Porta Blu - Menlo Park, CA

Bianca Ritorto

Had a team dinner here and the options were a bit underwhelming. The pizza was not good, the salmon was fine and the salad was ok but pricey. Tiramisu dessert was actually pretty good. Ambience is nice and we stayed for drinks after. Maybe not coming again for the food though!

Christina Jain

Beautiful restaurant inside Hotel NIA. Aside from top-notch service (we felt like royalty...!), the best part of this restaurant is its atmosphere. There is a wide variety of spaces, seating, and vistas available for dining. The semi-outdoor dining area facing the inner courtyard is one of the nicest in the bay, especially on a warm summer day. The indoor spaces are cozy and luxurious. We were pleasantly surprised by the food too. Came in expecting an overpriced hotel dinner but this place is worthy of standing on its own as a restaurant. Good portions and seasonal offerings. It turned out to be a good place to bring our young kids too. There was plenty of space in the restaurant, so we could enjoy a fine meal without feeling self-conscious about our children being disruptive. There were kids menus too; kids pasta was a huge hit.

Tips: Parking isn't ideal here. $30 for hotel valet and no hotel self parking is available. Second, there's few veggies on the main dishes so I'd recommend getting a salad on the side.

Jessica Lewis

I attended a work dinner here. Generally, good and not great.
Unfortunately, the chicken dish served to me was quite raw in the middle.
I have concerns for a kitchen staff and management who let this happen. Pretty basic expectation to ensure the food is cooked to the right temperature. Serious health consequences result when not getting this basic guidance right.
They offered a replacement but I lost my appetite at that point. Additionally, we were then charged for the uncooked dish in the final bill. Again, a management miss.
Others at the dinner had an acceptable eating experience. I cannot recommend this restaurant.

Tony B

Food very expensive and underwhelming. They add 20% gratuity automatically (I was single diner and just had a salad) but never brought the water I asked for and food took forever despite a nearly empty restaurant. Lastly, when I asked for a lunch dessert menu, the server said "I'm sorry, the chef is saving them for dinner" . At $500/night, I'd expect better service from this restaurant.

Michael Richardson

The Porta Blu, breakfast special had beautiful sourdough bread and the fingerling potatoes were purple, which was very unique. The servers work very hard and took good care of me. Please don’t complain about the 20% gratuity because it’s the least we could do for people that work so hard.

Jake Hum

I was truly blown away with Porta Blu. Our server was a pro and led us to all the right places. I went with a salad made of dandelions which was a new one for me.

I after hearing about the whole chicken I had no other choice but to go for it. Who knew Mariott's high end line could be so exquisite? Not me.

Kaleb went for the vegetarian entrees and he seemed very pleased. The drinks are complex and hold their own. Definitely made for a the beginning of fun night.

I review Good Places With Good People. My opinions are honest, I can't control how Google May Manipulate My Words. Please Research & Check Yelp to Keep From Being Misled.

Fraser Street

HAS POTENTIAL BUT NEEDS WORK - and we left hungry. Food was uneven. Corn soup special was excellent. Chicken Kabob well cooked but small. Server failed to mention that the Ahi special was an appetizers - so I ordered it as my entrée. Bread could be good but was dry. Not stale, just dry. The restaurant itself is a really nice space and opens onto the outdoors. Soup and salad were good portions. Seems like the chef can definitely cook, but they need to enhance the menu and sort out the portions. The ingredients they work with seemed to be very good quality. Has potential to be 4 or 5, but for now a 3.

Sandra Chang

Early Valentines Dinner - really nice outdoor eating area and beautiful indoor dining room - service was top notch- they offered a prefixe Valentines Day dinner of 4 courses- we started with a couple of oysters with a cava mignonette- delish! We could have had a dozen of the oysters! In addition to the vodka martinis that we had (with blue cheese stuffed olive option), the nice bar manager poured a complementary glass of sparking Lambrusco, which went well with the oysters and the Beet carpaccio with burrata and herb salad. My husband ordered seared duck breast for his entree and I ordered the flower crusted NY strip steak - both were good, but a bit unevenly cooked - I wanted medium rare and the steak was closer to medium on one end, but medium rare on the other end. We ended the meal with a lovely chocolate opera cake. The setting is great, service wonderful - we would come back!