Nonna Emilia Ristorante Italiano

Reviews 4

A

A Private User

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 dont 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 cant 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 didnt 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. Youre better off with little caesars pizza and a box of wine. Filth.

NI

Nikki K

I went to this restaurant earlier this evening and had the worst experience of my life. It was right at the end of their night, and Id rather have had them turn us away instead of treat us as badly as they did. My friend insisted before we got there that the food was worth every penny and was the "best Italian place in Portland", so I had my expectations set pretty high. I was highly disappointed. The food was unremarkable, although not terrible. The portions were large, but the quality was about on par with The Olive Garden...if that. Anyway, the food was acceptable, although overpriced a bit. We ended up being the last people there but the waitress was never anywhere to be found. I ordered a dish and she didnt inform me that my sauce substitution would cost extra, although she informed my friend that her extra sauce would be added to the bill (for $3. Excessive but not surprising.). It was obvious we werent welcome in the restaurant, so we ordered our dessert to go (the same dessert), and asked for our checks. She and I got exactly the same items, except for her extra sauce, so when her bill was obnoxiously close to mine, I got upset. I felt misled, the food was unexceptional, and the service was below average, which is putting it nicely. I elected not to leave a tip, which I NEVER do because I used to be a waitress. Even my friend was shocked by how upset I was! I walked out to my car, and the waitress followed us outside. She asked if there was a problem with our meal, and in the interest of being to the point and as polite as possible, I said, "Yes. I was not happy and I will not be returning." She then proceeded to tell me Id been there last weekend and that Id ordered the same thing. I reassured her that I had never been there and will never return. She seemed upset and I decided it was time for us to go.

MI

Michael Fox

Very unimpressed considering its currently rated 4/5 stars. My wife had been wanting to come here for a long time and was very excited. Besides the awkward entrance, dilapidated building, old smell, and low lit almost eerie vibe, the prices were too much for the quality of food and service was poor. All the food we tried tasted the same as a regular frozen lasagna would. The sauce was plain and resembled Chef Boyardee (something Ive read in other reviews is a problem) and the dishes were overwhelmed with cheese, which made the consistencies of the dishes gooey and binary flavored - cheese and sauce. My wifes eggplant dish wasnt cooked properly. The eggplant was undercooked and chewy. The portions are incredibly large. Its either that, or the dishes are so heavily doused with sauce and melted cheese, that it bloats your stomach and you cant eat but half the dish. The service was sub par. It took several minutes for anyone to greet us at the table, and our waters were empty the last 10 minutes of the meal. Not to mention it was hot in the area we were sitting and my wife was sweating and had to leave early to get fresh air. No one thanked us when we left the restaurant, despite 3 or 4 employees standing behind the host booth. Other reviews of this restaurant describe similar issues, and it sounds like something has changed recently; management, ingredients or recipe, who knows. I feel like they could dramatically improve the quality and presentation of the food, while halfing portion size and still keeping the prices the same. If that would keep profits up to have better service and food, I would come back, but I dont believe we would be returning here based on this experience. Food: 2/5 Price: 2/5 Service: 1/5 Ambience: 3/5

CH

Chad Klinzing

I always refer to these ratings for restaurant advice, but this is the first time I have ever written one. After going to Nonna Emilia approximately 7 times, I finally felt obliged to write a review. Their portions are very big, it is affordable, and their food is incredible! Ive had their lasagna, pasta, and pizza. Their garlic bread was to die for several times, but slightly over baked a couple times. Usually we go during happy hour and get happy hour food. The happy hour pizza is delicious. Ive had it several times. However, tonight we ordered out a regular menu pizza (not happy hour). A Sara pizza. When I picked it up, I was shocked at how much the pizza weighed in the box, and this was a medium size pizza! Just to make sure I wasnt crazy, when I got home I asked my wife to hold the pizza box for a second. I didnt give any warning or hint as to what I was testing. My wife had the same reaction as I did; amazed how heavy the pizza was. We ate as much as we could, which was 2/3 of the medium pizza, and now lie here in delicious pain watching Netflix. Nonna Emilia is our favorite restaurant. We tried to switch it up once and go to another Italian restaurant and whole-heartedly gave it a chance, but it was nowhere near Nonnas. I give them my highest rating. A lot of these reviews talk about service, but as long as the service isnt awful, it doesnt matter much to me. I am not a good judge of service, so I have no opinion on that to share with everyone.