Gumba

Have been here twice now and both twice have been such an amazing experience. Service is always friendly and attentive. Perfect for date night

Great food, awesome service... The only thing is you need to make a reservation, long wait times....

Friendly and attentive staff and delicious pasta! We enjoyed the fry bread appetizer and beet salad in particular and the olive oil cake for dessert was delicious. Definitely gonna be back.

Nice vibes overall.

I WANT THIS RECIPE. I walked 40-mins and busted my heels just to try this place out and I don't regret it one bit. Each bite was a burst of umami. I ordered the Tagliatelle with meatballs-- the burrata, it helped switch up the taste profile a little which felt like I was eating two different dishes in one. So going back and forth with and without the burrata was a little palette teaser. The sauce was thick but not overwhelming.

Staff was really tentative, especially the bartender/server. He kept checking in to see how I was doing since I was the only customer dining alone. (Thank you for seating me in the back corner of a cute and petite table but also not completely separated/singled out from everyone. I was really nervous about dining alone so thank you for taking care of me ). Will visit PDX again just to try out other items on the menu!

Decided to stop by for a quick bite and forgot how good their pasta is here. Decor is eccentric. We were tucked away in the back by the bar which was a nice cozy setting.

Beet salad: delicious dressing. So good that I saved it to dip my bread in. Don't miss this salad if you love beets.
Albacore bruschetta: delicious, a bit hard to eat but still enjoyable if you cut it up into bite sized pieces.
Pappardelle: I could have this all the time. The sauce was savory. The pappardelle was cooked al dente. Fantastic dish.

The cocktails were good. However, I really wanted try their limoncello which they were out of. Sounds like I'll have to come back to try it!

4.5 for me! The first time I had Gumba was at their food cart location, so I was looking forward to trying their brick and mortar location. We were seated with no wait in the back near the bar. It was pretty busy for a Monday night. Our server was very organized and immediately greeted us. We ordered the bruschetta, beet salad, and pappardelle. Everything was fantastic! The pappardelle stuck out to me the most. It was so enjoyable that I'm looking forward to my next visit to try the rest of their menu.

Well worth taking a date here! The ambiance is nice and quiet with the option of a busy bar in the back area. Started off with an absolutely amazing bruschetta that had albacore and mustard on it. Not only that, but the bread quality was perfect for all of the toppings on it. Really excited they tried something different.
Service was very attentive. We were told about the special for the day which the limited menu didn't display so had to jump on that. It was a pasta and meat plate that had a lot of flavor. To pair with this, Gumba had orange wine that you don't find often.
Really enjoyed the evening here, will be sure to come back.

This was just...ok.

While the ambiance was cute and the service we received was great, the food at Gumba fell short for me. I'm kind of bummed about it because after reading all the positive reviews, I was really looking forward to spending some serious calories on their carb loaded menu. We ordered:

Fry Bread with chicken liver mousse -- the fry bread was delicious and the mousse made for a great spread. The raisin things on the side that came with the mousse was just too sweet. We couldn't eat it and left it on the plate when we were packing up our leftovers.

Squid ink spaghettini--my husband's choice for the evening. He said he really enjoyed this dish. I liked his meal more than my own because it was packed with some serious flavor. It was citrusy and refreshing.

Pesto spaghetti with crab--on paper this pasta sounded delish. While the pesto flavors came through, the whole dish itself was very bland. It was just under seasoned. The pasta too was lacking and felt overcooked. I ended up not finishing the dish as I didn't want to spend anymore calories on it.

Eggplant Olive Oil Cake--I've never had an eggplant cake before and I'm always down to try new things. This was surprisingly good! The slice we received was huge, big enough to share with 2 people. The cake was dense but moist. The eggplant was situated on top of the cake and the whip cream went well with it, I wish there was more of it.

It was my sister's birthday and she had wanted to go to this restaurant for some time. A bunch of our siblings and relatives came to celebrate with her.

You would never know this place existed from the outside. I have frequented joints, like Pine State and Proud Mary's, on Alberta street many times. But this restaurant is tucked away in the back recesses of the street. Nothing fancy on the exterior. When you enter, the mood is very romantic and intimate. There are whimsical decorations surrounded by fun patterned wallpaper. Even though our table was very large, it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The server we had was very knowledgeable and attentive. She was patient with our group and helped make some good recommendations on food and drink.

We started on some appetizers. The albacore and tomato bruschetta was good but nothing to write home about. The fry bread on the other hand was the MVP. It doesn't look like much but the bread has a wonderful crunch on the outside with a soft and spongy interior. The Parmesan and rosemary add a nice little punch without overpowering the bread. The little flakes of sea salt and creamy burrata on the side helped marry everything together.

For my entree I had the rotolo with shrimp. This was the least flavorful thing I had there. This dish did not have as much substance compared to the other ones. The ingredients like the shrimp, peas, and mozzarella were just muted and everything kind of blended together. I preferred the squid ink entree over this.

After we finished dinner, the staff was very accommodating to provide us with forks and plates for the cake we brought in.

Overall, I appreciated the unique Italian twist that this restaurant provides. Depending on what you get, some dishes pack a flavor punch more than others. The fry bread is on a whole different level though. One of the best fry breads I've ever had in my life. That is definitely worth trying if nothing else!

Chose Gumba for my birthday dinner because I had heard so many good things about their food going back to their food cart beginnings. Plus, I love Italian food.

Inside is warm, fun andinviting. Lots of color and different seating areas. The bar area is very cool and includes bar seating.

The states up front that this is not your typical Italian preparation, but Gumba's interpretation. Truth in advertising.

We started with the homemade burrata, fry bread and orange flavored olives. The burrata was very creamy and almost had a melted marshmallow consistency. Along with the olive oil, it was delicious on the American Indian styled fry bread. I didn't care for the olives at all. The orange was so overpowering and the honey made it so sweet, inedible sweet. There was none of the salty brine taste that olives hAve and we were craving. I've had olives marinated in lemon many times and the lemon enhances, doesn't over power. These were just wrong.

For dinner I got the pappardelle with braised short rib. The sauce and short ribs were so salty that I literally couldn't eat it. It was such a shame as the pasta was home made and I really wanted it! I even mentioned this to our waiter who didn't offer a replacement or even any comment. Should have listened to the many Yelp reviewers who made this exact same observation.

My friend had a pasta with an asparagus and mushroom sauce that was much better so we ended up sharing that.

For desert we shared a slice of their eggplant olive oil cake. The eggplant threw us off but I'm glad it didn't stop us from ordering it. This was by far the star of the meal. Since I hadn't really eaten dinner, I devoured my portion!

Cocktails were fun and inventive. A decent wine list. But I'm doubtful I'll be back. Just not up for OK when there are so many places that are superior.