Portobello is located next to Fulton's Crab House in Downtown Disney. Recently my family decided to give it a try for lunch. It was not crowded. Although we could have been seated right away in the Dining Room, we opted to eat in the bar area instead.
The reason we chose the bar is because of the buzz that the Meatballs that they are serving in the bar have generated. I have read about them on serveral sites and heard a great podcast from Lou Mongello and WDW Radio discussing the new meatballs that are offered in the bar. They have even inscluded signage in teh bar area now referring to it as the "Meatball Bar."
We were pleased to find out that in the bar area we could not only order the meatballs that they featured, but we could also order anything on their Dining Room Lunch menu (pictured below.)
Each meal at Portobello starts out with their house made bread along with roasted garlic and olive oil (pictured below.) Again this was beyond what we expected to be served in the bar area. The roasted garlic was such that it spreadable on the bread and the taste was flavorful, but not overpowering. This was the first time that we had seen garlic served like this and we really enjoyed it.
Portobello Meatball Bar
There are four different types of meatballs that are offered at Portobello:
- Beef & Veal with Parsley
- Chicken with Sage
- Spicy Pork
- Salmon with Tarragon
Each meatball is hand made at Portobello and served with tomato sauce on a ciabatta roll. The Beef, Chicken, & Pork are $1.95 each and the Salmon is $2.95 each or mix and match any 3 for $5.00. The 3 for $5.00 is one of the best food deals at Disney World as 3 of these mini meatball sandwiches makes a pretty good lunch.
Both of my children opted for the 3 for $5.00 meatball deal and they enjoyed all of the meatballs. Between them they sampled all four types and did not have anything bad to say about any of them.
Although the picture above does not do it justice, the Gnocchi served with Nana's Sunday Pork Ragu was spectacular. The potato pasta (Gnocchi) was served with a pulled pork based sauce that was in a tomato/wine based sauce. The pulled pork in the sauce was something I have never experienced in an Italian dish and I absolutely loved it. At the lunch price of $11.95 this was a great deal. You can also get this on the Dinner menu , but the portion is larger and the cost goes up to $24.95.
My wife enjoyed the Chicken Farfalle (pictured above) with snow peas, asparagus, tomatoes, and parmigiano cream sauce. This is another entree that is available both on the lunch and the dinner menus.
The Portobello Dinner Menu offers the salads and pasta dishes the you can get at lunch and adds steak and seafood dishes as well. Everything that we saw being served while we were there looked great.
Dining At Portobello
We would definitely have to give dining at Portobello very high marks. It was one of the most enjoyable lunches that we have had at Disney World. The food was excellend and the little touches like the roasted garlic with the bread and olive oil made the experience even better.
I absolutely would recommend checking out the Meatball Bar. The atmosphere is such that you can bring your children or have a get together for adults. You cannot beat the 3 for $5.00 meatball deal. It makes a great lunch or snack.
Although Portobello is not included in the Disney Dining Plan it has been recently added to the Tables In Wonderland Discount which allows you to get 20% off you entire bill (alcoholic drinks also.)
The next time you are looking for Italian food at Disney World do not forget to include Portobello as one of your options.
Portobello is one of my least favorite Disney restaurants. Our last (and I mean LAST) meal there about two months ago included luke-warm chicken, undercooked (raw dough) pizza and a waiter who could not have cared less. Despite knowing how dissatisfied we were, the manager merely comped our $10 pizza. Comping the entire meal would have been more appropriate and "come back next time and enjoy a meal on us!" would have been the way to make it right. We live in Tampa and visit WDW at least monthly. Portobello will not be a part of any of our future visits.
There are three things that I love about traveling. First, the beautiful places that I get to see, second, meeting people and learning their culture, and lastly, get a new taste of food. Traveling is indeed a luxury but it is also a great opportunity to explore the world and appreciate the wonders of the world.
There are three things that I love about traveling. First, the beautiful places that I get to see, second, meeting people and learning their culture, and lastly, get a new taste of food. Traveling is indeed a luxury but it is also a great opportunity to explore the world and appreciate the wonders of the world.