Chaval - Portland

We were visiting Portland late summer. A local recommended this place to us and, boy oh boy, were we in for a treat. We were seated at the bar with a front row seat to the kitchen. The cod was delectable and so were the desserts. Don't pass up on the churros! They were sweet and slightly salty. Simply exceptional.Food: 5/5

Popped in on a recommendation from our inn (Blind Tiger) and had a wonderful meal at the bar. Friendly, attentive staff and thoughtful cocktails and food. Don’t miss out on those deviled eggs. YUM. Lots of travel lately, will sleep well tonight. Thanks, Chaval! ?Food: 5/5

Having spent over $350.00 on a table of four, we have never been so disappointed. On the menu the description of the food sounded interesting and had a promise of unique flavors. Everything had a same blandness except for the blue fish. It was very, very over salted. I called the restaurant just to talk about our experience but never got a call back. My suggestion is don't waste your time and money.Parking: it was fine we had a 4:30 reservation, we were the first patrons

Chaval was recommended to us by a family member as a great date night location, however it was okay at best.We had reservations for dinner and we were able to be seated within our time frame. The staff while friendly did seem a bit disorganized as three different people came to our table to start service. We ordered drinks and appetizers but the appetizers took almost 45 minutes to arrive.When dinner arrived the only dishes that looked good was the venison and the burger. The beef cheeks looked thrown on the plate and the pasta looked like a bowl of solid black noodles with a pile of gelatin on top.Everyone agreed the venison was the best dish. The burger was overcooked and dry. The lobster noodles tasted like a salt shaker was mixed in the noodles and the beef cheeks were unflattering.Not quite sure what happened in the kitchen but it did seem like someone was trying to copy a recipe.The final nail in the coffin was our server left for the evening and once again we were bounced between three different people.For the price $50+/per person) there are definitely better options in the area. We actually went for other food after dinner since people did not want to finish thier dishes. Not sure if they just had an off night or what but for the price it shouldn't be that off.

As a frequent travel who does research in places and loves dining in high quality places, the experience at Chaval was deeply disappointing. The short story: the food was mostly good, a bit overpriced, but the service was horrendous. We arrived at the beginning of the dinner shift 5:30p and had our full order before 6:00p— we ordered lots of things, drinks, appetizers, first and main courses. The appetizers came quickly, and then… we waited well over an hour !! for the main course dishes to come. We were very patiently waiting despite the delay. After an hour wait, we asked the server to tell us how long more we had to wait, and instead of offering an apology, a round of drinks on the house, or anything, he tried to justify the delayed, saying they had warned one of the dishes “took a little longer,” and that “this is how long food takes. “ we were so taken aback. We have dined across the world and never had this fully unapologetic experience in a place with so much hype. Notwithstanding all of this, no apologies, no compensation of any kind, they even felt entitled to include a 20% tip. I hope I the management reads this and takes actions. I am not coming back and will discourage all my friends from dining there.