Portia’s Cafe

Great restaurant for vegans and non-​vegans alike! Wonderful staff is always very helpful, even in a packed restaurant. Always ready to accommodate for allergies and preferences. Smoothies are a must-​have, along with the thanksgiving quesadilla. Best guacamole I’ve had at a restaurant, too. 100% will go again, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a nice, happy, loving place to grab anything from waffles to a full 3 course dinner.

All I can say is WOW! Their pad Thai with noodles surprised me in such a good way! The favor, textures, and visual make this a winner hands down. I can’t wait to try more of their menu. It gets crowded in there for lunch so go early.

Wow! Just had my first meal at Portia’s café. I can’t wait to return for a second one!!! Let me start with dessert. We shared chocolate cheesecake. Never in a million years would I have believed that there was no cream cheese (or butter) in the fabulous creamy delicious rich slice of cheesecake. My lunch was a hearty and flavorful curried vegetable soup. One friend got a squash soup and the other one ordered (and liked) the house specialty pad Thai with kelp. We shared some dips (hummus and a spinach artichoke one) served with fresh veggies (you can get crackers or chips with the dips). Portia came and said hello (and cleared our places). All the staff was friendly and helpful. You don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian or gluten free to like Portia’s but if you are you will be beyond thrilled. GO THERE!

Just went here today for the first time. It was SO AMAZING. I’m not vegan but I am vegetarian and I loved the butternut sweet potato soup, the Mediterranean wrap, and the coffee cheezecake. There was a bit of a wait but we were given a sample of the soup to try while in line. I absolutely love this place and will go back as much as I can!

Harvest chili winter special w/​cheese is fantastic.
Loved the sauwsage pizzadilla.
Next time, it’ll be the savory patty wrap.

Unique, delicious dishes! My non-​vegan fiancé loved the appetizers, burrito, and cheezecake. Our meals were so satisfying without the regret that usually follows big meals!

Amazingly delicious and healthy… everything I’ve eaten here has so much flavor. The kale salad and chili are outstanding. I’m not Vegan but this is my go to place when I want something tasty. The beet salad is a must too. They also have fresh juice.

Do you have any of those friends or family members who «could never live without meat?» Bring them to Portia’s and they might change their mind! I suggest coming on a Sunday when they have their waffles available and get the coconut spread and syrup — yum. Also, all their sandwiches and wraps looked fantastic. My husband had one of the wraps and we were both surprisingly full for quite sometime afterwards. The staff is friendly and the setting is quaint yet comfortable. Try it out!

wow.
what we got: spananko wrap, cup of lentil soup, house salad and pad thai with kelp noodles (wut?)
the vibe in this place is simple and colorful. it’s hodgepodgey and just perfect.
the spanako was the highlight and super tasty spring roll type thingy in rice wrappers.
the pad thai was served cold and had I read more closely I wouldn’t of been as startled as I was… the kelp noodles were super crunchy and a great texture for this weird and wonderfully tasty dish (not at all Asian tasting.
my daughter loved the lentil soup and the salad as well.
I loved feeling great after eating here and love the idea of supporting businesses like this one. we will be back.

Vibrant deep tones on the walls. That’s what sucked me in, hook line and sinker. I set up a UYE here, with the hopes to pull the vegan/​vegetarians out of the woodwork. Greeted when I arrived — Sophia was a fabulous waitress. Enthusiastic. Knows the dishes. Very informative, without being pushy.
Gave us plenty of time to scan the menu. However, I had seen Sean G’s food photos from Portia’s, and I wanted to try their Pad Thai with kelp noodles. The colors and toppings of this dish looked phenomenal.
In decision was a solid A+. The light refreshing entrée brought back memories of warm sunny gatherings on a restaurant’s patio, laughing and sipping lemonade with friends. The sauce is not your normal brown sauce. It tasted of rice wine, amongst other flavors to enlighten the tongue!
I splurged on a piece of their Lemon Cheesecake for dessert. So much good lemon tart! Slightly sweet, just enough to make my tongue wants second and third bite.
This café makes me think of Yellow Springs, Ohio. I’m very happy it’s in Columbus! Everything is made from scratch. All with thought. Unique ingredients that you’ll never find at the regular joints. I will definitely be back. It was a great evening!

The berry mango «cheesecake» is to die for. I have random cravings for it. Even right now, I just want to drop everything and go and buy that little slice of heaven!
The café is really cute, too! Portia has a small space to work with, but has really made the best of what she has. It’s like she’s transformed a bit of the farmer’s market into an adorable café.
I really want that berry mango cheesecake right now!

You’re here for the burrito.
The purple haze smoothie is really good.
Sadly, the broccoli soup did nothing for me. I’m not sure why all the other Unilocalers are going nuts over it.

Well am I glad I gave this place an opportunity to feed me today :)
I enjoyed the Pad Thai and I loved everything about it. Don’t let the word KELP scare you away. It was the right portion, right sauce, right veggie combo. I loved it and felt very healthy after eating it, sort of like Popeye after eating spinach.
My partner got the burrito with the breakfast sausage added. She wasn’t a big fan of it. I tried it and I thought it was really good. I think she was hoping for a Chipotle burrito and this wasn’t that, it was better in my opinion. But she had issues with the way the sausage tasted and the sort of spongy texture of the wrap that was used. I had no issues so it just goes to show not everything floats ones boat.
Now something we did agree on was the CHEEZECAKE! Holy moly was it a lemon cheezecake tast-​o-​rama in our mouths. So freaking good! I can’t say enough about it. If you plopped it down in front of someone and they ate it I swear they would have no idea it wasn’t the real deal. My buds broke out into a dance party!
The only gripe I have, which is why the 4 and not the 5 is they have a feature on their website called
where you can order online and chose pickup or delivery. It’s a huge advertisement so to me it’s as though they are encouraging and promoting it. Well when I go to pick up my food the woman informs me that for now on if I am going to pick up just call them because otherwise the website charges an upcharge for using the service.
If this is the case, why have the feature on there at all? It seems like a rip off and a head scratcher as to why they bother putting it on there. They should just take it off. My two scents.
Regardless of that, I will be back, this time calling ahead or maybe dining in because the food was really good.
The End.

Delicious. Absolutely divine. I took a friend who by no means would consider herself vegan or vegetarian and she absolutely loved it! She ordered a cup of the raw broccoli soup and the Mediterranean wrap; I stuck with my usual red curry lentil soup and Pad Thai :). Safe to say, we both left full and quite content!
This is definitely one of my favorite places for a quick, fresh, and healthy meal!

I have never in my life had 7-​Layer Dip this good before and the chips are amazing! I also tried the Pad Thai with kelp. The kelp isn’t what you would normally would think it is, it was great.

This place is cool, I didn’t realize the location is right next to Savor Pint which is my preferred beer store. I could definitely see myself stopping in and ordering food every time I go beer shopping.
I believe I’ve eaten here 4 times already which is a lot for me since I try to visit somewhere new whenever I eat out.
Now for the food, I definitely splurged and sample a decent amount of the menu. We ordered the Guacamole dip with chips and the Spinach-​Artichoke Dip, the Guacamole was not really worth the cost and while it did taste fresh it is not even close to the best guacamole’s I’ve tasted before. But the Spinach-​Artichoke Dip was and is my go to dip which I have ordered each time I’ve visited Portia’s, the dip was flavorful and I could taste both vegetables without having one become too dominant.
For the main dishes, I’ve tried the Pad Thai with Kelp Noodles and it was not lacking in flavor even though the noodles were definitely something different and new to me. You could even split this dish between two people since it was that filling but not in a heavy way. The Notuna Wrap was very good and I could taste a the Sunny Walnut Pâté in the wrap but I need to remember to order the dip itself. The savory patty wrap was very filling as well, and whenever I eat here I never feel uncomfortable after I’m finished. For dessert we tried two different cheezecakes, the pineapple was nice and light. But the chocolate is worth ordering every time.
Next time I go I will need to try some of the quesadillas and more of the salads.

This place is so good! Tried it for the first time today for lunch. Everything on the menu is gluten free and vegan which is great for my friend who is allergic to gluten, soy, and corn. She could have almost anything on the menu which never happens. The server was super friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. I ordered the raw broccoli soup and the «notuna» wrap. The soup was served chilled and it was fantastic — creamy and thick. I felt like I was eating a bowl of really good chip dip or salad dressing (not a bad thing). The «notuna» is a walnut pâté. I got this in a gf brown rice wrap and subbed the veganaise for the creamy cashew dressing. There was also a surprise pickle in the wrap! Yum yum! I ordered the spinach artichoke dip to go. It was also delicious. Minus one star only for the small portion of spinach dip and crackers that cost $ 7. I will definitely be back!

Vegan food gets a really bad wrap. Only a year ago I would have been nervous about coming here, worried I wouldn’t like it. Portia’s is truly incredible and a restaurant that even meat eaters should try at least once!
I went with a group of coworkers for lunch one afternoon. The décor is happy and colorful and made me feel excited to eat lots of fresh veggies. The menu is quite diverse, offering not just salads, but also wraps, quesadillas, burritos, rice bowls. I decided on the pad Thai. This is not a traditional pad Thai by any means. All the ingredients were raw (except for the bed of brown rice), vegan and gluten free. I loved it! It’s hard to explain the flavor; I’ve never had anything else like it.
After I finished my pad Thai, I got a slice of the lemon cheezcake. It was so light and tasty! I almost liked it better than some «real» cheesecakes I’ve had.
There’s so much to love about Portia’s, but their staff was also so helpful and cheery when we had questions about the food. The whole place had a positive feel about it that some other restaurants just don’t have. It felt as if everyone, including the patrons and staff, felt happy to be there.
I can’t wait to come back and try their guacamole! I hear amazing things about it!

Already craving another burrito!
We visited on a Saturday for lunch and despite the limited and clearly highly desired seating, were seated quickly. While the art and decore is, in my opinion, busy, the atmosphere is local and all around friendly.
As stated before, the burrito has already imprinted on my mind (though I try not to consume a lot of soy), but the vegetable curry was also delicious. Portions are filling which along with the quality of ingredients equals value for the price.
Oh and you have got to try the deliciously rich, cocoa cheesecake which I believe it is made with avacado for that decadent texture.

If you’re gluten-​free, get in here! Portia’s Café is proof that healthy food can be vegan, raw, gluten-​free, organic, absolutely delicious AND budget-​healthy too. Tucked into one of the newly-​spiffed up storefronts along Indianola Avenue in Beechwold, it’s a bright and cheery place with local art on the walls and a coatrack at the front door.
The service is friendly but not overbearing. They seat and serve you; coffee is make-​your-​own and you pay for your meal at the register. Portia’s has daily soup offerings and specials in addition to a large menu selection of appetizers, dips, soups, salads, wraps, smoothies and other drinks (including house-​made sodas). They are a gluten-​free space, so you can have your wrap in lettuce, or in a gluten-​free tortilla, which is good (not sure if the GF tortillas are made of teff, but they have the consistency of east African anjeera bread, kind of spongy and soft).
I generally avoid processed foods of any stripe (especially things which have no business trying to impersonate real food, like TVP or tofurky). At Portia’s you don’t have to worry — the menu is extensive as to ingredients and labeled when items are non-​raw, contain soy, nuts, etc. They make all of their savory patties in-​house and I believe they are all raw and soy-​free, too. Score! Even their falafel and pad thai are raw.
On this trip, the spouse and I both ordered a Mediterranean wrap, with hummus, lettuce, tomato, onion, Daiya «cheese» and Veganaise (which is better than mayo, to be honest) on a gluten-​free tortilla. Serving size = 12″ tortilla. So, large and worth the $ 10. I also had a blueberry/​banana/​spinach/​ricemilk smoothie ($ 7), which was good. The spouse ordered lemon cheezcake for dessert ($ 4), which we both liked. We also had coffee (which, we remembered too late was Crimson Cup — their only downfall).
Additionally, Portia’s carries a selection of drinks (ginger beer, Luna Kombucha), desserts for carryout, fresh apples and oranges, and has a small store set-​up with raw/​vegan/​GF/​soyfree/​organic items — chia seeds, protein powders, coconut oil, maple syrup, Glee gum, etc. While we were there, they seemed to be doing a good carryout business as well as plenty of tables dining in. I hope this place sticks around a long time.