friend and I tried Alba after reading favorable reviews here and in the local newspaper. The interior is relatively large and the dining area rather cozy with simple decor. Service was good but not great, you DO NOT put an opened bottle of wine to your nose before serving the customer. The entrees also arrived moments after the antipasti with little room on the small tables.

Antipasti was absolutely terrible, salty and oily. One in particular, the tar tar, is suspected of causing later nausea from I'm assuming improper storage.

Entrees were again salty and oily (pasta dishes) with very little real flavor or anything one would expect from this price range. I've had better meals at an Olive Garden....

Overall, we will never go back and will not recommend this restaurant to anyone. In fact, we rate this as one of our worst dining experiences ever. Way overpriced and falls way below many, many better places to spend your dining dollar.

I hope the management is reading this and spends some time overseeing the complete lack of focus by the cook staff.

07/13/07

Gem of an Italian Restaurant

by oneangryraisin

This restaurant is tucked away on Capitol Highway. It is easy to miss, but it would be your loss. It is one of the pricier restaurants, but I love the food here. I'm craving it right now. Enough said.

05/24/07

Expensive and noisy, sorry - this is not

by eileen8

The food here - from attractive but rather bland salads and other antipasti, to the "primi," pasta first courses, and the main courses - is reasonably well-prepared (tho there's an awful lot of cheese sauce) . An arugula salad with shrimp ($11) was bland. Fried potatoes with sage ($7) were delicious tho a bit too oily. Desserts are good. The least expensive glass of (utterly quotidian) wine is $8. I will probably not return for dinner. It's expensive! The wines especially so. The small wooden chairs are more suitable for a place to grab a quick bite, and on the night we were there the noise level (in the room farthest from the bar) was nearly intolerably high.I wondered, as the child at the table behind us was allowed to shriek while his table was finishing up, if his parents know that in Italy, children do go out to eat but are taught right off not to scream in restaurants.

• Pros: tasty pasta, good Italian wines, great desserts
• Cons: noisy, uncomfortable seating, totally unromantic, expensive

08/20/06

Way over hyped & over priced

by lpfoodfan

The atmosphere is spare and lovely, although the room closest to the kitchen has a warmer feeling to it (and not just because of proximity to the ovens). The menu is small, but that shouldn't matter if the items are all of high quality. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case. The risotto was overcooked and mushy. When I mentioned it to the waitress, she looked at me like I couldn't possibly know what I'm talking about (you know, being italian and a cook). The asparagus were coated in this coagulating cheese sauce that didn't enhance, but covered up the sweet flavor. And the pasta was too salty (and I like salty usually). The dessert was divine, however, a lemon ricotta cake that wasn't overly sweet or overly adorned. True Italian. The service is not very attentive and ultimately the prices don't support the experience.

• Pros: Atmosphere, dessert
• Cons: poorly executed menu, bad service.

06/10/06

Most Underrated Food In Portland

by pdxcook

The food here is fabulous - the dishes are always innovative, the ingredients are fresh & local and the menu is sensitive to the seasons. We've always found the service to be nothing but attentive and expert. My only complaint is the atmosphere. The owner(s) could, without question, benefit from the involvement of a professional designer. There's no soul to the interior and it feels amateurish, which is a detriment to the unmatched quality of the food.

• Pros: food
• Cons: atmoshpere