Reviews for Portofino's Italian Restaurant & Pizza in Ankeny, IA

Portofino?s is absolutely our favorite spot in Ankeny, everything we get is always great! The Sofia Loren pizza is to die for,... even though our kids always end up going for pepperoni. Their pasta is on point, the bread which always comes in generousportions is soft and buttery and dips oh so perfectly in their delicious soups. The service is always top notch, we?ve only hadone issue with a takeout order (someone else had an order with our same name at the same time) and they were so apologetic andsincere and ended up sending us home with all sorts of extra goodies including a slice of chocolate cake which ended up beingenough for all of us, seriously?the cake was amazing. Love this place and would recommend to everyone, thank you!! Daniel,Melissa, Lee, Jordy and Indy Read more

Very promising place here. Love the tomato vinaigrette and the brandy creme sauce. Will go back a check out other dishes and... sauces. Spaghetti sauce was ok, little sweet for me. Bread knots are very tasty too. Read more

Food and Service were both great!! The staff is prompt, friendly, and accommodating. The food was served quickly and was hot and... prepared well. Sausage and pepper parmigiana was better than expected and even had more for lunch the next day. I recommend andwill be returning! Read more

Went to Portofino's for the 1st time and came away with VERY mixed feelings. I ordered the Sausage Pizzaola, which is served in... a bowl (pic) and is sliced Italian sausage sauteed with mushrooms, onions, basil & bell peppers in a sherry wine with marinarasauce over spaghetti pasta. (I copied that from their website.) I thought it was the very best meal I had had in a restaurantsince moving to the Ankeny area from Florida nearly 3 years ago. It came with garlic bread, and we ordered more garlic bread asa side and took some home ... yeah. it's that good. My wife ordered the Pasta combo, which is a sampling of lasagna, manicotti,cannelloni, ziti & tortellini baked with marinara sauce & mozzarella cheese. Here's the deal, when they brought her dish to thetable, we both wondered where the rest of it was. In the pic of my dish, you can see that her samples were baked together in asingle baking dish, and then served. We both thought the samples should have been cooked with their own dish (lasagna withlasagna, etc.) then served on a plate with the other samples along with maybe a garnish and bread. Anyway, her serving dish wasabout 1/3 the size of my bowl. She weighs in at about 130lbs, and came away hungry, so she helped me with my dish. So, I gavemy dish a 5-star rating She gave hers just under 2 star rating. Final score ... 3 stars. Read more

Update... We decided to give them another try and we are glad we did. My wife ordered the Lobster Ravioli and she is ready to... come back and get it again. It was very flavorful with large chunks of Lobster. I once again ordered the Pasta Combo and it wasfantastic! I can now report the Mozzerella Sticks were good but will pass on them next time. Also, before you leave you mustorder a piece of Lemoncello Marscapone Cake! ABSOLUTE MUST! Food was fantastic! A different pace from other Italian restaurantsnearby. The bread was fresh, hot and deliciously plentiful. I ordered the Pasta Combo and my wife had the Fetrucini Carbonara.The pasta was a very good consistency and my wife really liked the flavor of her pasta. Each dinner comes with a soup or saladand the salad was nice an crisp and a good portion. I would like to tell you how the Mozzerela Sticks were, but even though weordered them we never got them. I would have given them more stars but the service was lacking. We waited quite a while to getdrink orders in and Mozzerela Stick debacle. Also, the gentleman who delivered our food asked us if we want parmesan cheese onour entrees and when we responded yes he left and delivered food to another table and gave them cheese but left us out todry. Will try this place again, hopefully they will get service under control. Read more

Ordered linguine with white clam sauce and a tossed salad as a side. The tossed salad was bigger than expected and tasted fresh.... The server brought over fresh homemade bread and it was heavenly. After a short wait our order was brought to the table pipinghot. I definitely recommend the linguine with white clam sauce. Large portion, great sauce/broth. Big chunks of clam. We willdefinitely be coming back. Read more

First time here and I could tell (or should I say smell) as soon as I walked in, it was going to be delish. Bruschetta to... start, the Lasagna and Chicken Parmigiana for entrees and cannolis for dessert. Read more

Portofinos was a great place for our 2nd anniversary dinner. Surprisingly affordable for the quality offered, and had an... enormous selection of pastas and appetizers. We got unlucky with a tainted bottle of wine and they swapped it out no problem.Was very busy! Definitely try it out! Read more