Last night I went to the Porter House in Santo Domingo (Abraham Lincoln) with Larry, Robert and BOK (PIB's better half). The restaurant is relatively new and doing very well from what we could see. Here is the rundown...
We had reservations for 8:00PM and showed up at about 7:40PM to have a drink in the bar area. There was only one party seated in the dining room and about 20 servers bustling around preparing for the night. The bar area is a comfortable place to hang out and the service was excellent. At 8 or so we decided to move to our table and were not hassled at all about paying the tab at the bar. They never even mentioned it and just transferred it to the dining room. This main seem like common sense to many of you but in the DR you never know how things are going to go. It was refreshing.
The whole place is very nicely decorated and a bit upscale. The only complaint that you will read here is that the temperature was a bit chilly.
We had an absolutely fabulous meal. Salads or soup all around...bottle of wine...steaks(good sized Ribeyes...not obnoxiously big...just right) and churrasco...all cooked exactly as we asked for...mashed potatoes and fried yucca...mmmmm.
Bo had dessert while the rest of us enjoyed after dinner drinks (port for Scandall, Grand Marnier for Larry and TWO huge coffees for Robert).
The service was absolutely outstanding. I would have to say that it is the best I have ever had in the DR. The staff is clearly very well trained. Bad service is somewhat of a mainstay down here so this was refreshing. Especially since we were spending good money.
The total bill came to about RD$7,000 (with the 26% in it). We threw in another RD$500 tip because the service was so good. Roughly USD$50-$60 each for a spectacular meal with great service. A no brainer.
At the bottom of the bill they give the total in pesos, dollars and euros. I thought that was a nice touch.
The dining room was full when we left and the parking lot was full of cars. Nice cars too....a 2005 Ferrari among them.
Anyway, all four of us agreed that it was outstanding, well worth the price and that we would have no reservations about returning.
Wear decent clothes and remember that it might be a little chilly. I recommend making a reservation too. The dining room was full when we left at 9:30PM.
Scandall
We had reservations for 8:00PM and showed up at about 7:40PM to have a drink in the bar area. There was only one party seated in the dining room and about 20 servers bustling around preparing for the night. The bar area is a comfortable place to hang out and the service was excellent. At 8 or so we decided to move to our table and were not hassled at all about paying the tab at the bar. They never even mentioned it and just transferred it to the dining room. This main seem like common sense to many of you but in the DR you never know how things are going to go. It was refreshing.
The whole place is very nicely decorated and a bit upscale. The only complaint that you will read here is that the temperature was a bit chilly.
We had an absolutely fabulous meal. Salads or soup all around...bottle of wine...steaks(good sized Ribeyes...not obnoxiously big...just right) and churrasco...all cooked exactly as we asked for...mashed potatoes and fried yucca...mmmmm.
Bo had dessert while the rest of us enjoyed after dinner drinks (port for Scandall, Grand Marnier for Larry and TWO huge coffees for Robert).
The service was absolutely outstanding. I would have to say that it is the best I have ever had in the DR. The staff is clearly very well trained. Bad service is somewhat of a mainstay down here so this was refreshing. Especially since we were spending good money.
The total bill came to about RD$7,000 (with the 26% in it). We threw in another RD$500 tip because the service was so good. Roughly USD$50-$60 each for a spectacular meal with great service. A no brainer.
At the bottom of the bill they give the total in pesos, dollars and euros. I thought that was a nice touch.
The dining room was full when we left and the parking lot was full of cars. Nice cars too....a 2005 Ferrari among them.
Anyway, all four of us agreed that it was outstanding, well worth the price and that we would have no reservations about returning.
Wear decent clothes and remember that it might be a little chilly. I recommend making a reservation too. The dining room was full when we left at 9:30PM.
Scandall
