There’s something really special about a place where you can sit, enjoy a meal, and sense that everyone from back of the house all the way to the front of house, has chosen to be there. Passion and intention seeps from this restaurant. What more can you ask for?Portland is lucky. Decent Italian food, outside the home, is hard to find in our city.My advice to anyone reading this review:Just go. Take an evening and just go. Try the olives and have a glass of grappa.Thank you and see you soon.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dawn Yeoh
texture of the pasta is perfect however it was very salty for both the dishes we ordered and it was extremely dark in the restaurant, I couldn’t see what was on my plate.
Everyone's heard all the hype about Ava Gene's and based on my single experience there, it seems completely deserved. The delicious food, refined yet casual atmosphere, and attentive service is amazing. There's a chef's table that overlooks the kitchen that is really fun and a little interactive, since you're so close to the food preparation. The prix fixe tasting menu is so good, I really recommend it. I had the best time here, I'm sure you will too.
Aimee Gerold
Excellent cocktails and friendly service. The pasta and fish were good, but the butterscotch pudding was to die for! Best to get 4-6 dishes for 2 people bc they're small and good to share.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brookes Decker
Hands down the best restaurant dining experience I've had in Portland. While you could argue that another restaurant does this or that better, no single restaurant gives the full experience that Ava Gene's does. The service is passionate and knowledgeable, it's clear the employees care about what they do. The food is thoughtful and the chefs aren't afraid of flavor or salt (which is noticeably lacking in this city) with inventive flavor combinations, desserts are among the best I've had in any city, and the wine list is thoughtful, elevated, and robust. 10/10 no notes.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
erin coppin
If you’re looking for the old Ava Gene’s, I’m sorry to say, it’s gone. Don’t bother with the current iteration, it will just sour your memory of the beauty that was!We’ve been visiting Ava Gene’s since it opened, and have always loved the creativity of the veggie dishes, the stellar service and the lovely atmosphere. In particular, for special occasions, we look forward to ordering the tasting menu because it’s always been extremely generous in the amount and variety of dishes you’re able to taste, and it’s just a fun experience for a small group.Last night we visited for the first time since the pandemic (and chef change), and sadly Ava Genes missed the mark on every measure.The tasting menu was limited and stingy. In fact, by ordering the tasting menu we ended up paying DOUBLE what we would have if we’d just ordered a full size version of every dish we received straight from the menu. DOUBLE! This feels unethical.The servers were all lovely when they actually engaged with us, which was rare. Dirty plates were left on the table uncomfortably long, the timing between dishes was awkward, especially combined with the inattentive service. We had only six words said to us between our Secondi being served and our bill landing on the table: “I’ll be right back with spoons” when dessert was dropped.No one asked if we wanted coffee or digestives, no one asked how our meal was.All of this might be forgivable if the food met the mark, but sadly it has fallen so for from its former glory. The best dish we had was the hamachi crudo, which was delightful. Everything slid downhill from there. The salads were okay, but a little salty and weird. Nothing like the shining veggie all stars from the past. The worst offender by far was the final dish, a sad airline chicken breast cut in three served over a bizarre fatty/fishy dollop, with a pile of undercooked but greasy Brussels sprouts plated with absolutely zero care. It felt like a dish one would get in a “fancy” airport restaurant. So sad.Finally, the automatic 20% gratuity. I wish someone would have mentioned it when they dropped the bill. If it was clearly noted on the receipt we didn’t see it, so we ended up tipping an additional 20% on top of it all, and didn’t realize until we looked at the AG’s website when we got home. We honestly feel robbedI have never written a poor review for any business ever. But our experience was so bad I feel a duty to warn any poor souls like me who are wondering if the new Ava Gene’s lives up. Let me save you the hassle: It doesn’t.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Pam L
I can see what all the rave is about. Beautiful space, fantastic service and the food was spot on. I’m not a dessert person and I’mstill thinking about the crème brulee cheesecake and Lois orange tiramisu.Definitely make reservations.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Felix
Had my wife’s birthday dinner here. First of all, the ambience of the place is fantastic. Really good lighting and extremely well designed setting.I was a little disappointed with a smell of wet cloth coming from the table. It was very clear that the tables were wiped with dirty towels.The appetizer was great however the 2 pasta dishes we ordered. It was below average. The Tagliolini and squid ink linguini. The taglionlini was over cooked. The squid ink was good but without much taste.The service was great but definitely waited a long time before getting our tables clear to get our bill.
Insanely good atmosphere and food and tame impala and khruangbin was on the playlist so that’s an automatic 5
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Alex Bray
One of Portland's best restaurants, hands down. The food, the cocktails, and the wine selection have always surpassed my expectations in quality, selection, and presentation. The only reason I did not give a 5-star review is that they add a blanket 20% gratuity to all checks, including bottles of wine. I am former bartender and an advocate for providing a living wage for members of the service industry, but a 20% gratuity on bottles of wine is excessive.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Burrata, Albacore, Cannoli
Justin Vandeberghe
Kid-friendliness: Not kid friendly
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Chase Conover
The food was just okay. We had the radicchio salad, arancini, burrata, cacio e pepe, and wagyu steak. All of it was fine but underwhelming and forgettable. The Wagyu was listed as 8oz but was 4oz at best. The service was adequate. The atmosphere was nice but could get a little loud.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Eric Wolf
We had great expectations as we had dined at Ava Gene’s on numerous occasions before their closure sometime ago and it probably was our favorite restaurant in Portland. The “new” Ava Gene’s is nothing like the old and was incredibly disappointing. Orders are taken all at once with the promise that dishes would be paced accordingly yet we received our salad and two hot appetizers at the same time. The barada was unlike any we have ever had anywhere and instead of being creamy had the consistency of cottage cheese and was served cold over peas and celery. Terrible. The salad and other appetizer were OK but nothing to write home about. Both our pasta and entrée were served at the same time although entrées are properly labeled as “siconde” which in Italian means second! The pasta was supposed to feature clams and mussels but the only flavor was of the fried onions – – the kind of fried onions you would find out of a can on top of a green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. The black cod was maybe two square inches and served with an odd potato and mayonnaise type accompaniment. Barely lukewarm, incredibly over priced and not particularly flavorful. It was my girlfriends birthday and we anticipated a wonderful leisurely dessert but at that point did not want to venture further and opted to go to Salt and Straw a block down instead of gambling on one of their spendy desserts. We will never go back and I would certainly never recommend. What an incredible disappointment.
There’s something really special about a place where you can sit, enjoy a meal, and sense that everyone from back of the house all the way to the front of house, has chosen to be there. Passion and intention seeps from this restaurant. What more can you ask for?Portland is lucky. Decent Italian food, outside the home, is hard to find in our city.My advice to anyone reading this review:Just go. Take an evening and just go. Try the olives and have a glass of grappa.Thank you and see you soon.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
texture of the pasta is perfect however it was very salty for both the dishes we ordered and it was extremely dark in the restaurant, I couldn’t see what was on my plate.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 3
Best restaurant in Portland? I think so..
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wonderful food.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tagliatelle Chicken Ragu Chicories, Cannoli
Everyone's heard all the hype about Ava Gene's and based on my single experience there, it seems completely deserved. The delicious food, refined yet casual atmosphere, and attentive service is amazing. There's a chef's table that overlooks the kitchen that is really fun and a little interactive, since you're so close to the food preparation. The prix fixe tasting menu is so good, I really recommend it. I had the best time here, I'm sure you will too.
Excellent cocktails and friendly service. The pasta and fish were good, but the butterscotch pudding was to die for! Best to get 4-6 dishes for 2 people bc they're small and good to share.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Hands down the best restaurant dining experience I've had in Portland. While you could argue that another restaurant does this or that better, no single restaurant gives the full experience that Ava Gene's does. The service is passionate and knowledgeable, it's clear the employees care about what they do. The food is thoughtful and the chefs aren't afraid of flavor or salt (which is noticeably lacking in this city) with inventive flavor combinations, desserts are among the best I've had in any city, and the wine list is thoughtful, elevated, and robust. 10/10 no notes.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
If you’re looking for the old Ava Gene’s, I’m sorry to say, it’s gone. Don’t bother with the current iteration, it will just sour your memory of the beauty that was!We’ve been visiting Ava Gene’s since it opened, and have always loved the creativity of the veggie dishes, the stellar service and the lovely atmosphere. In particular, for special occasions, we look forward to ordering the tasting menu because it’s always been extremely generous in the amount and variety of dishes you’re able to taste, and it’s just a fun experience for a small group.Last night we visited for the first time since the pandemic (and chef change), and sadly Ava Genes missed the mark on every measure.The tasting menu was limited and stingy. In fact, by ordering the tasting menu we ended up paying DOUBLE what we would have if we’d just ordered a full size version of every dish we received straight from the menu. DOUBLE! This feels unethical.The servers were all lovely when they actually engaged with us, which was rare. Dirty plates were left on the table uncomfortably long, the timing between dishes was awkward, especially combined with the inattentive service. We had only six words said to us between our Secondi being served and our bill landing on the table: “I’ll be right back with spoons” when dessert was dropped.No one asked if we wanted coffee or digestives, no one asked how our meal was.All of this might be forgivable if the food met the mark, but sadly it has fallen so for from its former glory. The best dish we had was the hamachi crudo, which was delightful. Everything slid downhill from there. The salads were okay, but a little salty and weird. Nothing like the shining veggie all stars from the past. The worst offender by far was the final dish, a sad airline chicken breast cut in three served over a bizarre fatty/fishy dollop, with a pile of undercooked but greasy Brussels sprouts plated with absolutely zero care. It felt like a dish one would get in a “fancy” airport restaurant. So sad.Finally, the automatic 20% gratuity. I wish someone would have mentioned it when they dropped the bill. If it was clearly noted on the receipt we didn’t see it, so we ended up tipping an additional 20% on top of it all, and didn’t realize until we looked at the AG’s website when we got home. We honestly feel robbedI have never written a poor review for any business ever. But our experience was so bad I feel a duty to warn any poor souls like me who are wondering if the new Ava Gene’s lives up. Let me save you the hassle: It doesn’t.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
I can see what all the rave is about. Beautiful space, fantastic service and the food was spot on. I’m not a dessert person and I’mstill thinking about the crème brulee cheesecake and Lois orange tiramisu.Definitely make reservations.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Had my wife’s birthday dinner here. First of all, the ambience of the place is fantastic. Really good lighting and extremely well designed setting.I was a little disappointed with a smell of wet cloth coming from the table. It was very clear that the tables were wiped with dirty towels.The appetizer was great however the 2 pasta dishes we ordered. It was below average. The Tagliolini and squid ink linguini. The taglionlini was over cooked. The squid ink was good but without much taste.The service was great but definitely waited a long time before getting our tables clear to get our bill.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
Insanely good atmosphere and food and tame impala and khruangbin was on the playlist so that’s an automatic 5
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
One of Portland's best restaurants, hands down. The food, the cocktails, and the wine selection have always surpassed my expectations in quality, selection, and presentation. The only reason I did not give a 5-star review is that they add a blanket 20% gratuity to all checks, including bottles of wine. I am former bartender and an advocate for providing a living wage for members of the service industry, but a 20% gratuity on bottles of wine is excessive.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Burrata, Albacore, Cannoli
Kid-friendliness: Not kid friendly
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
The food was just okay. We had the radicchio salad, arancini, burrata, cacio e pepe, and wagyu steak. All of it was fine but underwhelming and forgettable. The Wagyu was listed as 8oz but was 4oz at best. The service was adequate. The atmosphere was nice but could get a little loud.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
We had great expectations as we had dined at Ava Gene’s on numerous occasions before their closure sometime ago and it probably was our favorite restaurant in Portland. The “new” Ava Gene’s is nothing like the old and was incredibly disappointing. Orders are taken all at once with the promise that dishes would be paced accordingly yet we received our salad and two hot appetizers at the same time. The barada was unlike any we have ever had anywhere and instead of being creamy had the consistency of cottage cheese and was served cold over peas and celery. Terrible. The salad and other appetizer were OK but nothing to write home about. Both our pasta and entrée were served at the same time although entrées are properly labeled as “siconde” which in Italian means second! The pasta was supposed to feature clams and mussels but the only flavor was of the fried onions – – the kind of fried onions you would find out of a can on top of a green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. The black cod was maybe two square inches and served with an odd potato and mayonnaise type accompaniment. Barely lukewarm, incredibly over priced and not particularly flavorful. It was my girlfriends birthday and we anticipated a wonderful leisurely dessert but at that point did not want to venture further and opted to go to Salt and Straw a block down instead of gambling on one of their spendy desserts. We will never go back and I would certainly never recommend. What an incredible disappointment.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 5