Recently friends and I made a trip to the outskirts of Vienna. In the newly built “town” (Seestadt Aspern) lies the restaurant Portobello which was our destination for this evening. In Aspern itself is not much to see except a nice skyline on the rest of “new” part of Vienna and lots and lots of apartment buildings. The only good thing about this new part of town is the metro which connects this conglomeration of houses to the actual city.
skyline on the city @Aspern
Portobello has a really comfortable dining room with secluded booths. Why we got the one next to the bathroom though after making a reservation is beyond me. I am sure the terrace outside is also nice to sit in summer.
dining room @Portobello
As an appetizer I shared the cozze and was astonished by the size of the portion. Small is too nice a word for the puny helping. The bread arrived only after asking. The white wine was thin and didn’t taste of much. So even with the bread the satisfaction factor wouldn’t come.
cozze in white wine sauce @Portobello
The other starters were well received, especially the minestrone and the tomato soup. I think there was even a bit of raving over the tomato soup. She is a respected cook, therefore I trust her judgement!
thick minestrone @Portobello
appetizers all around @Portobello
I was again not lucky with my main dish. The Caesar Salad lacked the anchovy taste (in my humble opinion), the croutons were the size of rocks and the chicken breast was deposited on top like an afterthought. The only word that comes to mind is bland.
Caesar salad @Portobello
The others were again luckier or so they thought. The pizzas were well received even the vegan one without cheese (so boring). Vegan cheese was also available, just in case you are open to this. Maybe I am just picky, but I didn’t like it; there was just not enough of a crunch to the crust.
What really tasted amazing were the pasta dishes. I had a bite of the ravioli filled with pumpkin. They tasted home-made and with a lovely, slighty sweet pumpkin filling. Both pasta dishes had a bite, meaning perfectly cooked al dente. The baked cannelloni also earned good remarks.
ravioli filled with pumpkin @Portobello
baked cannelloni with spinach and ricotta @Portobello
The desert, a nougat parfait, was straight forward, nice but nothing special.
nougat parfait with raspberries @Portobello
Overall it appeared that I was the only one unhappy. Since this is my review though I can’t recommend really the restaurant. At least not when it takes you 30 minutes to get there. So for inner city people it is definitely not worth the detour. If you do live in the area, then please go ahead and try their pasta dishes. Not that there is much else in your “town”. Yours, Pollybert
Portobello
1220 Wien (Seestadt), Maria-Tusch-Straße 14
Tel: +43 1 36 13 666
Email: office@portobello-seestadt.at
Mo-Wed: 11:30-14:30, 17:00-21:30; Thu-Sun: 11:30-21:30
https://www.portobello-seestadt.at/
