Portland: 23Hoyt

I was looking forward to a visit to 23Hoyt as its a cool space and a part of a group of good restaurants here in Portland. The space is sleek and feels comfortable, interesting stag candle holders on the bar and nice people. Dinner was good, not spectacular, but generally good.

We started with the "naked ravioli" which were spinach dumplings with butter and cheese. It was a nice preparation and very tasty, everyone enjoyed them. Then a salad that wasn't particularly interesting, but was just OK. The star of the show was the entree, a wonderful chicken paprikash . . . perfectly cooked chicken in an amazing paprika sauce. It was earthy and spicy and a great dish for a cold evening. Dessert was a strudel with a cherry ice cream . . . really boring and a disappointment. The strudel was no better than something from the freezer section at the local grocery store and the ice cream was more "interesting" than good. The chicken was worth a return trip, otherwise the dinner was non remarkable.

Two other comments about the experience. First, the music . . . a guy playing the piano and singing . . . he was awful; loud and off key in a way that set your teeth on edge. The staff was even looking askance at him, so I'm not sure what was up but he shouldn't be invited back. Second was the service . . . it started out somewhat leisurely and degenerated into downright slow and disorganized. There were long waits between courses, the server seemed less than engaged, and dishes weren't cleared in a timely manner. When it was time for dessert and coffee the dessert was delivered but the coffee didn't arrive until after everyone had finished eating. I don't know if this was a problem with the server or bar or kitchen, but it was not well coordinated and the lapse not even acknowledged. I expected a much better overall service experience here and was disappointed, really lackadaisical. I'll give 23Hoyt another try, but I'm not in a hurry to do so.

EatHereOrNot: MAYBE