Porta Bella Italian Restaurant

As soon as I walked in for my reservation, two servers in front of my party were complaining about receiving low tips and how they should’ve made more money on their larger tables. Paul is a wonderful server and should absolutely find a new job elsewhere asap. Porta Bellas food quality is pretty scary, I ordered the Mantavas Bolonese and I received a lukewarm soupy, tomato based spaghetti with meat sauce. It wasn’t even worth it to complain as it took about 25 minutes to order and my party’s food wasn’t appetizing either. Cocktails were also pretty awful that I would’ve rather made my own drinks and just charge myself… Again, not worth it. Thanks Paul for kind service, please find a new employer!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 3

I want to start by saying this place was super cute, and our service was overall good!!

As for the price of the food for the quality - not so much. For an average of $26-32 entrée, I wouldn’t expect silverware to be served in paper bags with disposable napkins. Dinner salads are served on plastic supper club type dishes which felt cheap for the overall price of the experience.

The plate presentation was also very sloppy. My $32 ravioli looked like sauce soup. Our appetizer was very dull and portion sizes were so tiny.

The taste of the food was actually decent (not for the price point, but it wasn’t terrible) , and all of our food came out hot!

For one appetizer, a glass of milk, and two pasta dishes our bill was $82. I just don’t think the price point for their entrees are realistic for the quality, and definitely not somewhere we would come back for pasta.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 4

We recently hosted our company holiday party with Portabella and we were beyond impressed! The food, the staff, the drinks.. It was all perfect! Thank you all again for taking such good care of us :)

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food, came out piping hot! Our server was kind and quick when it came to little side requests.

Please don’t sell this place to build more apartments. It’s a nice, quiet special place!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 3

You know its mediocre when the best part of your meal is the salad. Wife got the chicken parmesan and was severely disappointed. The sauce was more similar to a pizza sauce than anything. I happened to get the seafood Alfredo, which included the most clearly frozen seafood ever. With a nice side of water on it. The cannoli was the worst ive ever had. 2 things on the menu we ordered were different than advertised. Bread didnt have oil/vinegar, cold.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Porta Salad

Love Portabella - food, atmosphere and service. The fact that developers from Texas want to tear it down and put up high-rise apartments makes me want to throw up. Call the city of Madison zoning board and tell them you don’t want that restaurant destroyed.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Beautiful Italian restaurant in downtown Madison. Great food & great service!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Love the Garibaldi sandwich and Porta salad. Homemade marinara sauce is always delicious no matter what dish you order. Spicy cheese bread is great!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Worth the wait

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Nostalgic and delicious,one of my wife and my favorites for 20+ years and super sad to hear it may be torn down in 2026.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Heard good things about their pizza and so we stopped for pizza and beers on a Tuesday night. Sausage-mushroom-pepperoni. It was like we ordered double sausage as the toppings were so ample! Crust was crispy. Sauce was so flavorful. No disrespect to Greenbush or Buck’s, but this is our new favorite place for za! Nice tap beer selection, amazing sourdough bread that comes with your meal (even with pizza). Friendly service.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We had just returned from Italy and I thought it would be nice to have an Italian dinner with some wine at home. Ordered from Porta Bella. Sadly the food (Lasagna) was not good. A relatively small portion, which looked like it was just plopped in a tin. The salad that came with the meal was good, but the main course was bad enough that we won't go back to try it again.

I enjoy leaving glowing reviews, but on occasion you run into something like what we experienced.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 2

Wouldn’t waste my money here. The service was absolutely horrendous, very rude, unprofessional, and exasperated. Food was reheated. Pizza only thing worth ordering. There was also a weird smell.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 1

A real taste of Italy, both in atmosphere and delicious food.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Love the atmosphere and good. This is my husband and my favorite date place.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5