Cava - Portsmouth

This review is a little delayed as we ate their last summer but we had such a great meal that I when I came across their website while seeking dinner options I had to take pause and drop this 5 star review. Excellent meal and we enjoyed eating in the outdoor seating area!

When making the reservation and h aving endured the patronizing Co/Owner John infamous speel about how we had to be out in an hour and 45 minutes because our table would be needed I supposed we should have been prepared for what amounted to a Speed dating 4 course dining experience , Our waitstaff could not have been nicer , but insisted we order all 4 courses at once and also checked to see if the steak i ordered for my entree was OK medium rare ' which was odd, 'more on that later '. We ordered drinks which were very excellent , then all 4 courses within 5 minutes our first course arrived , a salad with oranges, and mussels ceviche, 'both were good '. Within seconds of putting down our cutlery our plates were cleared and presto the second course arrived , Spanish Fried potatoes and Brussels Sprouts again both fine, again after a swift swap of plates came our entrees a shrimp dish which was well executed and tasty, and my steak medium rare as promised and quite good, but for the fact that both these plates of food were luke warm 'at best. Given the speedy turnaround of the courses I have to assume that the steak was pre cooked reheated for a minute, it bore no evidence of much charring was on the tough side and tepid. Our deserts were both excellent and my churos were fantastic. We had a 4 course meal and 2 rounds of drinks and were out of there in just under 55 minutes . With tip our check was south of $200 . I dont consider this money well spent. The food at Cava overall is good the service was friendly but way too fast and the kitchen which apparently produces food at lightning speed needs to ease up a bit, also there is no reason to pre cook steak in advance . No reason for us to return as there are numerous far better places to eat in Portsmouth and across the bridge in Southern Maine where you are not given the bums rush out the door and the owners recognize they are in the service industry and need to work just a bit on their bedside manner