Review Portofino Parnell - Auckland Central

Food were good. The service was attentive and pleasant.

Absolute exceptional service. The Manager (Owner?) greeted us on arrival like we were long lost family. So happy we were there. This continued through out our evening. Quick to ask us if we require drink, take order, clear plates without us feeling rushed. Food was superb as well. Nice copy atmosphere. Prices affordable. Will be back for sure!

Quality and service are amazing. We love Italian food, and they always have great wine. Very clean premises and the staff are great. The owner works in this business and always works up and above. You really notice the difference.

First time trying a Portofino chain and found it to be quite enjoyable for a work leaving dinner. Portions were quite generously sized and the dishes were quite tasty overall. Just a bit hot sitting inside though and couldn’t really feel any air con on a warm summer evening.

An old favourite. All the hearty, honest food of a proper family run restaurant, with a cosy atmosphere that makes you feel like you belong. Food is great, atmosphere is comfortable, and I've never left without feeling slightly guilty about just how much I've managed to eat

Fettuccine con pollo is a staple of portofino, offering fresh fettuccine and chicken in a rich creamy sauce, 5/5 it's a must try. The Costolette di agnello is a lamb cutlet dish, served with seasonal vegetables and a tomato based sauce. The sauce hits hard with tangy flavours and is definitely the star of the dish. In my opinion, the sauce works great with the seasonable vegetables but overpowered the flavour of the lamb cutlets - which were already a little overcooked. Overall a 4/5. Service was top notch and staff were extremely friendly and polite, 5/5. Ambience was great, with mood lighting and comfy furniture, the booths are private and make it perfect for date nights, 5/5.

Went here for dinner one time and got a chicken salad, it was super good; I highly reccomend! The service was really nice and the waitress was very friendly. Nice atmosphere as well!

It was a wonderful experience to work here. The staff taught me a lot, with smile and kindness. The food is amazing too : carbonara, fettucine, margarita, gnocchis... Everything I tasted was delicious. The benches are confortable, the atmosphere is great as well... I recommend this place +++

Delicious food. Great service and the waitress that welcomed us had a great sense of humour. For an entree we ordered the chilli pane which I would recommend eating fresh from the kitchen. Was very soft, warm, melt-in-your-mouth bread. Ordered gnocchi and cannelloni for mains which was delicious and was also very impressed by the dessert menu.

Had a lunch catch up with current and ex workmates the other day and I have to say the steak I had was cooked to perfection (for me) and melt in the mouth. The sauce and accompany vegies made the dish most enjoyable. I've eaten here a number of times and the team are most accommodating, the food is consistently good and no doubt we'll be back soon.

Yummiest Italian we've had in a long time. The penne puttanesca and gelato were simply heaven on a plate!

Lovely and accommodating people who took great care of our group of girls out on a hen's. Food was so good!

We had a very special, wonderful birthday evening for my girlfriend and I can't recommend Portofino highly enough. We were a party of 20 and every order was correct and every meal was perfect. The service was wonderful and very attentive. The manager looked after every detail and nothing was a problem for us. Overall a perfect birthday function that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. We will be back!

Best Italian food I tried in CBD. Cannelloni was amazingly cooked with delicious rich sauce. Roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary were perfectly cooked. Highly recommended to try Italian.

I love Italian food but this was very disappointing. The food is so overpriced, and tastes like they made it, put it in the freezer and took it out whenever an order came through. I’ve been there twice now and each time the food was either really disappointing or average, so it’s not worth the price :/ would not go there again.

I ordered Beef mince Spaghetti through ubereats but somehow it tasted like lamb mince. I am so disappointed right now. Will never eat here again.

<br/>I had an appalling experience with Portofino Parnell. I ordered one pollo pizza and one garlic pizza bread via Uber eats for a sick patient in hospital who can only eat between 6pm and 7pm and does not eat pork. The wrong order was delivered - I received 2 pizzas with ham and sausage topping. I immediately rang the restaurant for resolution and the staff were extremely unprofessional. I was left on hold for 5 minutes while the woman who answered the phone and the chef argued. I was then handed over to the chef who was extremely rude and would not do anything to resolve the restaurants error. I’m am shocked that people with this attitude work in the hospitality industry - how does a place like this survive with so much competition around?<br/><br/>Thanks to your Parnell restaurants incompetence and poor level of customer service a sick patient was left without a meal today.

There is not much to mention about the food apart from the small amount of protein whilst being priced on the higher end.<br/><br/>Received a white instead of a red which I accepted since they had already poured it, however it was the mannerism of the manager jumping in with her one-sided comments that left me stunned and wondering where her filter went. Dare we say the food was average.<br/><br/>It is not the customers prerogative to know every single item on restaurant menus to emphasise an order. Furthermore, not too sure as to how one should order more correctly at any restaurant in addition to reading the item in full and pointing at the menu to the staff member. <br/><br/>The generous rating is my personal opinion based on overall experience in comparison with numerous other Italian restaurants in Auckland for food, service, price and atmosphere.

Rating for a quick dinner. Food was lacking in flavour and presentation. Staff were friendly and professional. Could not recommend this place as the food was simply not good enough.

As always. Excellent food. Great service. Attentive front of house staff<br/>Busy sat night. Squeezed in<br/><br/>Had the chicken fettuccini. Slightly under seasoned but rich sauce. Great ambient flavors<br/><br/>Hard to fault. Nice dinner<br/>

The risotto on lunch special is very tasty. Might be one of the best vegetarian risotto I ever had. Yummy tomato base with perfectly balanced flavor. Not too salty or oily. Very quick and friendly service. However, don’t like the tip option when we pay. I mean this is NZ, there is no tip culture!

We called Portofino because their competitor next door cancelled our booking. <br/><br/>Portofino were quick to accomodate us - the staff were great, I could not fault service or the environment of the restaurant that was all awesome. <br/><br/>BYO $5 pp (cheap!!) <br/><br/>Unfortunately the food just didn't quite have the flavours it usually has at other Portofino restaurants. <br/>

Went to Portofino in Parnell on ANZAC Day.<br/><br/>Food was great BUT when it came time to pay the owner wouldn't accept the Entertainment Book discount. There are black out dates with the Entertainment Book but it doesn't include ANZAC Day. The owner wouldn't even look at the conditions on the Entertainment Book and was unapologetic. He just told us to complain to Entertainment Book.<br/><br/>As a business owner he should be aware of the conditions of the offer if he's to advertise with them. Also this ruined the whole dining experience at the restaurant. Customer service is just as important as the food.

We went with another family visiting from Aus, and despite having kids there, and that the restaurant was empty...they still took over an hour to serve our meals, not impressed. Used to be great, what happened?

Restaurant decor and location good. Service is efficient but not overly friendly. Staff appear to have a policy of taking an order and then trying to up-sell, and not being overly gracious when it doesn't work or a customer is happy with what they have ordered. Not impressed at being asked if I want tap or sparkling water, without being informed the sparkling water is $8.50 a bottle. In Wellington many restaurants/cafes provide this free of charge. Meal itself was ok, but sadly nothing to recommend. $48.40 for fish, a bottle of sparkles and a glass of OJ.

Came here for the $20 and under lunch and felt like we got good value for money. The portions were generous and tasty. Not the best Italian food but for the price it's worth it. Staff are friendly and kind.

Amazing food and Ilona was very friendly and offered us outstanding service !<br/>We loved the calamari entree. The chicken pizza was made perfectly and we had the seafood risotto with good amount of seafood and was perfectly cooked .<br/>I loved it better than any of the other portofino restaurants we dined before <br/>We will definitely go back<br/><br/>We went back tried the Fettuccini with chicken and also the lamb chops with risotto. Both were amazing. Loved it !

Went for dinner last week and took a guest with us. We bought the GrabOne voucher for a set dinner for my partner and I and our guest ordered from the full menu. We found the food to be good. The desert was below average. There was however a longish delay between entree and mains. I had been asked by the staff (friendly and nice) when we were being shown our seats if we had the voucher, she did not however ask me to present it then. <br/>During the main course the manager walked up to us, interrupting our conversation rudely, demanding to see the voucher. My partner told her that he will present it when he pays for our meal, to which the manager, rudely replied "how will I know you have the voucher if I don't see it now!" I had half a mind to tell her then that she should have asked for it when we were seated, or given the set menus, but I did not want to make a fuss in front of our dinner guest. My partner told her that he will just pay for the entire meal regardless. She calmed down, looking at our appalled expressions, telling us to enjoy our meal before leaving. <br/>My low rating is purely because of the manger's attitude and behaviour throughout the night. She was openly reprimanding the staff in a loud voice, making people uncomfortable. <br/>Will probably never return to this place, even though I found my entree and mains to be delicious. Our discomfort because of the manager marred the entire dinning experience. Sad. <br/>

Went here for lunch the other day - $20 and under lunches are great! It is quite literally under $20 coming in at $19.90 I really felt like i was getting a bargain under $20! <br/><br/>In all seriousness for $19.90 I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and would happily recommend people to stop on by and have lunch here! My meal was the chicken breast served with steamed veges and roast potato

Food was tasty- nothing amazing. Good italian comfort food, and lunch specials are a good value. Had chicken and mushroom rissotto, chicken and roast veges and takeaway italian sausage pizza

I'll start with a positive. The entrée bruschetta was amazing! So yummy. The girls serving were also very nice. But unfortunately we won't be back. To start, we were seated at a tiny table so close to the people next to us it felt like we were dining with them. I asked for balsamic with my main which never arrived. I asked for no cheese, I got pesto; I can forgive this. But the dessert. I ordered the gelato and got chocolate ice cream on top of cream : ( All of this was accompanied by loud Italian rock music playing on the TV and a manager who thought it was a good idea to throw the empty bottles of wine into the bin loudly.

Wouldn't go back. Staff openly reprimanded. Very noisy. Dessert told different flavour gelato sorbet to what we were presented with. Many areas that can and should be improve before we return.

The night started well. We had a nice booth seating for the 2 of us. Lights were a little bit bright though. Some sort of dimming arrangement would definitely improve the atmosphere. Our bruschetta was really nice, as was the pasta. And they had no problem changing the fettucini for spaghetti.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, when it came to the desert, cheesecake, everything changed. The cheesecake looked great but tasted off. We both took one taste & knew straight away. There were even signs of mold (blue dots on the side). It was definitely old, and there was no way we were going to eat another bite of it. Of course we alerted the waitress about this, & we asked for a tiramisu instead.<br/><br/>That was fine, the waitress came back with a tirimisu & commented that it was freshly made, so we should be happy with that (which we were - it was nice). However, as she was about to walk away she turned back & said "by the way our cheesecakes are always made fresh every day, in fact the one you had was probably only 3-4hrs old". Well, obviously it wasn't fresh, otherwise it wouldn't have had mold on it & it wouldn't have tasted off. <br/><br/>We don't know if the waitress was told to say that to us or not, but we definitely didn't appreciate the comment. Even if they thought we were just being fussy (which we weren't), they should keep their comments for the back room & not try to imply to the customer that they're wrong.<br/><br/>It didn't end there though.<br/><br/>When we went to pay the bill ($56.70 before discount), we showed our entertainment voucher (25% off) to the manager & he looked at some chart for a while, before writing on the receipt $10 off. I said isn't it supposed to be 25%, then he proceeded to look at the same chart for another minute or so before writing $13 off on the receipt, and saying something like "here you go that should be right now, you should be happy". I replied with, "um I think you should use a calculator". But instead of doing that himself he gave the calculator to me & said something like "here you do it then", which I did & showed him the correct amount to deduct.<br/><br/>So, the manager finally deducted the correct amount, we paid the bill, and he asked if we'd like the receipt. I said no thanks, that's ok. Then he said "are you sure (while pushing the receipt towards me)" in a way that implied we might like to check it again (since we've been so fussy previously).<br/><br/>The thing that annoyed us the most about this whole process is that both me & my partner felt the manager was just trying to be difficult because we'd sent the cheesecake back. There was never any apology regarding it being mouldy/off. Nor was there any apology for messing up the bill, or any attempt whatsoever to make us want to ever come back. If they'd actually apologised & treated us with respect, I doubt I'd even be writing this review right now. <br/><br/>Customer service goes a long way but in this case it was appalling. A mistake with the food can be forgiven if staff react in the right way. Rudeness & arrogance are not what a customer comes to a restaurant for. Good service, a nice meal, along with a relaxing atmosphere is what they're after. Otherwise we may as well just get takeaways & eat at home. So this was an epic fail in our eyes & needs to be publicised in order for the business to address these issues. Otherwise, in our opinion, they'd be unlikely to make the necessary changes.

Wifey had purchased a grab one voucher and although we have been to Portofino in the viaduct on numerous occasions it was good to go to the Parnell one. Wasn't happy that the timing catching up with friends coincided with the ABs test but Portofino brought their A game with very attentive service and great food. 4 of us were very pleased with everything....and I checked the progress of the ABs over the 3 courses.<br/>Winner Portofino!!!

We hadn't been here before and was using a grab one voucher (that's the good thing about the vouchers - makes us step out and explore).Well... We had a generous set menu to choose from, had fabulous food, wonderful wine, cool company and super efficient service! My hubby wasn't too happy that I had booked on the night the all blacks were playing Welsh - however he forgave me. Whew thanks portifino Parnell! Perfect!!!

Well the food was nicely cooked and presented, the place was clean, the staff were helpful, the prices were acceptable, and they cooked a non-menu order for me.

Came in on a Saturday night for dinner with a reservation. Immediately seated at our table, swiftly attended to by a friendly, smiling and super-attentive waitress. <br/><br/>Ordered the bruchetta and grilled chicken salad as a starter - yum yum. We polished it off within 5 mins. <br/><br/>For mains, we ordered the spaghetti vongole (as I wanted a clear sauce pasta dish) and smoked salmon cream pasta for the hubby. Both were delish. The portions were generous and tasty. <br/><br/>For desserts, we had a hankering for tiramisu - and being someone who makes her own killer tiramisus - Portofino's version definitely passed the test. Great balance in coffee, liquer and mascarpone cream. However, dessert is pretty pricey (close to $15 per serving), so my only niggle is that I wished it came in a bigger portion (and not in a cocktail glass). <br/><br/>Overall, hard to fault - having been to several Italian eateries in Auckland - you do tend to rate them as as 'samey' - but I reckon this Portofino branch in Parnell stood out a wee bit more.

Came here on Good Friday as a quick dinner b4 heading to Vector Arena with friends. This was my husband and I,s 1st Portofino experience and we were both very satisfied with our meals. I ordered Chicken Fettucine, he ordered Gnocchi, our friends ordered Spag Bol & Ravioli. We were all delighted with our choice, desserts were ok, i ordered Profiteroles as well as my friends husband. My husband ordered Pannacota which was a gr8 size as served in a sundae glass, my friend ordered the chocolate cake. We all left very happy and i would come back again. Service was good, friendly staff.

We used our grabone voucher for dinner. Nice friendly staff. My husband enjoyed his entrée which was minestrone soup. He said it's one of the best soup he had. We had chicken cacciatore for main and Gelato for dessert. Overall experience, average.

Excellent service and nice italian food but nothing spectacular. Got a 3 course voucher off grabone, entree and main were nice, although the chicken was a little dry in my pasta. Dessert wasn't anything special just strawberry and chocolate icecream.

We went there with a GrabOne coupon and therefore ordered from the set menu. Entree was the minestrone soup which was nice (though personally I would prefer seashell pasta instead of macaroni in it). Mains was the chicken cacciatora - essentially a chicken breast with pomodoro sauce, 2 spuds, 3 carrots, 1 stems each of broccoli and cauliflower. This normally costs $35 on their standard menu and at that price I would expect some kind of "wow" factor for a dish that cost $5 to make, but alas, it was no better than a home cook dish. Dessert was the gelato which was pretty "meh" - no better than a supermarket bought ice cream. In fact Zuzu's Gelato is much better.

This place hasn't changed for a wee while. We have been a few times as its close by. It's a standard Italian place with very standard, well cooked Italian dishes. Nothing to write home about but great for a hearty winters meal.

FOOD POISONING. <br/>We went here for my birthday, my father had the spaghetti alla vongole (clams) and spent the entire night and the next day violently ill with food poisoning. And trust me, it was from that dish- he had not eaten anything else that could have caused it, and when you have food poisoning, you know what its from. <br/>This was several days ago, and my dad is still not well. We called the restaurant and complained, and it took a good half hour to get a refund out of the manager (only for my dads meal), and he didn't even apologise. <br/>Food poisoning and shitty refund aside, the food itself was so average we all wished we hadn't decided to go here- not to mention, WAY overpriced for how bland and generally crap everything was. I had the puttanesca which i make a lot at home, and it was no better at all than what i make myself- for a restaurant in parnell and at those prices, you would expect something a lot better. So, if you're keen on having a really bad bout of food poisoning and really bland, average food - go to portofino.

Good space and seating arrangement. Staffs are ok friendly. Wine list is not expensive. Ordered a sphegetti witg clams and chilli, not the greatest I had tasted. Some clams are really not fresh and gives away offensive smells. Otherwise my friend's steak seem to be reall nicely done.

Sometimes, the best things in life come in the simplest form. I guess the memo wasn't received. Great authentic Italian food comes from the basics. Great pasta and freshest ingredients (same goes for Pizzas). Keep to the basics and you can't go wrong but I don't know what went wrong here. Pasta we ordered was simply bland. Lacked any sort of flavour! Also, the texture of pasta was undercooked for my liking. The pizza, so-so. No wow factor to it. The base was reasonable, ingredients relatively fresh but lacked in toppings. However, the service was good in this occasion. We were greeted well and seated immediately. The food did take a while to come out which was a let down for sure but we had a lot to talk about after a meeting that me and my friend had attended earlier. Only drastic improvements will see me go here again in the future.

Great ambience and friendly staff at this Italian stalwart of Parnell. Has lasted quite a while (longer than our Herne Bay one at least :-), and this inside is very soothing and comfortable. Great spot to eat with kids, or for takeaways which we like to do. Next time I am eating in, especially having seen their pizzas! We had the veal marsala which was super tasty. You will definitely have a great time here if you like your Italian.

Service was poor. Took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get our food. Food was not well presented or of good quality. Overall a bad experience. I have no intention of going back there and I cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone.<br/>Worth mentioning that I have been to the Portofino restaurant at the viaduct and I had a great experience there.  Parnell is the issue.

Dinner was absolutely horrible. Food and service was disgusting. <br/>We had to constantly wave down the waitresses for service because they were busy talking to each other against the bar. We tried to order a couple drinks and every drink we tried to order they said it wasnt' available. So we ended up sticking with tap water. <br/><br/>We had the eye fillet which was overcooked and seasoned extremely harsh with salt. It was asked to be cooked medium rare and came back overcooked<br/><br/>The lamb did not taste fresh, it tasted like it had been sitting in the freezer for a long while. It was overcooked in some places and undercooked in other places. <br/><br/>The worst part was the Bel Calzone. The pizza base that held the filling was mostly raw and cooked unevenly. We complained, telling them that it is raw and the waitress came back with a rude excuse. She said that she had ordered calzone's in other italian resturants too and has also found the pastry to be not fully cooked properly. She stated however she would never complained about it because this is a hard pizza to make and that it is to be eaten this way i.e. slightly raw. In other words, she's saying that we shouldn't complain because that's how it is and that we were too uncultured to understand Italian food. At the point we were pretty fed up with the service and attitude from the waitress and wanted to leave. <br/><br/>Unfortunately we couldn't leave as we ordered desserts before this fiasco. Again, disappointment occurred again. The desserts tasted as if it was placed in the fridge/freezer for a long time. We ordered the chocolate sponge and canolo. Both desserts were simply places on a bed of cream, very amateur for what we're paying for. The canolo was the worst, it was soggy and the cream inside had become hard and old. It was gross. No effort at all and definitely not as authentic as they call themselves. <br/><br/>I wish I never had dinner here. I would give it a zero rating if that was possible.

I had takeaway pizza and dessert and it was amazing! The service was good but I was having takeaway so I can't say. The pizza is really good!

Awful! I totally agree with the other 1 star reviews. I politely asked if their lasagne had herbs/garlic in it. One word only from the poker faced chef NO. With that surly reception I departed. Place had 2 customers only. Many Kiwis travel including ourselves, and know how Italian food should taste,...pumped with flavour! Also Italians are normally warm/friendly/welcoming...NOT at this eatery. If a customer is happy, then the same person would return in a group. And spread the word around. With so many eateries to compete with I am amazed at their cold/disinterested attitude!

Four staff on in the restaurant this evening, none of which were particularly friendly. The manager was sitting at the table on his phone while the other three were standing by the bar chatting louder than the the customers were (of which there were 6 of us overall). Waited 15 minutes to be served before waving the waitress over to take our orders and were given both drinks and food without a single word being spoken to us, nor were our meals checked on throughout the course of our meals. Finished up and sat with our plates waiting to be cleared and it wasn't until we went up to pay that we had to ask for our plates to be cleared and leftovers to take away. Definitely not the place to go to in Parnell, such a disappointment. Wishing I'd read the reviews first now!

I also wish Id read these reviews as it sounds like nothing has changed. Very average tasting canneloni for $28 and since when does a traditional vegetarian pasta dish cost this much?! I wouldnt mind paying this for something delicious and a decent sized portion but it was neither. We were there two hours and only had our water glasses filled the once despite sitting right beside the bar with two waitresses just standing there talking. One friendly waitress at the start and the rest of the time just bad service. The pizza was quite good and reasonable price so the only time id be back would be for takeaway pizza and even then i think other restaurants deserve the business far more.

We came here expecting a fine dining experience - looking at the prices. Most disappointed by lack of atmosphere, rudest waitress (who couldn't be coaxed with bit of light humour) and most patronising guy behind the bar. The chicken dish looked like it just had a tin of tomatoes slapped on top of it. Undercooked veges. The tiramisu, for a "so-called" Italian restaurant was amateur at best. Then, when we paid the bill, not only were we charged $8 corkage for BYOW (which was fine) BUT also $8 to ask for the cap back to take the other half of the bottle home. What..........were the surly staff annoyed at not getting to keep our wine....... when we were just being responsible drinkers, having already ordered a cocktail each, one glass with our meal was enough. Never, ever again and we shall tell all we know :-(

I'm kind a local person and I do like eat in or take away from Portofino restaurant. I don't understand why people do complain about it, but for me can't complain. Even I could say Parnell brunch is the best ever than other Portofinos, believe me.

i wish i read those reviews before having meal at this place. i totally agree what others are saying. some kids were very noisy, their parents did not care about other people, unfriendly faces from the owner and waitress. the guy in the bar counter was making terrible noises crashing empty bottles etc. I do not think this woman at the cashier said thank you but asked me if i wanted a receipt. the meal was too spicy and salty. will not consider going back there again.

This Parnell Branch - Horrible atmosphere, anyone thinking of having a meal here, you are more likely to be paying to see some of the most unfriendly faces from the owner and waitress. Food is ok, but from the look of the owner and waitress, I hardly enjoyed the food. I know Europeans are a bit "reserved" on facial expressions, but dear owner and waitress, you are now in NZ, bring on some kiwi friendliness. Owner seems unhappy on people using promotion coupons, wonder why they advertise in the first place ??? The price is not too bad, but wouldn't mind going somewhere else with double the prices to get a better service.

Absoloutley appalling - one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had, the waitress was sulky the meal was overpriced, overcooked and very dry and the glass of wine I ordered was rank due to being open too long. Sent the wine back with the sulky waitress and they all stood around the counter giving dirty looks in our direction so when the meal was awful we choose not to send back instead we just did not eat it. When the waitress collected both our plates the meals were almost untouched however she still did not ask if everything was ok with our meals.<br/><br/>Upon paying we used a voucher which appeared to displease them, we also mentioned our meals were not nice which threw the owner into a fit of rage - not the best way of handling thats for sure, he abused both myself and the friend I was dining with and ranted on about how many meals they sell in a night and that never is anyone ever displeased with his food and we were impossible!<br/><br/>Will never ever step foot in this restuarant again and I strongly advise anyone considering dining at this restuarant not to!

My dining experience here last night was appalling to say the least. Overpriced meals which really didn't hit the mark. My steak was overcooked, as was my friend's; the veg was undercooked and the service was non-existent. At no point were we asked how our meals were - even when the plates were collected with half the meal still on each plate. When I expressed disappointment at the time of paying the manager was extremely defensive and rude and started to argue...not exactly cutomer service-I practically ran for the door to get out of there! The ambience is non-existent and the food is way below average. For an entree and main we were there less than an hour - the meals are clearly not made to order. I was really disappointed having heard fairly good things about the food here but I wouldn't go again and would strongly disuade others.

The service was average and not very personal – we had several waitresses serving us. The Maitre d was friendly though. <br/>The food is overpriced and very average. I had the chicken Parmigiana: the chicken was tender but the salad and vege sides were tasteless. My partner enjoyed the Cannelloni. <br/>For an Italian restaurant it lacks any character. We sat in the rear courtyard but the courtyard had no ambiance and there was no music playing. <br/>I thought the wine list was good but there is not really much to choose from on the menu unless you want pasta.<br/>I don’t recommend.

dined here for the first time service was very poor and staff seemed distracted the food was ok but i wouldnt go to the parnell one again although i would attend the mission bay one

I've dined here, and also at the restaurant in Takapuna, before and they were both enjoyable experiences. Unfortunately, last night's dinner was not. I have to question the authenticity of an Italian restaurant when they can't get the most Italian of pasta dishes - Lasagne - right. This was the worst Lasagne I've ever had - it was made with chopped up ham and virtually no mince. It was terribly salty, and otherwise bland. A dining companion ordered the same, and we both regretted it, each sending back about 3/4 quarters of our meal. Our third friend ordered a risotto, which she enjoyed. We told the waitress the meal wasn't good, she looked a little surprised, but just took our plates away. When we went to pay, nobody asked us how our meal was. The service was otherwise ok, and the lemon sorbet for dessert was refreshing, but not good enough to get us back there.

I have been twice in the last 3 months. Each time the service was poor. I expect to be serviced a drink within 3 minutes of arriving, in both cases it was 10-15 minutes and I had to get up and walk over to the counter and request drinks. The food took 1.5 hours for the main to come out and there was only 8-10 other people in the restaurant. The food is good but not good enough to return.

The food was ok. The price just too high for the standard. I mean, I don't mind paying for an expensive food, but this wasn't exceed my expectation. Me and my hubby loves to eat good food. We never mind bout numbers, as long as it taste great. <br/>The staffs are friendly, but the owner seems very strict. He spoke rudely and loudly at other members of staff in front of us all in the restaurant. It was awkward and just plain disrespectful to his employees. Don't want to tell details, but yeah it was just a bad experience for us. Go somewhere to a fine dining restaurant which u can find similar prices and walk out with more satisfaction and big smile in your face.<br/>This is no reflection on the staff or food, and the waitresses did a fantastic job at holding the fort and carrying on as usual. Great service! <br/>Owner: Sort yourself out! Your letting the team down.

One of the best Portofino Restaurants, consistently good food, great friendly service, looooooooove their Lasagne. Just been renovated which is very very smart, but I miss the old quaint fitout.

A good consistent spot. Most things on the lunch menu are $20 making it a safe bet for an entertainment lunch. Everything I have tried so far is tasty and well cooked. The black pepper stack is always tender and cooked to your request. Service is always pleasant and attentive. <br/><br/>If you are looking for a fancy or trendy spot, this is not is. If you are after good tasting food and friendly service that is reliable then this is the spot for you.