Portesi Fine Foods — Restaurant in Wisconsin Rapids

Visited 12-26-19, ;7:30 pm. Small place, close tables, plain color walls, with dark curtains. Expected Italian atmosphere. I ordered spaghetti w/ 2 meatballs. Friend ordered Bow-Tie Lemon W/ shrimp. 2 salads with Blue cheese. My rateing began dropping when a young person picked up my empty plate, knife and fork covered with Blue cheese dressing. He asked, "do you want to keep your knife and fork"? Well, if you don't bring me clean ones, I said, I'll keep them. But There's no napkins on the table. So, I liked them off and he brought me 1 napkin. ( generous.) My spaghetti came on a large square white plate. (The rateing began to nose-dive) More white on the plate than spaghetti, with 2 pieces of bread. (Not a generous portion for a hungry man with $15.00) (No offer of Parmesan cheese, or maybe another small piece of bread to sop up the very liquid sauce.) The spaghetti was just a bit too aldante. My friend liked the Bow-Tie, but the shrimp was over cooked. Waitress visited one time. No feeling of personal care or attention normally expected from seasoned waitresses whose tip is based on service and attention. Two plates $32.00 without tax. (Ugh!) One drink plus tax, just. 0.24 cents short of $37.00. Now, expecting a tip?? ($40.00??) Medium portion of spaghetti with 2 meatballs. Both of us were unhappy. But, now we eliminated one more off our...

Food was OK. I've had better and I've had worse. Lemon sauce was too tart (need to cut back on the lemons perhaps try using limoncello. Adding some contrast like capers would improve the dish some) I was surprised or disappointed that the pasta was not homemade. Both sauces were not impressive. (the lemon sauce listed above) the marinara was plain like it came from a can or jar. The wine selection was above average but the single malt scotch was a pleasant surprise. We were also disappointed in the lack of things one would expect from an Italian restaurant. Things like bread on the table, fresh grated parmesan cheese when the meal arrives, and generous salads not to mention dessert. No cannoli or tiramisu? If they have it, we did not see it on the menu nor was there a suggestion from the waitress. The service was above average and the waitress was courteous and prompt. I grew up in and around Italian restaurants and my expectations are probably...

The pizza is better than the joint. I believe in this town it is well established that they probably have one of the better tasting pizzas. If you could, imagine this if you will. The place reeks of mid 70s decor and the whole place could use a complete renovating. Not that paint is peeling and the place looks like it's about to fall apart, not at all! It just needs to be updated. Including the bathrooms which had an old musty smell. The Young waitresses were fantastic and did their best to make our meal a pleasure. The last time I was there I had spaghetti and meatballs. I guess I wasn't really crazy about it and I suppose I'm fussy about how the sauce should taste. I really didn't care for the meatballs either they were rather bland. My other half got a lemon something or another and I have to admit it was fantastic. I have had pizza here in the past and like I said it was good, so based on the point system I give this place...