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| - When you think of soup and a sandwich you usually instantly think of coffee shops, subway, or grocery stores. I mean there aren't that many places to get a nice gourmet sandwich out there; and yes, subway gourmet sandwiches are quite far away from gourmet.
Portal Via is hidden inside a small business plaza and delivers a Italian inspired menu with a variety of soups, sandwiches and salads. For somewhere close to 10 dollars you can get your choice of sandwich and a soup or salad next to it. This also is the case for a salad if you so choose.
When you first step into the store, you will notice a very urban decor filled with black-brown furniture, clean and elegant wooden chairs and enough right angled corners to ponder how perpendicular everything is. Defiantly a nice classy place to have a quiet lunch with a co-worker. No patio though. That sucks.
The variety of sandwiches isn't mind blasting, but it isn't a joke either. On your menu is your usual choices of bird, cow or fish with an assortment of sauces and spreads to mix things up a bit. I actually found the variety of spreads very appealing with choices including sun dried tomato pesto, avocado mayo and a chipotle jalapeno spread. Add in fresh grilled vegetables like zucchini, eggplant and a wide assortment of breads and you got yourself a sandwich worthy of taking a picture of (sorry I devoured mine before I could take a picture... It never had a chance). As for the breads, instead of having your basic white, brown or Parmesan, they mix it up with actual different breads like foccacia, chiabatta or Swiss triangles
The soups are different everyday, once I had a red curry soup that was delicious but today I tried the salad.
Now here's the reason I didn't give this place a 5/5. The salads are just that. I'll give it to them for using fresh ingredients but I don't see the same creativity in their salads as I do their sandwiches. Basically it's an Italian mixed greens mix with your choice of toppings and a variety of sauces. I'd like to see some more creative salad lunch-entree (yes I just made up that word) salads like chicken almondines, Asian inspired chicken salads or others.
All in all I would highly suggest this place for a quiet lunch. Best way to describe this place in a nutshell... Classy Italian deli plus IKEA.
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