Porteno Restaurant

This wonderful dining experience began the minute we opened the door. The reviews we read prior to arriving were all positive but the staff and the food made sure we were not disappointed. We started our meal with a sampler of empanadas that were all delicious. The "humita" are the best I've had. For the main course my wife and I ordered different cuts of meat each cooked to perfection. Both steaks were packed with flavor and the Mendoza wine was a perfect reasonably priced complement. Enjoy!

Went there the night of the Papal announcement and was greeted warmly by maitre'd, offered complementary dessert cocktails and had an overall good time with pleasant and attentive service and solid food. I had the Milenese which was deliciously tender and just and every-day good dish. To start I enjoyed the tuna tartar on guacamole. It was a nice combo, nothing super fancy. My Date had the scallops which were perfectly cooked and the rib-eye equally well done with a side of Chimichurri. Have the bread pudding dessert, it's scrumptious. A solid meal indeed and we both went home with smiles.

Great service, nice setting, scrumptious food. Will return

The steaks were wonderful and the wine a perfect Argentinian malbec. We requested a basic tomato and onion and avocado salad which wasn't on the menu. The chef accommodated us with a great salad. the avocado flan was too savory for me, but was surprisingly good. Great sides...mashed and sauteed potatoes and aspargus. The service was gracious and friendly and we felt well cared for. Overall a great time and we will be back!

We were looking for a new place to dine in my neighborhood and discovered Porteno as a result of a web search. We visited Buenos Aires several years ago so the advertised Argentinian cuisine was the draw. Went there on 11/15/12 but the place was full so yes, do make reservations. It's a small place and does fill up fast. Went back the next night with reservations for 4 and found it to be a friendly, reasonably priced restaurant serving delicious well-prepared food. The wait staff was pleasant and Jorge, one of the owners, was a friendly gracious host. There were some rather loud diners near us for the first half of our meal, but luckily there was no loud music blaring in the restaurant and I commend our waiter for not subjecting us to that torture. We had a sampling of starter plates: Polenta Porteno (polenta with blood sausage meat): interesting dish but may be an acquired taste for some, two types of empanadas (beef; spinach w/manchego): tasty morsels inside a delicate puff-pastry, and the octopus salad special, which was SUPERB! I try to have octopus whenever I see it on the menu but all too frequently it is either chewy, slimy, fishy or all of the above. This was tender and grilled to perfection and not fishy tasting at all - even those at our table who are usually not fond of octopus found it delightful. For entrees diners at our table had the ribeye (bife de costilla), grilled tender steak served with a kale and bean salad (one of the two diners found the kale too crispy-raw, the other enjoyed it). Another diner had Milanese, breaded and fried and also tender and tasty, and I had the rolled flank steak (metambrito), a braciole-like dish that melted in your mouth and was my favorite (yes, I did taste all the other entrees). Wine was a bottle of Argentinian Chardonnay which was ok and a bottle of malbec which was a smooth pleasant wine. Both were in the $30 range. We tried two desserts: avocado custard (flan de palta), light and delicate, and bread pudding with dulce de leche gelato (budin de pan), which I found not to be the perfect choice after a steak dinner as it is a bit on the heavy side. Overall a delightful dining experience.

Friend recommended this place (thanks Melissa!) and the glass of Malbec I had was excellent and the lamb ragout + gnochi was pretty good as well. And great bread -- always a nice touch!