PORTOFINO'S RESTAURANT AT AYRSLEY — Restaurant in Charlotte

THE WORST DINING EXPERIENCE OF OUR LIVES!!!! AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!!!! I rarely write reviews but just had too!!!! My husband and I tried this placed a few months ago and dined in. We got the fried calamari which was pretty good, then the salads, decent. Then came our entrees; chicken and veal parmigiana. They were both inedible. There was watery sauce all over the plates and neither were fully cooked. We left without eating and said we wouldn't go back. Then tonight my husband decided he really wanted lasagna. We had tried some other places in the area and were not happy with those. Italian is our favorite and I myself am from NY and know what good Italian is. We bit the bullet and decided to give Portofino's another try. WHAT A BIG MISTAKE!!!! We got food to go. My husband picked up lasagna for himself and angel hair with meatballs for me which both come with salad and bread. When I opened my dish there was almost no sauce. I had asked for extra Parmesan cheese, there was none. Meanwhile, my husbands lasagna was swimming with sauce. The salads were warm, not pleasant to eat that way. But the worst part was when we called the manager was extremely rude, told my husband he would offer us a 15% discount, Not good customer service so we said forget it, we just would't eat there again. I took some of my husband's sauce and we decided to go ahead and eat since it cost us $26.00! Disaster strikes!! My husband poured his salad dressing over his salad leaving it in the container it came in-there was a hole in the container. Oily salad dressing dripped all over his brand new Nikes, all over my carpet, wall and kitchen floor when my husband realized what had happened. This time I called the manager because my husband was to livid to speak. Manager was rude and offered nothing but for us to drive all the way back (it's not that close for us) to return the food. I've had bad food before but to be treated so badly is disgusting and deplorable!!!! Seriously consider going elsewhere, 2 strikes you're...

Sadly I have to report the deterioration of this once great little restaurant. There was a 6 year period when I ate here at least once a week…..that’s a lot of meals. It was my “go to” spot for business lunch and to take visitors. The waiters and staff spoke Italian and broken English and the service was knowledgable and very attentive. The brick fired pizza was PERFECT and the anti pasta salad was ingredient generous and elegant. An affiliate Portofino’s opened in Indian Land ( a relative, I believe ) about 4 years ago, which is very close to my home and that has become my new go-to( it’s great by the way). So, it has been years since I have visited the eatery in Arsley. But last week I was invited by old friends to meet them for dinner and Portofino’s Arsely was central so there we went……… Boy oh boy was I ever surprised…..1. No one was there?? 2. The wait staff knew nothing about the menu and were clearly not Italian. 3 The menu had changed in many ways ( they only had LARGE or small pizzas, there were no green olives for pizzas, anti pasta salads or martinis, and no bottles of olive oil, just very small saucers….just to name a few) in their favor they did have Kalamata olives, but those are Greek , not Italian??? The waitress asked me to follow her to the bar to show them how to make the Campari spritzer that I ordered and to point out where the various components were. When the waitress reported that they did not offer green olives any more, I changed my order to just fagioli soup and an order of plain fettuccini. She asked if they could put just a very light sauce on the pasta and I said “sure”. To make what is already a way too long story shorter, the soup was cold and more or less the taste of dishwater and the “plain pasta “ was loaded with black pepper and not edible . I have no idea what has happed here but I will never be back and would advise the same avoidance ( However, DO NOT confuse Arsley with the other Portofino’s in the greater Charlotte area, which I highly...

Just for context, I’m from South Philly. I don’t like to compare food places, and I was really in the mood for some Italian and I was giving this place a shot. The first experience started with the delivery driver(Grubhub) who brought me an open bag after driving past me 3x in circles while I’m standing outside the hotel. The bag was open and I asked if the restaurant gave it to him that way he claims yes it came that way. He warned me that the bag was extremely hot and told me to be careful. I hesitated because I was like why wouldn’t they give you a plastic bag? He didn’t even answer the phone the first two times I called so I was already annoyed. I took the bag of food and as I’m making my way up to my hotel room I noticed that my hand is getting hotter and hotter and I have to put it down on a table while I wait for the elevator. My hand is burning. It’s scorching hot! I get to my hotel room and I put it on the desk and the bag is literally melting off because all of the cream sauce had spilled out of the aluminum container. It did not appear to be sealed well, and I had to get a washcloth from the bathroom just to clean up the mess. In addition to this, there were no utensils in this bag. The only thing decent about this order was the cheesy garlic bread. Riddle me this how I ordered cheesy garlic bread and they still gave me a brown paper bag with a half of a roll? Why the extra roll and not a fork and a knife and some napkins? I’m gonna make sure to put this review on Google as well and the next time I come to Charlotte I know where not to order.

Update: they had plastic forks in the hotel lobby since they serve breakfast. I grabbed the fork and peeled the lid off the rest of the way from the ravioli, the shrimp was overcooked and the cream sauce looks really watered down. This is honestly unbearable and I can’t eat it. I wish there was a homeless person outside so I could give them this in the meal doesn’t...