Caprial's Bistro

Pros: Great atmosphere, good bar & bartender, great wine selection
Cons: disappointing food, over-priced

Caprial Pence is famous by virtue of her PBS cooking show. She also has very good cookbooks on the market -- 4 to date, I believe. Her restaurant, Caprials' Bistro, is in a Portland neighborhood called Westmoreland. The charming neighborhood is filled...

Pros: charming restaurant with a great waitstaff and delicious food
Cons: none that i can think of

Once a month, my roommate and I check out one of the top restaurants in Portland. We both love food and enjoy exploring. So this month, we decided on Caprial's and, boy, was it the PERFECT choice!

ATMOSPHERE
The minute i walked in, I...

Pros: The interior decor was nice; the surrounding neighborhood made parking and walking easy and pleasant.
Cons: The service was poor, the food beyond disappointing and the entire experience was vastly overpriced.

Our dining experience, one that we had planned and looked forward to for a long time, was a huge disappointment. We were seated immediately and bread was placed on the table. However, we asked for olive oil to dip the bread in but this was not delivered ...

Pros: Get to eat in a world famous restaurant!
Cons: Is it worth it? It wasn't for me.

Hmmm...reading previous reviews of Caprial's makes me wonder if I went to the same restaurant. Sure, the ambiance is great (though the low sofa seating left my husband barely peeking over the table top) and and the service pleasant, but the food was, to...

Pros: lovely presentation, interesting preparation.
Cons: overpriced for quality of ingredients, service intrusive yet not attentive.

We chose Caprial's bistro to celebrate my birthday with my family. Our party of 5 had reservations, and there was an empty table for two next to our group. Our setup crammed the 5 of us onto a table for 4, which was too small, as evidenced by the fact that the waiter had to rearrange everything whenever food or beverage was brought. The food was beautifully presented, and the venison delicious, the spices in the lamb stew were wonderful but the lamb was tough and very fatty. My daughter's salmon, ordered broiled without sauce was a problem for the kitchen. It had been prepared incorrectly, according to the waiter, and had to be redone. Consequently her food arrived about 10 minutes after everyone had been served. The accompanying cauliflower tasted like they had left raw cauliflower on the plate and allowed the heat of the plate to warm it. The waiter managed to be both elusive and intrusive, disappearing for long periods and then appearing and interrupting conversation with comments that were unnecessary.