71 Tamaki Drive,
Mission Bay
Auckland,


(09) 528 1212

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1 out of 5

Portofino has seven restaurants nationwide. Not all of them are as bad all of the time—as the Mission Bay branch was the night we went.

At a previous visit to the Viaduct branch, I had simple risotto, a green salad and a glass of wine and it was splendid.

At Mission Bay, the punters were lapping up the pasta. Maybe we should have ordered that (although others have reported it can be mushy). But we decided to splash out. Big mistake.

The version of the Italian classic insalata caprese (salad of tomato, mozzarella and basil) was a disaster: big slabs of pallid unripe tomato, with a few stingy cheese slices.

The grilled scampi tasted as though they had been frozen and then overcooked. The vegetarian cannelloni seemed to have been prepared in advance, but the pasta tubes were undercooked and the filling of pumpkin and spinach looked and tasted like baby food.

The crowning indignity was the veal "parmesan". I use inverted commas because it had either next to no—or no—parmesan anywhere near it. Instead, it was wrapped in mozzarella (the ghastly, shrink-wrapped yellow kind) making a thick, rubbery, soapy sleeve that overwhelmed the veal.

It was accompanied by potatoes which were either boiled or roasted. We didn't have the stomach for dessert, but the choices included that classic Italian dish, brandy snaps.

The waitress asked whether we had enjoyed our meals and when I told her in no uncertain terms that I had not, seemed quite uninterested.

Auckland is full of great Italian restaurants. This is not one.