Portofino restaurants?

[surgefest]

What are the restaurants like at Portofino??? As much info as you know would be great... And also any reviews you have from eating at any of them..the more info the better.. Thanks!

 

[SNylund]

Look on the Universal website for details, you can go onto the Portifino section on the site and get all the details. There are some great spots there, but you will probably want to resort hop (which is easy at Universal) and eat alot at City Walk, Tchoup Choup at the Royal P, Hardrock has some good restaurants too etc., tons of onsite choices. (All a short boat ride away or walk.)

Portifino is mainly Italian restaurants, pizza, pasta, (some very nice Italian) but very heavy Italian themed, so you may get burned out on that theme eventually. It also has a great kind of pastry/doughnut shop thing for breakfast options, and several others (I haven't stayed at the P in several years so my info could be out of date as well, I've been staying at the RP lately) but Portifino is EXTREMELY nice and elegant, really an awesome place, probably best resort in Orlando IMO.

 

[damo]

We absolutely adore Sal's Deli. Their handmade wood fire pizza is the best pizza I have ever eaten!

 

[Dervishian]

Our advice would be to eat at City Walk- the breakfast buffet at Portofino was so-so, and definitely not worth the cost. Sals was just ok too, we had dinner there on the night we arrived, it wasn't anything to write home about, and expensive as well. For a quick continental breakfast, there is a coffee shop which was good. And for a nice snack at night, they have a yummy ice cream shop (connected to the coffee shop.) We found dinners at City Walk (Margaritaville the best!!!) to be the best choice, short wait if you show your hotel card.

 

[LKMang]

We absolutely adore Sal's Deli. Their handmade wood fire pizza is the best pizza I have ever eaten!

Totally agree with this!!! We ate pizza there 3 times last vacation. DH and I still talk about it.

 

[damo]

Our advice would be to eat at City Walk- the breakfast buffet at Portofino was so-so, and definitely not worth the cost. Sals was just ok too, we had dinner there on the night we arrived, it wasn't anything to write home about, and expensive as well. For a quick continental breakfast, there is a coffee shop which was good. And for a nice snack at night, they have a yummy ice cream shop (connected to the coffee shop.) We found dinners at City Walk (Margaritaville the best!!!) to be the best choice, short wait if you show your hotel card.

You sure you ate at Sal's? It is far from expensive. A large pizza is about $14 that easily feeds 3 and the panini's with salad are about $11. That is the extent of the menu.

Totally agree with this!!! We ate pizza there 3 times last vacation. DH and I still talk about it.

DD's boyfriend says it is the best pizza he has eaten outside of Italy!

 

[patster734]

We absolutely adore Sal's Deli. Their handmade wood fire pizza is the best pizza I have ever eaten!

Very good pizza that's reasonably priced!

Our advice would be to eat at City Walk- the breakfast buffet at Portofino was so-so, and definitely not worth the cost. Sals was just ok too, we had dinner there on the night we arrived, it wasn't anything to write home about, and expensive as well. For a quick continental breakfast, there is a coffee shop which was good. And for a nice snack at night, they have a yummy ice cream shop (connected to the coffee shop.) We found dinners at City Walk (Margaritaville the best!!!) to be the best choice, short wait if you show your hotel card.

I've eaten at all three breakfast buffets and Trattoria del Porto has been our least favorite. Next month, we're staying at PBH and we'll probably eat at Trattoria again for breakfast. Hopefully, it's better than last time. Another option for breakfast is Pastamore's Marketplace - decent food at a reasonable cost.

 

[Dervishian]

Yes I'm sure it was Sal's. There were 4 of us, two adults and two teens, and I believe our dinner bill was close to $50, which I thought was alot for pizza, drinks (bottled water, and couple of beers). And it wasn't all that great either. Have to say, however, we had just checked in, it was probaby 8:00 at night, and there was alot of confusion in getting our food to us. Just wasn't our first choice...

 

[maggieb9975]

We enjoyed the Thirsty Fish for a quick snack/beer..it was lovely sitting outside and enjoying the atmosphere..the coffee place , can't remember name was great, good coffee, breakfast sandwiches and pastries muffins etc.

We did not like Mama Dellas. Atmosphere and service were awesome but the food was a real letdown....we did not like either one of our entrees....I had the chicken Marsala that used to be on menu but wasn't anymore but when I asked waiter he said they could make it for me. I was very excited that they could do that for me but unfortunately the chicken was very tough. My DD ordered the sphaghetti and meatballs and she said it was more bland than a frozen dinner...I said it can't be that bad but when I tasted it, it was.......

We did not ask for replacements as we had some time constraints...I assume it was just an off night for them...

there are many other options as PP's have said...you will love the PBH..oh, we ordered food when at pool and it was very good..nacho's ....

 

[patster734]

We stayed at PBH last week and dined at some of it's restaurants.

The pizza from Sal's was good as before, and not badly priced. But adding drinks and an appetizer (bread sticks), really bumps up the price!

We had dinner at Mamma Della's one night. The service and atmosphere were nice. I had the Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and it was good. Everyone else liked their food too. However, the price was steep.

On the last day, we had breakfast at Trattoria del Porto®'s breakfast buffet. We had planned on doing the buffet on Thursday, but it's only available on the weekends. During the week, they were only offering a continental breakfast. I found that very disappointing! So we did the buffet on Sunday. They had problems keeping food available. When we went through the buffet line, the eggs and bacon were just about gone and the potatoes were gone. When my wife went back to get potatoes, they were out of clean plates. And they weren't that busy either. Fortunately, other then the French Toast, the food tasted good. My favorite buffet is still RPR's, followed by HRH's.

 

[psac]

We were just at PBH this weekend, and ate at a number of the restaurants. This was our first stay at a Universal resort, but we've done WDW a number of times before for comparison:

Bice - (Pronounced Bee-chay) We went there one night for our "nice" dinner. The food was excellent, we thought it was as good as (maybe better) than any of the Disney signiature restaurants. My wife had the Veal Osso Bucco with saffron risotto ($45 for a HUGE plate), and I had a Salmon stuffed with crabmeat that was in the $30s. Both were fantastic. For appetizers we had a fried calamari dish ($18 for a huge plate we should have shared), and $13 for an appetizer-sized portion of one of the pastas. Both also excellent. I had a really strong chocolate martini for $12. I'm including the prices so the expectations are well set, but well worth the cost in my book.

Mama Della's: We ate there twice on our trip. Great "homestyle" italian food. The lasagna was amazing. The muscles were a winner for an appetizer. The main courses were mostly in the 20s, appetizers in the $10 range. Everyone has their own opinion of what italian food should be, but from a New Yorker's opinion, this is REAL italian food. Much much much better than Tony's or Mama Melrose in WDW.

Trattoria del Porto: We ate there only for lunch one day. I had a bacon cheeseburger, which was really good. My wife had a swordfish sandwich, which was a little bland. It was better when I gave her some of the bacon (healthy, huh) from my burger, which was loaded with it. Overall decent for the convenience.

Some quick hits outside of PBH:

Latin Quarter at Citywalk: We really enjoyed this place, very good food, very good service. Definitely recommend.

Mythos at IOA: I don't know if I'd say it's the best theme park restaurant, but definitely worth a visit. We had the risotto and pasta of the day, both of which were very good. Again, recommend.

Lombardo's at US: By far the worst food experience of the trip. My wife's pasta tasted like soap, and we had to send it back (and we NEVER send back food.) The service was bad, the portions were small, the replacement chicken sandwich wasn't very good, and my asian stir-fry was "okay." Stay away!!!

 

[patster734]

We were just at PBH this weekend, and ate at a number of the restaurants. This was our first stay at a Universal resort, but we've done WDW a number of times before for comparison:

Bice - (Pronounced Bee-chay) We went there one night for our "nice" dinner. The food was excellent, we thought it was as good as (maybe better) than any of the Disney signiature restaurants. My wife had the Veal Osso Bucco with saffron risotto ($45 for a HUGE plate), and I had a Salmon stuffed with crabmeat that was in the $30s. Both were fantastic. For appetizers we had a fried calamari dish ($18 for a huge plate we should have shared), and $13 for an appetizer-sized portion of one of the pastas. Both also excellent. I had a really strong chocolate martini for $12. I'm including the prices so the expectations are well set, but well worth the cost in my book.

We'll have to try Bice on a future trip. We've never eaten there, but it sounds like we should try it. I'm always up to trying unfamiliar restaurants!

Mama Della's: We ate there twice on our trip. Great "homestyle" italian food. The lasagna was amazing. The muscles were a winner for an appetizer. The main courses were mostly in the 20s, appetizers in the $10 range. Everyone has their own opinion of what italian food should be, but from a New Yorker's opinion, this is REAL italian food. Much much much better than Tony's or Mama Melrose in WDW.

It's definitely better than Citywalk's Pastamore!

Trattoria del Porto: We ate there only for lunch one day. I had a bacon cheeseburger, which was really good. My wife had a swordfish sandwich, which was a little bland. It was better when I gave her some of the bacon (healthy, huh) from my burger, which was loaded with it. Overall decent for the convenience.

We only managed to eat the breakfast buffet there and we're slightly disappointed because they couldn't keep buffet items available. We may have to try their lunch on a future trip.

Some quick hits outside of PBH:

Latin Quarter at Citywalk: We really enjoyed this place, very good food, very good service. Definitely recommend.

Mythos at IOA: I don't know if I'd say it's the best theme park restaurant, but definitely worth a visit. We had the risotto and pasta of the day, both of which were very good. Again, recommend.

Lombardo's at US: By far the worst food experience of the trip. My wife's pasta tasted like soap, and we had to send it back (and we NEVER send back food.) The service was bad, the portions were small, the replacement chicken sandwich wasn't very good, and my asian stir-fry was "okay." Stay away!!!

We tried eating at Latin Quarter on Wednesday night when we arrived, but a private party had all the top restaurants blocked off. I do plan to eat there on a future trip because it always gets great reviews!

Mythos: One of my favorites! Great food and atmosphere at a decent price!

We've never tried Lombardo's, and I doubt that we ever will. Our favorite sitdown restaurant at US is Finnegan's. If you haven't dined there, try it on your next visit. It has a nice atmosphere and good food at a reasonable price.

 

[webray]

We enjoy all the the restaurants in Portofino except Bice (horrible).
Mama Della's is fantastic. The buffet is excellent for breakfast and holidays.
Sal's is also very good. Room service is excellent as well.
Light menu also served at bar off lobby.

Restaurants at Royal Pacific are good also. Tchoup Chop was a bit of a let down recently, but will give it another try again in the future as it has always been good in the past. They could have been having an off night.

Lot's of great places to eat in City Walk as well.