Portofino Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Merrimack

Called in to place an order and the woman that took the order was very nice. They were willing to prepare a couple of pasta dishes without the protein (fish/shrimp) so that only the sauce and vegetables were included with the pasta. I arrived 20 minutes later to pick up my 4 pasta dishes and they were packaged and ready to go. I noticed immediately that the to-go bag was small but thought 'If the meals are tasty, they will have been worth the $62.'

My family and I planned on trying each other's dish but only tiny bites were allowed due to the very small portions. (Yes, the portions were THAT small.) All of the dishes were fresh and warm. The vegetables included in the Genova dish were also fresh, as was the pappardelle pasta, which is made in house. Three of the four pasta dishes lacked any flavor at all. The Aglio E Olio dish has a sauce comprised of garlic and crushed red pepper in white wine. You could not taste the garlic, red pepper, or white wine. You could taste the olive oil which was pleasant enough, but not what one expects when ordering Aglio E Olio. The Fra Diavolo was equally disappointing. There wasn't a hint of garlic or spice to the tomato sauce tossed with linguini. This is traditionally a spicy dish. The level of spice one can handle differs so it's understandable if the spiciness isn't to the level that someone expects. However, there was NO spice detected at all. Bummer. None of the dishes were seasoned. The primary flavor of the (3) white wine based sauce dishes was olive oil. The only dish that had detectable flavor was my husband's dish of linguine with Venezia sauce and honestly, much of that can be attributed to the kalamata olives. The overall feeling after our meal was disappointment and hunger, though I will say none of us experienced any digestive upset.

For the price I paid for these pasta dishes, I expected decent portions and at the very least, flavorful meals. I received neither. When did Italians stop seasoning their pasta dishes? In my house, we never stopped. At Portofino's...? Perhaps order a dish that is deep-fried or includes a meat protein so that there is some flavor.

Two stars given - One, for the service which was accommodating and timely. And one for the freshness of the meals which were served warm and with...

I really hate to write a bad review especially since the hostess was so nice to take our pick up order when I called in at 8:10 even though the kitchen apparently closes at 8 and they close at 8:30. I am extremely disappointed with the meals however. I ordered 2 identical meals to make it easy. It was my boyfriends birthday and he wasn't feeling well enough to go out to eat so I suggested we order something from close by because he wanted to stay in. I myself hadn't eaten one thing all day and it was already past 8 so i couldnt wait any longer to eat. I tipped the host $10 for taking our pick up order so late and we got home to eat about 5 min after picking it up. I was starving and so looking forward to eating! We got "2" Fra Diavolo dishes with white wine and scallops on linguini. It was honestly the worst dinner I've ever had. The scallops were rubbery, the white wine sauce tasted like Nothing and the linguini tasted like strait up fish! Now I love fish, but this was the fishiest meal I've ever tried and tasted like nothing else. No other flavor, just straight up funky nasty fish. Was disgusting. Super disappointed because not only did I pay $55 for the meal, but again it was my boyfriends bday and we couldn't even eat it and I obviously couldn't complain because they were closed at that point....

If you love the smell of garlic this place is heavenly! We had a lovely dinner. Delicious hot bread with a slightly spicy dipping oil (or butter, your choice), fried mozzarella with a nice tomato sauce to start. I got a caesar salad that was crisp, green, and fresh with the perfect amount of dressing, croutons, and cheese. Had a chocolate martini as well. Hubs got veal parmesan with spaghetti and bolognese sauce (his usual at every Italian restaurant) and it was a good sized portion that he devoured. My son got the steak guiliani medium rare (perfectly cooked), with beautiful asparagus and crispy French fries (which were tasty, I tried one). I got chicken and broccoli alfredo. I felt it was creamy enough but needed more parmesan cheese. Everything came.out hot and together. Our waitress (Maria) was attentive and checked on us just enough. I also tried the risotto with mushrooms and spinach which was creamy but could have used little more of something (maybe salt or more parmesan?) But it was tasty none the less. We finished dinner with a chocolate mousse which we shared as we were stuffed. Nice and fluffy with a delicate chocolate flavor. Would...