Perspectives... you're in Portofino on the water. Reading the many reviews of price shock had me confused and concerned but those fears were unnecessary given this unique and delicious experience. Recommend highly the minestrone soup and Gorgonzola ravioli. Lunch was an hour and could have been longer if not asking for the check... but finished our lunch sharing a cafe and tiramisu; just delicious. If your looking for a quick bite at cheap prices this is not for you... but if you can pause for 90 minutes and breath you'll have a delightful day. read more

Delfino - Menu - Italian Near Me - Portofino Mare, GE

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Rude service. We went in to have a few bottles of wine planning to spend over 200 euros. With a group of 6. Once they found out we were not ordering food. He yelled at us to GET OUT! Literally pulling our chairs out from under us. Making a unnecessary scene. read more

Rude staff, mediocre wine, and over priced. My friend and I sat down for a glass of wine, they demanded we ordered food or leave. Never in my life have I experienced such a thing. read more

DO NOT EAT HERE Food was good. Service was great. Then our €92 bill ballooned to €161. Seems we were hot with the usual tip, city tax, charges for napkins, cutlery, outside table, etc. Read the reviews. It's a trend at this place. read more

A great spot to enjoy for lunch while in Portofino! Servers were moving fast to get food out! The perfect opportunity for Italian pasta! read more

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Ladies and gentlemen....My wife and I spend once month per year in Porofino. We first dined at Delfino during a one month stay at the Splendido three years ago. We gave it a final try this year during our stay at a rented villa. Portofino is a wonderful place spoiled only by this tourist trap restaurant. As soon as they see you are not Italian (or local) the scam begins to take place. They charge $5 for napkins. Then they add a 15% service charge. This is NOT the norm in Portofino, or really any of Italy. I suspect if you are Italian, or local, you will be dining on the discount plan. The food is horrible and the restaurant is the bane of the other restaurant's existence. When one becomes acquainted with the owner/families of the other restaurants they will whisper in private about Delfino being such a disgrace. If you will take notice, it is a large restaurant but it always has empty seats. At the better restaurants you will always need a reservation during the summer season or be willing to dine very late after most other's have left. One can only hope that poor reviews such as this one, and the many others, will eventually force the restaurant into the hands of the hands of others who make Portofino a very special place and who take pride in there food and their service. Spend you time at Puny, Gemelli (1 or 2), O Magazine, Taverna, or even Ugo's Bar Morena (the best place for apertivo) and you will have a better experience. Ladies and gentlemen....My wife and I spend once month per year in Porofino. We first dined at Delfino during a one month stay at the Splendido three years ago. We gave it a final try this year during our stay at a rented villa. Portofino is a wonderful place spoiled only by this tourist trap restaurant. As soon as they see you are not Italian (or local) the scam begins to take place. They charge $5 for napkins. Then they add a 15% service charge. This is NOT the norm in Portofino, or really any of Italy. I suspect if you are Italian, or local, you will be dining on the discount plan. The food is horrible and the restaurant is the bane of the other restaurant's existence. When one becomes acquainted with the owner/families of the other restaurants they will whisper in private about Delfino being such a disgrace. If you will take notice, it is a large restaurant but it always has empty seats. At the better restaurants you will always need a reservation during the summer season or be willing to dine very late after most other's have left. One can only hope that poor reviews such as this one, and the many others, will eventually force the restaurant into the hands of the hands of others who make Portofino a very special place and who take pride in there food and their service. Spend you time at Puny, Gemelli (1 or 2), O Magazine, Taverna, or even Ugo's Bar Morena (the best place for apertivo) and you will have a better experience. read more

Don't go here! Food is just okay and the staff is rude. They charge you to sit outside, 5 Eros a piece, water charge and another service fee. They should find another business to be in because they clearly do not like tourist. read more

What a beautiful spot. This is a wonderful family-owned restaurant for 40 years (I believe that's what our server told us). The negative reviews are unfortunate because they don't talk about the delicious food-just the bill. If you google the difference between American service charges and anywhere else in the world-this wouldn't have been a shock. I don't think the servers are trying to trick anyone. Of course they want people to come back! And if you try it-you will! Grazie mille, Delfino! read more

AVOID AVOID AVOID The waiters are trying to scam Americans into leaving additional cash tips when there is already a mandatory 15% service fee and a $5 per person cover charge. He was insistent to the point of obnoxious, and he was only doing it to the American tourists. The prices are also pretty outrageous, I paid $18 before fees for a small bowl of minestrone soup. Additional tipping to wait staff is not customary in Italy. He was being shafy. read more

The server was dishonest about the bill. There was 15% included on the bill and he specifically said that was not a tip. So we tipped twice. Do not go here. read more

Do not go here. The main waiter will target tourists and demand a tip. You do NOT need to tip them.

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! Go next door to Stella. Just paid $51 for double espresso water and a pasta with tomato sauce. It's my fault for being a lazy tourist. A glass of wine is 17 Euro. 6 euro next door at Stella read more

Major pass. Waiter was rude and never returned to the table after we ordered. Could not rate the food as we were seated for 45 minutes and only received water. We asked for the check and they attempted to charge us for the food we never received. It took the owner to track down our waiter who only shrugged and walked away. We were fortunate enough to only pay $18 for our 1/2 liter of water due to the mandatory sitting fee. read more

Food was good but service attention was not good. They automatically charge 15 percent tip but we had to ask 3 times and wait 20 minutes before we could pay. There are better places in Portofino. read more

Great location and view. Funny and friendly staff, but food is nothing special. More expensive and less exciting food than at most restaurants in the area read more

Delfino - View from restaurant - Italian Near Me - Portofino Mare, GE

Overpriced and food is not that good. But, panna cotta dessert was good. The food was serve cold. We got attracted to the restaurant because of some celebrities that have been here ( Elton John, Steven Spielberg, Rod Stewart, Sheikh Maktoum). So, don't let the pictures on the wall fool you. read more

I probably had the worst customer service of my life here, I had to practically beg them to order and pay - and there was definitely enough staff! To be honest the staff seemed like social climbers, they only seemed to care about the customers that had massive designer logos plastered all over them. At one point a man at another table took his shirt off, they saw but didn't say anything or ask him to put it back on? The location was nice and the food was alright, but it was completely overpriced for what you get. There is a 15% service fee on top of a cover charge, which is laughable considering the service here. read more

This restaurant left a lot to be desired. First off, the cover is 10€, and all bottles of wine are 50€... that was our first sign it was a tourist trap but we just wanted a quick lunch. The mussels still had the beards on them and weren't very good. We over paid and later found out this place has a very poor reputation in town. There are better options to choose from! read more

We felt so welcome here! The food was wonderful and the staff was great!! We actually ended up eating here for both lunch and dinner and go figure, the following evening ended up eating at their sister restaurant! By the time we left, we felt like family!! read more

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Just had a simple lunch of prosciutto and melon (19 euros) for 5 slices of meat and 3 slices of melon. GF had spaghetti--both appetizers which we assumed that for the prices would be much larger.no alcohol, just water. 57 euros and 10 EUROS for cover charge! Never had that in 55 years. The owner ( lady with what appears to be bad plastic surgery and over botoxed) said mandatory but it wasn't on menu. And I thought the French were bad. Avoid this place---way too many better looking places. PS: food "ok" but really, how can you mess up fruit and lunch meat and pasta? read more

Very rude staff. Stated a bottle of water was 4 euro. When the waiter came back, after charging my card, stated the water was actually 6 euro. An overpriced place with a sub par view. Avoid at all costs!!! read more

Overpriced restaurant that reveals how this beautiful place Portofino can become snob and unfortunately spoiled . Because they have had notorious customer as Steven Spielberg or Rod Stewart just see the big picture in the patio, I suppose they feel entitled to charge outrageously for simple things like a Spritz 18euros when it is 5 or 5 euros everywhere else in Italy. Their food and wine are fine but does not justify the prices. I don't mention that they charge just for sitting at the table. Avoid absolutely this place that has nothing special except their prices read more

AVOID! Very similar feedback to other reviews, restaurant continues to rip off tourists, and obviously does not care much about these reviews. It's a shame, since it could get much more business if it made an effort to become an honest business and focus on customer satisfaction. Around 9pm, most restaurants in the main square had no open tables. Delfino appeared decent from the outside and had plenty of available tables (I wonder why...). The waiter was friendly, food was average, location was good, in the main square. It took a while for the waiter to come back with our bill, so when he did we were just looking to get out of there with young children and paid with a card. The waiter indicated that the Service was not included, and practically refused to let us add it to the credit card charge (specifying that he preferred cash for the service). We left a cash tip and left. Afterwards, noticed that the bill clearly included 15% service charge, in addition to 10 Euro for in essence sitting down. i.e., by the time you add everything up and the cash tip, the service charge ends up being around 35%. It's really a shame that there are still restaurants out there that focus on ripping off customers and making sure that none of them returns for a second visit. read more

We were there for lunch and told the waiter or the chef who asked if we were interested in their "specials" of octopus...our answer was a resounding "no" as we didn't care for much for octopus. We ordered "antipasto misto" dish and they served us octopus and squid dishes ...warmed as antipasto misto ...looked like a ceviche dish to me but it was served warm! ...not very tasty .... We also ordered seafood salad ...they served more octopus and squids as the salad ; also warm! Warm seafood salad ! Hmmm It was so disgusting to me .... The waiter asked how was everything but they experiences we had in Italy was not so nice in the hospitality service ...so we didn't want to complain about anything ...but the food was not worth eating although the waiter was nice and trying to connect with us. Anywhoooooo...not worth going there even though they had photos of actresses and actors from America with the owner of the restaurant. Totally overpriced for not well prepared meal ! Save your money and go somewhere else ....sorry Delfino to be so harsh but your waiter or cook should be better listeners to customers tastes and desire and re-train your chef? If you would even call them a chef.... People spend good money to go to a nice restaurant; show them enough respect to have decent foods. read more

RIP OFF! We made the mistake of not looking at the menu first. It is very expensive. Five of our group of 15 decided €15 for a small pasta plate was too much and left before ordering. The wait staff must have been upset by this because they added a €28 cover charge per check and told us that the service charge at this restaurant was not included and had to be paid in cash. One table of 4 cost €116 and the other table of 5 was €154. When looking at the check later, it said 15% service charge added. My brother went back and said what's the deal? This time the manager said the charge on the bill was "tax." The food was mediocre at best although the bread was good. Not €28 good but good. Would NOT recommend this place even if the food was better because they obviously prey on tourists. Stay away! read more

Great location and view. We had such a great experience here for lunch that we went back to the same restaurant for dinner! Great friendly service. It's a bit pricy but definitely in line with the restaurants around it. The curry ravioli was amazing! read more

Not considering price this is a 5 star. This is your typical all Italian staff. Great food and even better location. Doesn't get better.

Worst rip off I have found in my three months of italy it does not seem too expensive by the menu but you will shocked by extra charges. Food mediocre. read more

Extremely rude staff and over priced. We have traveled all over Italy and our waiter's service was horrendous. Negatively affected our entire experience in Portofino. read more

Good but highly over priced for the area. Service was fine. Food was good. Wine was good. But was the largest bill in Italy I have seen.

Disappointing. Service was ok, I was on my own and in most places in Italy that has meant outstanding service. The ravioli with curry was ok. Perhaps it's me, but they don't naturally go together. I had the sole and it was filled with bones, over-soaked in sauce and very disappointing. Couldn't eat much of it. Now I know why they had a table on a Saturday night in the summer. It's crazy expensive for a marginal meal. Off to find gelato! read more

Beautiful Location! Pesto Pasta was very good and service was friendly so you may be wondering why only a "2 Star" Rating. The undisclosed and excessive Cover (Coperto) Charge was 7 euro per person and did not include a tip for the server. For our party of 4, this amounted to about $38 ( at current exchange rate) in an additional charge which was not disclosed on the menu. One other warning about this establishment is the undisclosed charge for bottled water. It was also 7 euro per bottle. A bit excessive even by Italian standards. read more

Mateo was a great host who gave us an excellent meal in a most romantic settling. Because of him we move onto Puny in the square where dinner was with Michael Douglas and his beautiful wife Catherine Zeta Jones. read more

We ate at Ristorante Delfino with my wife and 3 children and hoped for a nice dining experience. The hostess or possibly the owner (a women) was less than friendly and appeared to wish she was anywhere but there. Our waiter also seemed to be uninterested until he learned we from the U.S. at which point he became friendlier (more on that point later). The food was ok, probably a rating of 3 out of 5 but it was all simple pasta dishes except for my wife who had a salad. This restaurant is very expensive for what you get. It was close to 200. euros and we only had 2 glasses of wine and no deserts. Similar to other reviewers we were charged 26 euros for a table charge which was basically for stale bread, silverware and a napkin-seriously? At the end of our dinner the waiter also told us that the gratuity was not included in the bill which is complete nonsense. The credit card receipt didn't even have a line for a tip. I'm sure he asked for extra gratuity because we were from the U.S. We also felt the restaurant prayed on tourist particularly those that didn't speak the language. Funny thing is that my wife is French and Italian and speaks both languages without accent and probably explains how the service changed when they realized we weren't an Italian family. Anyway, we gave Delfino a poor rating because of the mediocre food, the service charge for stale bread, being overly expensive and then the waiter telling us gratuity wasn't included which was again-nonsense. Buyer beware. Cheers read more