Toro Bravo

07/10/2008 Posted by hairstarrr

My husband and I visited Toro Bravo on 7-08-08. We were told it would be a 45 minute wait. Only had to wait for 20 minutes. Good start to an excellent meal. Cocktails were amazing, wine excellent. Service outstanding, everything was perfect. We will definately be back. P.S. I think the negative reviews were written by competitors. They could learn plenty from Toro Bravo about great food and even better service!

Pros: everything

Cons: nothing

06/29/2008 Posted by cangelus

It’s not a mystery why there’s a wait. In a nutshell, most everything is amazing. My favorite dishes so far are the Polenta with roast beef, the shrimp, the squid ink pasta, the bacon wrapped dates, and the eggplant—probably my favorite. I thought the pork was not so special, and once the Coppa Steak was overdone and tough. The other time it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. The paella is excellent but it seems a shame to order such a large dish and not play around with so many fun choices. I would only order that if I were going in a large group, so everyone could take a taste. The seats on the side aren’t the best counter seats in Portland, but it’s fun to sit there and watch them cook. Somehow, it’s not as entertaining as The Country Cat because you can’t see as much. I had the good fortune of sitting at the bar next to a reviewer from Seattle Magazine. She enjoyed it and wrote a glowing review. Great spot to go before a Blazers game and walk to the Rose Garden.

Pros: Eggplant and so many others, good value when all is said and done.

Cons: Hard to get in if you don't go really early.

06/22/2008 Posted by FoodyGirl1

A few years ago my neighborhood was a wasteland for dining options. Suddenly I have Alu, Toro Bravo, Echo, and other startups in my 'hood.' The space is warm and inviting, and the service was friendly. We did walk out with a pretty hefty total bill, but that was with a couple of nice wines.

Pros: Fantastic food, good service, warm atmosphere.

Cons: Bit expensive in total, one of our hot dishes was a bit cold when it came out.

06/05/2008 Posted by juicy82

I went to Toro Bravo a while back and was deeply satisfied with the meal. Granted, we had to wait, but just went next door for a few cocktails. The dining room is cozy, which might be a turnoff for some. But if you like great food at a good price, give this place a shot!

Pros: great food!

Cons: small dining room, wait to get a table

05/28/2008 Posted by DisappointedBday

My B-Day was earlier this week and my fiance and I decided to try something new....we're new to Portland so we're still trying to find that "favorite" place to go on special occasions. I came across Toro Bravo on WWeek's website proclaiming it to be the Best Restaurant of 2007....so we gave it a try. We lived in Eugene before moving here and there used to be a great Tapas place there called "Vaquero" that we always really enjoyed so we came with high expectations. Unfortunately, Toro did not live up to them. The food selection was decent. We ordered a few different Tapas including the bacon-wrapped dates, and the Manchego with salsa rojo. The bacon-wraped dates were tasty but underwhelming.....I'll give them credit for the bacon as it was quite tasty, but the dates were some of the smallest I've seen and made for kind-of a skimpy presentation. The Manchego tasted like a poor-attempt at a hush puppy with a faint cheese taste.....it was pretty bland. Then came the next round of Tapas. We ordered the smoked Coppa Steak and the Paella. First, the smoked steak was very good and the sauce it came with was delicious. I especially enjoyed the onions on the side. The Paella, however, was not so great. Maybe I should know better then to order Paella from a restaurant. It is a dish that takes a lot of time to prepare and I imagine there is some quality lost as it cannot really be made-to-order in the way it should. It resembled some leftovers placed in a skillet , then some liquid added, and thrown in the oven to reheat. It was not terrible but I expected much more from such a highly-reviewed restaurant. For a drink I ordered the chile margharita off their drink menu and it was terrible. I've had this drink at several restaurants in the past and I always love it. It tased like they used margharita mix , Pepe Lopez and a jalapeno.... no better then a margharita that you can get at your local Mexican strip-mall joint. The service was good but I doubt we will return.

Pros: Service

Cons: Food, seating

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

05/16/2008 Posted by maddlaugh

My friend had decided this was where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner one Friday night, we were to meet at 7pm. After reading reviews I became a little skeptical of the type of service we would get and if we would even be able to get a seat. So I told my friend I we should move the time up and I would go early to get a table. When I got there at 5:45 (on a Friday) they told me they had two tables open and could seat me right away. Unfortunately the rest of my party was not there yet. I was first on the list! Once we all arrived we were promptly seated. Dori, our server, came over and introduced herself and explained a little bit about the menu. We each chose 3 different raciones to share, except for Trevor who asked Dori to surprise us for his three. She performed very well under pressure and surprised us with three delicious dishes that we would not have chosen for ourselves. As far as the service goes I enjoyed that any server would bring our food to our table right when it came to the window. We were never waiting and the food never got cold, and we still managed to have a personal experience with Dori. The food was wonderful and we all agreed that we will be going back soon!

Pros: Excellent food, friendly service

Cons: None

04/03/2008 Posted by BuddingFoodie

After reading the article in Portland Monthly about Toro Bravo, I had to try it. Anyone who complained about the food or service is crazy! Everything was excellent (sherried chicken liver mousse, squid ink pasta, chorizo, manchego and bread plate, etc.) and I loved the way the service is set up. It may not be terribly personable but it is very efficient. The way I observed it running is that all the waitstaff pretty much wait on all the customers. So if an order is up, anyone who is available will bring it to you and if there are empty plates on your table, whoever happens to be walking by empty handed will clear them for you. We were also able to very easily add to our order as we went along. Nothing in our orders were missed or wrong. We were in and out so quickly but still felt very satisfied and not rushed in anyway. We were too full to order dessert but next time we will leave room since they all sounded fabulous (and the last thing we ate were the stuffed wrapped dates which were a sweet delight that I could have ordered about 3 plates of had I not already been so full). And since we don't drink any alcohol our bill for 2 people was only around $30! And we were very full, not all all still hungry. I didn't care at all that I didn't get to know my waitress or waiter personally; they took care of our table in a very effective and relatively friendly manner. And watching the kitchen and how quickly they turned out food in such a masterly organized way was interesting and entertaining. Lucky for us, we arrived about 10 minutes before opening. There was a line already waiting but we were able to make it in with the first wave of people (and this was on a Friday night). Even if we had to wait a bit to get in, I would not have minded. Considering that these days you could wait up to an hour for a table at places such as the Olive Garden, TGI Fridays or Applebees, who would mind waiting 30 minutes for a meal at a wonderful restaurant such as Toro Bravo?

Pros: Food, Service

Cons: Tables a little too close for comfort (although it's more "authentic" that way)

03/26/2008 Posted by jimmieboyer

Last night my son and I sat in front of the kitchen and experienced some of the best service I've ever had anywhere. We were promptly seated by one young lady, then served with aplomb by another, who cheerfully answered all questions I had about the menu. But the coup de grace was when I was turning my empty wine glass slowly on the table while looking for our waitress. Across the room walked another waitnress, gliding up to me to ask if I wanted another glass. Yes, I did. That doesn't happen at most places. Nor does it happen at most places that wait staff clear your emplty plates immediately, which happened last night. And the food was awesome too. Keep it up, Toro Bravo! We want you around for a long time!

Pros: Food, service, vibe

Cons: Crowded during peak hours

03/24/2008 Posted by industrykid

Ok, so I will give it to them, the food is good. The service however, leaves ALOT to be desired. I'm in the service industry as well, and when people come into my place of business I do my best to make them feel welcome, like a guest. The service here is cold and standoffish. The staff and management might do well to know that people will come back to a restaurant with mediocre food but great service, although not vice versa. I'm one of the latter.

Pros: food

Cons: service

03/21/2008 Posted by dangrmous

As noted, the wait here was brutal. We waited nearly an hour and half to get seated on a Thursday. Luckily the waitstaff will call your phone, so you can go have some drinks down at Wonder in the mean time. Once you're seated the dishes start coming quickly... and my what dishes they are! The must-order for me was the pig knuckle soup with roasted cabbage - I could eat a gallon of this stuff. Other sublime dishes include the dates wrapped in bacon, brussels sprouts in cream sauce, and a radiccio salad that was deceptively simple but absolutely delicious. The only items I was slightly less fond of were the steak, which landed somewhere between roast beef and BBQ brisket, and the meatballs, which had a sublime sauce but were more the texture of a well-cooked hamburger than a delicate meatball. Having eaten a fair amount of tapas in Madrid I understand that this is the style of meatballs usually served. We ended up paying under $30 a head including a ton of food, wine, beer, and dessert, which I found to be more than fair for the quality of food. I would strongly recommend Toro Bravo, just show up the moment the doors open, or be ready to wait wait wait. It will be worth it!

Pros: Food, Value, Variety

Cons: Wait