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Restaurant Review: Porta Romana, Spruce Grove, Alberta

Everything has been closed down for a while here due to the Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions, but fortunately for us, restaurants have been given the green light to reopen (with strict safety guidelines).

Brody and I used to love trying out new wine bars and restaurants on date night so I couldn’t be more excited! I am also so relieved that all of our favourite spots haven’t had to throw in the towel, so in honour of that, we will be hitting up each of them to show our support, and I’ll be sharing all my rave reviews with you!

Note: these reviews are not sponsored and I don’t receive anything from the restaurants in compensation. I just genuinely love these places and think they deserve to be hyped up!

We are getting the ball rolling this week with an adorably charming Italian spot in Spruce Grove. With it being -30 degrees this week, I couldn’t think of anything better than a nice big helping of homemade pasta to warm our bellies.

Porta Romana is located at #7 – 420 King Street in Spruce Grove and they are currently open for both lunch and dinner. Check their website at portaromana.ca for full details.

THE SETTING

The restaurant itself is a cozy space filled with warm and elegant decor. Chandeliers glitter from the ceilings, and a little fireplace is set into a beautiful stone wall. Assorted decor accents give it a welcoming homey feel, and the tables are well spaced out so you can enjoy your conversations in private.

THE SERVICE

I’ve been in there when it’s practically empty, and when it’s completely buzzing, and the staff are always friendly and prompt with helping you to a table. If you’re going now though, make sure to make a reservation, as their space is limited and they want to make sure they are able to seat you.

Our waitress on this occasion was a young girl who was attentive but not invasive, and was happy to accommodate my requests to leave the wine bottle behind so I could nerd out over the label for a bit.

THE FOOD

The menu here is truly authentic Italian food through and through, but as an added bonus, they locally source all of their meats and produce so everything is fresh and tied to the community.

Brody and I both knew we wanted pasta before we even arrived, but they do have plenty of other options.

For appetizers, we toyed between a few options, but decided to get the small charcuterie board. We do love a good charcuterie board! It’s been our staple date night menu while in lockdown, and we still aren’t sick of them yet!

When this one arrived it was overflowing with scrumptious bites of assorted cheeses, meats, fresh bread and crackers, and yummy fruits. Everything tasted fresh and delicious. I only wish it had a smidge more bread – I love making little combinations of all the different options, but found myself having to split the bread in half to make each bite really count.

For our main courses, it was tough deciding between all of the different pasta courses, but I decided to go with my standar favourite: gnocchi. Brody knows that if gnocci is on the menu, I’m probably going to order it.

On a recent trip to a different restaurant, I had ordered the gnocchi and was severely disappointed when it arrived with SIX peices of gnocchi on my plate. That wasn’t hte case here though. The serving sizes are Porta Romana are surprisingly large. They aren’t stingy with the past at all – just the way I like it.

For my gnocchi, I requested classic tomato sauce, and added chicken and bacon (gotta get that protien in!). Brody ordered spaghetti amatricana with added Italian sausage.

Both were absolutely delicious, although Brody did seem a little bit jealous of mine. I’ve had it before so I know that the fluffy little potato balls are going to bring me joy, but it’s always a struggle to decide between that and trying something new.

One day we will have to go back for lunchtime and check out their pizzas.

We then finished things off with dessert. We almost didn’t order any because we were getting so full, but we decided to splurge for date night and just had our leftover pasta wrapped up so we would still have room in our bellies.

Brody ordered a specialty affogato (the he absolutely scarfed down!) and I went with the tartufo, which again was a surprisingly large helping! You certainly won’t leave this restaurant with any room left in your tummy.

THE WINE

And finally, what you’ve all been waiting for – what did we pair with all this? Well, I decided we needed to go all out on the Italian theme. Brody agreed to share a bottle with me, and since it was our first date night out in a long time, we splurged a bit on the bottle.

Ultimately we decided on the 2015 Brunello Di Montalcino by Castel Giocondo. The crisp boldness of the Sangiovese grapes paired incredibly well with my tomato based sauce and was a nice contrast to the fluffiness of the gnocchi. Brody is always a fan of a big bold red so he was quite pleased as well.

CONCLUSION

Overall, it was an ideal first date night back out on the town, and perfect fare for a night as cold as it was. I look forward to going back again on a regular basis and I wish all the best to the owners and staff who work so hard to keep it open and make it an amazing experience for it’s guests. Salute!