half price gift certificates- never a good sign?

I'm with kitty on this one.

I think you guys might be looking too much into this. How is this any different than a restaurant.com or groupon type deal? Seems like they are just cutting out the middle man.

Now that I think about it, does anybody how do those deals work for the business? Does the restaurant get a cut of the coupons that are sold by restaurant.com/groupon? My friend was telling me she bought a $25 coupon for $5 at some restaurant (can't remember the name) on restaurant.com. I fail to see how that would be profitable from any perspective.

i also saw that iron bridge in columbia is selling $100 gift cards for $76. i'm a hoco native and can tell you first hand that it gets really slow for some of these places in the summer around here, so i see nothing wrong with doing what they can to get folks in the door. i hope it works.

Portalli's may have good food - but the restaurant was dirty and the service was slow and indifferent. They need to clean up their act.

Anonymous, some of the posters here are reacting to the fact that some restaurants have sold gift cards, then went out of business, leaving people with worthless cards. Caveat emptor!

I use restaurant.com gift certificates frequently and I think the benefit for the restaurants is three-fold. First they get you in the door to try a new place, and with a minimum spending set, may get you to try an appetizer or desert in addition to your meal. This gives you a chance to get hooked on several things, and to want to come back and spend more money. It also helps the restaurant to fill up, therefore looking more popular to other patrons. Alcohol is rarely included in the certificates, so many restaurants make a great deal of profit on liquor sales, especialy if you choose to splurge since you have a discount in hand. Actually a win-win situation for both restaurant and consumer. We have found several new local favorites using these certificates. We even bought them (for only $2 each) for all of our out of town guests who came to our wedding last month!

Allow me to dispel any rumors or conjecture- Portalli's is alive and well, and should be for years to come. I can see where kitty & Sgt Grumbles would get the impression of this being a desperate tactic, but that's simply not the case. When we first opened, we were met with more than enough angry people holding Jordan's gift cards (which we honored) to know this isn't the impression we'd want to leave people with. Besides, we have a thriving restaurant up the street, The Diamondback Tavern, where we'd happily honor the gift cards (and vice versa) if something completely crazy were to happen.

Anonymous hit the nail on the head- summer in historic Ellicott City for dinner is famously slow. If we can get up front sales and attract new guests to try us (even at half off), it's not the worst thing in the world. Add to that the number of gift cards that go unredeemed (usually about 10%), and the numbers work for us.

I know this in-depth explanation isn't completely necessary, but I didn't want anybody to get the impression that we were about to close the doors or anything like that, and there is reasonable logic behind this promotion. Our food and service has been steadily improving since we opened, we had a very favorable review by The Sun's Richard Gorelick, and customer feedback has been largely positive.

Ellen, I'm sorry came away disappointed with your experience (but happy you enjoyed the food). Please shoot me an email at Lee@portallisec.com and I will make things right with you.

Classy response from Lee Blars. Thank you, Mr. B.

Dined at Portalli's with a large group a few months back; service, food and atmosphere were all outstanding. Diamondback extends the same courtesy and care in the more relaxed atmosphere. It's nice to have both options in the area!