The Portrait Gallery

A Restaurant Review

March 11, 2019 Amateur Consumption

Note: This article was first posted on November 14, 2018 here

We went to opening night at The Portrait Gallery in Matthews and couldn’t have been more impressed. Walking in, you can see that the space has history. There is artwork lining the walls and ceiling. The cocktail menu even has drinks named after each of the main paintings. The bar is very clean, organized, and simple in design with a large focus on displaying the glassware. Behind the bar are long community tables with beautiful red chairs. If you walk past the first area near the entrance you will find some smaller tables and eventually run into an awesome patio space big enough for about 30 people. As soon as we came in the staff was very friendly, telling us about the restaurant and encouraging us to check out the whole space.

We decided to start with some cocktails, a tequila-based drink for me and a gin-based drink for my husband, which were both very good. Next, we dove into the menu. Arancini immediately stuck out to us. We get it almost every time it is on a menu since first tasting it in Italy. The staff recommended their variation on shrimp and grits. We opted for the arancini, shrimp and grits, trout, and the knish (fried potatoes). While we waited for our food we were given homemade breads. They were delicious and definitely held us over until the food arrived.

The first plate to arrive was the arancini, which more than lived up to our expectations. It was quite possibly the best that we have had stateside. The rest of the food came out shortly after. The knish were an awesome take on potatoes. The trout was even better than expected with nice crispy skin with a light sauce containing a good balance of acid. The shrimp and grits were fantastic, with the aioli being one of the best parts of the dish. The serving sizes for each of the main menu dishes were reasonable for a place with food of high quality. Prices ranged from $5-15/plate. The plates are all meant to be shared.

After dinner we were convinced to stick around for dessert. I got a dessert chocolate cocktail that even included shaved white chocolate on top.

After hearing about the dessert menu we went for the raspberry and beet panna cotta. It was different and to be honest smaller than expected, but nonetheless delicious. It had interesting flavors from the berries, beets, and nut crisp.

Overall we had a great time at the Portrait Gallery and were impressed by its opening night. We will definitely be back to the Portrait Gallery for more!