Review Portofino Takapuna - Takapuna

Great atmosphere, the food was delicious, friendly staff.

My family and I reserved a table here for my brothers birthday. Absolutely AMAZING service. Our waiter was very friendly and always assisted us when needed. Took photos for us, multiple staff wished my brother a happy birthday and really made the night overall a great experience. Always made an effort to refill any glasses when necessary and make sure we were having a good time! Food was delicious, and the portions were just perfect. Definitely worth the price. Overall, we had a lovely experience and will definitely be back again. Thankyou to everyone at Portofino in Takapuna that gave my brother a beautiful birthday dinner.

Good place to hangout for dinner. Vegetarian food was good except ravioli

Great service. Yummy food. Had a great time with my friends.

Food was great, and despite being only the 1 server plus the manager, and quite busy, the service was still very good.

Had a brilliant night with my partner and her parents. Excellent food and service. We all enjoyed our meals, great portion size. Very tasty and friendly, efficient and helpful staff. Will visit again and recommend to friends.

Great experience!! Lovely waiter, and very patient recommendation of dishes. The food is very good and price is reasonable. Cheesecake was 10 out of 10!!!Excellent service, comfortable environment and delicious dishes! I will certainly come again!

New location is fantastic, very comfortable booth seating and friendly layout, the staff are extremely polite and accommodating, we had entree's, steaks and 2 x desserts with liqueurs to finish, fabulous time at the new Takapuna Portofino, will be back very soon, well done Team!

Great restaurant! Amazing Italian food and lovely service !

Service was good, atmosphere was nice! Drinks were good. Food was good overall (just.found some egg shells in one dish)

We had booked for 18 of us for a very special celebration and without a doubt it was superb.All of us commented on how fabulous the food was.We had a fantastic time which I was so grateful for.From communication about the special birthday to speaking with all the staff who were very polite and fantastic.Highly recommend as it was seemless.We will be back.Thankyou for making the night special for us ,at this Takapuna restaurant,thoroughly enjoyable!

Beautiful food great service. Very friendly and fast coming out with our meals.

Took the family there for a Mother's Day dinner. Inside was full and we were worried about it being cold sitting outside, but their wind shelters works really well. Food was great (I had the calzone, wife had the lamb, kids had the spaghetti bolognese) and came out promptly, especially given the crowded restaurant. Service was really good as well, we felt very well looked after. Near the end of the night especially when the kids' patience was becoming an issue :-D

Shocking experience from service to food.

Very disappointing, the food was very tasteless. While the quantity of food was ample the taste let it down. Friendly staff who were very friendly and welcoming made the experience worth it.

Went here for dinner, there was a friendly staff who assisted us. Delicious lasagna! 😋 Will probably try the Portofino in Devonport as they have the Zomato gold 1+1 on food 🙂

Just rang to book a table. We asked whether they are Zomato Gold partners like Devonport one is. The guy said “don’t have time for zomato” and hung up on us. Shame on you.

Portofino in Takapuna is literally my childhood restaurant, we came here every single week. The owners are the loveliest  people ever and the food is so so good and makes you feel so cosy. I love going back here as it reminds me of my childhood. 100% recommend :))

Absolutely love the food here! And friendly service as well. My favourite is the veal dishes and seafood risotto is the best I’ve had so far. So creamy and delicious.

Don’t think I’ll be coming back. The place is not authentic Italian. I’d say they serve rather ‘Italian-like’ food for tourists or people who aren’t very familiar with good and authentic Italian food. Please note the menu here on Zomato is outdated. <br/><br/>Ordered grilled calamari based on their website menu and asked if they can do takeaway, which they confirmed. Upon pick up was told they don’t do entree size dishes for takeaway and instead of $19.5 was told to pay $26. The person who took the order over the phone didn’t bother to advise the price would be different. In the end they honoured the website price and accordingly reduced the size of the dish. The supposed to be grilled calamari looked like and tasted like they were cooked in a deep fryer. Quality wise I rate it 4/10.<br/><br/>I’d say the manager can certainly provide friendlier service, make sure their website menu is current so customers know exactly what can be ordered and how much it’ll cost, and improve communication skills. Operating purely on the basis of assumption that they do things the way they decided and that doesn’t need to be communicated, unfortunately leads to experiences like this. It never hurts to be friendly, to say sorry for miscommunication, and to show they are willing to make things right.

Overall a disaster. We were going to a show at Bruce Mason. Arrived restaurant before 7pm. - advised we had a show at 8pm. Apparently, not an issue!<br/>Had to ask for someone to take our order<br/>No offer of water<br/>2 meals to be dairy free. Both came with cream sauce. No apology, No other offer.<br/>5 min before we had to leave Finally did bland fish, rice and salad. Yuk. <br/>when paid, they wanted to charge for fish or unaccepted meal. total with alcohol for 2 entree, salad and pita - over $70. Again no apology. People next to pay also said they had issues.<br/>I now understand why place empty!

Have been here twice in the past month for the lunch menu, both times on a Sunday. The first time the waitress was really nice and friendly, today however we had a different one and she wasn't rude but more abrupt, speaking to us fast like we were annoying her in asking for the lunch menu. Although when I went to pay the bill she was pleasant, however I didn't add a tip to my bill as she needs to work on being polite for the FULL service.  It doesn't hurt to talk nicely to people. The food was very good and they would have got 5 stars had the service been better (and a tip!).

I always like Portfino pastas and we went for $15 lunch specials and they were very delicious . The manager served us seems nice and friendly my son loved the kid’s Bolognese.

Came here for dinner yesterday. The waitress was very friendly and nice, however the food was very average. The fettuccine was over cooked and bland, while the pizza crust was quite soggy and thick, lacking flavour.

Wouldn't recommend it to anyone, mainly because the staff is so arrogantly RUDE!<br/>Oh wait, maybe he's the boss not the staff. Either way is not acceptable 👎

Wouldn't recommend it mainly because of how rude the staff are. It must be the norm to treat people like this in Eastern Europe. <br/><br/>Food is average. Other Portofino branches have better service.

Wow. What a wonderful meal we had at Portofino in Takapuna. We wanted to have a quick meal and we noticed a special lunch offer. I never expected the Warm Welcome. We were met by the manager at the door and were seated at window and ordered a Peroni and glass of Pinot Gris. We then orderd a marghreita pizza and a couple of starters. I asked the manager if all the starters could plated on one plate and this wasnt a problem. Comming from the hospitality industry i was impressed with the service, great food and atmosphere not to mention the excellent service we received from the manager. I now have found out that the manager is the owner and his name is Mario. Well.done to you and your team and what a fantastic experience. A definate recomendation.

Our group went on a not so busy hour and ordered the carbonara and a couple of other pastas. The carbonara was delicious, but the service was average. The staff serving us and at the counter looked like they couldnt be bothered which was a shame. But we will be back for the food!

■ Lovely service<br/>■ Plenty of seating<br/>■ Average food<br/><br/>Popped into Takapuna for lunch and Portofino was the first place we saw after we walked from the parking lot. I've been to the one by Viaduct Harbour but had never tried this one so decided to give it a wack. We were a little shocked to see how empty it was but stuck around coz they had a lunch special at the time. The menu was pretty basic with your standard italian dishes, nothing too exciting but were loaded with Parmesan which I loved! Service was prompt and very friendly.<br/><br/>They really do charge you for more than they should and it's more the location and ambience that you're paying for rather than the meals. The modern decor and how incredibly spacious Portofino is, makes it a cute place for a date! Although the food isn't really anything too out of the ordinary.

It's a shame cause this place décor is really nice and modern. Looks expensive but the food just taste bland. I am struggling to find the perfect place for authentic Italian pasta.

I wish I had read the reviews before I came here the other weekend. Thoroughly disappointed with the  whole experience. When we walked in, the smells coming from the kitchen were promising. However the bacon carbonara was bland and gluggy (my god, so bland I added salt then it just tasted like a salty mess), feta, ham and mushroom calzone was overwhelmingly doughy and I've had better tasting pre-packaged supermarket pizza bases than the pizza bases at this particular restaurant - also scarce toppings on the pizza. Staff were brisk and hawk like, hovering around outside whenever people stopped to look at the menu. Over priced, over rated. Probably gets by on foot traffic from the great location it occupies and catering to customers who are new to Italian food with little idea that this is not an example of premium cuisine.

We have had several dinners here with pleasant experience. The staff there is friendly and they remember you and always ask how you are doing. Lunch however was a bitter experience. There were only two occupied tables when we arrived. First our waiting staff (also the manager on duty - Mario) forgot to get our garlic bread to our table even when the chef rang the bell twice. Finally the chef had to come out and call out him loudly by his name. Mario was out chatting with a cab driver. By the time our bread arrived, it was not warm enough. Then we kept waiting and waiting. We got our mains all of a sudden without having all our appetisers. Whad ordered fries as well. We thought fries will arrive soon after but they didn't. So my husband walked over to the counter and was told that, 'oops we forgot to make as we are too busy.' We asked them not to make it as we were mid way through our mains. Upon asking for extra parmesan on top which many Italian restaurants serve, we were told the dish is alreayd topped with it with a frown expression. We were not offered refill for water. We were not evne offered the dessert menu. It was a really terrible experience. We are not going back there. He didn't even attempt to make a recovery. And that is the saddest part.

Good service , great food and nice Ambience .used the grab one deal and it was value for money however I guess owner was not very happy about the deal .

Have been to various Portofino's around Auckland. This location certainly has a very glamours decor compared to others. <br/>Food was great, service was good. But I almost felt the presentation of the meals didn't quite meet the atmosphere. <br/>We dined there through a grab one voucher at $65 per couple and felt pricing was 'bang on' to what was on offer for our 3 course meal. Overall, worth a visit.

Not bad but not great. A bit sterile inside and I would almost call it the McDonald's of Italian food. Standard fare and a bit pricy compared to other good local Italians.  23/5/18 Put the review down to 1 as the manager, Mario, seems to delight in abusing/annoying ex-customers, including myself.

Thoroughly enjoyed the food and atmosphere at "Portofino" in Takepuna.<br/>We visited twice during our stay here, and loved it.<br/>Mario the manager, made us very welcome, we are already looking forward to coming back next year.

Very average chain italian.<br/>For this price you can get authentic italian from other places<br/>Good service but probably would never come back as I have my fave italian go tos<br/>Nice interior and atmosphere though<br/>Also, premium location in taka

We ordered garlic bread, pizza and pasta, we highly recommend the food.  Atmosphere is good, spacious seating and nice big windows.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for the quality of customer service. No greetings when we walked in, and no acknowledgement when we were leaving.  The manager in particular was rude, with no introductions when the waitress asked him to speak to us about their ordering policy (one plate per person, including toddlers), and no apology for mixing up our reservation, he looked grumpy with a frown all over his face on both occasions we spoke to him. <br/><br/>This is a family owned business, but certainly not a family friendly restaurant, every interaction with the staff were stressful due to their passive approach to customer service. There are plenty of other family friendly restaurants in Takapuna with good quality food, and friendly, welcoming, attentive customer service.

Modern decor and friendly atmosphere. The staff were always happy to help and offer their suggestions 😊 <br/><br/>Food was delicious also! I went with the spaghetti bolognese and it was divine! And the Italian chocolate cake genuinely melted in your mouth! It was thick and rich so the lemon sorbet that accompanied it was perfect. <br/><br/>A great place to go to catch up with girlfriends or a romantic dinner. Would definitely recommend and will 100% be returning !

We arrived quite late in the Evening after an event (around 8.45pm).  They seated us promptly and offered us the full menu.  They were only too happy to serve us dinner (there were 6 of us) and the food was fantastic, arrived promptly, and was fresh.  Really impressed with this family run Restaurant.

I used to visit portofino quite regularly, so much so that my partner and I decided we would give it a break for a while. Their pizzas are really nice, apart from the garlic pizza bread, there was always really big chunks of raw garlic all over it so it was quite strong. All of their pastas are very nice, but the steaks were always over cooked when we would ask for med-rare. The staff were lovely but once we were seated, it would take them a really long time before they even came over with water and menus.

Tiramisu! Yummy a little sweet but at leave there is lots of sponge! Also a little more liquor or coffee in sponge would be great!

Came here as a group of 5 on a sunday night. I Had the tortellini (which was delicious) and the the best ever tiramisu . Wonderful service and great food. They even catered to my friend who is both gluten free and vegetarian! Will recommend to all my friends and will definitely be back

Picked up a pizza on a Sunday lunch, as all neighbouring pizza places were closed. Looked stylish, yet takeaway pizza was down to earth and tasty.

Always the same consistant standard of excellance at Portofino.<br/>A family owned and operated business ,and it shows,.<br/>Mario the Chef or his charming wife Svetlana and theri team of experianced<br/>staff never fail to please.<br/>Whether its with family or business associates one always feels welcome and special at <br/>Portofino Takapuna.<br/>No where better.<br/>Baz

The wife and myself went here the other night for dinner and we left feeling both full and satisfied with the evening. The service was pretty good without being over the top. The meals came out pretty sharply and were tasty and warm. Good selection of wines to keep a smile on her face and nice cold beers for me. Happy days! We will Definetely go back

We really try to like this place, have been a number of occasions however if always fails to fire mainly because of the service.<br/><br/>Today we walked in, the place was empty, we were the first for the lunch session.  Two gents at the reception, looked like owners, both failed to even acknowledge us, a smile and a greeting would be nice. They weren't busy, just shooting the breeze.<br/><br/>A waitress showed us to our table then left us. We had to wave her down to get water, again we were the only guests in the restaurant. This pretty much set the scene for the whole meal, us trying to get her attention.<br/><br/>And when we left, the "owner" who was by the entrance turned his back on us and walked away as did the waitress. No thanks, come again.<br/><br/>Food was ok, the shrimp cocktail was good but the medium steak was overcooked.<br/><br/>Shame but I don't think we will be back.

Service was great, the cheese pizza bread starter is a real good one on the menu. Had chicken fettucine and a margharita pizza. The pasta was great but the pizza was average - they should be more leniant in the proportion of cheese they use and use a different tomato sauce as their base as it does taste like canned tomato sauce.

had my birthday celebrations last night with roughly 20 people and the service couldnt have been better! the food was great and didnt have to experience any problems :) been here a couple of times now and would highly recommend! will definitely be back here for future birthday celebrations :) thank you!

I've visited Portofino in Takapuna many times over the last 5 or so years with my family. The location is very convenient, and the decor in the restaurant is lovely. It has become our families go to place for nice meals out. As a large family of vegetarians, they have gone out of their way to accommodate our needs every time. I have nothing but praise for this establishment, we have encountered many different friendly staff over time, and it was no different on our most recent trip, where the food came out promptly and well in time as we had explained we were in a rush. 5 stars every time!

Excellent restaurant with amazing service. We were group of 20 celebrating a wedding. All of us were well looked after. Nice selections of wine reasonably priced. The food was a good price too. $20 for lunch is not too bad. I had a seafood marinara pizza which was amazing, my wife had veal masala also excellent. Highly recommend this venue for group functions. Thanks Portofino

Had a lovely meal last night at Portofino for my husband's birthday. Service was excellent - really friendly and helpful with both wine and food choices - and our steaks were really good. We enjoyed a drink at the bar first and despite the restaurant being busy with pre-ballet diners, we were looked after well and enjoyed the atmosphere on that side of the restaurant. I was surprised to read some of the reviews when I came on here so I would say give it a go. We'll definitely be going back.

I ordered a type of vegetable soup today which was stated "homemade" in the menu. It costed $12.90, and taste was straight up supermarket packaged, it wasn't homemade like. It was very salty. I felt ripped off for paying so much for a soup like this.

Went about a month ago and was very average, went with a group of 10 of us and I ordered a pasta dish, and it was pretty bad. It had no flavour and was lukewarm as well. I paid around $28 for it which was a complete waste of money. Service was average, pretty slow, wont be back again any time soon

We visited there in December and have to say the meal was awful..plus the staff did not listen to our request even thou we stated twice what we wanted. Would not visit again

I visited last week, despite the reviews.<br/>We had a good meal, the Scallops inferno.<br/><br/>I had noted all the comments about service so we sat off to one side and placed our full order, in one discussion, including wine.<br/><br/>The service was fine<br/>The food, was OK<br/>I had had the Scallops inferno at Portofino in Wellington and Takapuna's was not as good, watery and lacking intensity, but hey we were on the Shore, maybe that's just the way things are.<br/>North of the Bridge ?

Visited for the 1st time last week and enjoyed it. Food was tasty and arrived promptly! Service was ok - prob would've expected more though from a resturant like this, but have no other complaints. Would visit again!

I ordered the pasta with scallops &amp; bacon, it was awful tasted very fishy with a nasty after taste and the scallops were not good, the dish was inedible, four of my dinning companions tried it and agreed it was disgusting, the manager sent the poor waitress ( who was awesome) to say that there was 'nothing wrong' with the dish and the scallops are fresh everyday...........and yet it is not scallop season.?!?

Ordered the seafood platter, and recieved the most discusting meal i have ever eaten.<br/><br/>Every peice of seafood looked like it had been sitting in a freezer for a year, followed by sitting in the sun for a week. Could not even eat most of it.<br/><br/>I sent them a detailed email complaining and they never replied. Which gives an indication of thier customer service.

This is one of the worst restaurants I have ever been to, I am utterly disgusted at how we were treated.<br/><br/>I ordered a seafood risotto dish and after the third mouth full of grit told the waitress. The waitress took it back to the kitchen and some lady came out and basically accused me of lying. I tried to explain that after the third taste of grit between my teeth it was inedible she looked at me with disgust and said it must have been salt or pepper took the plate back and walked away without offering any sort of apology or the possibility of changing the dish. <br/><br/>As we walked up to pay there were at least 4 people glaring at us from the kitchen as if it was our fault, I have never been made to feel so uncomfortable by restaurant staff. The lady rudely offered to take our garlic bread off the bill, however I did not think that was fair as I had to pay for a meal I couldn't eat. She then turned it into a yelling match.<br/><br/>Hugely disappointed as I have been to two other Portofino's and they are always fantastic, tasty meals and great service. This Portofino's however is lacking in all aspects I would not recommend you eat here unless you like bland food and the worst possible service.

Been here twice.<br/>First visit, service was average, the food was good, however we ordered two spirit mixers and we had to question the price we were paying, for what appeared to be fizzy drink, with little or no alcohol.<br/><br/>Tonight we decided to try again, hoping for at least a decent meal. However it's safe to say, that the service has certainly not got better, in fact appalling.<br/>After ordering a rum and coke, that was flat and certainly had no alcohol content and a soggy brushetta. We waited some time for out main coarse order to be taken, (which staff seemed to be unaware of whilst they gossiped).... we decided to eat elsewhere. Their lack of good service was proven when after only having an entrée we decided to leave, and were clearly not happy, when paying we were not asked if everything was OK, when obviously it wasn't if we were leaving after only an entrée we shared. <br/><br/>With spending $16 for a soggy bit of bread and $7.50 for a glass of flat coke, we would not recommend this place

Very nice meal, good portion sizes, fresh and tasty. Fast service on the night we visited, friendly and very attentive staff. We had a very nice evening and used our voucher deal without issue.

I have been to this restaurant for over 2 years and the food is always good<br/><br/>Average service but excellent food so it's OK!!!<br/><br/>Still wondering why there are so many bad review......

We went after a great time at one of the comedy festival events, hoping to enjoy a top pizza as a late dinner. Well, the price was pretty top but the pizza was rubbish to be honest, suffering from a soggy base and an odd taste to the topping. We didn't even finish the measley little thing it was so bad. We selected a Central Otago pinot noir we thought would be good but actually wondered if we got the right wine! How long had the bottle been open? We can only guess but it didn't rate much better than the pizza. Not much to commend the place other than pleasant decor.

Went here one Saturday night in September or October 2010. Great interior/ambience. food pretty average for the price.<br/>Service was slow.<br/>Won't go again unless some friends have organised a group dinner there. too expensive for average food.

We thought they should make one of the best pizza since it is Italian restaurant. But the one at Takapuna made very average and salty pizza. It is no where near the pizza we had in Europe. The staff look very stressed too, not relaxed, and no smile.

We had a group of 12 booked for dinner at Portofinos Takapuna. The service was good, the food was also not bad, everyone enjoyed the evening. The price however is very expensive and it ended up costing over the top, especially with the alchohol added. All in all not bad, also I am genuine and not the comments from staff members of friends below....

pretty average to be honest, service was disinterested and ever so slightly rude, especially when we complained about our food being cold.<br/>And can whoever is writing all the bogus reviews of this restaurant please stop. It is embarrassing and unprofessional. At least use different terminology and try to not make the same grammatical errors again and again!

I had the pleasure to try this establishment for lunch,calamari for an entree,followed by a rare fillet steak covered in a delicious mushroom-cream sauce,with a generous serving of veges &amp; salad.<br/>The food was genuinely very good,the service prompt and friendly (while not overbearing)AND very reasonably priced !<br/>The decor modern and the place was fastidiously clean too ! Will go again.

Last year upon the opening of the Takapuna Portofino Restaurant, my friend constantly nagged me to dine at this restaurant. Well good on him, I did and believe you me I was not the least disappointed with the experience. The food was exceptional and my "party" thoroughly enjoyed it. There was however one little problem. When we overstayed our welcome by a mere 30 minutes on both occasions, the manager on duty was not very impressed and kept on giving us dirty looks as if to say "please go home". We were still spending at the bar at that point....money in the business but of no interest to the manager...shame on him but our waiter was outstanding even calling my wife and my female entourage madam etc. In my opinion he should be the manager. Incidentally this happened on 2 occasions and the waiter got a 10 out of 10 for friendliness, kindness and service although the manager scores a mere 2 out of ten. Will think before visiting again. Complements to the chef. My visitors were from Brazil and Germany respectively and both parties indicated that it was the best meal they've had during their visit to NZ. My rating got dragged down by the manager. Thank you

very nice restaurant the Design is beautiful ,service good ,food absolutely delicious I like Portofino Takapuna my favorit restaurant... no.1 in Shore<br/><br/>regular customer

After poor service and overpriced food at their Viaduct branch I should have known better than to try the Takapuna offering.<br/><br/>Pasta was very ordinary amd fillet steak was tough, fatty and grossly overpriced. There is no excuse for poor meat in NZ, particularly with Portofino charging fine dining prices yet obviously using cheap sub standard ingredients.<br/><br/>Thought it might have been a one off bad experience however friends visiting from Hong Kong tried it one night and said it was their only disappointing meal in NZ.<br/><br/>Definitely not recommended - I will not be giving them a second chance.

We thought the new decor was fantastic, very comfortable chairs for a change. We had 5 adults and 2 children and we all had<br/>nice meals although I did feel it was quite overpriced. The waiter/or the kitchen forgot the pita bread for starters but was<br/>apologetic apart from that the service was great - very friendly (The manager did come out and growl at our waiter for something in front of the patrons which I thought was unnecessary)but we all still had a great night. The price is the only thing that will stop me going back again.

We went for a birthday party.A group of twelve. Everyone enjoyed their meals. The service was polite and prompt and impeccable. I had the squid rings and found them tasty and fresh.Everyone appreciated the wine and the food choices ranged from steak to rissotto,tortellini and cabonara. The atmosphere was quiet and comfortable. Thanks to Portofino a lovely birthday for a wide age group.

Briefly<br/>Way overpriced, ultra slow, below average food - that orange sauce... And then I had the temerity to say I was disappointed to the short Italian man with the moustache who told me, in a rude and insulting way, that he had thousands of satisfied customers. Funnily enough both the other guys waiting at the cash register joined in the argument and announced their disgust with the food service and attitude

Absolute shocker. I can only think that there are some self postings going on here as apart from the beautiful decor - the experience was terrible! I read a couple of bad reviews but decided to give it the go with a couple of clients - bad move. Cold, over salted food, waiters who kept delivering food to the wrong tables and not coming by for drinks orders, getting the wrong invoice for the table etc etc - I could write a novel. I even wrote an email to give them some feedback and was told in very poor english that the people will be reprimanded and fully trained - look all I wanted was a decent meal! I will never spend a cent there again - there are a few really good restaurants in that area - the thai place up the road towards killarney street and wine and roses is fantastic. don't waste your money at portofino - you are bound to be highly disappointed.

Having eaten at several portofino restaurants notably the viaduct and Parnell for many years I really looked forward to Takapuna expecting it to be as great. Sadly the staff are untrained, snooty and lacked ANY professional ability. Likewise it wasnt good that it was a public holiday and no mention of a surcharge until we checked the bill. I'll eat at the viaduct or Parnell anyday (and everyone should) but having visited takapuna twice. Never again!

Hi<br/><br/>I think Anne and Mary have been paid by the owner to put their comments up. The decor is lovely however the food is appalling, I could have cooked better myself. We had a delightful waitress however, we had to prompt her for our entrees and mains, and we waited a long time for them.<br/>The prices are really extremely high - I would prefer to go to Cibo or Tribeca where the experience is impeccable and food amazing for the same price.<br/><br/>It looks good from the outside but this is a 1 time to try it restauarant which is a huge shame. Has a great location and look but food, prices and service are completely lacking.

After having eaten at Portofinos in the Viaduct my expectations were not high and they were met.<br/>We were a party of 7 and started with 2 antipasto for the table thinking that might have been enough but needed to order a couple of brushetta to help fill the gap. The waiter was not much help when asked if there would be enough on the Antipasto platters and actually didn't seem very interested at all.<br/>2 of us had Linguini con Scallops (about 6) which was quite bland and nothing like the mouth watering explanation on the menu. They are obviously still using the same tomato soup that others have mentioned. <br/>2 people had Fish of the day with a salsa which was the same orange coloured sauce only thicker while 1 had vegetarian cannelloni which looked bland due to the cheese spread over the top. <br/>The 7th diner had lamb cutlets on carrot and bean risotto which looked unappetising but was apparently quite nice.<br/>Having spoken to the majority of the diners a couple of days later all have said they wouldn't go back or recommend it.<br/>The only saving grace was the wine waiter, friendly, efficient and had a bit of humour and the wine was quite well priced.

The setting and restaurant fitout is lovely, however the meal was disappointing.<br/><br/>The wine we chose was not available. Not because they had sold out, but because they hadn't received any yet, why preprint your menu before you know what stock you have?<br/><br/>We then waited over an hour for our meals and had to ask what had happened to them. The meals arrived and we were surprised that the Pepper Steak was covered in mushrooms, but we were all hungry by then so tucked in, only to have the slightly panicked waitress arrive to tell s the steak had been delivered in error. The Pepper Steak duly arrived, with a highly oversalted sauce.<br/><br/>My meal was lamb cutlets on a bean and carrot risotto. I ate the cutlets because I was hungry but the rice with what seemed like tomato soup flavouring and chopped beans and carrots didn’t make it past the first few mouthfuls.<br/><br/>The Fish of the Day with Salsa turned out to be fish fillets with a very similar flavoured tomato soup concoction (maybe there was a special on tomato soup at the wholesalers that week). Not a hint of salsa in sight.<br/><br/>There was no callback to the table to see if we were enjoying our meal and when the plates were cleared we were told to line up at the counter to make payment (still no enquiry if we had enjoyed our visit). All this in a restaurant that charges over $35 per main! <br/><br/>We certainly won’t be dining at this clip joint again, the food quality does not match the pricing and although our waitress seemed very genuine in her apologies for the mishaps the rest of the staff have yet to become acquainted with the term service.

Our whole office went here today for our Christmas lunch and it was really good. The first thing you notice is the really nice set up and fancy furniture. It really is a good looking restaurant. The staff are really nice and polite, always coming over to fill up your water and see if everything is going ok. The food itself is also very good. They have nothing over 20$ at lunch time. I had the mussels and they were delicious. My coworkers had dishes like veil, steak and risotto. They all looked really good. I will be going back here for sure, I'm keen to check out there dinner menu. Highly recommended. Woof.