La Terrazza — Restaurant in Portofino

They didn’t treat us well. The staff sat us at the side of the bar (even though there were plenty of seats inside the bar). Mosquitoes biting us left right and centre (had to ask reception for insect repellent spray, you won’t face this problem at other bars in Portofino). . Then when the reservation time had arrived (7.30pm, earliest slot available and purposely booked so that we could have a seat with a view as would be the standard procedure for a restaurant, seating those who arrive first) they didn’t call us forward (as they did with others), I asked instead whether the table is ready and one member of staff replied with ‘I will check’. After more dithering and chasing, they said the table is ready and walked us over to the restaurant. The hostess then pointed us towards a table for 2 in the middle of the restaurant, given there were 10 tables overlooking the marina free I asked if we could sit at one of those instead, ‘I will check with the manager and come back to you, in the meantime please take a seat here’, was the response. We sat politely and waited for her to come back to us (around 10 mins) - no response and she was avoiding eye contact. We made a decision that the restaurant is not for us (no amount of good food/drink can make up for bad service). I signalled to a waiter to come over and explained that we had asked for a table (now 9 free) overlooking the marina and given we hadn’t heard anything from them then we would be leaving. As we got up to leave, no one made eye contact or even spoke to us…a strange way to treat paying customers at any level, let alone an establishment that price themselves as one of the best in Portofino. Maybe if you are staying at the hotel you will be treated...

I took the ferry in from Santa Margherita. Once you get off the ferry you need to walk a little bit and wait in front of a pharmacy for a shuttle pick up to take you to the hotel. The shuttle comes every 10-15 minutes. It also has wifi in the shuttle! The ride is quick (about 5-7 minutes) and the driver was super friendly.

I made a reservation for 1pm right when they opened and I’m so happy I did! It was really nice and quiet in the restaurant and the views are absolutely incredible. I ordered a water, wine, a starter and a main. They serve you some bread/grissini sticks as well.

The salad was beyond incredible. The quinoa chips were so good, the flavours of the salad and presentation were unforgettable.

The main I ordered was the Tigullio fish mixed grill. I didn’t even know what I ordered when I ordered it but it was incredible. It was literally every kind of fish that’s in the sea below that they serve. Lobster, swordfish, shrimp, squid, octopus, crab and a few others. I didn’t know how to remove the shell from the fish so I asked the staff to do it for me which they did with no questions! It also came with a side of grilled vegetables which were a bit warm. They weren’t great.

I didn’t order dessert because I was so full but the staff were kind enough to give me a few sweets at the end anyway!

Great service, yet sometimes slow and there was a bit of a language barrier at times however the experience was lovely and I would recommend...

I was under the assumption that I had a reservation on July 25, but I received the attached email from the restaurant indicating that I missed my reservation on July 24. I was very confused as I wasn’t even in Portofino on that day. I did not receive any reminders or communication from the restaurant except that email indicating my card was charged a whopping 200 euros!

It is common practice from other establishments to receive communication leading up to the reservation (for example Open Table or The Fork), but I didn’t get anything. They claimed to have called me multiple times, but I didn’t receive any calls. This seems a bit sketchy, as they could have tried emailing or text messaging me as this would be easy to validate that they did in fact attempt to reach me. I replied to their email within an hour and attempted to reach an adequate resolution to no avail.

To their credit - they did offer for me to come in on the 26th of July, but we were not in Portofino on that date. For those reading this review, I recommend reaching out ahead of your reservation to confirm the date and time so that you aren’t stuck with a nasty 200 euro charge.

I don’t understand how in 2024 a very expensive fine dining establishment does not use a booking system that accurately sends out reminders 1 week or 48 hours ahead of the reservation. A simple text or email reminder would have...