I can't recall when I've written a scathing review here, but I also can't recall when I've ever been so angry while traveling. The folks at this restaurant - chosen because of it's lovely location right on the water's edge - utterly ruined my short visit to Portofino and have left me seething. I see there's only one other review of the place in any case.
I've traveled frequently in Italy and if it's one thing I know, it's how to make a Bellini, invented decades back at Harry's Bar in Venice. Peach puree and Prosecco (the less-costly Italian alternative to Champagne). That's all: pour in the peach, then add the Prosecco, served in a thin Champagne flute. Finito. It's a very specific, utterly delicious taste and hard to wreck if made correctly.
At Bar Mariuccia, two family members ordered Bellinis, their only one on our vacation. They're not cheap, generally cost 10 - 12 euros. At Harry's Bar, the current charge is more, around 16 euros. But what my family was served were akin to frozen margaritas: blended, icy, disgusting-looking mush, embedded with small seeds that turned out to be from raspberries. Ugh! It was frothy and foul and nothing to do with a Bellini.
My folks refused to make a scene by sending these concoctions back. They took two sips and left them on the table. When we discovered they cost 20 euros each ($23 at this moment) I was flabbergasted.
I had a testy conversation with several waiters who insisted it was a Bellini and proudly showed me their blender, as though would convince me. They also insisted it was made with peaches even though the raspberries were in plain view.
Yes, I should have sent them back immediately, and yes, I should have asked the price first, since it wasn't on the menu. I admit that. And I would have overlooked the whole unpleasant episode except that the waiters decided to make fun of me (a single, middle-aged American lady...), pointing and laughing, even engaging two local policemen in whatever their joke was. They waved me off with laughter and a "grazie" and "bon giorno" - smiling all the while.
There are many, MANY other lovely cafes lining Portofino's gorgeous waterfront. The food at Mariuccia is average, the service below that. So the best thing it has going is location, which is identical to ALL the others. So please - I beg you - patronize one of those: this place doesn't deserve your business, and I wish I'd sat down elsewhere.
There. Now it's off my chest. On to TripAdvisor! read more