RESTAURANT REVIEW: IL PORTO in Gaithersburg, Maryland
RATING: 5 out of 10
This is a video review of my lunch at an Italian restaurant called Il Porto located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Their lunch specials are very reasonably priced between $11 and $13. I got the Combo Pasta plate because I figured this would give me a chance to try 3 different pasta dishes in one sitting. The combo pasta consisted of cheese ravioli in alfredo sauce, penne pasta in marinara sauce, and fettucini in pesto sauce. The marinara sauce was one of the worst I have tasted in my life. I would give it a 2 out of 10 rating. To put it in perspective, I would give Ragu and Prego jar sauces a 5 out of 10 rating. This marinara tasted like they just diluted a can of tomato paste.
Before today, I didn’t think it was possible to make pesto pasta taste bad. This pesto pasta was definitely NOT good. It didn’t taste like much of anything. I would give the pesto pasta a 3 or 4 out of 10. When I was in college, I had a dorm mate who was very particular about what she ate. Most days, she didn’t like what the dorm cafeteria was offering, so she would just get a bowl of boiled pasta, sprinkle on some dried, crushed basil flakes and some grated parmesan cheese, and eat just that for dinner. I tried it. It tasted OK, but that was about it. It was edible. Well, this pesto pasta reminded me of that concoction.
The cheese ravioli was alright. When I added a lot of grated parmesan cheese, it tasted pretty decent, and I would give it a 6 out of 10 rating. I normally eat everything off my plate, but I didn’t want to subject myself to eating the pasta in marinara sauce, which tasted terrible. I wasn’t all that hungry, so I just didn’t see the point of finishing it (but I did feel quite bad that food got wasted).
I also got to try some rainbow trout from the lunch menu. It was fine. Not great but much better than the pastas I got.
Overall, I would rate this restaurant 5 out of 10. So, why am I giving it such a high rating? It’s because the ambiance of the restaurant was really nice. The restaurant looked classy and formal, which made the dining experience fun even though the food tasted bad. Here’s a tip, this place is ideal if you can’t afford to spend a lot of money on dinner but you still want to take someone out to a place that would make them FEEL like they got wined and dined at a fancy restaurant.