Portofino — Restaurant in New Fairfield

Myself and 12 friends came to Portofino's for dinner on New Year's Eve to celebrate and I have to say, it was a disappointing holiday dinner.

The food is okay, it's not great - though maybe it would have been better if it was still hot, but I'll get to that. It's standard American Italian dishes with grinders and pizza as well. For apps, the calamari we had was quite greasy, but the New Years crostini platter was delicious. All 13 of us ordered a "dinner" and found them all to be pretty mediocre whether it was a pasta or meat dinner, not bad, not nothing special. I have a feeling their pizzas are probably better than their entrees.

The real disappointment though was the actual dinning experience. Instead of having all of our dinners ready at about the same time, they were brought to our table sometimes a few or just one at time over the course of about 20 minutes. Most dishes were brought to the table within 10 minutes, but one person had to wait an extra 20 minutes to have their pasta dish brought out! I understand we were a large party, and had they warned us that the dinners would be coming out staggered - that would have been perfectly fine! Instead we were told it was "coming right out" and then our server completely disappeared, so we all sat for 20 minutes watching our food get cold waiting for the last plate to arrive. I tried to flag down two separate waitresses and one of them literally would not make eye contact with me and was deliberately avoiding our area. The other I managed to ask about it as she was walking by, she said she'd "check on it", another 5-10 minutes went by before our dish came out. Neither server came to give us an update, no one apologized for the delay.

It left an absolutely sour taste in all of our mouths. I don't think we'll be back at all, and definitely never for a nice holiday dinner. If we could go back and make different...

I didn't post this earlier because I was so disappointed. I just didn't go back. Back when Portofino was next to the PostOffice, I waitressed tables there for Dave Hoda. My favorite thing on the Menu, after the pizza of course, was the Antipasto (salad) which came with a mini loaf of warm bread. Most nights after work, I would order this to take home and share with my Mom. Yes, it was 'That Good' to have and share Every night! FF to my last visit,~I called and ordered Antipasto, checked to see if bread was still included, I actually had to ASK for it to be. OK, NBD I arrived and went inside. First thing I noticed was a dirty floor. It had been raining, so I overlooked that. My SALAD was not ready yet. I wait. I went into restroom, I had to walk back out. It was a mess! And it smelled bad. I mentioned it to person behind register and my answer was A shrug and "I'll let someone know". My salad was ready, so I paid and left without checking it. I got that 'salad' home and when I opened it up, I was so disappointed I could have cried. Vegetables were wilted and old, cheese was a couple pre sliced pieces of nasty. The meat was haphazardly thrown together cold cuts. The bread - 2 small slices of day old italian bread. I didn't leave comments on this at the time. I don't like to leave this kind of review, especially when it used to be a favorite. Even after I stopped working there. I did call and complain, but didn't expect any answer. (I didn't get one.) But you asked. And after all this time, I am still disappointed and will not go there again. I sincerely hope they have fixed all these issues, and have "cleaned up their act" . Maybe in the future, I can write a...

Absolute best pizza around as well as all of their food!! 🍕 Extremely friendly staff that goes above and beyond and is always courteous. Owner is always very nice, upbeat and personable. Their prices are also the best around, no surprises, no hidden fees (that some other similar places charge.. aka credit card fee) and you will get the absolute best bang for your buck eating here. Everyone is raising their prices due to inflation and that is very understandable, but I have not felt it at this facility at all versus many others who have blatantly raised their prices by 5 dollars or more on many items without any notification or change on their actual menu's. Again Portofino's is the best! They are completely respectful to what is going on and are still extremely reasonable with their pricing during this situation we all find ourselves in with the current economy and supply chain issues.. Bottom line is this place knows how to hold onto their customer base and I know with this continued excellence they display on all fronts they will continue to grow. **P.S. If you grew up in NY as I did, this place will feel like...