Reviews for Portofino's Italian Restaurant in Gastonia, NC

This cozy restaurant has been here for decades, with good reason they are the best Italian cuisine in the county by far. They... have great pizza and they offer many authentic italian specialties!!!! They offer indoor and outdoor seating. This restaurantis always clean and organized as well as the staff are all very friendly. Trust me on this one when I tell you if you're in themood for Italian this is the place to be ???????? Read more

I waited over 20 minutes to get a table, I waited over 10 minutes to even be acknowledged by the server and another 15 minutes... to get my check. I understand the restaurant was short staffed but a sense of urgency would?ve been nice. The one waitress wasnice, knew her stuff, and apologetic but a sense of urgency from her would?ve been nice. She was telling stories to her patronswhen I needed to leave and it took 15 minutes to pay and leave. I was late to my event today because I assumed an hour and 10minutes was sufficient time to eat lunch but I was over 15 minutes late because everything took FOREVER. I won?t be returning Read more

This was once one of our favorite places for Italian cuisine. We hadn?t been in a while so we came in tonight for dinner. It was... a big let down. We ordered a pizza and salad. The food was fine. The service was horrid. The staff is walking around like they?drather be anywhere else. There is no life in this place at all. They aren?t friendly or engaging. We received our food and ourwaitress only came back once to refill my water. Someone else brought my husband a refill after he sat with an empty glass for awhile. One couple came in and waited at the door to be sat and eventually sat themselves because no one came to seat them. Theone girl was on her phone in the corner. Our waitress finally came by once she saw we were no longer eating and we asked for abox. Honestly this is one of the best places for Italian food but something is definitely wrong with the atmosphere. Read more

First time visiting this place. The decorations were very cute but that's about it. Service was somewhat ok. The lasagna which... is what I came for was a huge disappointment, there was dry pieces of pasta on the side of the place (pictured) and the lasagnaitself was very watery and too much sauce with little pasta layers. I used to work at a authentic Italian restaurant and lasagnais one of my favorite Italian dishes. I know from past experience that its not supposed to look like that and for $14 a plate isay its not worth it, Unfortunately I won't come back here. Read more

Disappointed. The one is Charlotte lasagna have way more flavor. This one also taste like old pot water. The mozzarella sticks... had more flavor but they were not cheesy or crispy. It had a smooth outside texture. If they can't get the lasagna right, Idon't want to taste anything else. Read more

The good: I was really surprised when I first walked in on how clean this restaurant is and how friendly the staff is. We were... seated in under two minutes and the food was phenomenal. Check out the mozzarella sticks they are delicious. The bad: None Read more

Excellent Italian food snd service. Pizza is excellent, as well as the lobster with vodka sauce special last night! Calamari was... just wonderful. Must eat here if you haven?t already! Read more

If you're a person who's familiar with Italian cuisine and wants to know if this place is authentic, you might not find that... answer in this review as I have not had a lot of experience with Italian cuisine. What I can say is that I really liked thisplace. As appetizers, we had the Antipasto and the garlic bread with cheese. Both of these were really good. I especiallyenjoyed how well the vegetables were pickled. These perfectly complimented the prosciutto and the buffalo mozzarella. But whatreally stole the show were the cheeses, in all the dishes we had. That includes the garlic bread with cheese which was so good,that'd I'd be willing to make the drive for that alone. For the main course, I had the lasagna. To be completely honest, myenjoyment of the dish was due solely to the cheese. The sauce was good, but it was easily overshadowed by all the cheesygoodness. Lastly, the presentation was a tad bit lacking and the service was a hit or miss. If you like cheese you'll be enjoyyour time there, if not, I'm not really sure. Read more