Portofino

I love dining out and when I am in the mood for Italian I always choose Portofino. I have been dining at Portofino for over five years now. Their house made cheese ravioli with the garlic sage butter is my favorite. Their bruschetta is, in my opinion, the best in town. The gorgonzola cheese sauce makes it stand apart from all others. For dessert, their tiramisu is my first choice. As far as drinks go, they are one of the few places in town which actually has in stock all the wines they offer. It is very frustrating to carefully select a wine for the evening, only to find they do not have any in stock. This is the case in many other Lexington establishments, but not at Portofino. The only downside to me is that the bar can sometimes get very noisy on busy nights, so if you want a quiet dinner, be sure to let the hostess know that when you make the reservation. Pros: excellent food, plethora of wine choices Cons: bar area is noisy more

We went on a Friday evening, and as we are somewhat new to the area I had heard really good things about Portofino and was excited to try it out. Pros: Food, excellent hostess Cons: Service more

I was really excited to try Portofino, but I was very disappointed. I do not mind paying Portofino's prices, but I want the service and the atmosphere and food to justify those prices. First off our server did not know the specials. He had to keep referring back to his notes and did not seem like had had even tasted that evenings specials. After bringing us bread he did not clear the crumbs from the table cloth. If I am going to pay $27.00 for a pasta dish I want my crumbs cleared from the table. I noticed that three of the meat entrees came with mashed potatos. I would expect a restaurant that claims to be this caliber would have some more creative side dishes for their entrees. There is a lot of restaurant competition in Lexington and it seems to me that Portofino is resting on its laurels. more