It seems like some of the chain restaurants are recognizing a need to adjust their menus for people on a celiac disease diet. Pastini Pastaria is one of them. Unfortunately, it looks like they need to work on their quality control. (Later Note: We checked them out again much later and had a better experience, which we detail here.)
We went to the Pastini Pastaria on NE Broadway at 14th in Portland Oregon. We’ve been to this place before. It’s a decent Italian restaurant and as the name would imply, they specialize in pasta. Every time I’ve been there, there’s been a wait to be seated, so you know it’s a popular place to go. The place is busy and warm and noisy, which fits a family spaghetti joint well but it also features some more upscale dishes.
Of interest to the gluten free diner are a long list of salads, which I’ve had in the past and which are definitely good. Also, they have introduced rice pasta, which they can substitute in any dish that isn’t pre-made (like they can’t do it for lasagna, for example.) I don’t know if it’s always like this, but the only rice pasta they had available the night we visited was ziti. Our waiter mentioned that it takes a few minutes more to get a dish made with the rice pasta because they have to boil the water up fresh.
I got the spaghetti and meatballs with the rice ziti. Sienna opted for a vegetable pesto dish with the rice ziti (she can eat wheat fine but wanted to try the rice pasta too.) Our friend Lorna got a gorgonzola chicken salad. While Lorna’s salad was great, Sienna’s pasta was lackluster. My dish tasted good. The marinara was thick and satisfying, and I enjoyed the meatballs, but the rice ziti had been overcooked. When rice pasta is overcooked it starts to crack into pieces and is mushy. Those of you who have cooked rice pasta are probably shaking your heads, because that’s the main problem with cooking rice pasta. It is really easy to overcook.
Unfortunately, we all got served incorrectly. They brought my dish with two pieces of wheat bread on top, which by itself wouldn’t be a big deal, but they also brought our friend the wrong salad entree, and they brought Sienna a dish made with wheat ziti instead of rice ziti. We didn’t even notice until halfway through the meal when I took a taste of Sienna’s dish and noticed the pasta was a little different. We ended up asking the host about the difference and it turned out they had brought us the wrong pasta by mistake. He apologized profusely and told us all the meal was on the house. Luckily I won’t get seriously sick from a little bite of pasta, and they were very courteous about it, but I have to give them a bad review.
Overall rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: equal but watch out.
Pastini Pastaria
Pasta/Italian – Can substitute rice pasta for any pasta dish.
www.pastini.net
Multiple Locations
theresa says
I wondered about the sauces on the pasta at Pastini I cant find anywhere where is says they are gluten free??? does anyone know for sure
Dave says
Hi Theresa,
Thanks for stopping by. When we went, I was told that all the sauces were gluten free. I would check with your server to make sure.
Dave
Michael B. says
The meatballs are a no go from what I was told. They’re made with breadcrumbs as a binding agent.
I went to the one in Beaverton at the Cedar Hills mall. I got the ziti ( I think that’s their default GF pasta ) and sausage.
We shared an anti-pasta platter, I of course didn’t get any bread but they added extra veggies so I could get my fair share of the bruscetta (sp).
The wait staff was good and fairly knowledgable. I know I’ll go there again.
Dave says
Thanks for the report, Michael B. That’s awesome!
Kyra says
The Chicken Picatta is pretty tasty. One thing to ask: IS the cheese sauce for the Mac N Cheese GF? I know most places start with a roux (which contains flour) so even if you order the mac with rice pasta AND ask them to leave off the breadcrumb topping and bread, there’s still one more question that needs to be answered.
Plus, I prefer Trader Joe’s mac n cheese (’cause it’s way tastier and way way way less expensive).
Amaya says
I’d like to report that I’ve been to the Pastini at Bridgeport twice now, and both times were fantastic. The pasta was perfectly cooked and tasted great. I didn’t think to ask about the meatballs before letting my daughter order them, but I will next time.
Joe says
Hi,
I apologize for my ignorance, but if your daughter didnt get sick from the meatballs then is there anything to worry about? My daughter is newly gluten intolerant so I am trying to learn the do’s and dont’s. Thanks
Dave says
We’ve had them tell us multiple times that there are bread crumbs in the meatballs. Maybe your daughter isn’t very sensitive to gluten? Let’s hope so!
Massimo Italian Restaurants Glasgow says
Ouch. Thank goodness we are on the other side of the pond. But yes we really all have to cater for different dietary types. Hopefully if you ever review us we’ll get a few more stars 🙂
Susie B. says
Wow, we really blew that big time! I’m so sorry, we are striving to be very careful for our GF guests. I will have our staff at Pastini on Broadway re-trainied on the importance of this issue, and also re-train the kitchen crew on not over-cooking the GF pasta. Also, none of our sauces have roux in them, they are simply thickened by reducing the cream, so they are all gluten-free. But our meatballs do have breadcrumbs, so avoid those. We are adding GF spaghetti pasta soon, on our new menu coming out in a few weeks, plus housemade gluten-free Tiramisu. Sincerely, Susie B., co-owner of Pastini
Lynn says
I went to Pastini a while back. I ordered gluten free pasta with marinara to go. I picked it up and on the way home I noticed that there were meatballs on my dish. I called the restaurant to ask if the meatballs were GF and they weren’t so they said they would make me a new dish (After the hostess whom answered the phone asked “You can’t just pick them out can you?”). I had to drive back there and pick up the new dish which passed my gluten free inspection before I drove away this time.
I have been there since and have had much better experiences. I just tend to double check things now and at every restaurant when they bring my order I ask “This is the gluten free one, right?”