After wandering around beautiful Québec City, we made one BIG mistake: we didn't reserve a table for Saturday evening! We decided to try our luck at Portofino, which had some great reviews. We were told the wait would be an hour or more--and almost exactly an hour later, our table opened up. Totally worth the wait! The whole family loves Italian food, and Portofino delivered. We started with Caprese and bruschetta, followed by cacio e pepe, arrabbiata, eggplant Parmesan, and pizza. Everything was delicious, and the staff was happy to adjust a couple of dishes to our liking. One thing we didn't know before arriving: there was live music! We ended up with a table right next to the duo performing. It was actually a lot of fun singing along to some good old classics. If you're looking for a quiet, romantic dinner, though, this may not be your place--but for a lively family evening, it was perfect! And since we had a birthday in the group, the staff surprised us with cannoli mousse, crème and ice cream. A huge shout-out to Steve, who was absolutely awesome! He was attentive, friendly, and genuinely made our evening special. And kudos to Steve and the chef for serving up some seriously finger-licking-good food! We'll definitely be back. Next time, though, we're making a reservation! read more

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This place is super cute. It's pretty tight seating inside. The service was incredibly friendly and fun. The food was exceptionally good. My mother had the pasta carbonara and loved it. My father and I shared the four cheese pizza and the Cacio e pepe. Both of them were delicious. You can tell they make the pasta, which is always a huge plus. We'll probably end up going again on this trip. read more

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Waiter is courteous and offered ample time for us to make a selection. Spouse ordered the spaghetti and the pasta was perfect. The beef carpaccio was fantastic as a meal on its own, accompanied by a beautiful arugula salad with chopped pistachios, almonds and bacon pieces. read more

Portofino - Beef carpaccio - Italian Near Me - Quebec City, Quebec

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It was decent. Tonight (Monday) was our first of 5 nights in Quebec City ahead of a cruise to Boston. We decided to try Portofino. We made an online reservation for 7:30 pm. We arrived on time and waited maybe 5 minutes before being seated. All the outdoor tables were full so the two of us sat at a low 4-top inside not far from the kitchen. Water was brought right away. Our server then took our drink, appetizer and entree orders. We each had a pint of Stella beer on draft and we shared an order of their Focaccia bread, served with butter and a dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The beer was cold and because it was draft, not from a green bottle, no skunk smell or taste :) The Focaccia bread isn't what we make in the States, but it was find. More of a soft, yet dense bread, topped with herbs. For $3 CAN, it was a deal. Later on, the Casesar salad was brought out. It was a generous portion and was plenty for the two of us to split. The dressing was tasty as was the shaved Parmesan cheese and the house made croutons. Later, our Cannelloni entree came. It was in an oval dish that had been baked. The full order came with 2 Cannellonis. Here again, plenty for two people to share. It was stuffed with a meat and cheese mixture. We were too full to be tempted by their dessert menu. Our friends arrive from the US in a couple of days, so we've made another reservation here at Portofino for the four of us. The only downside to Portofino was that it is popular and busy, so it was a bit loud inside. read more

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Being that it was my first time coming here, I'd have to say that it wasn't too bad. However, I found that we were seated in a very tight space next to the kitchen. So we kept getting bumped by the servers. The waitresses were very nice however they were a little sloppy when pouring water into our classes, there were many times that I had to clean the table with a napkin because water got all over the table, so that was wasted napkins... The food wasn't too bad, I'm not gonna lie. I have to say, I've had a bit better. The desserts were amazing though. The bathrooms weren't as cleanly, I mean, the floors could've used a bit of a cleaning and as a germaphobe, it didn't sit well with me. Overall, would I come here again? I'm not too sure because I live far away lol but it was decent enough. read more

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Italian in Quebec? Well let me tell you it was good! I ordered Pasta Carbonara and the noodles were cooked to perfection! Very tasty with lots of Canadian bacon and a garnish of regular bacon. Yum! I paired it with a glass of Chardonay. The waiters kept coming around to fill my water glass and to see if I needed anything further. I sat outside so I could enjoy the passing people. Great experience. read more

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Great food! Was so delicious. Had the pesto, Alfredo, and margarita pizza. Service was good and the ambiance was very Italian. I went to Italy last year and the food here is almost as good as the Italian food I had there! read more

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Terrible experience. Waiter didn't put our order in. After 40 minutes and all the table around having been served, new waiter told us our meals for being cooked. 20 minutes later , the meals arrived with cold pasta and overcooked veal. No apologizes for the late food or poor food. Staff acted like nothing happened. Will never eat here again. read more

I love Italian food: pizza, pasta, the deserts you name it. When coming to this restaurant, I didn't know what to expect; my experience here gave me mixed emotions. When being placed at a table, it was in an area where there was dim lightning. This made it difficult to read what exactly was on the menu. When waiting for the food, there were times our servers would pass by and refill our glass of water, but sometimes when refilling, it would be done so quickly that the water would be more on our table than our glass. The food was another thing. I did enjoy the plate I ordered; however there was just something about the sauce of the plate that was throwing me off. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it but I wasn't really crazy about it. Lastly, was desert. I feel like it was the dessert that had saved most of my experience. I had tried for the first time a volcano caramel. Wasn't sure what it was and very curious to try. That dessert was the best thing I have ever tried; so delicious I almost ordered a second one. It would still be hard to explain my experience because the truth is I'm not really sure how I felt about this experience. I did enjoy the food but wasn't crazy about it at the same time. In the end, I'm still not sure if I would recommend this place. If you want a quick bite, this place is good to recommend. Just remember everyone's taste buds are different. read more

Portofino - Italian Near Me - Quebec City, Quebec

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Food is excellent, as for appetizers, you have to try the mushrooms Arancinis, they are delicious! The polpettes are good too! As for main course, favorites pasta are the Penne All'Arrabbiata! Over the years, I've eat those pasta about 15 times at least! The live music is perfect to create the atmosphere, patrons singing along with the singer! read more

Mother's Day weekend!! Friday night dinner at Portofino was delicious. We had the Arancini Aux Champignons, Escargot Italiens Gratinés, Calamars Frits, and the shared the Spaghetti Boulettes De Viandes. It was very delicious! The Escargot was a tomato escargot with melted cheese. I liked it a different option from just garlic escargot. The Calamars Frits was a little overcooked yet still enjoyable. Loved the Arancini Aux Champignons. What a great idea to add mushrooms I had to try it. Sharing the Spaghetti Boulettes De Viandes was a great idea. It was the perfect meal. The sauce was delicious. Dinner cocktails were had were the Mojito and the Limoncello Spritz. read more

Portofino - Fried Calamari, Arancini with Mushrooms, Escargot with tomatoes and cheese, Limoncello Spritz and Mojito - Italian Near Me - Quebec City, Quebec

Amazing carbonara, I would definitely come back here again and again. Definitely a must stop if your in the downtown qc area read more

Portofino - Carbonara - Italian Near Me - Quebec City, Quebec

Terrible seating / host stand system, incredible food. Tried to go here twice and the hostesses on both nights had zero idea how to do their jobs. Literally writing names on a clipboard and when you ask them how long of a wait they keep telling you "I don't know". You end up standing on the street for an hour praying your name gets called. Can't shop around up and down the street because they don't take phone numbers. Then the hostess doesn't yell the names loud so you have to stand so close. Again, 2 nights this happened, not just a fluke one time, so we just ended up walking away after some time waiting. On the third day we got in for lunch, place was basically empty, and the food took FOREVER to come out. Food was incredible, but not worth the headache of trying to eat at this place. They need a better seating system and more chefs in the kitchen. Do not spend your time waiting here for dinner! The people to the right of us on night one while we were waiting outside said they had a 7pm reservation that was not honored. read more

This place was ok, I left here feeling a little underwhelmed. The staff were nice and friendly. I was able to get a table without a reservation- which during this time was looking pretty busy. The atmosphere of the place was nice. I loved the music and the interior decor of the place. I think the food was ok but nothing really stands out. The Burrata plate was ok. The chicken parmigiana looked like it was premade. For some reason, I did enjoy the spaghetti side that it came with. I had a couple of bites of that. Overall, not my favorite place I've eaten at. This place does have a vibe and if you're looking for a nice place to chill and enjoy some drinks, perhaps this might be your place. Njoy! read more

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Stopped in for dinner with my son. We ordered the Italian beef tart and a pizza to share. Both were great! The service was really good and the setting felt like Italy! Would definitely go back! read more

This atmosphere, quality of the food, taste of the food and service were spot on. If your looking for good italian food do not miss this place! read more

This was the absolute best restaurant. Best food! And the absolute best service! We walked all over town our second night there for one hour looking for a different restaurant to go to. We had already eaten at Portofino the night before. But after looking all around for an hour, we decided to go back to Portofino And the servers recognized us and gave us a free appetizer and a free after dinner drink just as a gift. Nadia was our server and she was so attentive! We had the mushroom pasta and another pasta dishes the first night which were delicious. And we had the risotto the second night and they were equally delicious. Highly recommend the crème brûlée for dessert. read more

While visiting Quebec City, we asked multiple bar tenders for their opinion on the best restaurant in the area. Portofino was mentioned several times!! It did not disappoint! *ended up going there twice. {{*.*}} read more

We had a good experience at this establishment our first night during Festival. Friendly, fast service. Good drinks. Calamari was fine as appetizer, the White Butter Salmon as entree was wonderful. read more

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This place needs to get their shit together. The food was fine but service was terrible. We ordered a pizza they said it would be ready in 20 minutes. 1 hour later and im still waiting outside and i watched the server seating french people before anglophones who had arrived there first. Unbelievable. Please save yourself the time and dont come to this shitbox read more

Bad meal, bad experience. Service was terrible. After ordering we got our drinks and the appetizer, fondue parmesan relatively quickly. This is when it got bad. After a while and seeing the guests at the next table getting in after us and getting out before us, I inquired after our main dishes. My four year old daughter was getting hungry by then (18:30). I was told the appetizer order (2 pieces of fondue parmesan) delayed the serving of the main dishes (margarita pizza, 2 pasta dishes) and the manager seeming to imply that 42 minutes(his words, his count!) and counting wait time was reasonable. I expressed my dissatisfaction. It went downhill further from that point. First came the pizza - unappetizing and slightly burned. I decided to keep it for my daughter. The two other main dishes came 10 minutes later. Service was minimal and miserable. Manager and staff were unapologizing. One waiter calling me a "face de cul" (but face) for expressing my dissatisfaction. That same manager refusing to speak in English to my wife who does not speak French. Pasta dishes were at best average, my squid ink pasta was undercooked and sticking together. Meal is overpriced for the quality. Irrespective of their reply if they dare to, the preceding are facts. I will not return. I do not recommend. Claude NYC read more

Loved the food and service. Amazing views. Clean restrooms highly recommended trying the dishes we tried read more

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Great food, but pricey, but I would go again. Every plate was so delicious. Espresso martini was so so.

Had a great dinner here last night on the street in Old Quebec. We popped in at 9:30 pm before a supposed close time of 10. There were no issues with us being seated on the sidewalk where we enjoyed spaghetti, Caesar salad and beef carpaccio. Service was excellent and they did not rush us. Food was good; ambiance was excellent! read more

Absolutely one of the worst restaurant experiences that I ever had here last week. I cannot recommend this restaurant--especially to tourists. Very easy restaurant to rate 1 star without regret. What happened?: We just checked into our hotel a few steps away and were in the mood for Italian Food. I should have heeded the other recent negative Yelp reviews because they portended a bad experience to come but it was 8 PM and we were hungry and tired. Walked in and the manager greeted us in a disinterested coldish manner. That should have been the first sign to walk out. Table bread was old and hard and tasteless. Another sign that we should have bolted but the order was in. Chicken Parmigiana main dish comes to table and looks good from above, but cutting into it I don't see any white meat at all! I don't see any meat! I cut another section and again--where is the chicken? Does not taste like chicken parm. Call Manager over and ask him to take a look--that I can't see any chicken--it's just thick breading or maybe they gave me dark veal?? Manager stares at it a few times and does not say anything--he then grabs the plate away and says I am going to take to the kitchen to find out what it is? 7 minutes later Manager returns with the plate and puts it back in front of me and declares "It's chicken, you are seeing the breading." Manager bolts away and both him and the waitress ignore our table for the rest of the meal. I still could not see any chicken--seems as if they pounded it so flat and thin that it was mainly breading. Taste was dismal--I was hungry and ate as much as I could with the small side spaghetti and vegetables. My temper was boiling over! The refrigerated chicken parm in Trader Joes (a low cost grocery store in the United States) is miles better than at this restaurant. Check comes and manager approaches the table with portable register for the first time since the plate return and I ask him if that is the normal way that they prepare chicken parm in this restaurant? He responds NO! Manager says that it usually has thicker chicken, more slices he says. Now I am enraged--I ask him why then did you return it to the table!? if it was not made right? I then ask him to remove the charge for the chicken parm from the bill (that my partner was getting ready to pay for this meal). He agreed to remove the charge and did. I just left it at that I was so annoyed at what happened here. I would have expected in this situation that the Manager would have come back and told me that the Chicken Parm was not made right and offered to replace it with something else or remake it. That is what a top restaurant does when obvious kitchen mistakes are made. But this place does not G-A-S. After we paid the rest of the charges, the Manager admitted that he should have returned to see if I was okay with the Chicken Parm and he gave me his card to text him if I want to come again and he will make things right. I just could not come back here--there are too many other great restaurants in Quebec City--I think there are serious problems in the operations here. For one: If you need to go to the kitchen to find out if there is chicken after looking at a cut open chicken parm and staring at it--that is a major problem! read more

Delicious food. We recently were in Quebec City - and this was the best place we ate at. In fact - we almost ate there a second time - wish we had...my only sadness - was that they didn't have chicken piccata - they had a lemon veal pasta dish - but I don't eat veal. read more

Good food. Excellent entertainment (live music) and ambiance. The service was AWFUL. Party of 8. Asked multiple times for bread and water, told my daughter they did not have Mac and cheese (but had pasta, cheese and milk?) , then tried to skip her altogether. Drinks took forever. Waitress acted like we were bothering her. But most insulting was the way she came back and told me, after I added a decent manual tip, that tip wasn't included so.... Huh? Yikes. So many other places in QC with fabulous service....so it was a disappointment, especially with the prices. read more

Why chose Italian food in a French Canadian city? Je ne sais pas. Glad we did though. The French Onion Soup was on the watery side, and it could use more onion. However, we enjoyed the pasta. Hubby had the Mushroom Fettucine. I opted for Ink Pasta with Seafood. You get one ginormous shrimp with a bunch of bay shrimps while the clams came with no shell. If you are looking for a more robust flavor, seafood pasta will serve you well. We topped the night with Tiramisu which came with no cake, just lady fingers. Different from what I am used to, but scrumptious no less. Service was attentive. We went on a rainy night, so it was dark and cozy. Not sure if it's normally like this. If you crave pasta, this is the place for you. read more

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Great food. Great service. Sat outside to enjoy sights and people while dining on delicious meals! read more

Portofino - Italian Near Me - Quebec City, Quebec

Great spot for delicious pastas, a warm ambience and even live music from a gent with a guitar. They will split pastas for your main dish, which were delicious. And steps away if you are staying in Old Quebec. read more

Friendly service and delicious food make for a great combo. We truly enjoyed the calamari, squid ink pasta, salmon and veggies, spaghetti and meatballs, and lasagna. Ordered the chocolate cake but haven't tried it yet, as I just wanted to take a moment to sing their praises for such amazing food. read more

Amazing food,service and ambiance. Could not have picked a better place., highly recommend!!

The Caesar Salad and the Parm Chicken were the best thing I have had since I have been here. The side of vegetables that come with the chicken were delicious and made me want more. They give you bread to start off with and have different sizes of beers including a cup instead of just having to get the pint. The table has a neat light that you can press pay when you're done. This place was my favorite. read more

We found out about this restaurant during our bus tour. It was definitely a good recommendation. I'm not going to lie...the prices are NOT cheap. I ordered the Poitrine de poulet parmigiana (chicken parm) 27$CAD and my friend ordered the Gnocchi aux quatres fromages 27$CAD . The portion and flavor was definitely worth the cost though. She said it was the best gnocchi she's ever eaten. The service was exceptional. Unfortunately, I don't remember the server's name. If you are doing the hop-on-hop-off bus to%ur, be sure to show them the wrist band to get 10 (or 15%) off. We were doing a different bus tour, but it was definitely good to know. They do offer free wifi, which is always a plus! read more

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Food was amazing ! Service absolutely wonderful. Nice ambiance . Did everything to make us feel welcomed

Excellent in every respect. Awesome place for young families, lovers and newlyweds. Fresh ingredients make the best meal you can ever hope for. excellent wait staff and live entertainment. This was our last night dinner in Quebec City. Just a wonderful city and restaurant. read more

Portofino - Street entrance - Italian Near Me - Quebec City, Quebec

This restaurant was in the middle of everything, placed at such a convenient location. The line was also long since it was dinnertime and that piqued our interest. We chose to sit outside and the environment was lively. You could people watch as they walk up and down the street. Our server was also very friendly as he cracked jokes with us a few times. The food was overpriced and the portions were small as I was still hungry afterwards. My pasta was good not too oily nor greasy, next time I'm in Québec I think I'll check out other restaurants. read more

Portofino - Spaghetti Carbonara - Italian Near Me - Quebec City, Quebec

I was surprised by some of the negative reviews of Portofino Brasserie. We are visiting QC for the first time and stumbled upon this very quaint restaurant. Everything we tried we really enjoyed. So much so we visited twice on this trip. We found the food and the service be very good. During our first visit we split the arancini appetizer (excellent). I got the gnocchi (very good)and my husband got the lasagna (excellent). The portions were huge! On our second visit, we split the fondues au parmesan (very tasty). We got the pizza (really good - they have a great pizza oven) and the mushroom risotto. Again the portions were huge. Well worth the money. read more

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Dog-friendly and great ambiance. Music is a plus. Servers are genuine and attentive. It's funny to think that the best Italian food I have had is found in Quebec--not in Italy. We came back here numerous times during our trip because we know we'd always clean the plates up. It's that good. read more

We were able to get a seat right away outside and opened up their massive menu to determine what we wanted. We went with a pitcher of their Sangria Framboise which was very fruity and flavorful. Did a bread basket and went with lasagna and the Spaghetti Pomodoro. The portion sizes were decent and both dishes were very tasty. Prices were reasonable and service was average. One thing I noticed was that the waiter kept talking to us in French even after explaining a couple of times that we spoke English. He would come up to the table every time speaking in French and we would stare at him blankly before he switched to English. Didn't have that issue anywhere else. read more