Nicola's Pizza

02/25/09

Soild Old School Italian American Food

by namarchetti

There are only a handful of places I've found in Portland which I say are old school Italian American food and Nicola's is one of them. Pizza is great, like you get in NYC, and the manicotti was downright delicious. Wine selection is so so, but no big deal. Expect a small wait, even on a weeknight. Worth it though.

• Pros: family atomsphere, inexpensive prices
• Cons: small dining room

12/11/08

Excellent food great staff and great homey atmosphere

by jandjenna

Nicola's is an excellent restaurant I have just finished eating there and could not wait to write a review about my experience. I believe in being completely honest so the only reason why this restaurant did not receive a 5 star from me is that certain items are not available such as portabello mushrooms and mushroom based chicken shrimp or veal dishes other then that the place is truly an incredible experience. The restaurant was packed a good sign of very good food. Good wine selection and they also have italian sodas homemade by the staff per order. I recomment the peach strawberry, The wait staff are very courteous and make sure thier guests are very well taken care of and do not rush you to eat and move in new customers even when its packed like tonight. The salads are crisp and definately fresh. They also do not ding you on the check for making the salad to your taste. Great selection of dressings as well for the salads. The breaded mushrooms are definately fresh made each day with the breading and made to order. The afredo sauce definately has a kick and this place will guarantee that you never leave hungry. Thier fresh made desserts are very good as well. Only downside to the desserts is that they do not carry any of the italian coffees or espressos. Overall it was a great experience and the price was definately compariable to that of Olive Garden or other good quality italian restaurants. I hope you enjoy your meal.

• Pros: Excellent food great courteous staff and very competitive prices
• Cons: No mushroom based dishes or portabello mushrooms

12/07/08

good but...

by bluecollarluke

The prices are reasonable, delicous food, server's treat veryone nice. But the usal customer's are snobish rich kid's, that will cut in front of you when you're teating your mother. Well it is univerity park.

• Pros: food, service, value
• Cons: stuck up snobes

11/12/08

Great Itailian Food..!

by PDXTown33

Exceptional entree dishes. Nice side salads. Friendly service. An absolute must if you are in teh neighborhood

• Pros: Great Food, Friendly Service
• Cons: Limited Seating

06/16/08

Yu-u-u-u-m!!!

by sarazar

I wasn't even a citisearch member until about 30 seconds ago when I read the completely unfair reviews that Nicolas is getting and decided it needed some serious redemption! Nicola's has incredibly tasty food for seriously good prices which is why there is a line out the door every Friday and Saturday night. Anyone who says otherwise needs to go back to the Macaroni Grill where they can enjoy their overpriced chain restaurant with plain tasting food. NIcola's is a diamond in the rough. No, it's not somewhere you would go to impress a date, the wallpaper is falling off and it's close quarters, but the food is fantastic. The pizza is some of the best I've had in Portland. The sourdough crust is what makes it! The meatballs are so tender they melt in your mouth and the bread is homemade thick slices! No, it doesn't appear to be gourmet, there isn't really any fancy presentation about it, but the flavor speaks for itself. It's just good old fashioned Italian at a really good price. They aren't trying to be anything else, so at least give them credit for what they are!

• Pros: Good pizza and good meatballs!
• Cons: Busy on Fri & Sat nights

05/14/08

HORRIBLE FOOD - HIGH PRICES - NOTHING ABOUT IT RESEMBLES ITALIAN FOOD

by moogs0806

This place should be sued for false advertising !!!

Tonight I just finished "Spinach Dip" that cost $6.99 that was accompanied by SLICED WHITE BREAD (not even Italian) burnt and doctored up to try to resemble garlic toast - certainly not the Bruschetta toast the menu claimed.

The Fried Ravioli for $5.99 was rubbery - appearing to have been pre-fried earlier in the day and microwaved to warm - and there was no Marinara sauce as the menu claimed.

The chicken alfredo was a big sticky glom with less than 2 oz of DRIED OUT chicken (yes, I weighed it) and no vegetables.

My husband's meat sauce spaghetti had no meat and the meatballs had so much filler, you could bounce them off the floor.

Tonight the dog is the winner - assuming he makes it thru the nite,

You stole from me tonight Nicola's- claiming to have quality food - but you won't get a second chance!

Save your money - I MEAN SAVE YOUR MONEY - i could have eaten Beefaroni and had a better meal !!!

• Pros: Great Printed Menu
• Cons: None of it is true - the food is totally misrepresented and the COST IS ABSURD

04/27/08

its alright

by eateryguru001

Everyone told me Nicolas was so great, so i had to try it out for myself. My boyfriend and i went in on a thursday night and lets just say... hopefully they have a bigger staff on the weekends.

The hostess took our names and told us there would be about a five minute wait, which turned into ten minutes. When the hostess finally did seat us she gave us some water, told us our waitress would be right with us, and that was the last we saw of her. The waitress came over about 15 minutes later and asked if we were finally ready yet. we ordered a spinach dip to start out with and it came burnt. the waitress brought us the wrong food and when we finally got our right food it was cold and soggy. when we took the bill to the counter to be paid the girl spent 10 minutes on the phone while the cooks talked (that explains the cold soggy food)

although the restaurant is cute, it is far too small and not very practical. the staff is rude and don't consider peopless time frames.

• Pros: cute decor
• Cons: waitresses, no parking

02/15/08

Terrible, Unprofessional, Not very good

by richardbriana

first of all we walk in and they say sit "where ever you like" so we did about 5 minutes later some guy tells us to move. so we did. it took about 10 minutes for anyone to even bring us a menu. then i ordered cheese ravioli with white sauce. so then we heard the cook yelling from across the room about how he wont make my "special order" and the waitress trying to negotiate it with him. So she comes and tells me that a lunch raviloli was going to be 13.99 but that she got the cook to lower it to 11.99. Are you kidding me? It was VERY unpleasant and unprofessional. So after the incident she never came back to our table, didnt ask us how we were doing, and told us she was leaving to break and we were forgotten after that. Further more when we went to pay the arrogant chef in the back wouldnt even take our check he made the waitress on break do it. the chef was arrogant, rude, and unprofessional. The food was ok, but nothing special about it.

I WILL NEVER EAT HERE AGAIN!

Am i the only person alive allergic to tomato sauce that needs to special order?

• Pros: very cute inside
• Cons: chef/service are rude

05/02/07

Tasty Meal for a Really Great Deal

by b_and_ob_reviews

This cute little NoPo restaurant is one of the best little italian restaurants around. The calzones are huge-about the size of footballs-and stuffed with almost any topping you can think of that belongs on a pizza or in a calzone. The pizza is delicious--granted, its not the chicago style or wahtever, its just wonderful dough with wonderful toppings. Because the calzones and pizza are so great, out of the two dozen or so times my pals and I have been in there we never gotten around to ordering pasta! To be fair, I've only had one bad experience here. I went with a group of about 8 students during my Freshman year of college prior to a homecoming dance. We were treated very well and had ordered 4 calzones to split between us. My friend's and mine calzone which we were sharing was completely raw on the inside--cheese unmelted, stuffings cold, and the dough still oozy and raw. We asked our waitress to place it back in the oven or have it checked, but she would not even look at the calzone let alone go out of her way to take it back to the cook for reheating. I live by the 3-strikes-your-out rule so I kept going back and this great place has never dissapointed me since!

• Pros: Cheap Eats, Ambience, Street Parking, Portion Size
• Cons: One Bad Waitress, Limited Large Group Seating

12/31/05

Good Food/Good Service

by markobear1

Nicolas is a wonderful local restaurant with reliably good Italian food at very reasonable prices.

The location is convenient, parking is never a problem and the restaurant has a cozy but also sometimes cramped feeling because of the limited size and layout.

The Calzones are legenday in both size and flavor. The pasta dishes are good , especially the tortellini.

Service is wonderful and you'll be in extra special hands if you're lucky enough to have Sandy wait on you.

Good,satisfying local dining experience at very reasonable prices

• Pros: Food, Service, Prices
• Cons: Somewhat cramped