Reviews
Deering’s Best Kept Secret?
Pat’s Meat Market has been a fixture in Portland’s Deering neighborhood since 1918. The Vacchiano family eventually installed an eatery on the second floor that’s been manned by able chefs for years. For the last couple years, chef Karl Ronhave, a veteran of restaurants in Vermont and Portland, has been at the helm, and since then The Café at Pat’s has become one of the most satisfying restaurant experiences off the peninsula.
Goldilocks would love Pat’s Cafe – it’s just right in so many ways
"A cafe attached to a meat market is certainly a good idea.
Make it a quality meat market and popular neighborhood grocery, and make the cafe’s menu fun, well executed and reasonably priced, and it’s a great idea. Count me as an established fan of the Cafe at Pat’s Meat Market, then and now……My enthusiasm for Portland’s neighborhood cafe’s grows unchecked thanks to dinners such as this one at Pat’s Cafe. In addition to delicious food, there was the hospitality and good service and the cozy, rustic atmosphere. Fans of this cafe are legion, so it pays to call ahead. Even on our weeknight visit the place was busy with couples, families and gal’s night out parties.
The Groceria Cafe Returns with Quality
The Groceria Café above Pat’s Meat Market has always closed for the month of July. So when they shut their doors this June, few people suspected there was anything amiss. But that Saturday in June was chef Greg Gilman’s last at the restaurant. For a time it had seemed as if it would be the Groceria’s last day as well. Though Jaime Vacchiano owns both Pat’s and the Groceria, the restaurant was in many ways Gilman’s baby. It was hard for anyone to imagine the place without him — so hard in fact, that the staff arranged for other jobs, and prepared to move on when Greg did.
