Portofino Restaurante — Restaurant in North Island

My last night in New Plymouth I booked a table in what appeared to be an intimate fine dining restaurant.

Looks can be very deceiving!

A friendly young waitress pointed to my table across the room. I pulled my chair out to discover such worn out unpholstery, I paused with shock!

It was appaling the condition of the upholstery on the chairs. I looked up at the tacky blue lit tacky fairy light stapled in the middle of the ceiling.

I actually like delicate very small golden fairy lights, but these were large with a large gap between each blue fairy light. They looked cheap and had zero romamtic ambience!

The waiteress came over to take my drink order.

I felt like a glass of Cab Sav, but the only one on the menu was by bottle only. I then looked at the Italian rosso options.

I asked the waitress which Italian red would be similar to a bold cab sav from the Barossa Valley in Australia?

She said she didn't know much about wine. (At least she was honest!). So I asked if I could speak to someone who did know about wine?

She told me I could tell her what I wanted and she would ask for recommendations.

It was painful explaining what I liked, as it went over her head. She didn't know what a Cabernet Savignon was.

She came back with a recommendation of a Chianti. It sounded too light for what I wanted. So I decided to taste the Chianti and one of my choosing that was described on the menu as being full bodied.

The Chianti was a poor recommendation. It was light in colour and was more like a Pinot Noir. My choice fitted my needs.

From the moment I sat down there was a group of 8 women on the far side of the restaurant. Their very loud cackling and shouting was extremely irritating. It never ceased....For 45 minutes I winched, frowned and watched other patrons do the same who glanced at the group of women also looking irritated with their inconsiderate behaviour.

They should have been in a noisy bar not a restaurant. I couldn't edure it anymore and asked the waitress if she could get the manager for me.

Another waitress came over and I explained how irritating and inconsiderate the group of women were. Then the manager came over.

I explained how I was fine with people having a good time but the level of noise coming from the table of women was ruining my evening and that I could see all the other patrons were irritated by them too. That they should be at the Roof Top Bar down the road not in a restaurant.

She then went over and talked with them. They were quiet while she was talking to them, then they made belittling comments and gestures about the manager.

They left soon after and the loudest one shouted at the whole restaurant as she walked through the middle of the patrons and said in a condenscending voice "See ya! Have a good evening!".

The fact the manager didn't read the room from her patrons body language and not addressing these womens oboxious behaviour earlier, caused patrons to leave quickly and ruined the ambience of the whole restaurant. Very poor management on her part.

I asked if their was any GF pasta as I couldn't see a reference to any on the menu. The waitress told me there wasn't any and only GF on the other mains part of the menu.

I really felt like pasta and was one of the reason's I chose to dine at an Italian restaurant. There are many GF pasta's available, so not having any on their menu was not progressive in the culinary world of today.

I had no choice but order a non pasta dish. I ordered the chicken parmigiana, which came out within a...

The only reason this review gets a second star is because the rest of my family enjoyed their meals. However, my experience was nothing short of infuriating and dangerous, highlighting a shocking lack of professionalism and accountability at this restaurant.

I have been a loyal customer, visiting Portofinos every year when I return home for Christmas. It has always been a tradition for my family. This year, that tradition ends—forever.

As someone who is lactose intolerant making me violantally ill I take care to ask questions about menu items before ordering. I noticed a new ingredient listed as “tomato creama” in the chilli mussels, which I order every year. When I asked the waitress specifically if it contained cream or dairy, I was assured it was just a tomato sauce. Trusting her response, I ordered it.

The dish arrived, and after one bite, I immediately recognized the taste of dairy. To confirm, I asked my sister to taste it, and she agreed it likely contained cream. When I brought this to the waitress's attention, her response was a shrug and a dismissive “yeah, it’s a tomato cream sauce.” At this point, I explained that I cannot eat dairy and asked for the dish to be removed. She asked if I wanted to order something else, but given how long we had already waited and not wanting to inconvenience my family further, I declined.

Despite sending the dish back untouched, I was charged in full. When I raised this at the cashier, I was met with hostility and outright gaslighting. The staff blamed me for not reading the menu, despite the fact that I had explicitly asked for clarification because the menu was unclear. The term "creama" is not an English word, and no allergy disclaimers were provided. When I reminded them that I had asked about the ingredients, the waitress was summoned over, who repeated her claim. Instead of apologizing, the cashier doubled down with eye rolls, sighs, and dismissive comments, publicly embarrassing me.

At no point did anyone take responsibility for the miscommunication. Instead, they begrudgingly offered a 50% discount at my sisters request only to later demand full payment after claiming they were “too busy explaining” to input the correct charge. I left humiliated, hungry, and completely appalled.

This wasn’t just bad service—it was reckless. Food allergies and intolerances can have serious consequences, and the dismissive attitude of the staff shows a complete disregard for customer safety and satisfaction. If you have dietary restrictions, I strongly recommend avoiding this restaurant. What was once a family tradition has become a glaring example of unprofessionalism and dangerous negligence.

Portofinos, train your staff, clarify your menu, and learn how to handle situations like this with basic accountability and respect. You’ve lost a loyal...

We went with a large group, we had to have a later booking for the restaurant to fit us in. There seemed to be only two servers on & they were very busy. The girl serving us was polite & professional, however, you could tell she was stressed, so she was kind of brisk. We had to wave her down to get drinks & food, our food didn't arrive until 1 hour 15 minutes after our reservation time. At the waitresses recommendation I ordered the cannoloni, which was pretty good. My friend ordered the grilled fish, which was delicious. Overall, everyone was pretty happy with their food. I got the tirramisu for dessert, which was OK. Nice & creamy, but could have had more coffee flavour. I...