Pizzeria El Portico — Restaurant in Portofino

Portofino is a lovely small town. It's world-famous and gets lots of visitors. Because of Covid-19 there were less people here than usual, but still plenty.

Because of its fame and location the prices are on the higher side. And that's also the case here at this restaurant. It's close to the shore, but not directly (where the restaurants are worse). But it's located on the charming small street "Via Roma". Staff was really friendly and caring. The set-up is very nice, typical Italian feeling, but not cheesy.

There are interesting items on the menu, wine by the glass or bottles. Since I was driving we took one glass of white wine each. Very good.

We ordered the curry-style Gnocchi, mussels gratinated with tomatoes and cheese and the baby squid stew. All dishes were very good indeed. Gnocchi curry style sounds like an abomination to italian food, but was a great match. The mussels were fresh and plenty - very well priced this one. The squid were fresh as well, perfectly cooked and tender. But for 20 Euro on the upper end of the price list. You know when you visit Portofino that you will pay for it. If you are aware of that, then you will enjoy this town and this restaurant. Food was great. We paid 60 Euros. Of course you will pay less for the same in a countryside mom'n'pop Trattoria. But we enjoyed it...

The worst restaurant in terms of pizza in the history of Italy. I don’t really understand why governments can’t realize that not everybody will be allowed to do this business. There should be a min qualification at least in quality! However, the positive side is the location. In this part of the world where Italians say “Gulfo Paradiso” the prices are affordable for many. Not a bad sign I assume. If you are hungry but reluctant to pay more than 50€ pp than go ahead without hesitation! But if food is an important part of your visit than just stay away! Service is like people gathered for just specific tasks. No team spirit; just get the job done! Some doesn’t even have a clue what they are selling. Atmosphere is the best part since Portofino has a very small land and all options pretty much offer the same ambiance! If you decide to go there the only tip will be at least order something you knew before. So you can be sure about the quality. Stay away from trying something new which may bias your future...

I had a really disappointing experience at this pizzeria with a friend of mine. We went in genuinely excited to try the place, but were treated with complete disrespect. The owner was incredibly rude and actually sent us away just because we didn’t want to order more than one item and preferred to share something.

It’s completely unacceptable to turn customers away just because they don’t want to over-order. We were polite, willing to pay, and just wanted to enjoy a simple meal not be pressured or shamed for how much we were (or weren’t) eating.

We left feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable. No one deserves to be treated like that. Definitely wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone who values being treated with...