Port Fonda

The bartenders are rude and arrogant, especially the one working on Monday June 27^th. The food is good, but absurdly overpriced. Don’t waste your time or money being treated poorly.

I came into Port Fonda with high expectations and left feeling extremely underwhelmed. The food itself wasn’t too great which was the biggest disappointment. I ordered the carnitas and they were off-​puttingly sweet. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my sweets, but to eat a very sweet pork taco? No thank you, I’d like to keep my meat savory. This dish was so sweet that I could only eat one of the tacos, which is saying something because these were very small tacos. Which brings me to another problem: overpriced for the portion sizes. Those two tiny tacos with a small side plate of rice and beans cost $ 12. If the food was better the $ 12 may have been worth it, but in this case it sadly was not.
To end on a more positive note, while the service consisted of your average, kind waiters/​waitresses, it was the atmosphere that I was most impressed with out of the whole experience. The restaurant is beautifully designed and has a lot of potential to become THE hangout spot in Lawrence, that is, as soon as they bring the food up to the same level.

Excellent customer service. Ask for Carissa! Do yourself a favor and ask about the chimi special. Fantastic take on a traditional dish. Today’s special was locally sourced sausage with a tomato cream sauce. Delish!

I have been here at least 6 or 7 times, mostly for dinner but once for brunch (accidentally — we wanted lunch on a Saturday).
Because of all the chatter and raves about the KC Port Fonda, initially I had very high expectations. Some of those have been met; for example, this is not a strictly Tex-​Mex tacos, burritos, quesadillas sort of place. Many of the dishes are more supposedly* authentic Mexican. I say «supposedly,» because I still contend that Port Fonda uses way more cheese than any food I’ve had in Mexico.
The margaritas are strong and well made, and they mean business. I have tried several kinds, and they are nice and tart, not sweet. They are some of the pricier cocktails in town, but I think you get your money’s worth. Margaritas at Limestone and 715 would be comparable (but served in smaller glasses at those places).
I like the chips and salsa tasting (although it is rather pricey and not the pile of chips most of us are used to in a Mexican restaurant). The salsas are really, really good. The guacamole is a very small portion for the money — maybe ¼ of an avocado?
The Mexican soups are probably the best, most unique thing they have. There are always at least 2 on the menu, and they often have a special soup. They are homemade and spicy and have layers of flavor. They are the perfect thing to clear out your sinuses or sweat you out of a head cold.
It has taken me a while to figure out why I don’t love Port Fonda. I have tried a lot of things on the menu, and besides being too cheesy, they are overly rich and just a bit heavy-​handed (the «crema» plus fried oysters on the ostiones tacos are a good illustration of what I’m talking about). I never feel good after I eat there. Another review mentioned it was hard on a sensitive stomach, and I have to agree. And my stomach isn’t even that sensitive.
It’s a nice place to hang out — although way too big for Lawrence, imho — and I will be back. But I will keep most of my Mexican-​food eating for Taco Zone just a block away and lighter on the wallet and tummy.

Slightly underwhelmed each of the three times I’ve come here. Excellent atmosphere, great location, and friendly staff — but I can’t get over the prices for what it just alright «eclectic» Mexican food. Definitely most impressed by their array of unique roasted salsas (and the pumpkin seed dip), and non-​alcoholic drink selections (so refreshing to see creativity in this area). Carnitas tacos are enjoyable (with pineapple!) as is the pork shoulder, but walking away paying $ 50 for two for good but not great Mexican just wasn’t worth it for us. Also, the only spot that is conducive to conversation for a larger party is the upstairs tables under the Port Fonda sign. Call ahead– you won’t be able to hear anyone two seats down from you if you don’t!

With all the mixed reviews, we were honestly skeptical of coming here.
BUT. The dishes we ordered were so delicious, I could forgive the loud, repetitive music that was playing. We got the esquite asado, which was more than enough and came super thick tortilla chips (I LOVE thick tortilla chips, so they were a plus), and two orders of the enchiladas suizas. At first, the enchilada portions seemed a bit small, but they ended up being the perfect size in addition to our appetizer. Not to mention, the poblano cream was delish. Service was nice and quick.
So really, the only complaint I have was the loud music. It WAS a Friday night, however.

Port Fonda is the place to find quality neuvo-​Mexican food Lawrence in a hip environment.
Mrs. R and I stopped into Port Fonda over the weekend to have some lunch. We had both been to the Port Fonda in Westport, but only for drinks, and she had been to this Lawrence location once more without me. I was first struck by the layout and seating. We all know that it can sometimes be a bear to find a place where you can get a space for a party of 6−10+, but Port Fonda takes care of that with a long central narrow table that can accommodate ~20. At the time we came in, it wasn’t occupied, but I could definitely see its utility with a large party. Also, all of the chairs at this long bar and at table are Philippe Starck and are rather attractive.
Mrs. R an I got a table and ordered some lunch. Though we weren’t in the mood for it on this day, Port Fonda does feature a weekend Bloody Mary and Mimosa bar. From my understanding, you get a glass with your alcohol in it, and you then have a whole bar of options for mixers and add-​ins. I was especially intrigued by the pickled item that you could add into your Bloody Mary, including whole pickled eggs. Definitely something I will have to look into on a future visit.
As Port Fonda is Mexican food, we started out with something traditional, chips and salsa. Except that we didn’t order chips, we ordered chiccarones, aka pork rinds, and they were fantastic. The chips and salsa appetizer comes with your choice of two of their four listed salsas — we opted for the mocajete tomatillo and the tomato serrano, and both were fantastic. Each table also has a couple of sauces in squeeze bottles that also went well on the chiccarones.
Mrs. R ordered the Sopa Port Fonda, a flavorful soup with port, corn, and vegetables, and it was very good. Our waitress commented that it was her favorite soup on the menu. I had the hongos fundito, which is a mix of mushrooms, huitlachoce (corn smut), and goat cheese, served with warm tortillas. While I thought this was very good, I did think that the flavor of the huitlacoche (which was part of my draw to the dish) got lost in the cheese and against the mushrooms. Still very tasty, though.
For the warmer weather that is coming, Port Fonda also features a large back porch area that gets the Eastern sun, and looks like it would probably be a pretty good place to hang out and have some hip cocktails in the summer.

Underwhelmed. The service was great, the atmosphere very nice, but the food was less than ‘d hoped. I ordered the pork shoulder soup, and it was a fried egg, pork, polenta, radish and a couple of other ingredients into what tasted like salty beef bouillon broth. My date had chicken enchiladas, and she thought it was a small serving of chicken on cheap tortillas. I won’t be going back.

Kitchen has skills and the menu is creative (and requires some interpretation unless you are a real aficionado of Spanish words that describe food). The chef’s palate tends towards the spicy. The staff is energetic and young. The dining room is spacious and the bar long. This is creative, next-​level Mexican food that Lawrence needed. Execution isn’t flawless, but overall everything works and is a positive experience. The house made limeade is worth ordering.

I’ve been here now 5 times with various company. First time with a small party. I would have given an overall 4 and was pleased we finally has a nice mexican restaurant with quality food and drinks. I did not have to pay. The next time was with friends. I felt it was a solid 3 ½. I had to pay for my food so was a little shocked at the prices of their drinks but I enjoyed the food. The last 3 times I’ve come with my family.
We like to eat. A lot. My husband and I also like to drink nice margaritas. The service the first few times was adequate for lawrence and we sat at the kitchen bar which was fun as the guys preparing our meal were very helpful!
Service this last time was subpar and most of reason we won’t be back. When we walked in we were IMMEDIATELY told ‘it’s going to be 35 min wait’. No one waiting btw in the restaurant. The other girl standing there said no we have 2 tables there. After some discussion with eachother we were then seated right away.
For food – We did not get what we ordered despite pointing to and showing exactly what we wanted. They assumed we wanted a child size since we were ordering for our children but clearly pointed to adult serving. We wanted to try it too. Nevermind though.
I clarified the size of margarita prior to ordering a $ 9 dollar drink. What I was served was ¹⁄₃ the size we thought we were getting. If Im going to have a 9 – 12 dollar margarita it better be handmade with something other than ‘house tequila’ and I better be sitting on a beach in Mexico. Really. Although it tasted good there was so much ice in it it really felt like a ‘shot’. Not a full drink. This bothered me the most. I clarified the size!!! Frankly we should of said something but by the time our waitress came back we were done and i thought id be real rude so i just left it alone
We were never asked if our food was correct or good. She did hear from the guy who serve our dish that we were confused about our kids order and apologized. Never offered plates for our 2 appetizers. Never saw waitress to ask if we wanted another drink — yes I would have kept ordering despite the cost because yes I wanted something else besides water with my main course. This is a big problem for me with service and unfortunately it mainly happens in Lawrence.
Never asked is we wanted dessert or offered what they are.
Yes I have kids – who also are polite and eat at a lot of nice places. But you have just failed to have me order more alcohol and dessert because you just want to run me out or assume I don’t want to eat much. You lost out on another customer because of crappy service while not making more money from where restaurants really make the dough – in the drinks.
One positive I will say. The salsas and chicharrones are awesome. Food is generally good but heavy and very salty. I’d eat the food again but done with poor service.

THE worst beer selection of any downtown, Lawrence restaurant, AND the wine selection is even worse. The Service is great and the food is decent. I love the atmosphere, but the management does not listen to their customer’s requests. Good luck when the newness wears off!!!

Fantastic.
Love the ambiance and the vibe you get at Port Fonda. I got the special which was a braised beef chimichanga with a habanero crema sauce, it was perfect. The guacamole is also to die for! And can’t forget desert, I’m always worried about more casual restaurant dessert, seems to be very hit or miss. This was out of the park, the ricotta donuts are the best I’ve ever had. Now a must stop place in Lawrence!

Too Salty!
So I just did a word search on this page of reviews, and the word «salt» came up 10 times. That gives you an idea of what to expect.
We’ve eaten there for dinner twice. Both times were terrible disappointments, primarily in the SALT department. The first time, my soup was inedible. I complained, and they made an excuse and apology, but did not provide me with an alternative or a discount. We have friends who like this place, so we tried it again. Everything was heavily salted.
Even if they fixed the salt problem, which is serious, we are not fans of the vibe, big screens on the walls, high noise level, much of the seating at bar height along a table so narrow that you can’t have two plates directly across from each other, and a menu that is hard to decipher.
But I’ve heard that the margaritas are huge, so there’s that!

Good atmosphere and great service. The waitress was very attentive, albeit the place was not crowded on a Tuesday night.
Huge place. Clean bathrooms. Food was tasty. But it was too much for my sensitive stomach. The drinks were not watered down. Great Margarita.

Although there are many Mexican restaurants in Lawrence, the others are Tex Mex or border Mex. None are interior Mex, providing the food of good restaurants in the interior of Mexico, as in Mexico City, Acapulco, Cuernavaca, or Merida. This is sad, since there is much more to Mexican food than Tex Mex or the food in the border towns along the border with the US. Port Fonda began in the Westport area of Kansas City and now has opened its second restaurant in Lawrence. The menu of Port Fonda extends well beyond Tex Mex and border Mex, so is a welcome addition to the Lawrence restaurant scene.
But unfortunately Port Fonda, although trendy and innovative, is not comparable to first rate restaurants in the interior of Mexico, and evidently doesn’t try to be. For example, the loud rap music would never be considered appropriate in a first rate restaurant in Mexico City. They have only three choices of wine, not even including a Pinot Noir or Merlot. In addition, Port Fonda does not offer black beans or shrimp. Port Fonda does not offer any of the really fine seafood found in coastal cities of Mexico, such as Veracruz (other than the mediocre trout and oysters options). I did try the trout on the menu. It was OK, but was rather oddly prepared, with the mayo on the skin, rather than on the edible fish. You have to scrape the mayo off of the skin onto the plate before turning the fish over to get at the edible interior of the fish.
None of the seats have cushions. The bench seats in the booths oddly have cushions on the backrests, but not on the seats. Personally I like Port Fonda’s Westport dining room better than the Lawrence one. But since neither fits the mold of a fine interior Mex restaurant, I’m not sure how to label them — perhaps California Mex.
It is worthwhile getting the salsa tasting the first time you go there, but I would not get that tasting again. It was good, but nothing special. The fried oyster tacos were interesting. But if I get them again, I’ll probably try the alternative of fried avocado.
That said, I did find the enchiladas suizas to be really outstanding. I am indebted to the server for recommending the enchiladas suizas (spinach), and indeed they were the highlight of the dinner.

First impressions: music is loud and unrelated to the cultural origin of the food (e.g., ‘I want to know what love is… I want you to show me’). Lunch crowd on Wednesday was minimal. Service was prompt. The décor caters to… wait for it… the collegiate crowd… meh. The aqua frescas are good. The carnitas tacos, chicken tacos, and spinach enchiladas were all tasty as well. The spinach enchilada was the best of the three dishes we tried. The dessert doughnuts were also very good. For Lawrence 4 stars; for the US as a whole, 2 or 3 stars. Recommended.

I came here for lunch with my coworkers and we had a great time. I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant: there’s a lot of light and the layout is simple.
We were all satisfied and stuffed with our food. I got the enchiladas pollos and would recommend it. It came out in a cute little pan and was just the right portion for lunch.
I look forward to coming back to try other dishes and drinks.

The dining scene in Lawrence inched up a serious notch with the opening of Port Fonda. On a recent Wednesday night around 6:30 we stopped for dinner. Probably more people here for dinner than any other restaurant in downtown at the moment, with the exception of the Free State Brewery which at its size can pack a lot of folks in (no similarity in menus, numbers only).
Some good friends who like fine dining hyped the food up big time so we had pretty high expectations going in. One thing is very clear: whoever is in the kitchen has very big ideas and is skilled at delivering interesting food with a lot of flavor. The food, the menu, the presentation, the ambiance, it’s clear to see why the crowd was pouring in.
We had a good evening and weren’t totally disappointed with our expectations, but there are signs of growing pains and attention to detail that need to be addressed in order for this to become my go-​to destination.
Service: we walked in the door with two visible greeting stations. The one closest to the door had no one on duty. At the other, three people were standing discussing something. I don’t believe this was people just screwing off, either. They appeared to be working something out, but no one was watching the door. When one individual did notice us, they came over but it became clear they were confused how to seat us. I mentioned we’d be happy to sit in the long middle table that covers a good portion of the restaurant. More confusion, she says someone will be with us in a bit. No one comes, so we tell her we’ll seat ourselves at the bar. Score –1.
We observe more of what appears to be training on the job at peak service. Service at the bar is tedious, rushed, not particularly handled well, but not so much as to really detract. There’s clearly some adjusting going on. Once the bartender got caught up we did have an important conversation about the meal.
We start with the Salsa Tasting which at $ 15 is quite a lot of food, but a really interesting experience. The pumpkin salsa which I thought without tasting might be the least desirable turned out to be hands down spectacular. The chicharrones which arrive still crackling from the fryer is a real top-​notch foodie experience. The chips, however, were somewhat pedestrian and there were far too many. We probably didn’t consume ¹⁄₃^rd of them so why so many is perplexing. Still, a great choice, but maybe more appropriate for a party of 3 – 4. That’s not a criticism of the food or price, just an observation.
Two house cabs and two Negra Modelas (yeeessssss…) on tap, quite nice for drinks. Very good, full-​bodied house wine.
My entrée — Sopa Port Fonda, a soup with pork belly, pork shoulder, bacon-​chile de arbol broth, grilled vegetables, masa dumplings, crunchy garnishes, fried farm egg, cilantro, lime, was a true blast of interesting and complex flavors and textures. The savory fattiness of the pork belly, the heat from the broth, something pretty special. But, as I told the bartender when a conversation finally ensued, just a tad on the high side for sodium. My wife agreed. I get it that bold flavors can demand you walk right up to that point with a dish, but I think the chef on this evening went over what they should have. Someone doing tasting should confer a second opinion on a $ 14 bowl of soup, no matter how grand.
Her dish: Pulpo. tomato, chipotle and bacon braised baby octopus, baby arugula, grilled knob onion. Thank you, thank you. Finally, a restaurant with enough balls (outside of sushi) brings octopus to LFK. Interesting flavor, complex, but… here it comes again… a bit too high on the salty side, to which we both agreed. Served with warm tortillas, it was certainly a great dish with lots of flavor. You’re now asking if we are salt pussies. Nope, we cook, a *lot*, and we dine out a lot, and all over the country, but more in NYC than anywhere. And I love salt, as evidenced by my collection at home: smoked, 3 – 4 types of sea salt, Kosher, black Hawaiian, etc. (sorry, Hutchinson, no dice).
Overall I really like the restaurant and will definitely return and go for some new dishes. What they’re doing here is what I want in this town. The menu is enticing, and the bartender saved the night by really discussing our experience with us. I like him. Note to manager: get your sh** together. There are talented people working here but you weren’t at the top of their game on our first visit. I’m pulling for ya.

A new Lawrence must-​do for me. I have been waiting with bated breath for the opening, I think Lawrence is a great spot for the second location. Big fan of the Westport flagship, and Lawrence was sorely in need of decent Mexican food. Love the décor. Friend had the Port Fonda ale from Free State and the donuts. Loved the cinnamon-​y tres leches and all the berries. I had the Naranja Sanguina margarita, loved it. Boozy and salty, and not too sweet. Blood orange taste was perfect for brunch, a mushroom chile relleno with 2 sunny side up eggs. De-​lish. Love how everything comes with radish garnish. Liked the 2 hot sauces on the table for added oomph. Ordered a cup of coffee, was super fresh and good quality. Service was excellent, extremely fast. Seriously having a hard time understanding the negative reviews. Will definitely be back. Don’t change a damn thing, Port Fonda.

This place just isn’t quite ready for prime time. It is in the bottom of the hotel we stayed at for a family wedding so seemed like a good choice for lunch. We came in with a pretty large party, and had a tough time getting seated. Fair enough, they were short staffed. The weird part of things was the hesitation of letting us sit at the prepared table. We were directed to the bar for 45 minutes while another large party ordered ate and left at a table next to ours.
Now once we finally got seated, we had a few faux pas. The 101 breakfast dish wasn’t as advertised with a bunch of grilled grains, but rather avocado toast. Additionally, they couldn’t seem to handle three people at the table ordering the same dish and had to bring us at least five dishes before they finally got the three orders right.
There were also a couple soups ordered by the table, both were atrocious by all accounts and very salty.
Finally, I can recommend the dish I ordered, the huevos benedictos which was a bit salty but also quite tasty overall with a good amount of bacon and the best hollandaise I’ve ever had.
Overall, the food has promise, and when we had lunch the other day the tacos were good.