Cabezon Restaurant

We frequent Cabezon, often for special occasions. This was one of the best meals we've had there. Wonderful gravlax appetizer with lemon creme fraiche plus monkfish and black cod served with green veggies and jasmine rice. Good flavor combinations.

Cabezon is a lovely restaurant with attention to the inventive and well-presented food. We had the beet salad with goat cheese and greens that was delicious. Also the green papaya salad atop a seared white fish-really exquisite. The Cioppino was good-excellent broth and perfectly cooked seafood, but in retrospect the other entrees offered more tantalizing variety of flavors. We finished the meal with the pear tartine topped with caramel and ice cream that was heavenly. We were able to have dessert because the portions were right-sized, not a mound of food.

Great spot! Lots of flavors and options. Highly recommended! We’ll be back.

Cab exon is always fabulous! It never disappoints. The menus is diverse with consistent favorites.

Fine, but not worth the hype or money. Flavor lacking

Our server was informative, helped with pairing wine with our courses and fun! Started with a glass of Prosecco paired with the shrimp wrapped in filo and basil with a light delicious peanut sauce and thinly sliced carrots, sweet red bell peppers, onions and rice noodles. Since it was a cool evening and we both wanted something hardy but not to filling we decided to share the cioppino, an Italian seafood stew. The cioppino is a tomato based stew of blue mussels, shrimp, white fish, Dungeness crab, calamari, fennel, onion and garlic. Definitely, ask for additional bread to soak up the broth, you won't want to leave until your bowl is empty! We paired the 2013 Anne Amie "Prisme" Pinot Nior Blanc which is fruit forward and a wine we were not familiar with and it paired well with the richness of the broth and seafood. Good acid balance. Alterative suggestion was the Pinot Gris. Dessert we tried the pear tart with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream...a pair of a finish! Since moving to Portland a couple of months ago, we have visited Cabezon a half a dozen of times and each time try a new dish. Highly recommend for foodies as well as a special dinner occasion or looking for great seafood along with an interesting wine list. Buon Appetito!

Great dinner and we enjoyed the ambiance and service. We were happy with everything we ordered. Wished they had a few more seafood options for the main course.

Cabezon never fails to deliver a wonderful evening out. Great service and outstanding local farm to table fare. It's both a neighborhood and a Portland gem. We've loved going here since it opened.

Delicious! We will be back!

Great service, reasonable food (but I find the 'no substitutions ' rule for sides a little limiting. Probably would go again.

Enjoyed the table designed for two, the manager talking with us, and the excellent seafood. If we return to Portland we would make this a certain stop!

It’s been over 5 years since I’ve dined here. It was good but I’ll prob go another 5 again. Food was good, not exceptional. Nothing worth me salivating to go back for.

One of the best seafood places in Portland. Have the Blinis. And the Cioppino. Oh, and they had fresh swordfish in the form of the best grilled swordfish steak I've ever had.

Was in Portland for business and found this little jewel! The halibut was absolutely awesome! I would highly recommend this place for any occasion for fabulous food and to carry on a conversation.

We have been here 5 times and it is always excellent. A neighborhood gem!! Great food & service, great ambiance and WOW, we could hear each other!! We will return again.

Amazimg, as always! Our server Norman was impeccable. The food and cocktails were divine. My favorite restaurants in Portland, hands down!

Food and service were excellent. There was an unfortunate variability in the temp sitting by the window. It was cold, the heat would kick on and then it would be very warm.

This is a great restaurant. The space is well designed and intimate. If noise is an issue asked to be seated in the smaller room off to left. Small menu but the selection was perfect mainly fish and seafood. I had a purée squash soup to begin that was superb. Flavor was full with many different tastes. My partner had the cod which was perfectly cooked and I had the house speciality. To finish we had this whiskey ice cream. Go you will not regret it

Cabezon is a secret jewel in PDX’s dining crown. It’s my “go-to” fine dining with visitors. Signature dish: Cioppino. Fish is always lovely. Excellent wine list. The dessert is usually outstanding. However, the Pear Tartine was disappointing.

Excellent dinner! Booked this restaurant based on others reviews and was not disappointed. The mussels were to die for! Both fish entrees were delicious and well presented. Service was excellent.

All three dinners were outstanding. We had a delightful evening with just the right attention from our server.

Great food. Great Service. Must eat the caviar/blinis.

Last time we dined at Cabezon, it was fabulous. Food was amazing and service was great.
This time, a completely different experience. Our server disappeared for long periods of time. Our food took forever to appear ...even soup as a starter. We kept looking around wondering if something was going on or if the restaurant was short staffed.
Then the main course was just OK. Two of us ordered the ciopppino, which I had had before. It was just OK, not great. Much less fish and crab than were in last time. I wouldn't be able to rave about it as I had hoped to. The other two entrees were just also, just OK.
The server could have come out and apologized for the food taking so long, at least to let us know she had us in mind. Nope...nothing until we spoke up.
I am sorry, but with so many great restaurants in Portland, a disappointing meal and poor service means we won't be back for quite awhile. Too bad.

We live in CA and have visited this restaurant on our visits to Portland. The food is creatively prepared and delicious. Service is top-notch, too!

There is much to like, and enough to love, at Cabezon to go back for. The food was fantastic, especially the Cioppino. The only improvement on said dish would be to simply have the crab meat on top with the empty claw for decoration. Granted, a little work can make a dish taste better, but I was actually hoping not to have seafood covering my hands during most of the meal, so I saved that bit for last. That said, I could have bathed in the broth. So amazing!

I nearly forgot to mention the caesar salads, which were crisp and fresh, with a pleasantly light and garlicky dressing that I could have eaten all night.

My only knock for the night was a slightly stretched thin wait staff which made courses take longer than expected. I'm guessing some people were out for the holiday weekend. Ultimately, it was a minor issue. We enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Food, drinks, service, atmosphere ... all were great.

Service totally subpar considering how few people were there. Good things to say about appetizers (pate, fries and Cesar salad) but grouper main was fishy and basic. Not a standout.

Wonderful little restaurant in sort of unlikely location. Nice enough area just not where you would expect to find a very special bistro-like place. Great food. Great everything.

Lively place and the food is good, but we were astonished at the restaurant's rigidity. They had two fish entrees on the menu and a seafood one. We didn't arrive that late, but by the time we got there _both_ fish entrees had gone, and the disappearance of the sea bass in particular was a real disappointment. Both were replaced by different fish. We were happy with the one fish substitute, but wanted the sides that came with the other substitute. But no - not allowed. The restaurant can run out of its fish offering - but you cannot make any changes to what they come up with. First time in Portland - had expected a liberal laid-back city - surprised that it was so precious.

Less fish on the menu than previously, which is disappointing. I guess it is the local market.

Food was very salty and the fish was super undercooked.

Ciappino was delicious and had a lot of seafood in it. Very nice and cozy restaurant.

The food was absolutely amazing.

Outstanding dinner from beginning to end

We had a reservation for three at 8:30 p.m. and when we arrived our table was still in use and had been there since 5:30 pm so we probably didn't get seated until 9 pm. We ordered cocktails which were unique and delicious and they seated us at a small table until another opened up. They gave us the house pate to make up for the late wait and we ordered the salade de fruits de Mer and some oysters. All were absolutely incredible. We then had two cioppinos and the scallops special that night. The cioppino was great, but one thing that should have been mentioned or noted especially if you are sensitive is that was very spicy. I love spice but it was almost too hot for me. However, it had good flavor and lots of wonderful seafood. The scallops were big and melt in your mouth. They also comped us dessert. So, the staff more than made up for our late seating and were very attentive. A small, but a beautifully decorated and cozy place. I will definitely be back.

Fabulous food and service

Great little neighborhood spot. This is the 3rd time and it’s always been very good. I’ll be back again next time in Portland

We had a lovely anniversary dinner at Cabezon this past weekend. The food was delicious. We did have to send back the steelhead for being slightly underdone but they fixed it with no problems. We will come again.

Consistent delivery of a nice experience is why this is our go to for nice evenings and celebrations. They easily handle requests with grace, food is carefully prepared and beautifully served, simple menu of quality options with quality ingredients, served with a smile and enough distance to let you enjoy the evening. Romantic, comfortable, and non-stuffy. Go there - you will be glad you did.

We were so impressed by the food. Incredibly delicious and good sized portions for a very nice and high-end restaurant. The flavors of both fish dishes and appetizers that we ordered were fantastic.