Portofino Parnell — Restaurant in Waitematā

The night started well. We had a nice booth seating for the 2 of us. Lights were a little bit bright though. Some sort of dimming arrangement would definitely improve the atmosphere. Our bruschetta was really nice, as was the pasta. And they had no problem changing the fettucini for spaghetti.

Unfortunately, when it came to the desert, cheesecake, everything changed. The cheesecake looked great but tasted off. We both took one taste & knew straight away. There were even signs of mold (blue dots on the side). It was definitely old, and there was no way we were going to eat another bite of it. Of course we alerted the waitress about this, & we asked for a tiramisu instead.

That was fine, the waitress came back with a tirimisu & commented that it was freshly made, so we should be happy with that (which we were - it was nice). However, as she was about to walk away she turned back & said "by the way our cheesecakes are always made fresh every day, in fact the one you had was probably only 3-4hrs old". Well, obviously it wasn't fresh, otherwise it wouldn't have had mold on it & it wouldn't have tasted off.

We don't know if the waitress was told to say that to us or not, but we definitely didn't appreciate the comment. Even if they thought we were just being fussy (which we weren't), they should keep their comments for the back room & not try to imply to the customer that they're wrong.

It didn't end there though.

When we went to pay the bill ($56.70 before discount), we showed our entertainment voucher (25% off) to the manager & he looked at some chart for a while, before writing on the receipt $10 off. I said isn't it supposed to be 25%, then he proceeded to look at the same chart for another minute or so before writing $13 off on the receipt, and saying something like "here you go that should be right now, you should be happy". I replied with, "um I think you should use a calculator". But instead of doing that himself he gave the calculator to me & said something like "here you do it then", which I did & showed him the correct amount to deduct.

So, the manager finally deducted the correct amount, we paid the bill, and he asked if we'd like the receipt. I said no thanks, that's ok. Then he said "are you sure (while pushing the receipt towards me)" in a way that implied we might like to check it again (since we've been so fussy previously).

The thing that annoyed us the most about this whole process is that both me & my partner felt the manager was just trying to be difficult because we'd sent the cheesecake back. There was never any apology regarding it being mouldy/off. Nor was there any apology for messing up the bill, or any attempt whatsoever to make us want to ever come back. If they'd actually apologised & treated us with respect, I doubt I'd even be writing this review right now.

Customer service goes a long way but in this case it was appalling. A mistake with the food can be forgiven if staff react in the right way. Rudeness & arrogance are not what a customer comes to a restaurant for. Good service, a nice meal, along with a relaxing atmosphere is what they're after. Otherwise we may as well just get takeaways & eat at home. So this was an epic fail in our eyes & needs to be publicised in order for the business to address these issues. Otherwise, in our opinion, they'd be unlikely to make the...

I have just eaten at 156 parnell road, Parnell. To be honest I was disgusted, embarrassed and very disappointed with the way my wife and I were treated. My food was fantastic but unfortunately my wife’s chicken had lots of gristle and was dry, the veg was rock hard and the Parma ham on top tasted like it had gone off. I spoke to a waitress when she cleared our table regarding this matter and she could see from the amount left on my wife‘s plate that she did not enjoy her meal and that there was an issue.

We were very polite and embarrassed to mention this but felt it needed to be brought to light as we didn’t want other customers to experience the same issue.

Upon me saying this, nothing was offered in exchange or compensation to rectify the issue. Once I received the bill from a different waitress I noticed that I had been charged full price. I went and quietly spoke to this waitress and asked if was she aware of the issue raised regarding my wife’s meal to which she confirmed yes. I told her that I felt it was wrong that I was being charged full price as one of the meals was not up to the standard I would expect. The waitress said she would need to speak to her manager. The manager came out on the defensive straight away with an attitude and to my embarrassment in front of the whole restaurant saying ‘what’s the problem, you ate the food and now you are refusing to pay! You need to pay’. I said have you spoken to the waitress that cleared our plates, he said yes there was nothing wrong with the food and I should have said something in the beginning. However there was no check backs throughout our meal, not even to check that we were ok or happy with our food. From this the manager continued to state I needed to pay and made a scene in front of the whole restaurant and continued to raise his voice at me.

I ended up just paying the bill in full as I was so embarrassed, mortified and completely shocked. This manager really needs to think about his actions and how he speaks to customers and I would recommend that he has further training regarding customer service. I will never go to this restaurant in Parnell again and I will give this feedback to my family and friends of...

A few times in a lifetime your path crosses with a person so seemingly evil and beyond reason that it makes you question your affinity for people and the memory of it sticks with you. You remember it every now and then and wonder what that person must have experienced in their life to make them such an awful person. For myself and my partner, our encounter with the manager at Parnell Portofino was one of those times.

Hands down the worst service we've ever experienced. I ordered the salmon carbonara but it arrived with no salmon in it, so without having a single bite, I politely let our waitress know (who turned out to also be the manager). She took the meal back to the kitchen to speak with the chef, then returned to tell me in a contentious tone that the chef (who is also the owner) told her he put salmon in there and that she believes him, then just paused looking at me. I explained that I hadn't had a single bite and that he must be mistaken. She became very rude and accusatory and was clearly not open to the possibility they had done any wrong. Without many options left, with no salmon in my salmon carbonara, and now really questioning the competency and nature of the people who run the place, I chose not to eat my meal. My partner finished her meal, and we quickly went to pay so we could leave, and were met again by total hostility by the manager. We were, and still are in a state of disbelief about whole experience. This happened about a year ago and it's still easily the worst service we've ever experienced. I held off writing a review sooner because honestly I didn't like remembering the experience. Needless to say we've never been back and even the thought of the place brings back bad memories.

I don't know what kind of experiences these people have had in their lives to make them such awful people but I hope at some point they can reflect and change. Until that day, they should stay away from running a business, and you should stay far away from them... unless you're an expert in psychopath rehabilitation, or someone with the authority to...