Pazzo Ristorante, Portland

Enjoyed a most delicious breakfast here during our stay at the Vintage Hotel. I had the Eggs Florentine and my husband the ciabatta french toast. Both were amazingly good. The service was pleasant. We sat by a window and enjoyed the vibe of downtown Portland. If I lived nearby, I would definitely return again and again.

We're purchasing a second home in Portland for get-aways and will definitely become regulars at Pazzo! We stumbled upon this cozy restaurant on our first visit to Portland and couldn't believe what a find we had made! We've had lunch and dinner in the restaurant as well as breakfast in our room from Pazzo while staying at the Vintage Hotel next door (an excellent hotel by the way). All of our meals have been superb and we thought we had died and gone to heaven on our first visit after savoring the yummy ravioli. On or last visit we saved room for dessert that was divine. You can choose a more relaxed ambience for drinks and/or eating in the bar or a more grown up atmosphere in the main dining area (for dinner after 4 PM). Whether it's a romantic setting or one for good friends and/or family, it all works at Pazzo. Splitting a meal is never, ever frowned upon here. The staff is extremely friendly and positive and Tara is our favorite at Pazzo. We find the pricing quite moderate for the quality of food, service and setting received.

We flew into Portland, arriving at our hotel about 9:00 and immediately set out to find some FOOD! Staying in the downtown area, we started down the street when we saw Pazzo Ristorante. Looking in, it looked like it would just fit the bill, nice atmosphere, white table cloths, dark lighting and they served until 10:00. Sometimes when you arrive at a restaurant close to closing time, you get an unwelcome feeling; but not here. We were warmly greeted and taken to our table, with a great view of the open kitchen, I love watching chefs cook so this was an added treat for me. Since it was late, we decided we did not need to order two full dinners, so we split some (again no problem). Our first course was the soup of the day, a very tasty and lovely potato soup ($7.00) which wasn't overly salted. For our second we had a wonderful Prosciutto ($10.00), cured san daniele ham (I always appreciate when they give the appellation and origin of ingredients, I like to know where I am eating from); baby cress, grilled ciabatta with a dried cherry mostardi (dried cherries reduced with mustard and balsamic); the bread, by itself, was very salty, but put together, the flavors complimented each other. For the main course, we shared the Pappardelle ($16.00) wide chickpea pasta, Willamette Valley lamb ragu and mint. YUMMERS! It was a great choice. They have a nice wine list, and offer wines by the glass, 1/2 bottle (QRT) and full bottles. A very nice touch. Dinner was well paced and relaxing. What a great way to start our vacation. LindySez: Sure, I'd do it again...it's good eats. And being a Cali girl, another added plus, no sales tax!

Food is not good. Rasberry iced tea was good though. The pepper bread was good. But other than that, didnt like any other foods there. I ordered a pasta and they brought out wrong food too.

This place needs a lot of work, poor service, poor food quality, poor ambiance, poor value. I wanted my money back but I never ask for a refund on the first visit.

My wife and I had prosciutto for an appetizer. For dinner, I had a perfectly cooked halibut (rombo pacifico) while she had one of the best steaks (costata) either of us have ever tasted. For desert, we both picked the chocolate moose with huckleberry sauce and a caramel center. Honestly, the desert was the best part, but the entire meal was excellent, as was the service. It's a bit more than we typically spend on dinner, but it's a nice treat for an anniversary or other special occassion. We'll definitely go back, if for nothing else than the desert.

We had dinner in the lounge and it was alright but didn't seem worth the price. Our risotto was OK but too salty and the ravioli was a bit on the oily/buttery side. Breakfast the next day was also alright but the service was not up to par. We waited for a long time to have our order taken and felt a bit ignored throughout the meal. When our waffles came out without syrup, we had to wait about 5 minutes to get anyone's attention.

Try the pork shank, its awesome very tender and very tasty. A beautiful restaurant, with a elegant italian atmosphere. Very nice place, a must for all italian lovers.

Pazzo is a consistently high-quality Italian restaurant, with a nice ambiance. If you can handle dealing with downtown parking (very little on-street, and all of that is pay parking before 7pm), then this is the place to go for Italian food. While other restaurants do yummy Italian, Pazzo has been the only Italian restaurant in Portland that I've been to that's been consistently excellent.