Portico Restaurant

Another belated review, since I came here last month with three of my girl friends to celebrate Galentine’s/Palentine’s day. I would maybe give this place a 3.5 based on my first experience here. The dishes that were ordered and sampled included: warm artichoke and asiago cheese bake to start, seafood risotto, black angus new york striploin, pan seared duck breast, land and sea (basically steak and shrimp).
In general I think all of the dishes were pretty good, although nothing was particularly noteworthy. The cheese dip we ordered to start was delicious, but it’s still a pretty basic app that you can get pretty much anywhere else or even make yourself. I ordered the seafood risotto because I was having a craving for risotto after having the one at Brassaii the night before (see review here:
) and while I thought the one at Portico was good, it just didn’t QUITE compare. The steaks that my friends ordered were also just fine. I think the duck breast was probably the best dish of the night though — it was lovely and soft and juicy, and came with a mushroom risotto which was pretty tasty, but again, not really amazing.
It’s a smaller restaurant, being inside a hotel, but I thought it was cozy and a nice environment. Our servers were very nice and attentive, although I noticed sometimes they would reach right over the table to pour our water… which led to drips in our bread basket. Not a huge deal, but just a small point perhaps the staff could work on.
The restaurant really got into the spirit for Valentine’s day with their décor, but at the end of our meal we were surprised to each receive a little gift bag with three chocolates inside, compliments of the chef/​restaurant with a really sweet little note. It was a fun little touch that we all really appreciated.
On the whole, Portico is a pretty decent restaurant downtown — the food is good, and the prices are pretty standard compared to other places. While I’d say I enjoyed my experience here, and would recommend the restaurant, in the end there wasn’t really anything that would really prompt me to come again.

I am staying at the Cambridge Suites hotel. It’s very cold outside, so Iensed up going here both for dinner and breakfast. Overall the place is fine, but definitely overpriced.
I had the New York strip steak for dinner. Overall good, but the portion was really small! So I also got the angel hair past, which was good. Add a beer to that, and spent $ 60.
I got the buffet breakfast the following day. The choices are quite limited, and also a bit disappointing. You also need to pay extra if you want a cappuccino. Given that the buffet breakfast already had a flat fee, this seemed a bit excessive.
Overall, I would not recommend going here unless you are staying at the Cambridge suites hotel and find it hard to go elsewhere.

We were heading to a show at Massey Hall and wanted to have a nice dinner in the area. So we picked Portico after reading the Unilocal reviews. I have to say our dining experience did not reflect most reviews. Our waiter was very, very nice– but likely had just started. He did not see to know much about the menu items, made a mistake on our order, and mixed up our plates when they finally came to the table. But he did a great job at making us feel welcome and keeping our drinks coming.
For the food I am definitely on the «Meh. I’ve experienced better” — particularly for a $ 100 meal for two! Bread was brought out when we arrived, but was on the stale side. Starter was nice– no complaints there. Mains ordered were both steaks. Good, but not worth the price paid. Cooked well (at least they were once we switched plates– medium well for a medium rare!), but a bit tough. Potatoes were fine, green beans were beans, and the tomatoe was a tomatoe. All in all an okay meal, but not worth going back again.

The tuna was amazing! Nice and quiet for a lunch break, this is a good place for corporate lunches. Recommend!

Terrific meal and service in the Downtown Core. Based upon Unilocal reviews, I visited Portico. The reviews didn’t disappoint — this is a real gem. I started with the complementary wonton appetizer — sweet and salty, purely delicious. I ate more than I should. Next up was the house salad — quite simply, one of the best starter salads I have ever had. Very crisp, fresh, and not overly dressed. Finally, I ended with the New York Strip with mashed turnip and green beans dressed with a chimichurri sauce. This was probably the least satisfying, but only because the set up was so good. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and would gladly recommend this restaurant.

The ambient lighting and the quiet environment was great. Food was solid. Duck confit was done properly with the moist meat and flavorful vegetables to boot. The prawns with mushroom/​spinach side was quite well done. Only odd thing was the sirloin steak cooked to rare when I ordered a medium. Quite odd that all the technical dishes were executed quite well except for a sirloin. But nonetheless awesome environment and a great spot to grab some good quality food.

Was out with a friend to catch up and watch the leafs game and we couldn’t decide where to go, so I used the Unilocal app and found this restaurant. It’s located inside of the Cambridge Suites Hotel. There were only a few couples seated in the dining area and the place was fairly quiet. As we walked in we were greeted by such a lovely bartender and she grabbed us menus and so we took a seat in the bar area where we could watch the game. Our server was so friendly and made small talk throughout the whole evening, she was wonderful. I ordered some wine and decided to grab appetizers. I ordered the cheese and crostini platter, potato skins and torn bbq chicken wrap. When I got my glass of wine, not long after I got complimentary bread with olive butter, it was delicious. The olive butter was so good I asked for more! The cheese platter arrived and it looked so appetizing, the fruit and all the flavours from the honey, marmalade and the white cheddar, Brie and Guinness cheese, just blended so perfectly. I was finishing up the platter and the torn BBQ chicken wrap came out and the chef was so thoughtful, he split our food into separate plates. The wrap was very enjoyable accompanied by the side of sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo… amazing! Every time the food came out one after the other it got better and better. Finally my favourite part was the potato skin loaded with pulled pork and smothered with warm hot cheddar cheese sauce. It was too damn good to even describe! The bartender came to check up on us the whole night and on top of that the leafs won, so all in all it was a great night and I will definitely come back to try more foods on their menu ;)

This is the kind of place you want to do a business meeting in, or a fancy date. The fancy décor, attentive service, and the beautifully presented food creates a pleasing atmosphere. The food was awesome. High quality ingredients with skillful cooking made my mouth water.
What did we eat? We had a pad thai and a land and sea. The pad thai was shockingly good. It was better than most Thai restaurants I tried. The land and sea is steak (which is never bad) with shrimps. The shrimps were large and whatever flavor they used to season it was godlike.
If you want to get your bang for your buck, this is not the place to be. This place is pricey. It’s not the most expensive place in Toronto, but it’s high especially for bargain hunters like me. The portion is adequate. They could have added more shrimp at this price range. As a master cheapskate and also a foodie, I just can’t bring myself here again. I only came here because a friend was able to secure a steep discount. I’d never in my right mind come here purely for food. While my taste buds were satisfied, my wallet would have cried if I paid full price. I’m sure I can find delicious food like this at a fraction of the price. Of course, I’m rating this place for what it is so it still gets 4 stars. I mean this is in downtown Toronto where all the business offices are. If you want to impress a date or a client, by all means come here. They will be impressed by the food just as much as they will be impressed by your deep pockets.

The good and the bad average out to a mediocre rating. I stayed at the Cambridge suites hotel for a week, so I ended up here for breakfast 3 times. The staff were friendly and pleasant, but each day, there were essential parts of the breakfast «about to come out of the kitchen» for the entire time I was there, meaning one day I didn’t get to have potatoes or bacon, the next day no eggs (!). They were apologetic, but honestly, paying 18 dollars for a continental breakfast without the basics doesn’t add up. They comped my breakfast one morning after I’d had enough and asked to speak to a manager. I appreciated the gesture.
One night I had dinner here. The menu is fairly limited. They do have gluten free bread which was serviceable for anyone who cares about that. I ended up going with the ol standby steak. It was well prepared and the service was nice. Not exceptional, but about average steak, wasn’t disappointed.

I had the Sirloin with Mashed Parsnips & Potatoes.
The friendly and courteous staff at Portico seated us at 9:30pm on a Sunday, a reservation that was a bit too close to their closing time but was honoured nonetheless. The steak arrived rare, as requested, vegetables accompanying. The mashed parsnips and potatoes side was exceedingly delicious and offered a pleasing texture. The service was excellent and despite my party’s late dining time we did not feel pressure to rush. Highly recommended!

The best meal I have had in over a year!!! I don’t recall the name of the dish but it had confi duck over handmade pasta and a wiping-​up-​the plate with the bread sauce.

I was here for a business dinner. The food was excellent. I was a bit disappointed that so many things on the menu were not available. And no dessert wines, no sherries. For a restaurant operating at this level, that really shouldn’t be the case. But the quality of the food is very forgiving.

I had dinner here on Saturday night prior to the theatre. I had previously been here for lunch on numerous occasions. I’m still a fan of this establishment but some of the menu items we chose did not meet my expectations. My companion and I shared the following items:
Appetizers:
Crab cake — beautiful presentation but I could barely taste the crab which was mixed in with potatoes (I think). I found this quite disappointing.
Crispy Thai Shrimp — again, the presentation was beautiful. These were delicious.
Entrees:
Shrimp and scallop risotto — this arrived in a tomato sauce which was very plain. There were two large shrimp and a number of scallops but I was disappointed by the sauce. It tasted very generic and plain with very little flavor and substance.
Special of the day — pan seared salmon finished in the oven with vegetables and roasted potatoes. This dish was amazing. The salmon was cooked perfectly, the veggies were tender crisp and the potatoes were divine. I loved it.
Dessert:
chocolate pot de crème — again a beautiful presentation but I personally did not enjoy this dish. It had a very heavy and dense pudding-​like texture to it which may be the way it is supposed to taste but I guess I was looking for something lighter and more mousse-​like.
I really enjoyed the artisan cheese selection plate.
Next trip will see me trying one of the soups and staying with a fish entrée.

We went for a dinner. Pretty decent but menu is limited. A bit pricey too.

Had a customer lunch meeting at this Fusion restaurant. Food was extremely good with a variety of flavor profiles. I enjoyed a chicken coconut curry soup to give me a nice Thai flavored start. I followed that up with Mexican, pulled pork quesadilla. My only complaint is the service was a little slow, especially when we wanted to pay.
Had a customer lunch meeting at this Fusion restaurant. Food was extremely good with a variety of flavor profiles. I enjoyed a chicken coconut curry soup to give me a nice Thai flavored start. I followed that up with Mexican, pulled pork quesadilla. My only complaint is the service was a little slow, especially when we wanted to pay.

This is a review based only on the breakfast buffet at Portico Restaurant. I stayed at the Cambridge Suites Hotel and while the stay was below average, the food was not.
For a breakfast continental buffet, the quality was higher than most I’ve tried. Their scrambled eggs were moist, fluffy and hot. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and yet soft on the middle. The fruit tasted fresh and were perfectly chilled. Pastries were freshly made and you can definitely taste it.
I noticed that they constantly changed the items to prevent the food from becoming stale. I only wish the breakfast times didn’t end so early (9:30AM), but it’s the breakfast from a hotel so it’s expected. I also wanted more orange juice, but the waiter never came around to our table after greeting us the first time.

Had two breakfasts and one dinner here, as we were staying at the hotel for a few days. Service was slow. Food was bland and uninspired, except for good desserts. Fruit was especially awful. Avoid the potato skins!

This place is so good!!!
excellent service, excellent cocktail selection

I went to this restaurant for Winterlicious 2012 and was thoroughly surprised by what a deal everything was. If you’re unaware about Winterlicious, it’s basically a prix-​fixe event held across Toronto, where certain restaurants offer a full course meal. My friends and I went to Portico for $ 20 lunch and still now, in late March 2012, the best $ 20 I have ever spent. We also added a wine bottle because my friend was coming out-​of-​town, so it was a special occasion for us. Our hosts were: Cheryl, Mary and Rene.
My three course meal included: [Appetizer] Crab and avocado, roasted red pepper, garlic shrimp, seedlings, ginger carrot vinaigrette; [Main] Wild mushroom, asparagus and brie Risotto, parmesan cheese; [Dessert] Black pepper and rum panna cotta, mango chili sauce, fresh fruit salsa.
Oh man, this was the first restaurant I ever been to, where I actually wish we could just go back in and try the menu again but pick different things, literally reliving each memory of taste I ate. Ridiculously amazing. For the longest while, I couldn’t decide which part of the meal was my favourite. All three parts were that good!
The garlic shrimp was perfectly cooked (not too overly cooked, not too raw), and the crab/​avocado combination was just flavourful and it felt like the perfect seafood explosion. Just enough of everything, where the avocado wasn’t too strong to overcome the crab flavour. Admittedly, I’m not a rice fan, but I decided to risk it because I love mushroom, I love cheese, and I like asparagus, but omfg, the risotto had so much mushroom flavour. The rice was melting in my mouth too! How is that even possible?! My parents always overcook the rice, or undercook the rice. The mushroom flavour was all over the rice, rich and creamy. But remember how I couldn’t decide on which part was my favourite? The dessert was my favourite. I’ve never had black pepper and rum panna cotta before. My friends opted for safer chocolate-​y options, but I risked a little, and man, thank God I did. The panna cotta was spicy (black pepper!) but creamy (reminded me of egg/​milk pudding), and it just slid into my mouth. The mango jam part was the strangest thing, I’ve never tried anything like it before, but with the black pepper panna cotta, it was legit. Everything matched so well together!
The service was pretty awesome! When my friend and I went in, they offered to take our coats, which was surprising, because we were only there for Winterlicious after all, and though we are annual/​semi-​annual @LiciousTO customers, no restaurant has ever offered to take our coats for us. So major points for that. And then the woman sat us down and offered us sparkling water, which had fresh fruit in the jar, which was weird, because as uncultured people, the water didn’t taste much different, but then as the lunch went on, I –did– notice that the water tasted sparkly with fruit taste! Yay!
Anyway, all in all, fantastic experience, and I would definitely go there again. The atmosphere was very soothing too. Bar just around the corner. Small restaurant, but delicious A+ food!
(P.S. I swear I am not paid by the restaurant. I’m just a very satisfied Winterlicious customer. My friends can vouch for me!!)

Buffet breakfast here was included in our stay at the Cambridge Suites Hotel to which it is attached. There wasn’t a huge amount of variety, but we never failed to find something to satisfy us. The restaurant itself is well appointed and the staff is efficient and friendly.