Portofino's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Gastonia

Service was prompt and courteous, bread was fresh and hot, and food was exceptional. Coming from an Italian, that's saying something!! We enjoyed our leftovers the next day, for dinner, and promised each other that we'd go back again soon. Covid precautions were in place and enforced. UPDATE - 9/2023 We've been here dozens of times since my last review. We've never ordered the pizza, so we chose the Chicken Florentine and couldn't have been happier. It was an 18" piece of eatable art! The crusty was perfectly cooked, and the toppings were plentiful. We loved the fresh ricotta and mozzarella base. I ordered my mixed seafood over angel hair pasta and changed the sauce to their white wine garlic sauce. BLEW ME AWAY! So perfectly cooked. Took half of both dishes home to enjoy the next day. Thank you! UPDATE - 9/10/2023 - This time was different. We came with another couple, so we were reserved. We ordered Bruschetta to share. It came with 5 pieces, piled high with fresh quality toppings, and was very tasty. I ordered the Zuppa de Clams in White Wine sauce. The only clams in the whole dish were the 11 Little Necks that I had to take out of the shells. It was totally unacceptable. The last time I had it, it was loaded with Clams, and the shelled ones were for "effect." My husband ordered the calamari in white sauce, and it was smothered in red sauce. Very uncharacteristic for this establishment. 12/11/24 We've been here since now, but it's time for an update. "MO" was our server again, and everything was perfect. Hubby and I had their special of the day. Shrimp and salmon on a bed of angel hair pasta, covered light white sauce with capers, kalamada olives, and sun-dried tomatoes in it. Our guests ordered the Zuppa in garlic and oil sauce and gnocchi in cream sauce with chicken added. They forgot to put the chicken in but sent out a generous portion a few minutes later to be added. We shared a piece of cheesecake, which was very rich and creamy. Note: a strawberry or raspberry drizzle over top would have been nice. Thank you, Mo. It was another great meal with friends,...

Mixed Feelings - Last night was my first visit. My wife and daughter eat here frequently when they come to Gastonia and love it. We got there minutes before 8 pm and the hostess made an uneasy face. I asked if it was too late to be seated and she answered, "No, we close at 9." So we were seated and a friendly easy going waiter came up to whom we gave our order. My wife apparently always order the exact same meal with the exact same one exception to the dish and never had it prepared wrong. She ordered linguine in alfredo with a side of pollo parmigiana without red sauce. I'm not sure if it's his mistake or the kitchen's but it came with red sauce...no biggie she scrapped it off and we started eating. Ut oh...my wife felt/tasted a strange texture and spat out fragments of an egg shell. Politely, we showed it to the waiter and who said he'll have a new one brought out. He then returned to tell us that the cook had found the rest of the egg shell in the pot red sauce and that he threw that pot of sauce out. She told him, "Great! I didn't want red sauce anyways." He said he'll take care of it. Moments later a friendly young lady brought out my wife's reorder and it had red sauce...again my wife scrapped off as much as possible and we started eating our meal. At this point it's past 9 pm and a group of teenage staff came out to clean the dining hall and talk freely. Some of it was taboo slang but I understand that they just spent a long shift taking care of people so I wasn't bothered by that. However, the last table except for us left, bright overhead lights came on, the kitchen draw fans turned off and it got uncomfortable quick. So we asked for boxes and the bill. While boxing our food the manager lined the "kids" up and gave them a "y'all disappoint me speech" and fired the young lady that brought my wife's reorder. I'm sure things may be more cozy during the day but it was a little weird last night. Finial thought - Those bread sticks...

When we arrived at the Gastonia location, I thought I was being seated in the pizza shop. Then I turned and realized the restaurant seating was to the right; but still had the atmosphere of a pizza shop with booths and tables down the center. The lighting was much to bright. I was taken back how the wait staff were dressed; black t-shirts. My salad consisted of lettuce, two small slices from a tomato and a mound of shredded carrots. I chose blue cheese dressing; it was watered down and had NO taste. My boyfriend ordered Italian dressing for his salad. The waiter came back and said this is our house dressing; it's like Thousand Island. WAIT! WHAT? The house dressing in an Italian restaurant is like Thousand Island????? We fumbled through the salad. The bread was very good, but no butter offered. My dinner, Spaghetti Carbonara was tasty, but room temperature. My husband's dinner, Zuppe di pesce with spaghetti. That was piping hot, but the spaghetti portion was ridiculously small; I mean like maybe a half cup. We were NOT asked if we wanted dessert; the check was placed on the table and the waiter walked away. Angrily, I took out my credit card and couldn't wait to pay the bill so I could leave this place. TEN MINUTES LATER (YES 10 MINUTES) the waiter reappeared with the credit card receipts, my card and $6 and change in cash. He apologized for getting checks mixed up and over charged my card. He stated, they cannot do refund, so he gave me the difference in cash. I signed the merchant receipt and left the $6 and change as a tip. Needless to say we will NEVER go back to the Gastonia Portafinos's again!!!! However, I highly recommend Portafinos's in Ayrsley Town Center...