Cliff Island
Hugo's

Hugo's

88 Middle St, Portland, United States Of America, Cliff Island

Fish • Wine • Pasta • Coffee


"Hugo's is a really special place in Portland. Although the city is bursting with amazing restaurants, they still manage to be unique and cutting-edge. I will fully admit that I have had some dishes here that simply don't work for me but that is part of the fun of dining at a restaurant that is constantly trying to innovate. And the dishes that I didn't care for are clearly outweighed by the majority that I found wonderful over the course of my half dozen meals here. This is not to mention the absolute top-notch service you can expect at a real fine dining establishment like those sporting fancy Michelin stars. I always felt extremely welcomed and catered to whenever visiting them. A particular reason that Hugo's has a fond place in my heart is that they served me one of the handful of dishes I've had that not only was incredible but actually changed the way I thought about food and what it could be. Around five years ago I shared a large-format ribeye steak with five other people that changed my life. My stomach was already so miserably/joyfully full by the time it was served. The fact that this juicy, fatty, umami-filled piece of meat was good enough that I still managed to eat another half pound of food and love every bite speaks to just how awesome it was. As you can tell I'm passionate about a good steak and since then I've learned to make one (almost) as good as that but it was still enough to keep me coming back time and time again."

David's

David's

22 Monument Square, Portland, 04101, United States Of America, Cliff Island

Wine • Salad • Seafood • American


"It was supposed to be a special evening with friends at David 's. Unfortunately, our experience at David 's was terrible. The most disturbing thing about the evening was our server. He wanted to immediately take our dinner order before we even had our drinks or had ordered appetizers. We felt like he was rushing to get us out of there. Before we ordered anything we asked for separate checks (one for each couple). He looked at us and said what? you want 4 separate checks (sarcastically). We replied, no, we would like two separate checks, one for each couple . Then he asked again what we wanted for dinner again, before we even received our appetizers. Now for the food. My husband had the haddock with green chile sauce overcooked and dry. My friend had a filet cooked perfectly but almost inedible as it was so tough. Another had the meatloaf which was fine. Our friends ordered a ceaser salad which they never got. When they told the server that they did not get the salad after their main course arrived, he argued with them saying are you sure, I 'm sure I brought it to the table . Are you kidding me??? Did he think they hid the salad under the table? or ate it and disposed of the plate? How absurd is that? Then, the coup de grace time for the check. He brings it over and it is not in 2 separate checks. He said well, just split it down the middle . Well we did not want to do that and told him when we first sat down. He then basically said too bad, we can 't do that, you 'll just have to split it in half. Wow, wow, wow. What a terrible, terrible evening. We will never, ever go back to David 's, even though they took the awful steak off the bill. The restaurant was not overly busy, there were plenty of empty tables so there was no reason for the rushed treatment, and certainly no reason for the servers rude behavior, or the terrible food."