Portobellos

Second time there, not good. We had a table of six, with one other table of two already dinning. Waiter was fair did not smile, and at first was in a hurried mode. Out of the six dinners, now only six people in the place, one dinner was incorrect, the waiter apologized, but did no offer an option. Three off us ordered filet mignon, which was not filet mignon, by the way I am a 61 year old man who has been dinning out for years. Because I am in the process of moving out of state and wanted to have a special night with friends, we did not complain. Paid $325.00 without tip for a just edible meal. None of the people in the party will be returning, if the business last. Disgusted

They need help in training and expediting they lost a lot of custermers last night the service was awful the help was very nice but dud not know what they were doing. Also it is not a true Italian resturant.

While walking to lunch today - my friend Guy Larock and I realized that this long awaited Italian restaurant in downtown New Bedford, Porto Bella (Beautiful port - not the mushroom) was open, so we thought we'd give it a try. We entered into the bar area (which also had tables) where we were greeting and told they were in their pre-opening. After being introduced to the other guests, as guests from California who was a well known Chef in her own right, we were escorted to a table for 2 in the dining room. This was a nice size table, although I must say that on crowded night privacy will be an issue, as the tables are fairly close together. The lunch menu was fairly large featuring numerous "lunch starters", soups & salads, entrees (which included sandwiches) and pizza. Guy started with a cup of coffee which the waitress said was a fresh as you could get - freshly brewed from freshly ground beans. We then chose to try a couple of the soups and a split a pizza. I had the Tuscan Tomato which was made from fresh tomatoes and veggies, topped with a few croutons and parmesan cheese. It was very good although a bit heavy on the garlic (and I am a garlic lover). Guy had the stratatella (sp) which was a creamy base with spinach and dropped egg noodles - he stated it was also very heavy on the garlic (and he is not a garlic lover). We shared the mozzarella pizza which was mozzarella and a tomato sauce (not overly spiced) on a hand made crust. It was the perfect size for the two of us with the soups. The price was a bit high for lunch in Downtown New Bedford - the bill came to $27 - and we left $32 including the tip. I would go again, although maybe a litghter hand on the garlic may be in order.

OMG! Finally a "Special" place to go in New Bedford. Everything we had was perfect! The service was great. We will be back again, and again!