Review Il Portico - Canberra

The food was a mix between delicious entrees and average mains. The waiters were very sweet and accommodating. I would have given one more star but the prices don't match the quality. Paying more than $100 for 2 course, 2 tea, and 2 waters at a place with tacky decoration and not high quality meals.. I would still go again, if I was hungry and craving a pide or the zucchini balls. But, by adding $10 or $15 per person I could have eaten 3 meal courses at better Canberra restaurants

I usually don't post negative reviews, but I'm making an exception for this place. My spaghetti marina featured under cooked pasta and almost raw seafood, making it completely inedible. The guy behind the counter showed no interest in me after delivering the food and a glass of wine, completely indifferent to why my meal was untouched. Only one other table was occupied - and it's easy to figure out why.

The overall experience was really disappointing, especially because we visited for NYE and waited 2.5 hours for our food, while take away pizzas were being prioritised over our meals. Our food was really average and overcooked - the only saving grace was the incredible waitress (unsure of her name) who served our table. She was really lovely, warm and was constantly checking in on us. We really appreciated her level of service.

We had a nice meal here, it was a cold evening out, but warm inside. The food was tasty with generous portions, and the Jier Cab Merlot wine was very good, recommended. Spent $50 per head, value for money.

A lot better than what I expected. We had a friends birthday here. A group of 15-20. The service was phenomenal. It was one girl in particular, but she went above and beyond. The food was also really delicious. The wine selection was good as well.

Came here last Saturday night with my Aunty and Uncle for dinner. We chose this place based on the reviews but since going back through them it appears it may have changed management a little while back? Food was not great, seemed to be out of a packet (gnocchi) and the salad was very basic, along with the other meals. We chose not to stay for dessert. Staff member who served us was lovely though, but the food just was not up to restaurant standard unfortunately.

What can I say.... The staff were absolutely wonderful and the meals OMG, I was in food heaven. Not once were we rushed to order nor were we pushed for our mains to come out. We were given the choice of doggy bags which was fantastic. Definitely recommend IL Portico for family evenings out. We will be back :)

Was a little concerned as the place wasn’t busy however anyone that walked past missed out. Great service and excellent food and unlike some places they were extremely accommodating when it came to varying the menu. A great establishment that I doubt would disappoint.

The chicken was slightly over cooked but everything else more than made up for it, our waiter was friendly and helpful and the chef came to clear our desert plates and check everything was satisfactory. Better than any food I've had at the Foreshore, if you can sacrifice the view for better food this place is definitely worth it :)

Take away was ready quickly. Pasta tasted amazing, but the portion sizes of the meals were seriously disappointing for the price.

Best food in town love it 👍👍👍👍👍👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎❤❤❤❤❤

Nice place with a friendly staff. Hope to come back next time 👍

Number 1 pizza and pasta station in Canberra.

Loved the food .....pasta and that chicken ..love it

An exceptional way of giving it a go at this Restaurent

Yummy food, nice salad and pizzas, good service!

One of the best Italian restaurants in Canberra :)

Good job to production.and i want to joint this your resto.tanks for atantion.

Had good meal tonight. Gnocchi blue is very tasty. Service was good and friendly too. We were worried because of some reviews. We are glad that we had positive experience.

Very slow service, over an hour for mains to come out after entrees. Food was average at best - my pizza was nearly flavourless. Prices are low, but you get what you pay for.

Yummy chicken risotto (gluten free) to be had here and great service.  They do GF pizzas here as well, for an additional charge.  No-one seemed to be waiting a long time for their meals, and the drinks service was pretty efficient as well.  Lovely wait staff.

The food was fantastic and fast. We ordered the penne boscaiola, pepperoni pizza and the veal fungi. The service was great without being annoying and our 6 year old enjoyed drawing with crayons on the paper table cloth. Great food, great atmosphere..

Husband has got a few take away pizzas from here and they have all been awful. The base is doughey and the top is oily. Too expensive for what they are.

Came here for my birthday dinner. Brought a cake that we served ourselves. Got charged $40 for it. They also got our order wrong and asked if we could just eat it.

I always like visiting people’s favourite places – it usually means they’ve scoped out the menu, which is exactly what my friend had done at Il Portico. He recommended the Boscaolia pasta (available at lunch and dinner, $20), with porcini mushrooms, Italian bacon and a creamy truffle oil sauce. I picked the Proscuitto pizza ($21), with rocket, proscuitto, parmesan and olive oil. Always trust the local. Both dishes arrived together a short interval after we’d ordered. The pasta dish was utterly divine and definitely my favourite. Silky smooth

A little disappointing. The poor chef was there by herself without any floor staff. She tried her best but you could tell that her focus was not solely on the kitchen. Nevertheless we will come back and try the pizzas as they look amazing.

Panna Cotta. Orange flavoured home made panna cotta, its delicious. Try it!!!!

This is a great place to be with family for dinner .Very nice and friendly staff and foods are delicious and cozy and peaceful environment. Pizzas are so yummy that you can't stop eating it and choices of pastas and different sauce feels you are above all cooking of your own food.Gnochi blue or arora , veal , steak , fish and chicken are unbelievable with fresh vegetables and roasted vegi and creamy of mash potatoes. Completely adorable weekends place for dinner.

Great food great customer service. It was wonderful night spent in this restaurant and the food was great. Great timing and very nice and yummy italian Pizzas. Pastas we ordered was finished with perfection. Simplicity and services appreciated!!! Loved it

Great food and service , can't wait to go next time<br/><br/><br/>-----16 May, 2015-----<br/><br/>Delicious. First of all, I can tell we were wellcomed very nicely, we were there for my grand mother birthday celebration. We order the food after like ten minutes, after no long the food was on the table. Oh my god, no words for the special gnocchi. It was so good and delicious, the sauce was very flavorsome. I would like to recommend everyone to visit this place and enjoy the service and meal in very decent place in Kingston.<br/><br/><br/>-----16 May, 2015-----<br/><br/>Delicious. First of all, I can tell we were wellcomed very nicely, we were there for my grand mother birthday celebration. We order the food after like ten minutes, after no long the food was on the table. Oh my god, no words for the special gnocchi. It was so good and delicious, the sauce was very flavorsome. I would like to recommend everyone to visit this place and enjoy the service and meal in very decent place in Kingston. They also have high chair and booster seats to make kids comfortable and cozy !

I wouldn't say I hated it - we had 4 pizzas - the bases were nice the service lovely and quick, but the pizzas were made with heaps and heaps of cheese and heaps of toppings. Would see some people would like that but I personally prefer the Italian way - less is more. Less ingredients and cheese would have let the bases shine and for "woodfired" pizza, let's be honest, is what it is all about. Also They can get rid of the crust style sauces/aioli drizzled on top. But that's just me. I'd go again but just ask for less cheese and no aioli and if be happy.

Wood fired pizza from electric oven. I have ordered take away large pizza, and I've been told it will cost $20.<br/>I've arrived five min earlier, and I saw they are takin pizza out of electric oven. When I asked if it is wood fire pizza, the lady, lied and told me it is. When I told her that it wasn't in the wood fired oven, she said that it is probably broken.<br/>Also it was very small size as well.<br/>She also charged me $23. When I said that on the phone I've been told it will cost $30, she said that the person doesn't know the prices.<br/>It was my first time at the restaurant, and last time, very bad experience.

Potential but misses. Here when empty,50 minutes to get good, inattentive waiters with ordering, water, wine topups, and cold as cold as GIO stadium on a night match. Food is ok.

Excellent dinner with the family. Sampled pizzas, pastas and deserts. Food was superb, great atmosphere in restaurant. Order did take quite long to arrive but we were very happy with the result. Owner was extremely friendly and chatted with our kids. Definitely a regular visit for good Italian!

LOVED IT!. The other night I went out for dinner with my family, I've never had a better meal or better service. The waitress was very friendly which to me is very important. My husband had a pizza with procuitto and rocket wich i had to taste! (delishious) the kids had a lasagne each, which i also tasted, also very yummy. Then to top it all off we had a wonderful desert. Later the chef (also owner) came out to greet us which was great<br/><br/>Overall a beautiful evening, lovely staff beautiful food! I suggest everyone goes here!

A shocker!!!!. The worst restaurant experience of my life! We arrived at 7.20 pm as a party of ten on a saturday night. We had pre-booked our table and decided we would BYO wine. As we ordered one of our party asked the waiter if he would recommend some entrees for the table. His answer was ,"no I wouldn't do that , it will only delay your meal" ??!!!!! This should have been a warning sign ,but we gave him the benefit and waited, waited, waited ,waited and waited some more for our meal to arrive. Some 2 hours later (what on earth were they doing in the kitchen?) three of our tables meals arrived. Two meals were saltimbocca, surely this is pretty stock standard for an Italian restaurant, the third meal gnocchi, surely a pretty simple dish to prepare. The luke warm veal looked rather grey in colour, like it had stewed for the last two hours and was accompanied by cold, yes cold baby potatoes, luke warm baby carrots and warm green beans and rice. I have never seen Italians serve rice before? When we asked the waitress if she would eat cold potatoes, the diner actually placed the potatoes in the palm of the waitresses hand she responded "no ,thats not right, i'll go and warm them up". I wonder how long that would take? By this time we had all been turned off our meals and there was still no sight of the other seven meals to come. The owner then appeared , dressed in his trackies and t-shirt as if he had just come in from the gardening and tried to explain that it was his fault as he had left the restaurant and he should have stayed to keep an eye on the kitchen? Before this we had been given other random excuses like " they don't really understand english in the kitchen" , "it's a busy night" , and "you are a big table." Almost two and half hours by now and we had drunk nearly all of our wine, so decided to cancel our long awaited food and get the bill. Once that finally arrived we paid for the privilege of drinking our own wine and left.<br/>Don't go anywhere near this restaurant if you are after good service and decent food. With six staff working the kitchen on a busy saturday night there is no excuse for waiting two and a half hours for food. Try one of the other better established and well known Italian restaurants in Kingston and give this one a HUGE miss.

Great food and service could not have been better. Catered well for a minor food allergy being overly careful which was greatly appreciated. Pizza and pasta was fresh and tasty. Coming from Melbourne where we have become pizza critics this measured up extremely well.

Just moved to Kingston area and was looking for a good pizza shop. We had Greek Salad and Proscuto Wood fired pizza. It was really good and plan to return.

Delicious freshly made pasta. Enjoyed a delicous meal and great service at this new Italian restaurant. We will be coming back!

Great food and friendly service at a cheap price will defiantly recommend it to friends

Six if us had dinner.Food was great.We were welcomed by a really nice women.Service a little slow but restaurant was full.Its BYO.Will go again

Having just returned from an Italian holiday it was great to come across a genuine slice of Italy in Kingston - first class family service and authentic food.

My partner ordered the spaghettoni amatriciana with pancetta and tomato. This was a very simple dish done well. Perfectly cooked pasta in a ripe tomato sauce and a heck of a lot of pancetta. Tasty!