Portofino Ristorante West

Reviews 5

CH

Chris Fiandach

My wife and I had been here 4 times and were very pleased. We loved the food, we loved our waiter, Jerry, and always asked for him. We enjoyed the live music. We enjoyed the little bar with good Martinis and wine. We were happy campers. Then ..... Fast forward to Thanksgiving dinner, 2016. It all went to hell in a handbasket! We arrived and were "greeted" by Simone, whom we had encountered with no ill effect on other visits. Although the room adjoining the main dining area was totally empty. No one was seated there. Simone told us we would be accommodated shortly, twenty five "shortly" minutes later, we inquired again of Simone and suggested we would be willing to be seated in the still empty but very visible and easily accessible adjoining room. She curtly unleashed a host of reasons that would be unacceptable and we became more insistent to the point she reluctantly agreed. We were seated at a table just inside that room and although otherwise empty, it was almost like being in the main room since it was fully visible. Jerry was not available due to the circumstances but we were assigned a very pleasant and knowledgeable lady and were at that point OK with the day as it were. She promptly served our wine and we anxiously awaited our "Traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. Our nice waitress got it out to us in short order and we were ready to dive in. I suspected something was awry the minute my fork went into the piece of "breast" awaiting the knife to descend upon it. My wife and I looked at each other and carefully transported the forked piece to mouth. As we put the tooth to it, we looked at each other and said, "this stuff is processed meat. Its not real Turkey". Likewise the potatoes were of the packaged variety as were the green beans! I can only describe it in Italian. Merda. Plain and simple, it was Merda. We summoned our nice waitress for the check she offered condolences and alternatives but we politely declined. Paid the check with a 25% tip attached for the nice lady, who was the only good thing in that place that day and ...... We went to Dennys, never to return to Portofino West. Sorry Jerry. Sorry nice waitress. We will miss you.

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chad deffler

I lived in Rome for 12 years, and to put it kindly I wasnt impressed. I had the lasagna, nothing homemade by the flavors, just generic, its fine for the early bird price of 9.99$ but not at regular price. We ordered a bottle of ruffino, something was shady, im not sure but i think they filled a 30$ bottle of wine with cheap wine, it was open when it arrived, they didnt open it at the table. I was a guest so didnt taste first or say anything but ruffino is a quality Italian mark, that ive had before and this tasted like it was turning into vinegar and then sweated not at all like chianti which is dry and distinct. if it was just turning that should not happen to an unopened 2015 vintage, something was up. The food is not authentic Italian in selection or style, more an American stereotype of Italian food. Italians almost never have white sauces, nor is spaghetti and meatballs Italy Italian its americanized Italian, most of the menu was, which would be fine but the claim to fame is thats its real authentic Italian. It presents itself all elegantly which is nice, but the food is not fine dining, yet charges as if it were. Also the places smells like mothballs. Our bill was 108$ for 3ppl And the quality was Olive Garden food. If you like Olive Garden but want a more elegant atmosphere and are willing to pay for that, then this might be for you. I would maybe go back just for the early bird spaghetti, but only if i was too lazy to make it myself, which I think is why most the clientele is there, but I wouldnt take a date there to impress her and I certainly wouldnt take an Italian there if they were visiting.

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Vikki Young

First of all I am so embarrassed at how my friend and all of us were treated.. this was our friends surprise 90th birthday party. When we arrived we were told we could not enter the restaurant until 11:30 even to put our cake and gifts on the table.. By the way, no one else was beating down the door to get in. The hostess was so RUDE.. She asked who was paying for them to slice the cake we had brought? I explained that I brought plates, napkins and would slice the cake. OH NO YOU WON;T she said. Also, if she had been nice I would have accepted her "policy" to charge each of us a $1.50 per slice to cut our cake. She told me if I didnt like it I could go elsewhere. I tried to explain that our friend had been a long time patron of their restaurant and perhaps the manager would let us take care of the cake. NO WAY. She said the manager was not available to talk to. Not only was he there but he was our WAITER. When we asked him why they wanted to charge for the slicing of the cake he started to yell at us all. The thing he did not realize is that 13 people will no longer patronize his restaurant and we will tell 13 of our friends who in turn will tell 13 of their friends. Lesson learned.. Kindness goes along way.. There are many better Italian restaurants then this one and we will make sure we give them our business. Food here was just OK.. not great.

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tevistumulty

We hadnt been here in a long time because we moved to a different part of town. We visited tonight. I ordered my old favorite, spaghetti with marinara ($9.95), but with pesto sauce instead of marinara. The waiter asked if penne noodles were okay, I said sure. When I get my bill, Im charged $14.95 for "penne pesto". The service was REALLY slow and we had to go so I didnt argue at the time. I later called the store to speak with the manager. The first lady I spoke to said she would look at my ticket and fix it. Later the "real manager" calls me back and says that pesto is more expensive sauce and that I never asked the server what the price was. I told the manager that he had the opportunity to reclaim a customer, but that as it stands we dont want to come back. He said fine, dont come back. Ok, we wont.

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Don George

Im Italian and was raised on nothing but true homemade Italian food made exactly as in the old country. My mom and Grandma even made their own thin Angel hair type spaghetti. Im always looking for a good Italian restaurant and my wife and I tried this place since it had an Italian name. We both were never so dissatisfied in our life. To start when I asked the waitress a few questions about simple Italian dishes and soups she did not have a clue. We ordered typical Italian dishes like lasagna and cannelloni. Both dishes were horrible. So bad they were nowhere delectable enough to eat. Service was poor along with the atmosphere. The folks who like to eat there I believe may not know what real Italian food taste like. You couldnt take me back to that place even if you knocked me out. Bonappatite.

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