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Dinner at Portofino in Henrietta: It’s Good to Be Wrong, Sometimes

Of course these days, shop owners and restaurateurs are very sensitive to what’s being said on the Internet about their businesses. It makes sense: my wife and I almost never go out to a new place without first checking RocWiki.org for the latest reviews from the users there. It’s a great resource, but like many other websites, can make or break a business’s future.

Well, the new owner of Portofino in Henrietta saw a piece I’d done on this site swearing off on ever going back to that building after the lousy service we got when it used to be called Portobello. I’d never had such lousy service and really just didn’t feel like giving this new owner a chance. But that was before he got a hold of me and asked me to come out and give it one shot. My wife and I decided to go last night and I’m glad I did.

The first thing that jumped out at me when we got in the building was that the light fixtures were changed to a more modern style. That’s good because the lighting was way too dark before. They also lost the diner style, pack ’em in till they can’t lift their forks style of seating. There’s a few less tables now and lots more elbow room in the dining room.

The owner, Dominick Morano, was standing by the door, in front of the bar, where he was to greet all the customers that entered the restaurant. We always appreciate an owner who takes such a hands on approach to his customers. He got us a couple of choice wine selections – I didn’t catch the names, but I had a nice Sicilian red and Sarah had a Riesling – and the waiter brought us water and bread. Our waiter, by the way, also worked at his family’s restaurant in the city; a restaurant run by and worked in by restaurateurs, that’s nice! Already, the service was better than last time.

And when we got the food, we were quite happy. I got a pasta dish with pesto, grilled asparagus and shrimp. Sarah got chicken with white wine, garlic, mustard and pink peppercorns. Both dishes were rich with flavour, but not overly heavy, which is a nice rarity in Italian dining in Rochester. Pesto sauces tend to be cream-based, but this one was oil based and so didn’t hang out all night on the palate. Sarah and I both love pink peppercorns, and they make for a really amazing, savory-bitter punch at the end of a mouthful. Her chicken was cooked perfectly, too.

We split a desert, tiramisu, and I had a coffee. Those of you who read my website when I regularly wrote reviews for restaurants know that coffee was a double-rated, all-important determining factor for my reviews. This was just a delicious Italian roast coffee, simple and tasty.

So, I know what you’re thinking: if the owner knew you were coming, then of course you got the best food. Well, that’s only partially true. You can’t fake good food and you can’t suddenly make your chef talented because someone new is in the dining room. All you can do is maybe spruce up what you have. The place didn’t look any different, the chefs are the same, the menu is the same as it would be if anyone else walked in. This is a quality restaurant, with or without my presence.

So go check it out. And have the tiramisu, it’s amazing.

By Tommy Belknap

Owner, developer, editor of DragonFlyEye.Net, Tom Belknap is also a freelance journalist for The 585 lifestyle magazine. He lives in the Rochester area with his wife and son.

9 replies on “Dinner at Portofino in Henrietta: It’s Good to Be Wrong, Sometimes”

So, you object to the service and the atmosphere at the old place (but not the food, apparently), and then you are invited back and the service is better. You conclude by saying that “You can’t fake good food” … not mentioning the possibility that you can fake good service. Mark me down as unconvinced by your review.

You didn’t read the original post on the subject: the food sucked, too. And there is a limit to how much good service you can fake as well. Don’t be convinced by me, go check it out for yourself.

The simple fact is this, Portobello’s was going down in quality, service, and in particular, the overall quality in food. The fact that the Democrat and Chronicle, (who does not let the restaurant know when they are reviewing), other websites who have recently reviewed the restaurant favorably,(rocwiki being one of them) the common theme is service is excellent, atmosphere is warm, and food is superb. This leads me to think, I may need to give them a try. Mark me down as convinced. Nice to hear your experience.

There’s a reason why restaurant reviewers normally show up un-announced, and in such a way that the restaurant staff and management do not know they are being reviewed. Those are the only reviews that I trust.

I read this one because I didn’t realize until I read it that you wrote a review where under the circumstances that you had.

But I shall go ahead and read the reviews elsewhere.

By the way, my daughter has been a waitress at several local eateries, and based upon her stories, I strenuously disagree with your statement “And there is a limit to how much good service you can fake as well.” Quality of service goes up and down according to a lot of things, including staffing levels and which servers are available on a particular night, and if a restaurant knows a reviewer is coming … well … you can finish the thought.

I’d like to not reply back, but one thing strikes me as insulting to the people I know who work in restaurants:

By the way, my daughter has been a waitress at several local eateries, and based upon her stories, I strenuously disagree with your statement “And there is a limit to how much good service you can fake as well.” Quality of service goes up and down according to a lot of things, including staffing levels and which servers are available on a particular night, and if a restaurant knows a reviewer is coming … well … you can finish the thought.

Good service is, as I’m sure your daughter could attest, a skill. It’s not something that can be faked in any way, you either have it in you or you don’t. All of the things you cite, particularly “which servers are available that night,” only go to prove my point.

Lets just end this discussion already. For fuck’s sake, I’m not fucking Gale Simmons, I don’t work for Food and Wine Magazine, there are no awards being given. I’m a political blogger who decided to have a meal and talk about it. Fucking drop it.

Hmm…Paiges daughter must have inherited her moms nasty disposition. She’s worked at “several” local eateries? Perhaps if she stopped trying to fake good service, she could stay employed in one place?

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