[2] He wrote in 2021, "The restaurant sticks to playful, comforting takes on familiar styles, including its baked orecchiette with eggplant ragu, aromatic shellfish fettucini, and creamy, slightly spicy ziti with sweet Italian sausage.

The intimate, unpretentious trattoria has built a reliable clientele with consistently well-crafted plates like lemon-zest-and-ricotta-stuffed eggplant with marinara, panko-crusted Oregon fried oysters and aioli, and a risotto of sautéed kale, sweet corn, and aged Gouda.

[8] The restaurant offered a three course dinner for New Year's Eve in 2021; menu options included roasted beets and arugula or radicchio salad, duck confit with ricotta cavatelli and braised kale, butternut squash gnocchi, New York strip, and pan-seared scallops.

[9][10][11] Portland Monthly said: "Let's cut to the chase: The veal, beef, and pork meatballs served every Sunday with bucatini at this hidden (but always crowded) Italian eatery just off SE Hawthorne boulevard are the star of the show.

He wrote, "3 Doors Down may not be as trendy as some of Portland's more recognizable Italian restaurants, but its dedicated following regularly returns for its old school-charm, sizable pasta dishes, and the deep wine list that made it a wine-industry hangout for years... Its gnocchi is a sleeper hit and the perfect way to kick off a meal.