11777 Coursey Blvd. (near Sherwood Forest)
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
225.778.7746
Portico is one of BR’s newest eateries, housed in the
former Calendar’s restaurant near the very busy intersection of Coursey Blvd
and Sherwood Forest. While the look and
feel of the restaurant as well as their website is nicely polished and quite
appealing, the service and food are sorely lacking.
The layout is very open with an outdoor patio area
complete with misters adjacent to the bar.
The décor is modern and very appealing.
I visited on a Saturday evening and my party was seated promptly. Our waiter seemed a bit stressed but got
drinks going pretty quickly while we looked over the menu.
The menu is fairly straightforward, consisting of mostly
bar type food. Nothing really stood out
as unique or special. They offer a
variety of common appetizers such as spinach and artichoke dip, chips and
queso, cheese fries and wings. Pizza is
on the menu as well, a variety of sandwiches and burgers, steaks, salads, very
common items you would expect to find at an average eatery. We opted to skip the appetizers and just
order our entrees.
I ordered the flatboy, a meaty, pressed sandwich that
sounded right up my alley, complete with a variety of meats that included pork,
ham, turkey and roast beef, covered in Swiss cheese and served with barbeque
sauce and gravy on the side. I ordered
the twice baked potatoes as a side item.
The sandwich was good, but the potatoes were cold and had little flavor. Overall all of our food was cold, which
implies that it sat too long waiting to be served to us.
Other food sampled by members of my party included the turkey & avocado club, spaghetti & meatballs, and grilled chicken sandwich. The sandwiches and spaghetti were reported as good, but the fries were cold and soggy, and the presentation very sloppy.
Turkey & Avocado Club with Grits
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Flatboy sandwich with Twice-Baked Potatoes
Brownie (with whipped cream in place of melted ice cream)
The service was very lacking as well, as I asked for a
beer prior to receiving my entrée and did not see it until I was nearly done
eating. Halfway during the meal, the
table behind us was bussed and cleaned in a procedure that sounded like a bull
passing through a china cabinet.
Service continued to go downhill when we were done and it
came time for the check. My wife asked
the waiter if they do anything for birthdays, since it was mine, and he replied
that he did not know but would check with management. He then mentioned something about dessert,
not specifically indicating that it was complimentary, but nevertheless, I
decided to try the brownie with ice cream.
He returned a short time later to inform me that all of
the ice cream had melted, but if I still wanted the dessert he would get
it. So, he proceeded to bring it to me,
sans ice cream. It was decent, but
nothing special.
When the bill came, we were somewhat surprised to see a
charge for the dessert, first given the fact that most restaurants will comp
that for a birthday, and second because one key component of it was
missing. I was not in a mood to argue,
but my wife did speak with the manager who informed her that the freezer was
low on Freon and the ice cream had melted.
He did offer his apologies and said to ask for him on a return visit to “make
it up to us”. Later when giving this
more thought (and ironically watching an episode of Restaurant Impossible) it occurred
to me that if the refrigeration was not working properly then perhaps food
safety was jeopardized.
All in all, issues like this invariably point to bad
management. A responsible, competent
manager is accountable for all staff, and communicates basic information to
them to enable them to do their jobs properly.
Additionally, the manager should visit all tables to follow up and
ensure that the customer is happy. In
this modern day of social media it is too risky to chance upsetting a customer
and have that bad experience spread virally across the internet for thousands
to see.
It’s a real shame that Portico doesn’t match its sleek,
modern look with excellent service and an innovative menu. Perhaps a few more negative experiences will
kick start a much needed change.
