Very nice meal, good portion sizes, fresh and tasty. Fast service on the night we visited, friendly and very attentive staff. We had a very nice evening and used our grab one deal without issue.

I have been to this restaurant for over 2 years and the food is always good

Average service but excellent food so it’s OK!!!

Still wondering why there are so many bad review……

We went after a great time at one of the comedy festival events, hoping to enjoy a top pizza as a late dinner. Well, the price was pretty top but the pizza was rubbish to be honest, suffering from a soggy base and an odd taste to the topping. We didn’t even finish the measley little thing it was so bad. We selected a Central Otago pinot noir we thought would be good but actually wondered if we got the right wine! How long had the bottle been open? We can only guess but it didn’t rate much better than the pizza. Not much to commend the place other than pleasant decor.

Went here one Saturday night in September or October 2010. Great interior/ambience. food pretty average for the price.
Service was slow.
Won’t go again unless some friends have organised a group dinner there. too expensive for average food.

We thought they should make one of the best pizza since it is Italian restaurant. But the one at Takapuna made very average and salty pizza. It is no where near the pizza we had in Europe. The staff look very stressed too, not relaxed, and no smile.

We had a group of 12 booked for dinner at Portofinos Takapuna. The service was good, the food was also not bad, everyone enjoyed the evening. The price however is very expensive and it ended up costing over the top, especially with the alchohol added. All in all not bad, also I am genuine and not the comments from staff members of friends below….

pretty average to be honest, service was disinterested and ever so slightly rude, especially when we complained about our food being cold.
And can whoever is writing all the bogus reviews of this restaurant please stop. It is embarrassing and unprofessional. At least use different terminology and try to not make the same grammatical errors again and again!

I had the pleasure to try this establishment for lunch,calamari for an entree,followed by a rare fillet steak covered in a delicious mushroom-cream sauce,with a generous serving of veges & salad.
The food was genuinely very good,the service prompt and friendly (while not overbearing)AND very reasonably priced !
The decor modern and the place was fastidiously clean too ! Will go again.

my food was very rich so much that i couldn’t eat it all and it made me feel sick menu wasn’t overly exciting wouldn’t go back.

Last year upon the opening of the Takapuna Portofino Restaurant, my friend constantly nagged me to dine at this restaurant. Well good on him, I did and believe you me I was not the least disappointed with the experience. The food was exceptional and my “party” thoroughly enjoyed it. There was however one little problem. When we overstayed our welcome by a mere 30 minutes on both occasions, the manager on duty was not very impressed and kept on giving us dirty looks as if to say “please go home”. We were still spending at the bar at that point….money in the business but of no interest to the manager…shame on him but our waiter was outstanding even calling my wife and my female entourage madam etc. In my opinion he should be the manager. Incidentally this happened on 2 occasions and the waiter got a 10 out of 10 for friendliness, kindness and service although the manager scores a mere 2 out of ten. Will think before visiting again. Complements to the chef. My visitors were from Brazil and Germany respectively and both parties indicated that it was the best meal they’ve had during their visit to NZ. My rating got dragged down by the manager. Thank you

very nice restaurant the Design is beautiful ,service good ,food absolutely delishes. I like Portofino Takapuna my favorit restaurant…



regular customers

After poor service and overpriced food at their Viaduct branch I should have known better than to try the Takapuna offering.

Pasta was very ordinary amd fillet steak was tough, fatty and grossly overpriced. There is no excuse for poor meat in NZ, particularly with Portofino charging fine dining prices yet obviously using cheap sub standard ingredients.

Thought it might have been a one off bad experience however friends visiting from Hong Kong tried it one night and said it was their only disappointing meal in NZ.

Definitely not recommended – I will not be giving them a second chance.

We thought the new decor was fantastic, very comfortable chairs for a change. We had 5 adults and 2 children and we all had
nice meals although I did feel it was quite overpriced. The waiter/or the kitchen forgot the pita bread for starters but was
apologetic apart from that the service was great – very friendly (The manager did come out and growl at our waiter for something in front of the patrons which I thought was unnecessary)but we all still had a great night. The price is the only thing that will stop me going back again.

We went for a birthday party.A group of twelve. Everyone enjoyed their meals. The service was polite and prompt and impeccable. I had the squid rings and found them tasty and fresh.Everyone appreciated the wine and the food choices ranged from steak to rissotto,tortellini and cabonara. The atmosphere was quiet and comfortable. Thanks to Portofino a lovely birthday for a wide age group.

Briefly
Way overpriced, ultra slow, below average food – that orange sauce… And then I had the temerity to say I was disappointed to the short Italian man with the moustache who told me, in a rude and insulting way, that he had thousands of satisfied customers. Funnily enough both the other guys waiting at the cash register joined in the argument and announced their disgust with the food service and attitude

Absolute shocker. I can only think that there are some self postings going on here as apart from the beautiful decor – the experience was terrible! I read a couple of bad reviews but decided to give it the go with a couple of clients – bad move. Cold, over salted food, waiters who kept delivering food to the wrong tables and not coming by for drinks orders, getting the wrong invoice for the table etc etc – I could write a novel. I even wrote an email to give them some feedback and was told in very poor english that the people will be reprimanded and fully trained – look all I wanted was a decent meal! I will never spend a cent there again – there are a few really good restaurants in that area – the thai place up the road towards killarney street and wine and roses is fantastic. don’t waste your money at portofino – you are bound to be highly disappointed.

Having eaten at several portofino restaurants notably the viaduct and Parnell for many years I really looked forward to Takapuna expecting it to be as great. Sadly the staff are untrained, snooty and lacked ANY professional ability. Likewise it wasnt good that it was a public holiday and no mention of a surcharge until we checked the bill. I’ll eat at the viaduct or Parnell anyday (and everyone should) but having visited takapuna twice. Never again!

Hi

I think Anne and Mary have been paid by the owner to put their comments up. The decor is lovely however the food is appalling, I could have cooked better myself. We had a delightful waitress however, we had to prompt her for our entrees and mains, and we waited a long time for them.
The prices are really extremely high – I would prefer to go to Cibo or Tribeca where the experience is impeccable and food amazing for the same price.

It looks good from the outside but this is a 1 time to try it restauarant which is a huge shame. Has a great location and look but food, prices and service are completely lacking.

After having eaten at Portofinos in the Viaduct my expectations were not high and they were met.
We were a party of 7 and started with 2 antipasto for the table thinking that might have been enough but needed to order a couple of brushetta to help fill the gap. The waiter was not much help when asked if there would be enough on the Antipasto platters and actually didn’t seem very interested at all.
2 of us had Linguini con Scallops (about 6) which was quite bland and nothing like the mouth watering explanation on the menu. They are obviously still using the same tomato soup that others have mentioned.
2 people had Fish of the day with a salsa which was the same orange coloured sauce only thicker while 1 had vegetarian cannelloni which looked bland due to the cheese spread over the top.
The 7th diner had lamb cutlets on carrot and bean risotto which looked unappetising but was apparently quite nice.
Having spoken to the majority of the diners a couple of days later all have said they wouldn’t go back or recommend it.
The only saving grace was the wine waiter, friendly, efficient and had a bit of humour and the wine was quite well priced.

The setting and restaurant fitout is lovely, however the meal was disappointing.

The wine we chose was not available. Not because they had sold out, but because they hadn’t received any yet, why preprint your menu before you know what stock you have?

We then waited over an hour for our meals and had to ask what had happened to them. The meals arrived and we were surprised that the Pepper Steak was covered in mushrooms, but we were all hungry by then so tucked in, only to have the slightly panicked waitress arrive to tell s the steak had been delivered in error. The Pepper Steak duly arrived, with a highly oversalted sauce.

My meal was lamb cutlets on a bean and carrot risotto. I ate the cutlets because I was hungry but the rice with what seemed like tomato soup flavouring and chopped beans and carrots didn’t make it past the first few mouthfuls.

The Fish of the Day with Salsa turned out to be fish fillets with a very similar flavoured tomato soup concoction (maybe there was a special on tomato soup at the wholesalers that week). Not a hint of salsa in sight.

There was no callback to the table to see if we were enjoying our meal and when the plates were cleared we were told to line up at the counter to make payment (still no enquiry if we had enjoyed our visit). All this in a restaurant that charges over $35 per main!

We certainly won’t be dining at this clip joint again, the food quality does not match the pricing and although our waitress seemed very genuine in her apologies for the mishaps the rest of the staff have yet to become acquainted with the term service.

Portofino Takapuna, has an upmarket and airy atmosphere, delivering a promising first impression.
On a bright, sunny day, Portofino has a desirable outdoor area which is well utilised for larger lunch parties.

I was impressed upon being seated, by the size and variety of the menu, making a single selection was most difficult.

Our party of 8 did seem to stretch the two waitressed that tended our table, failing to recall to whom each drink belonged.

I ordered the marinated olives to start, and at $7.90, I was surprised to received simply a dozen olives marinated in olive oil. I was also not given an olive fork, made to make do, chasing slippery olives with a mains fork.

Our main meals arrived in a timely manner, the waitresses again struggling to get the meals to the correct owners, also attempting to give us a meal for the next table.

My White Veal Masala was scant to say the least, the potatoes were cold in the center, and the masala sauce was far too sweet, with an overbearing flavour of condensed milk.
While I do have a sweet tooth, caramel flavoured veal is not on my favorites list.
$29.90 for the main is a dinner sized price, for a lunch sized meal.

The atmosphere would have been well complimented by a smile or two from the waitresses, and their eagerness to clear the plates before everyone had finished chewing their food did catch us a little off guard.

Used to getting stung on the beverage-du-jour, my lemon-lime and bitters was a pleasant surprise at $3.50.

Unfortunately, what little Portofino Takapuna had done well wasnt enough to redeem the experience, and I do hope these are simply teething problems while settling in to their new location.