Toro Bravo - Better than most but not worth the hype

The first one to get knocked off my list is Toro Bravo on NE Russel. We decided to check the place on our 4th anniversary. I had checked the reviews before reaching there and was mentally prepared for a long wait for the table. The wait seemed shorter than expected, maybe because we already anticipated it but largely because of the wonderful cocktail selection for company. We reached there rather late in the evening (around 8pm) primarily to skip the dinner rush. The first dissapointing thing was the way they seat you. The seating is on a first-come-first-serve basis only between the groups of comparable sizes. So if two of you are waiting with a group of 4 and a table of 4 frees up, you get to keep your waiting spot while the group of 4 get seated. This is irrespective of whether you reached there first. Another annoying thing they do is seat you on a bar-like table in front of the kitchen directly looking at the chefs in action. While this may seem like an enjoyable experience, it really doesnt go with the idea of celebrating a wedding anniversary. Both of use ended up sitting side by side looking at the chefs while we worked on our food. To add to the misery, one of the waitresses kept staring at us and out plates while she was waiting for the food plates to "appear from the hole in the wall to the kitchen."

Since the menu is prmarily tapas style, we ordered a bunch of items keeping in mind her mostly vegetarian incinations and my carnivorous tendencies. The mix of appetizers and tapas items included a salad, bacon wrapped dates, bread (you have to pay a buck for bread which is a bit surprising since the prices are a little bit north of reasonable here), lamb chops, meatballs and molten chocolate lava cake. The lamb chops stood-out in both taste and presentation. They were so good that I HAD to share them with my wife after letting her taste a byte. The dates were fancy but too sweet for my taste but I can see how some people with sweet tooth would just love the date/honey combination. Rest of the stuff was good but not stand-out'ishly great. We had a nice experience. It was just not one among the best we have had. Go check it out if you havent tried it yet. The place is definietely worth checking out once. Then you will know if you want to go there again. For me the place was more dissapointing because I had my hopes set on the food here for more than a year and I guess this is what you get when you expect too much.

On a sadder note, Carlyle is getting knocked off my list without me actually checking it out. They are serving their last meal on Feb 14th, the Valentine's day.

Toro Bravo:
Food: ***
Decor: ****
Service: ***
Price: ***
Links:
http://www.torobravopdx.com/