Portofino Restaurant — Restaurant in Napier

A restaurant I wouldn’t recommend, nor would I return to. When you read the menu, you expect specialty and quality, but the dishes were quite average for the price. We ordered cannelloni (3 pieces) with tomato sauce — nothing surprising, lacking personality — and a Penne alla Portofino (I ordered it thinking it was a house specialty). It was disappointing: penne with cream, cheese, and tomato — again, lacking personality. When you go to a pasta place, you expect cheese to be present, but none of the dishes at our table had any.

For dessert, we ordered tiramisu, and what we got was a cup with a dessert that had clearly been refrigerated for days. Overall, the food was too simple, lacking passion and flavor.

And to top it all off, we ordered two espressos that the waitress completely forgot — despite the restaurant being nearly empty. When we went to pay, I mentioned it to her ironically, and her response just confirmed the bad experience: “I forgot. You should’ve reminded me. Do you want them now?” In my mind I thought: I’m paying, I’m about to leave, and you ask if I want them now — without even an apology?

It’s truly a shame that a restaurant that’s supposed to specialize in Italian cuisine, and present itself as fine dining, would offer such poor service.

Quite disappointing to realize that neither the staff nor the owners prioritize quality or...

Food was ok. Nothing to rave about. Something you could definitely make at home. Not authentic Italian in my opinion. Not worth the money spent in my opinion. Wish we had spent the same amount $$$ at a nicer venue. Servers were busy on their phones and you had to go and get them to get anything for your table. Atmosphere was damper. But I'll put that down to a Monday night.

My biggest gripe is ordering a kids pizza. Requesting pineapple to be added, we got 4 pieces. (Think thumb print size) for $3.50. To make it worse base looked like one you can buy at supermarket. I brushed this off as it's a kids pizza..... however upon paying notice they've charged for an adults pizza. So note this pizza that's on a store bought base is $33.50. Pasta had just as much onion as penne pasta.

Again. Food was edible, it wasn't bad. But not worth the money unfortunately. So won't be back. Would rather pay the same or slightly more and get an amazing meal elsewhere. Or pay a third of the price and get the same...

My wife ordered the seafood Marinara, and thought the seafood tasted off. She rarely complains, and tried it several times, but couldn’t eat it. When she brought it up with the waiters, both told her the seafood was fresh, and they thought it was fine. Not sure how they could know without tasting it?

My wife sent the first dish back and ordered a different dish without seafood. When I went to pay for the meal for the two of us, I noticed that they had charged us for three dishes. When I asked why she was charging me for three dishes, she said that we had ordered three dishes and nothing was wrong with the meal. Needless to say I was amazed and flabbergasted, and subsequently refused to pay for the third dish.

I have worked for an airline for 35 years and traveled around the world likely eating in thousands of restaurants. I don’t think I’ve ever been charged for something that I’ve sent back, which was rarely. The adage that the customer is always right obviously doesn’t apply with...