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Review content:
My wife and I were visiting Portland last weekend and met at DeCarli for dinner with another couple who had driven up from Salem. They parked in front, and we found ample street parking around the corner on the right from the restaurant, plus we noticed a municipal parking lot just beyond. Good thing to know, because we went early and the place was starting to fill by the time we were through. There was the warm, friendly buzz of people visiting and enjoying dinner, a good place to be. We started with the yummy polenta fries appetizer, then found the beet salad and Caesar salad to be the best we've had in a long, long time. Made with fresh ingredients, too, I must add. Owner/Chef Paul DeCarli, who visited our table, mentioned all produce and meats are purchased locally first whenever possible. We had four different entrees and were able to sample each other's and found them all to be fantastic--tuna, porchetta, shortribs, and ravioli. We were quite full by that point, but managed to sample two delicious desserts by sharing the bread pudding with gelato and the ""lavender"" dessert. Excellent, it was all excellent! Our waiter was friendly and took good care of us, as did other staffmembers, without being obtrusive. During the dinner, owner/manager Jana DeCarli also stopped by to chat, which lent to the relaxed, genial, ""family"" feeling we all left with. We'll be back, for certain, next time we are in the area and won't miss driving to the downtown section of Portland when there is a restaurant of this caliber in Beaverton. And, we plan to get there early in the evening because this best-kept secret won't be for long!
Pros: excellent food, excellent service, excellent atmosphere
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