Reviews of Vinland (Restaurant)

Jennifer Downey

Food was divine. Great little spot. Quiet and quaint.

Meg Miller

We recently hosted a large dinner at Vinland and the experience could not have been better. Each dish was perfection: unique, delicious and beautiful served. Chef David's commitment to sustainability and local sourcing is inspiring.

Joshua Seagrave

Amazing selection of food. Staff were very friendly and very knowledgeable about the entrées. Décor was very modern and atmosphere comfortable.

Alex W

Nice list.

Jason Chambers

I cook a lot at home, and I don't suck at it... this place made me some of the best darned food a local boy who can truly appreciate quality locally sourced ingredients could imagine! Fresh and pronounced flavors in the tasting menu dishes, along with some of the highest rated international wines I've ever had. I will be back.

Marc Sierra

Food was good service was good. But we left there smelling like old fried food. And that’s not cool. I was there on Friday night. I had fermented oak bread with over four courses. And the dessert was extremely upsetting. Even our Uber driver told us we smelled like Fried oysters

Catherine D

Unbelievable! I love this restaurant: everything is 100% organic and local, incredibly nutritious and delicious. Super attentive, pleasant and passionate waitstaff! We were so honored as well that the chef said hello. We will certainly return the next time we are in Portland; can't wait!

Julie's bites

Excellent, unique, special

Justin Harlan-Haughey

A unique and delightful dining experience

David H. Horowitz

I've had two fantastic meals here when visiting from Brooklyn and I can say the quality rivals anything in New York. I spoke to the chef, who it turns out trained in Copenhagen at the world-class Noma, and is bringing the "New Nordic" philosophy to New England. The dishes are inventive, well considered and beautifully prepared. The hyper local concept is more than as gimmick as the closer relationship with Maine's to agricultural producers and farmers means everything is of the highest ethical and culinary quality.

Jim Zahka

You can have better, but you can't pay more. The top sirloin small plate was very good, the chicken marginal, and the cheese plate uninspiring.

Shelly Robbie

Incredible meal. Our second time there and possibly even better than the first. I had the mussels-big plump mussels with a flavorful broth- my daughter had scallops and her boyfriend chose the strip steak. Wonderful meals all, carefully sourced and thoughtfully presented. Don't pass up the chance to dine here.

truejavachik

A perfect evening sitting at the counter, talking with the friendly, unpretentious, and talented staff. They put so much care into every detail. I look forward to returning.

drew blake

The food was very well done and I love the local approach. It's definitely geared more toward upper crust diners as the portions are small and the expectation is that you will buy multiple dishes and spend lots of money. The steak and hen of the woods was exceptional!

elena agark

An amazing experience. We were somewhat skeptical and afraid it would be gimmicky, but almost every dish we had (and we tried almost everything on the menu) blew us away. The chef brings out the flavors of main ingredients with skill and talent, and makes you savor everything.

Joel Shapiro

High-end fine dining using only organic, locally-sourced materials. Unique pairings of foods makes each small dish an individual treat. A great choice for a celebratory event or just because you want to see how regular food can be reimagined and beautifully offered.

Meredith Anna

Amazing! If you are in Portland, ME, eat here!

han nicks

Absolutely amazing. I love the cozy, modern feel. The food was the best I ever had and the service was incredible! High recommend this resturant for not only the food but for the great environment!

Andrew Bieber

The food here is Amazing. The chef sources all ingredients and every forgoes staples like lemons and olive oil. The menus changes often and is composed of small plates with rather large portions. 6 plates proved more than enough for two. Also the cocktails are amazing and he wine list was well composed.

Zygmunt Spray

I loved the idea of sourcing all of the produce from Maine, but dishes lacking salt, pepper, sugar etc, ended up bland and disappointing. With high prices per dish and encouragement that you need at least five plates it's an overpriced and arrogant experience. Thoroughly enjoy eating great local food, but this is not the way to do it.

Andie Bernhardt

Exquisite food. I don't use that word ever. Order the lamb for sure, but honestly order everything - you cant be disappointed, only surprised. You will expect something to turn out one way, and they prepare it totally differently. Great option to choose between shareable size and entree size. The smaller, shareable size was perfect for all three of us. Professional service from everyone too!

Joshua Rosen

Vinland is currently the best restaurant in Portland. Portland has the best restaurants on the East Coast and I include New York in that statement. Because it's such a competitive market chances are someone will bump Vinland off of their perch at the top but as of today its the best. Vinland is hyper local, if it doesn't come from Maine they don't use it. For example the salt is sea salt because Maine is on the ocean but it doesn't have salt mines. The food is highly innovative and superbly prepared. We just ate there a second time, once again it was spectacular. The menu was completely different from the last time which is one of the attractions of a restaurant like Vinland. We just ate there a third time, still fantastic. 2019: We had a double helping of the lobster, the muscels, the chicken and the steak. The really outstanding thing was the crispy chicken skin. Overall still excellent.

Karen Beardsell

It started nice with a tasty starter. Then we waited over an hour for the mains which were all disappointing. Rubbery chicken which we sent back right away and overall the food was overly oily and not on par with other farm to table restaurants. Over priced with small portions, which would be acceptable if the food was what we expected. Read all positive reviews and can't understand why our experience so different!

Corey Laplante

Some of the best/freshest food in Portland !!

Katie Hatch

One of a kind philosophy for a restaurant. Open your mind, and it's bound to be blown away by the innovative menus, delicious local flavors & incredible wine selection.

Marc Dionne

Great concept restaurant. All local ingredients, creatively prepared. Great service. All selections are gluten free - if that is a concern for you.

Marc Sevigny

Amazing flavors and a great value. Try the tasting menu and wine pairings. Everything was perfect. The atmosphere, the service and the food delicious.

camille romeu

Hope you don't arrive hungry! Over priced plates that are unsatisfying. Good decor and service with a joke of a portion.

LESLIE CRAINE

Friendly people reasonable prices healthy atmosphere.

Kyle Martin

The restaurant is small and intimate. The food was interesting and had a multitude of layers and flavors. The restaurant is more of an experience than anything else. I believe when we went the service was relatively slow and so our meal took almost 3 hours to complete so ensure that you have good stories to tell or are prepared to potentially wait a while to get through your supper.

Joshua Peck

Excels in its farm to table mission, they even source the salt locally. I felt the food was fine, nothing to write home about.

nicole gribbin

My husband and I had such an incredible experience at Vinland last night. The service was wonderful and the meal was spectacular. Easily one of the best meals we've ever had. The menu is complex without being intimidating and the flavors are full and rich. A huge thank you to Robin, our server, for her excellent recommendations and care. We will be returning and encourage everyone who is looking for something a bit different and delicious to check this local gem out.

Alec Boucher

My the wife did and I each did the 5 course dinner and got to try 10 dishes all together. A lot of the dishes were really wonderful but there was one or two that were just ok. Really interesting concept however.

Patti Fredette

If you’re looking for a quick meal, there are lots of good restaurants in Portland. If you want a unique dining experience, Vinland will not disappoint. Chef David prepares everything himself, to order so plan to take the time to enjoy. Everything here is organic and locally sourced. We tried the Hakurei turnip soup, the fondue and the fermented oat cake for starters. Absolutely delicious! My fiancé had the lamb which he loved and the steak tartare was the best I’ve ever had. The intimate venue allowed us to chat with a couple from NYC who are regulars each time they visit. The bar manager is Tim and he explained all the offerings and made sure we had a wonderful experience here. We will definitely be back.

J P

Great selection of a variety of wine. Great cheese platter as well! It's good to see a restaurant that advocates more locally sourced foods!

Mary Rachel Keyser

Amazing! Go here!

Gerry Doyon

This is a very cozy restaurant. The food and wait staff I'd amazing! It's the first time my wife and I had a multi course meal. Sampling all sorts of unique dishes was a great experience. It's fairly pricey here, but, worth the experience.

Miguel Meza

Great atmosphere, great service, and the food was exceptional.

Scott Pactor

Really great spot, like michelin star worthy.

Mitchell Napolitano

Great food. All natural and locally grown fare. Small plates so don't come too hungry.

Alek Petty

It's a yes from me

Pamela Evans

The food ingredients are carefully and conscientiously chosen and presented. Ingredients are prepared to perfection. The staff is welcoming and well informed about everything on the menu. It's nice to eat in an establishment that places local, sustainable ingredients at the center of their cuisine.

Lika D

Came here for a special occasion. Food was delicious and service was outstanding. Best steak tartar I've tried since I left Switzerland!

Jamie Nesbitt

Simply delicious!

Patrick Joos

This is a gem. I get the feeling that Vinland hasn't really been discovered yet. Every dish is a work of art. Similar style and quality that I've experienced at Torst and Aquavit (both Michelin starred) but at a fraction of the price... I'd go as far as saying that my meal at Vineland was even more evolved than Aquavit and that's saying allot.

LM S

I didn't know food could be so good! A hyper local Maine-only food adventure. I'm not generally too adventurous of an eater, honestly, so it was wild how much I adored the unexpected flavor combinations. There was this trust, almost immediately, that they knew something about subtle flavor combos, and I could just let go and follow where the ride was taking me. And oh what an exquisite ride, leaving me mellow and sighing with happiness. The kookiest, but very enjoyable, was the mound of gravlax (raw mild fish that's been cured in a bed of rock salt), sprinkled with little rhubarb slices and tiny flowers, rolled up in a lightly bitter frondy chicory green. It was weird, but I ate every bit and felt like I ended at a really different flavor than I started. The chicken with crispy skin and bone broth - I think I died right then. I've never eaten anything so good in my life. And that was right after a buttery tender steak that was wicked good! (Several days later, we're still arguing which was better.) My partner enjoyed a delicious port, and a rum flight (made from local maple, which is an interesting change). For dessert, the idea of making a sweet whiped cream out of sunchoke was just culinary wizardry. I amused myself with imagining the brainstorming session in which that one came about. I didn't love the blueberry cobbler, but enjoyed the turmeric parsnip sweet custard. (That flavor combo, seriously) After this visit, I think I'm going to have to try to find a restaurant where I live that's half as good as Portland's Vinland. That was such an amazing dining experience.

Phil Manley

Had an absolute pleasure of an evening this new years eve. From the moment we walked in we felt welcomed and comfortable. Both set menus for the night flowed beautifully, and tasted even better. Each dish was obviously built with respect to the ingredients in mind, and the techniques and flavor pairings were incredibly strong. Cannot wait to eat here again.

Karen Kauffmann

Great atmosphere, service, food! Can't wait to move here and return for dinner!

A Hattaway

Delectable food, pleasant ambiance, excellent service: simply a perfect dining venue. If you want to try something off the beaten path and enjoy a leisurely evening, Vinland is the spot. All ingredients are locally sourced and organic, and the space is small and cozy. Great care goes into every dish, and the superb service completes the experience. We had a 2.5-hour dinner here, and felt welcome to take our time and enjoy a slow dinner, taking pleasure in every course. Highly recommended!

Catherine Please

Delicious locally sourced food with great attention given to detail. Service was great; atmosphere was relaxed and the ambience was perfect for our valentines date !

Meryl Nierman

Went as part of restaurant week. The restaurant was mostly empty (weather bad). Arrived at 5:30. Plenty of staff, but service was poor - took forever to get orders taken. When the food finally was brought out all five of our meals were room temp. I sent mine back - my friends were too polite. We told the waiter. Nobody made an attempt to apologize, to buy a glass of wine, to take the plates back and reheat. Overall it was a very negative (and expensive) evening that took 2 1/2 hours. Very disappointing

Gabrielle P

We went for a special dinner on our last night in Portland, and were not disappointed. The attention to detail was unparalleled, the quality of ingredients unsurpassed, and the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed. I had the 5 course tasting menu, and found the portions generous, elegant and delicious. The service was great, too: attentive without being intrusive. It was truly a memorable meal, and the perfect cap to our Portland vacation.

Nik Mirage

I love this restaurant! The staff are friendly and witty, the food is delicious and reasonably priced, and the space is clean and neat.

Brian Green

A dining delight. Vinland is a 100% local sourced farm-to-table restaurant. The meals are incredibly well thought out and prepared by Chef David. Even the spirits are locally sourced.

Daniela Seminara

Amazing 5 course tasting dinner...superb seafood and exquisitely presented!

Christina Earley

great service and great food

Zach C

This place is absolutely amazing. Farm to table, as organic as it gets; and the food is just amazing. I can’t say enough good things. I am a huge foodie, and this is one of the best places I’ve ever been. The presentation is beautiful, and the food taste amazing. I wish they opened up in Boston where I live. I would come here every night. The chef is just brilliant.

Nicole G

If you are looking for a well thought out and adventurous fine dining experience, Vinland is the place. The chef prepares delicious local food focusing on the natural elegance of ingredients. A wide variety of local organic produce as well as seafood and meats grace this entirely gluten-free menu. The bread is DIVINE! The atmosphere was intimate and hip. A great place for a leisurely meal with a few friends.

msutube11 .

Unquestionably a great fine-dining experience. The subtle flavor combinations made for a curious and delightful meal. It would get 5 stars, except for a mixup on one order and lamb that was mostly fat. Expect to pay around $80 per head for two courses and drinks.

Andrea Melvin

Completely different from anything I’ve ever had! This place may be a hidden gem.....!! If you are gluten free (OR NOT) this place is Not to be missed if you are in downtown Portland! I have Zero bad comments to make! Service was great, drinks were great & food was great!

Stewart Lundy

When it's avant-garde to have principles, this restaurant takes it up a notch not by sourcing 90% of its ingredients locally, but by sourcing ALL 100% locally. It's that last 10% that's not just difficult, it's crazy. It doesn't just take a believer, it takes a benevolent zealot to make it happen because it involves bending over backwards at every turn to turn that 90% into 100%. I am a farmer. We grow everything organically and naturally and understand the costs. This restaurant does NOT "externalize" costs to cheap labor (workers rights) or industrialized agriculture (soil degradation) or a high carbon footprint from transporting hundreds of miles (climate change). As a farmer (in Virginia), I am a temperamental breed like my culinary counterpart (chefs). I cook almost all of my own food and I know where virtually everything I eat comes from. When you can get the best fresh from the garden it gets pretty hard to find a place to eat out because -- let's face it -- most chefs are using sub-par ingredients and are really clever at disguising it with fat, salt, and sugar. Vinland doesn't have to fake it to make it. You can dress up bad ingredients, and that makes you clever. But if those other restaurants don't care about the quality of your ingredients, they should go back to being line cooks. Vinland cares about ingredients AND presentation. There are a few oddball negative reviews I've seen of this place based on leaving "hungry" but I think those people are bit like my hogs and are accustomed to eating out of a trough and not off plates. With just the salad and a protein, it was already a real meal. We opted for the 5-course dinner which isn't just a good deal, I don't understand how they make a profit off it. I did NOT leave hungry. I'm instinctively skeptical of "gluten free" and my bar of expectation always lowers unconsciously, but this place delivered to my surprise. Flavors do not disappoint. Service was excellent. And, honestly, the principle of it made what was already a very good meal into something that isn't just good: it's ethical. The fact that this restaurant didn't make the shortlist of best restaurants for Portland is an indicator of ignorance (not having been to Vinland) or ignorance (not knowing quality if it sat on your face). Very nice natural wine selection. This place likes doing it the hard way, because anything worth doing is worth doing right. I respect that because I don't think "cheap is better" when all that means is undermining our environment, eroding economic justice, and destroying social equality. More dollars go right back to this community here than just about anywhere else in Portland. Save the bumper stickers and eat at Vinland.

SARAH LEONETTI

Vinland offers a completely gluten-free dining experience (minus beers on their menu). It was a great comfort to my nephew who is newly diagnosed with Celiac and his parents that he could confidently order anything on the menu and it was safe for him to eat. The food was outstanding! We all tried a little bit of everything - the lamb with polenta was dynamite, the cheese board with GF flatbread was yummy and plenty for 6 of us to pass around. Their green salad had a wonderful GF blue cheese vinaigrette that I would have happily sipped through a straw. Diners should know that the menu changes often with what's seasonally and locally available; service is slow but thoughtful as everything is prepared fresh. It is also pricey - but in my opinion not unreasonably so since you are getting a very specialized menu that is agreeable to those with special dietary restrictions. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a GF, paleo or organic experience! It is nice that they took the worry out of dining out for my family.

Robert A. Kaku

Food was completely unseasoned (apparently they only use local ingredients and there wasn’t local salt available so they didn’t salt the food???). Staff and service was great though! Also based on Owner’s response to Camille Romeu’s review 11 months ago, the owner seems like a bit of a jerk.

Julio Perez-Delgado

Excellent taste of Maine. Ingenuity and talent to put a taste of Portland in your buds.

Gregory Giotopoulos

I wish I could give Vinland 4.5 stars as it merits more. Excellent farm to table restaurant that truly only gets food from Maine. We had a salad and the cold soup. The turnip soup was excellent and the presentation was gorgeous. The salad was beautiful but a bit too salted for my taste. This is where I take the half star off. Too many restaurants over salt their food. Dinner was the Bangs Island mussels and monkfish which were both amazing. Vinland is a place to visit if you're in Portland. It has cute ambiance, a friendly staff and excellent food. Definitely a recommended place!

Google User

Thank you David Levi for a fantastic dinner. The service and food was mouth watering. My wife and I enjoyed the monkfish which was cooked perfectly. You truly have a talent. David also came to visit our table at the end and tell us about his 7 month child because our little one was being fussy :) He made us feel comfortable and we will definitley be coming back. I couldnt stay more nice things about the experience. Thank you!

Alex McCormick

Eat delectable 100% local food to nourish your soul! The Nordic and Italian influences of chef David Levi's background are apparent in his artfully composed, minimal plates. The carefully balanced flavors and attention to detail in plating will leave you planning a return trip to Vinland. I have had a tasting menu dinner at Eleven Madison Park, but I would choose a meal at Vinland over that any day.

S Salsbury

I can see why this place is so highly rated. Wonderful food, great staff. Refreshing menu and some great daily specials. Everything is prepared to order and presented with pride by the staff. Strictly gluten free and Maine sourced food. Two thumbs up!

Stas Alekseev

Lamb dish was raw meat, and was raw after I sent it back to the kitchen. Waiter never checked on us. Also they were hesitant to sit us down in the first place due to being “busy” as we didn’t have a reservation but half the restaurant was empty and stayed empty.

Kris Ahlstrom

Creative and delicious

Maria Ciannavei

Kudos to Chef David and his staff. Brilliant concept! Every morsel of food is sourced ONLY in Maine, and all organic and gluten free. Don't ask for a Gin and Tonic like I did, cause there ain't no quinine in Maine! The only exception to the exclusively from Maine food sourcing is the fine wine list which includes the best wine regions around the world - Italy, Spain, France, etc. But are all naturally fermented on the vine. A truly "farm to table" restaurant menu. Fresh. Yummy. Substantial not very Small Plate style servings. Oak Cakes taste line Parmesan Frico! Suggestion - Try to create your version of the quintessential Maine Moxie and Whoopee Pie. Mille Grazie!

Joseph Espo

Great food