In a payday splurge, Erica and I decided to go out last night with our hard earnings. Our friends Abby and Josh decided to take part with us as well as we ventured down to a great little spot in NE Portland, Toro Bravo. I originally was looking up places to go out for Erica's birthday in March on www.yelp.com. Upon being on the top of the list and all the rave reviews the decision was easy on where to go. We marched on there with 4 other of our friends on a Saturday night only to find that the wait time was over 2 hours!! Seriously... so... we left, haha.
So last night we were able to return to find out what Toro Bravo was all about. I pulled up on Russell St. right at the entrance so the gang could put in a name ahead of time. By the time I parked the car Erica texted me "We got a seat!" The night was starting off good. We sat down and were greeted with a large list of "beverages" wink wink. The girls tried their sangria, Josh had a ginger ale beer and I had some house cocktail, all of which d-lish! Further note on the house cocktail I ordered: don't expect a manly glass if the ingredients include tequila, grapefruit juice and house made grenadine haha.
Most of the menu you order Tapas style, which basically means "small plates". This way you can try a variety of things and share amongst your party. There was nothing we ordered that we didn't like, most of it we thought were fantastic! Flavor wise it wasn't too far off from a normal pallet, but how everything was prepared was top notch along with the variety of ingredients. For example we had an Empanada stuffed with spinach, lamb and lime juice, paired along with an arugula salad with a house vinaigrette, so good!
Overall I give them a thumbs up on execution. 4 out of 5, definitely worth a shot if you're looking to try something new. The restaurant has a smaller and more intimate ambience, but the large crowds that come rushing through make it a little louder. It could have been because it was a friday night. So we've tried it, now we dare you to!
