Portofino Ristorante

The food is excellent. Pricing is a tad expensive, but OK for special occasions. The staff is courteous and helpful.

Great place for a dinner date. Good is delicious and the service is wonderful. Highly recommend it.

Low A/C prices are high for a small portion of food Rather go to places out in Nassau County.

This restaurant is a community staple in the Forest Hills Neighborhood. Going on 50 years strong! Stopped in with some friends and the atmosphere, service and food are always spot on. Had an amazing short rib with pasta special and it was incredible. The owner sat with us a bit and was a nice gentleman.

It wasn't what I had expected. The food was not so great considering the price. My sister ordered penna alla vodka with shrimp for extra charge and it came with 3 pieces of shrimp. The waitress was treating us like we came to get some free food. Very rude would not recommend to go there.

Portofino is our go to Italian spot in Forest Hills. We love the no nonsense family friendly high quality Italian meals every time. Restaurant experience as it should be.

Came here for the Tuesday night pasta special. For 30 dollars you get soup or salad to start, choice of about 8 pasta dishes, tea or coffee and also a glass of wine.

Everything was fine and when you get friendly speedy service on top of it this its easily a homerun of an evening. Will come back again to sample the rest of the menu but as for the Tuesday special it can't be beat.

OK so I USED to kinda dislike this place- the thing is- in my opinion, they do not have good main courses. I've always had a chicken Parm or a Piccata or something and was never too impressed. That being said, their PIZZA and their SERVICE is very good. I've popped in for a quick slice and a soda and never been disappointed

So here's my honest take on this place. I used to think it wasn't very good. The fact of the matter is, entrees don't seem to be their thing. Everytime I've ordered anything from chicken parm, to piccatta to fettuccine Alfredo- it's not been anything special- mens-a-mens- so -so. Not impressive. However- recently I dropped in a few times and just had a slice or two and let me say- they make a damn good pizza. Main courses- not so much- pizza? Absolutely. The staff is very good as well- friendly, professional, attentive.
That's my take on Portofino.

Food, and more food, then some more amazing food. The most worth it restaurant in forest hills. Go on a Tuesday. Trust me.

Amazing dinner deal. Delicious pasta with a glass of wine. Tasty coffee. Pretty fast service. Recommended.

Horrible food for price. Rude staff, and I was getting looks every single time I took a bite of my food. It took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get my main dish and the place was empty. Tasteless food and made me almost throw up. The service is 1 star at most. And for the prices it was outrageously horrible. 5 of us were sitting and it took forever. It’s like we were at the bottom of their list. And the bathroom was super nasty.

High sodium on chicken francese and limited portions. No Italian tasting food at all.
Very disappointed

Food was okay. Nothing exceptional in terms of Italian dining. Has everything you can expect. Atmosphere was great! However, the prices were pretty high considering the quality of the food was pretty decent. Spent $134 for 2 appetizers, 2 main dishes, and 1 dessert.

Food was not the great as other people claimed. My daughter ordered the salmon and the side looked and taste like from last night left over. My eggplant Parmigiano was on the salty side. Maybe it was a bad timing for us, but, it was what it was. Sorry. I wasn't impressed.

Excellent food and service. Loved the live music and the owner went out of his way to make sure we had a great time!

Very friendly service, great food and options including pasta night on a Tuesday which is a mini menu for $30 per person, which I thought was great. We had lots of different dishes between our group to try and everything was wonderful. Even have a small fish tank that the little ones are often fascinated by.

Real Italian restaurant. Carmine (owner) came from Italy in 1970 and started the business himself in 1974.

During our dinner Carmine walking around all the tables talking to all his guests smiling and greeting everyone and he is just so happy with his restaurant and loves people.

The food was amazing. They had live music. We had Brazilian family in town and he asked the “live” singer sing a whole bunch of Brazilian songs for them which made it very special. Couldn’t have asked for a better Italian restaurant during our first visit to New York. This is the exact Italian restaurant that you picture in the movies.

They have a nice outdoor covered area which is very romantic. Highly recommend.

We had a great time sitting outside while the band played. The staff was great as well and the food is a delight. Beautiful atmosphere. I will be back.

$33 for this fettuccine alfredo.

It is literally buttered noodles. I expected more.
Garlic bread was also terrible. All salt, no garlic.

It is sad day when Dominoes has a stronger Italian dish than Portofino.

Biggest waste of money that I have had in a while.
And this is coming from someone that pays rent in New York.

UPDATE RANT:
Even the NOODLES were terrible! Buttery, watery, disgusting noodles. And this is coming from someone who grew up eating plain noodles. How do you tout yourself to be an Italian place that can't even make noodles? How does an establishment feel comfortable charging that much for an inedible meal? No drink, no side- $33. I will never eat there again in my life.

And I didn't even touch my disappointment with the chicken. Just thinking about it.: : shivers: :

-P. Nichols

Wonderful, simply wonderful. Staff was amazing, and fabulous GF pasta. Great outdoor seating. Superb.

My dad kept un bragging about this place and when we finally went it was the biggest disappointment. Food was mediocre and the service slow, I got overcooked rice disguised as Risotto, the pork shank sauce tasted like V8 and the prices are outrageous.
I felt bad for my dad recommending this place. Needless to say I wouldn't recommend it.

Let’s start with the idea that the waitress staff double or triple your bar bill to get extra money. When we spoke to the owner he defended the staff then to my surprise we were double billed on my credit card. Food was average but the “fishy” business ruined everyone’s appetite.

We had our babies baptism dinner there with my whole family over 40 people.
The stuff are extremely extremely friendly the food was very delicious, the owner Mr Carmen is a wonderful man.
We loved everything about restaurant.
One of the worker Mr George was very nice and very friendly he was very pleasant with us and everyone else as well. We will be back for sure.

Got an amazing deal on “pasta night”. Glass of wine, salad, pasta and a desert for basically the price of a pasta dish. Pasta was the best I’ve had in a while and just what I wanted. The waiter was super attentive & friendly as well. Can’t wait to come back

This was by far an embarrassment to Italian food. The food was so disgusting and unedible. Waited over an hour for our food a party of 9 and they were not busy just for it to come out wrong and cold. Owner didn't even care. Told us to get slices from the other side while we waited because the children were hungry and crying. Had to send the food back and leave hungry. I have no idea how they are in business still. That neighborhood has no taste buds. Save your money and go else where definitely not worth a dime!

Wow.where to start? I guess at the appetizers.fried calamari that was under cooked and without any hint of flavor. The mushroom risotto was probably the high point but I question how you make risotto in less than five minutes.if everything is made to order like our bar tender / waiter professed when I question why our entrees were taking so long. We don't drink so our waiters extensive time at the making drinks for other tables was very noticeable. Lobster Rav. Chicken parm. Skirt steak (MR). ONE HOUR? !? !?
Had to ask food runner for the sprite for my son that our waiter forgot and then remembered 15 mins later.
For the price we were very underwhelmed.very disappointed

I’m shocked at how many good reviews this restaurant has. I ordered delivery for the first time tonight and will not be coming here again. I ordered the bruschetta, risotto primavera, and penne alla vodka. Excluding taxes and delivery fees, it was about $57 for these three things, which is kind of pricey in my opinion. But the reviews were so good, so I figured it would be worth it. It was not! My risotto is essentially just a bowl of rice with chopped vegetables in some water. There’s no flavor and it is not creamy like how a risotto should be. The penne alla vodka was okay, but not worth the roughly $20 it’s priced at. The two stars I’m giving are for the bruschetta, because it actually had a lot of flavor and was the best thing I ordered. Super disappointed in the lack of flavor or effort for the price I paid. Will not be eating here again. Really bummed I wasted my money.

Amazing food & service! Pre- Birthday dining out
Very nice ambience! Had a wonderful time! Thank you

I haven't had sooooo much fun in awhile the Owner is the bestfrom the staff, our food, live band and the ambience.it was amazing I will differently return again and again. I wish a had more pictures but I was have to much fun.

50 minutes after finishing our appetizer, still hadn't received the next course (pasta). No one had bothered to check in on us. Had to go to the maitre d to ask when it would come out, received it another 15 minutes after that. When the expensive pasta and main course arrived (both at once for some reason), they were cold (except for a steaming overcooked rubbery side dish).

We took that to mean the food must have been completed and sitting around for a long time without anyone bothering to bring it out to us. The food is expensive but the service was in our case so bad that, for all that cost, it was a worse experience than just not going out.

Was just here (Saturday night) and waited an hour for food. We arrived at 6: 30pm with our 4yo in tow and ordered within 10 minutes of sitting down. The fried zucchini side we ordered came out around 6: 45pm and then the rest of our food didn't come out until 7: 45pm. When our food finally came out, the salmon was barely warm and overcooked, our risotto was plain cold (which is particularly disgusting since it's risotto), and my orrechiette was about as far from al dente as you can get and served basically in a soup getting ever mushier.

I asked our server where our food was at 7: 15pm and he told me to look left and right to see that nobody has food, and stated that the kitchen is backed up. Obviously, sir. The owner must be greedy and opened up more tables in the outdoor space than his kitchen can support. We are new to the neighborhood and was looking forward to a nice meal al fresco on a beautiful night but left this restaurant severely disappointed and $135 poorer. AVOID.

Very traditional restaurant in the neighborhood! The food is good but there are days that it tastes not so fresh. The outside decorations is ugly so if you are looking for a good looking outside dining experience, this is not your place. The thursdays singer sings with a bottle of beer in his hand with the microphone in the other hand, do I have to comment this?

Very nice decoration, natural plants everywhere.but the food was not fresh, the sauce was pre-cooked and the orange juice was mostly water. Also the pasta was not "al dente".

The owner, Carmine, is legitimately one of the most pure hearted people I have ever had the honor and privilege of meeting. You can tell a lot of love, care, and passion were put into the place. The food isn't overpriced, and everything on the menu is a MUST TRY. I can't get enough of this place. This is the finest Italian restaurant in my opinion, and I plan on going back again and again for years to come.

They weren't as attentive as we had expected them to be they got their meals mixed up there was only three shrimp in a shrimp salad and for that price that's crazy we had asked for lemon for the water and maybe four times and seemed like other people were being served before us it was a Thursday night and it was fairly empty so it's not like it was crowded and they were busy so we were a little disappointed

I absolutely love this place, the environment is outstanding. Every time I go there's classic Italian music, which suits the place perfectly. Eating here is always a delight. I love the way they present the desserts, super cute. Very classy!

Wonderful; good food, good drinks, excellent service and with live music. You can see that the management has taken care to protect its clients in these times of pandemic, setting up a very good place in the open air to prevent the spread of the virus. CONGRATULATIONS

I had the chicken rollatino which was decent, but for $32 the portion was small. The chocolate mousse was diner quality. The band performing outside was lively, but if you want to talk to someone you're better off dining indoors. Lastly, the makeshift floors for the outside dining area was not stable, which meant that the table shook every time the servers walked by. It's definitely not my first choice for Forest Hills dining.

We should have walked out before they sat us down. Stood in their doorway for a while and not one person acknowledged us. When the guy finally approached us -he already had an attitude. To top it off, we waited over an hour for our food. While we waited, not once did the waiter approach us to explain the situation. Not once were our drinks refilled (not even tap water).

The best part my experience was the warmth and kindness of everyone there. If people not just restaurants treat people with so much kind embrace and empathy the world would be cured of all woes. Not just because i was a patron, and if it was only that well they had me hook line and sinker. Great place.

Came here for a friend’s graduation and the service was excellent, the food was delicious. Very clean and definitely recommend the Black Linguini di Mare!

We like a lot hanging out. Yesterday we went to this superb restaurant which friends recommended to us. We spent a delightful time there with delicious food and a well-trained stuff and a great chief cook. We put this restaurant in our phone list and we will certainly visit again soon. Highly recommended.

I was honestly surprised at how good the food was. The roasted beet salad and whole wheat pasta with vegetables was delicious. I don't even like whole wheat pasta and I would order this again. A bit pricey but I would come here again.

Whatever you do, don’t go on a Saturday night. I guess we should have know better. It took over an hour to get our food. No one said anything to us and they walked by us at least 16 times. The rice which they called risotto was hard, crunchy and bland. The special lamb shank, which was made ahead of time and reheated took over an hour? Expensive and disappointing.

One of the best Sunday brunch with all the selections from omelets station, carving, waffles, drinks, and everything you can imagine. Perfect go to for Mother's Day or any other Sunday Funday!

Great Service. Food was awesome.
A pleasant way to see NYC coming back from the Pandemic.
We all need a lil Portofino.