Portofino Taupo

Food was far away from being the Italian one. They use cheap ingredients, not italian at all.
Amatricana- overboiled pasta, bacon was in fact some kind of untasty sausage. I have never ate worse amatricana than that.
Gnocchi overboiled as well.
Salad- pickled paprika instead of fresh, stuffed olives from the jar.
Hopefully they will improve onefay and will start preparing real italian meals.

Food was ok, ordered 2 pasta dishes and asked for extra chilli and garlic, was shocked to then be charged NZD 10 for this! Absolutely scandalous to charge this without even saying it would be an extra cost.

Went there looking at the amazing last reviews and we were wanting a real Italian Pizza.
Well Service was fast and serve with a nice waiter. 7 minutes later we had our pizza Amazing timing.
But the size of the pizza was disappointing saying Italian pizza look like a bambino.
The paste was not home made and missing a bit of cooking time (in my view), the pepperoni was cheap gilmours prize, the chicken on top was dried. Well for a 28.50 bucks the pizza not what I expected.
The take away cheap paper bag at the end for the slices was the must to go home with.
Sorry for this review but do not call yourself Italian pizza.

Fabulous meal. Our party of 4 all loved their meals. The fish was exceptional with a beautiful sauce. The others had perfectly cooked steaks. The deserts were totally yum. Will definitely be back. The service was also faultless.

The mussel pasta was so delicious. Of course, other menu items were also delicious. I ordered mussel pasta, penne pasta, and pizza, but the portion was too much for three people, so I took away the pizza. It is a friendly and delicious Italian restaurant with reasonable prices. It's a place I want to visit again next time.

Good food, okay portions and mediocre service.

There were only our group and 1 other guest at the time. The restaurant was very quiet around 730pm.

We are a group of 5 Adults and 1 toddler, our first group arrived and seated and then I asked for a table change to the sofa against the wall because it is better for my younger one, they told me no because they have already arranged the seating. Then I said I am not okay with the current table and if you are not okay with the table change, we can leave. The arrogant young waiter went to "check and ask" and then came back saying okay. Of course, with some attitude afterwards.

He came and try to clear the table while obviously we are still eating and have food on the table at 830pm. After we finished our meals, I went to the counter and asked for the bill, I got two words with the attitude tone "all done? "

Yes, Portofino Taupo is "all done" for us.

I mean, why making a fuss out of this? If I offended your seating arrangement, I have already offered to leave but you choose to accept that but serve with that attitude.

It is such a pitty because we all enjoyed the food, but no one felt welcomed.

The residents and visitors to Taupo are lucky to have this restaurant in the town. The food was absolutely delicious and is a credit to the family who obviously put a lot of love in to their business. What a wonderful treat we had in dining at this restaurant.

Amazing food.enjoyable friendly & humorous staff.very accommodating.a must to visit & dine.
Beautiful place all round!

Nice place & atmosphere. Unfortunately I found the chicken in my fettuccine to be overcooked, hard & dry. Previously I have enjoyed a meal here, a few years ago now. A bit disappointed.

An unexpectedly charming spot! We had a late night dinner for 2 after a long day of driving and our server was attentive and kind. We sampled two lovely wines by the glass and the seafood main dish - which contained fresh shrimp, mussels, fish and oysters over spaghetti with marinara. Delicious and just enough for two without overdoing it! Very fresh and masterfully presented.

We visited on a really busy night. They squeezed us in and we had a lovely evening. Great food, nothing too imaginative but a good evening with staff who were doing their best.

Had a pleasant dinner, with the food being the biggest star of the night. Though the Kids chicken tenders for my son were a real let down. Service was struggling with the crowd and I never got a chance to ask for a drinks top up. Biggest gripe was the time between Kids meals and entrees and the Adult mains.

Finally it feels good to pay for a meal outside that has left such a lasting impression! I woke up today thinking about the meal! Hahaha! The taste, to the presentation and to the flavours were all perfect! Hats off to the chef! We were so impressed with every bite of our meal. The food came out within 10 minutes. And it looked like a young family with 2 to 3 little kids ran the place.it felt homely as well. I bet all their dishes are delicious but if you were wondering what left us awestruck - we got the Rigatoni portofino and penne all'arrabbiatta. Thank you for taking pride in what you do:) we appreciate it.

The waiter was lovely! All our meals were great although the marinara didn't have much seafood. But the carbonara and veal were delicious. Generous portions too

Absolutely lovely food. Rather busy due to Valentine's Day, so dined outside under cover outside with heating. Lovely food and fantastic service. Thank you to the waiter that served me at table no 8.

Good service. Bruschetta and pastas were delicious. Ravioli definitely needed to be a bigger serving as I left a tad hungry.

Food was good and delicious. Bruschetta was a bit let down. Pasta was delicious and definitely great size portions. Service was good.

Delicious legit Italian and warm ambience! The antipasto plate was the highlight. We got a gnocchi and a risotto and both were wonderful. Hubby thought there could be a bigger portion with the gnocchi (our neighbours got penne and the portion size was much bigger). The cheesecake and the profiteroles we're both delicious

Just amazing!

Wait staff are next level, and the food only compliments the great service.

Will be back

Pasta was really good but didn't like the garlic bread. It was very tangy, and slightly too oily. Left a yuck taste in the mouth. Recommend booking if you can, we went fairly early and were sat outside and it was absolutely freezing.