I was worried about the critical reviews while ordering, but we asked our waitress for suggestions and she suggested the Six Cheese Sacchetti and it was great! Service was good, outdoor atmosphere was relaxed. Not sure I would come back unless to eat the Sacchetti though, considering other reviews. read more

Decided to take my kids here for dinner our first night in town. I mean what can go wrong with pizza and pasta right?? Wrong! My daughter ordered chicken parm . The plate comes covered in this thick cheese, underneath was overlooked chicken and dry sauce less pasta. The chicken couldn't even be cut with a knife. The shrimp scampi with a white wine garlic sauce was tasteless ( If I hadn't have read the menu I wouldn't have known what I was eating). The steak was cooked nicely but the asparagus was totally limp and full of salt. Sauce on the meatballs was hot but tasteless. Salad was bagged and had a watered down dressing. I have three teenage kids and they all left the majority of their food on the plate. This place got nothing right. The best thing that was served to us was the fried green beans (which were frozen). Had to order a pizza when we got to the house! I have them one star because the service was good. And the house wine was nice. The live entertainment was nice . read more

We requested an outside table and had to wait. The hostess was super polite and accommodating. We sat in the bar area for a couple drinks while we waited. We sat outside for dinner and the food was wonderful. We had the lasagna and pizza. Service was great and the drinks were amazing. Definitely will return. read more

We went for dinner on 7/22/20. We got seated outside right away and the hostess said a server would be with us. Neither of us were thrilled with the menu options. We waited and waited for our server. No one even acknowledged us, even though a server walked by us and we saw another one waiting tables. The hostess walked by and we told her we had never been waited on. She said she'd send a server right over. We waited another 5 minutes and ended up leaving. The place wasn't that busy so not sure what the problem was. We were there for 15 minutes with no service. read more

The food was so-so ~ very greasy & rather expensive. I had asked about an appetizer (lightly fried green beans vs a Caprese Salad) to share. The waiter suggested the green beans so we ordered those. Unfortunately, the fresh green beans were only a vessel for an incredibly think coating of batter. We couldn't even taste the green beans ~ too bad as summer fresh greens beans are one of my favorites. The entree was basic as best, I've had better food in school cafeterias. Having said that, our server & the hostess were pleasant. I would not go back here again ... read more

FROZEN FOOD!!!! Every single thing we ordered was pre bought frozen food (except the canned mushroom on the pizza) I'm embarrassed that this restaurant calls itself a restaurant. We ordered 5 appetizers, all bagged nothing fresh. Garlic bread was soggy (because it was frozen) Pizza was same quality as digiorno Pizza. Even the pepperoni was frozen quality. That being said service was excellent (Hence why this "restaurant" got a second star) and we really enjoyed the marinara sauce (probably not made there). Highly recommend not coming here! read more

The food was hot & tasty, we had a very friendly waitress, and there was a jazz band playing not too loudly in the middle of the restaurant. Overall it was a pretty good time. read more

Porto Bello has the BEST bartender ever...the local paper even says so! And I kind of really liked the atmosphere here....its what a place like The Olive Garden wishes it was. read more

This place is meh. The food is most likely all frozen, never fresh. The only thing we liked was the marinara sauce - that's probably the only thing keeping them in business! Skip this place for another restaurant in Grand Haven. read more

Mehhhhh. Food decent. Mine was freezing cold and they forgot my side. IF YOU SPLIT A MEAL THEY CHARGE YOU EXTRA. If you get pasta, it comes with bread and salad, if someone else has one of your bread YOU GET CHARGED. Came at 11am and it took 45 mins to get food with no one else here. Really disappointed here. read more

Glorified freezer food. My "linguine" was noodle soup with freezer fresh shrimp and some kind of sauce. Bland definitely not worth the price tag for the food quality and serving size. Service was also unacceptable and just didn't care about giving us any attention. read more

We've been there twice now, and the only consistent thing is that the food is TERRIBLE. Sept 2010- Came in about 8:30, ordered pizzas. Waiter ignored us for 20 minutes until I found a manager; that apparently angered the server because he showed up once to drop off our drinks, then once to drop off our check- they managed to screw up PIZZA...how!? July 2011 - Came back because a local friend insisted we meet there. Chicken Parmesan was over-cooked and HARD... Disgusting. My wife ordered spaghetti and meat sauce and got spaghetti and tomato water. Waitress insisted the meat was "ground up", so there was no more sense in arguing. Beer comes with a warm plastic glass- really?! This place is TERRIBLE. Avoid. read more

The service was okay. But for the price of the food do not come here ! We had a deluxe pizza and it honestly tasted like a frozen pizza worst 20 bucks ever spent. Go across the street the pizza there is delicious ! Too bad we wanted to be adventurous and try something new read more

This place has a nice staff, quick service, great music, and, above all, delicious food. I like the pizza here.

Terrible service, bad food, dirty tables. I dislike all chains but would recommend Olive Garden over this place. Watched several tables seated but did not have menus for them and they were only half full....tables left after waiting 15 min. We never got drink refills and waited 1hr10min for pasta.....terrible place. read more

Charming Italian restaurant in a lovely location. I had the lobster and crab ravioli. Delicious! Flavorful and sauce had a pleasant kick. The salads were generous and served family style. The cannelloni for dessert was tasty. Live music was a definite bonus. Our server was attentive. Highly recommended. read more

We're looking for a new place for dinner so decided to go to Grand Haven. It took a few minutes before the server came over but was worth the wait. The food was delicious and good size portions. The decor is outdated but overall good experience! read more

Went to dinner here for the first time. Poor experience. Waitress was apparently new and knew very little about the entrees. My wife and I both order perch dinner at $20. It really looked and tasted like frozen fish sticks and the fries were over cooked. For the price I expected a lot more quality. I asked to substitute anything else for the fries and was told not allowed. When we told waitress meal was bad we just got a sorry. Would definitely not return here. read more

The worst Italian restaurant the worst food I would not recommend this restaurant and the service is horrible I would not recommend this restaurant this is not authentic me and my wife were very disappointedThe waiter and the manager was very rude read more

We had the worst service of our entire lives from Allen. Maybe he was having a bad day, but unfortunately all 7 of us left without ordering. Sad. read more

Rude manager. The outside patio is large and spacious. One table was occupied but we couldn't have our bicycles on the patio even though they would be completely out of the way. Pretty sure at 12:30 the lunch 'rush' was over. Inside was not crowded either. read more

The manager here is a complete jerk. He was so rude when we asked for a table that we walked out without ordering. Apparently we are not the only ones Who have had this experience. The restaurant was almost completely empty. read more

If you want great Italian food, you want t o go here! Ohmygosh sooo good! Wonderful, quick and professional service. And try the chocolate lasagna! You won't be sorry!! read more

I had the best meal I've ever eaten in my life at this restaurant! GREAT service and atmosphere. Live entertainment was upbeat and fun.

Mediocre. I've had better frozen pizza than what they had. Sat at the bar & the bartender walked past my empty sangria glass 3 different times before offering another one, with only 4 other people at the bar. Only giving 2 starts because they had a great acoustic guitarist tonight. read more

More like an Olive Garden than anything else. I don't really care for OG. Now it isn't bad, it just isn't good. The young guy serving us was worth an extra star so the 3rd star is for him. Now just make better food and you are all set. read more

When we walked in the hostess didn't even acknowledge us, she sat with her back turned chatting with friends. When she finally turned around, with prompting, she barely said a word to us. Waitress was nice but the food was greasy and the selections were underwhelming on the menu. An Italian chain restaurant would be better. read more

House salad was delicious!! Pizza was really good too! Waitress was fast and friendly! Prices were reasonable for the quality.

Italian is hard to get wrong especially with an Italian owner- but this was BAD. The steak was ill flavored and the staff said it was not seasoned at all and though people continue to complain, the owner won't allow seasoning. For a birthday meal, I was embarrassed to take the birthday guest to this place to have what tasted like Bertolli's frozen fettuccine alfredo - on second thought, I think the frozen mass made was better. It was like the watery tears of a fat italian cook had taken the place of a sauce. NEVER GO HERE IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A NICE BIRTHDAY. The birthday cake was some weird concoction in a cup that melted and was more whipcream than anything (which my guest didn't like). I hope the owner reads this and takes some advice to BUY A COOKBOOK, GARLIC, and SALT. read more

Absolutely terrible food! Don't know how my dish was allowed to leave the kitchen. Pasta was more of a mustard alfredo soup, no flavor, no spices, no color. Sausage was low quality spongy chunks - the kind one would find on a frozen pizza. My boyfriend's chicken dish was oily, dry and over salted, but the tomato cream sauce was at least palatable. Both our dishes were oversold by the descriptions on the menu and vastly overpriced for the quality. Starter salads were wilting pink iceberg lettuce, drowning in oil. Perhaps there are some good dishes on the menu, but we were very unlucky in our gamble. My family had an award winning Italian restaurant for 20 years - I have experience with cooking this cuisine. Do yourselves a favor and pass on this establishment. You would be better off satisfying your craving for Italian with a can of Spaghetti-O's. That being said, wait staff were very prompt and friendly. Pleasing atmosphere, though the table dressings were cheap. Live music was enjoyable but a touch on the loud side. Washrooms needed cleaning. Would never go back. read more

My family had the Chicken Caccitore, Chicken Parmesan, Cheese Ravioli and the Shrimp Scampi. My daughter liked the Shrimp Scampi and all the rest were nothing special. Besides the food being "Meh" some negatives- 1.) the salad was ice berg lettuce. No nutritional value and cheap. 2.) very surprised that they charged extra if you wanted more bread. 3.) We ate outside- the restaurant seems tired. Our table was held to the base with zip ties. You really didn't want to set your flatware on the table. 4.) Food was slow to come out- we were told there were two big parties and the kitchen was overwhelmed. On the plus side the service was good- but it seemed like they didn't have professional wait staff more college break kids. They were not very knowledgeable on the menu (though she had only worked there for two weeks so it will probably get better) read more

After hiking the trails at Hoffmaster, we hit this place at around 8:10 (keep in mind this was one of the few areas to eat that were still open). We get a wait, which is understandable. About 30 minutes into sitting there, I asked if there were open seats, the waiters said yes and directed us towards our chairs. The funny thing is, walking back there you couldn't help but notice that there were at LEAST 10 tables that were empty.. so we though "oh it's probably reserved." We order our food at about 8:20. As people slowly approach the tables and order their food we quickly notice that everyone got their food before us even though they ordered... later. So at about 9:10 the waiter apologized and gave us our food at about 9:20. The waiter was really nice & the food was delicious, but there is definitely some time management issues that they need to work on, thus leaving two stars. read more

The ambiance is very nice. I loved the bread and butter which had a cheese taste to it. The wait staff was friendly. My boyfriend enjoyed his pasta meal but since I'm Italian I was probably more discerning. I had the chicken parmigiana and the chicken tasted like it had either been frozen, nuked or over cooked. The sauce wasn't that great and they cover your entire dish with cheese that there is all noodles and no sauce underneath. This did not strike me as an authentic Italian restaurant at all. read more

Coming from Chicago, we only make it to Grand Haven twice a year. We decided to give this place another try. We literally had the exact same experience! Everything was about the same right down to the poor service. Our food was great, the atmosphere was great, the service left more to be desired. We had to ask 3 times for bread for our one year old, twice for napkins, and waited about 20 min for the check. I think we even had the same waitress! I wish we had gotten her name. I would return next time and just ask not to be put in her section. read more

Excellent Italian food. Appetizers were amazing ... Must try the Porto Marinara Dip! Service was excellent, Lauren was a great waitress. No wait. Great view. Looking forward to another visit. read more

This used to be one of our favorite restaurants to hit when we came into town but it seems to have really gone down hill. The salad was drenched in dressing and almost unedible. The pasta was eh and was not drained properly so it was very watery. The service was slow. The music was way to loud but this part was just personal preference. Overall we decided it may be time to find a new place. read more

Eat here if u want frozen pizza. This place is horrible. Kids are the wait staff and are not responsible for the horrible food. Seriously, just change your restaurant name to frozen food section of your local grocer. Avoid like the plague. read more

I'm giving it a 3 because food is decent and service was great. Food is just ok. Location is great - right by downtown and river front. read more

Portobello - Front door of Grand Haven Brew House - Italian Near Me - Grand Haven, Michigan

Excellent food and staff was friendly and attentive. Large menu selection that does not disappoint! Loved the outdoor seating. Will be back again! read more

Honestly I don't normally do reviews,but this has to happen. This was the worst "Italian" food I have ever eaten. Terrible sauce and GF pizza was right out of a box and into the oven. The only thing that we liked was the salad and the mozzarella sticks. I would say if you are looking for Italian food don't bother with Porto bello. We were very disappointed. Also the service was subpar. read more