Portofino's Italian Pizza - Ankeny

We had a great experience tonight at Portofino's for a birthday party with 16 people. The food was excellent, came out nearly all at the same time, and the wait staff was fantastic and she had a second table, nearly the same size at the same time. We will definitely be back!

The food here was amazing, so very glad we stopped in!

Probably my favorite Italian place between Ankeny and Des Moines. Food and service has always been good, they just tend to be very busy, so you can expect a wait time if you don't get there early enough. Though I believe they do take reservations as well.

Updating original 4 star review to 3 star review. We had portofinos a few months ago and the experience was great and therefore it deserved an overall 4. However after the first time, it has not been the same. My wife and I went another time and while I understand we went during a busy time the food took an excessive amount of time to be served to us. On top of that they usually give you bread to nibble on but not only did they forget tobring some to our table but they also forgot my wife 's salad prior to receiving her entree. Again, it was the second time we went but the quality of food was great and didnt think it was worthy of leaving another review, mistakes happen and understanding it was during a busy time. Today 10/21/23 we decided to go again and definitely not remotely close to our first time. We waited about 25mins to be seated which was okay and not a big deal for us. We came in with our almost 2 year old daughter and we always want to order for her first as we all know we dont want crying kiddos in a restaurant. However unlike the second time bread was served within 5mins of being seated and luckily our daughter enjoyed it and kept her calm while her food arrived. We ordered a kids size pasta for her and we received a full adult size instead(first mistake). We also ordered an adult pasta and a personal pizza for us. Our waiter came over probably 10mins after our daughter got her pasta asking if everything was okay and my pizza was okay(second mistake) We told him we had yet to get my pizza and goes to the kitchen and brings it over. Immediately I see how dried up the pizza was as if it was sitting in a warmer for several minutes. I can tell it was dried up since the second time we went, that same pizza was super fresh, sauce and cheese was super shiny aka fresh. This was not even close to that. Anywho after bringing over the pizza he also asks my wife if everything is going well(third mistake) she still had yet to get her pasta. We were waiting a good 45mins for our food. While he was grabbing her pasta I bit into the pizza and yup, not the best. He came back over to give my wife her pasta and then he proceeds to ask me if the pizza was okay and I responded that it wasn 't, it didnt taste fresh and it 's very dried, told him that I 've been here before and I 've tasted much better delicious fresh pizza from here. He proceeds to say Yeah, I kind of noticed it was dried up too (forth mistake). In my head I am thinking, why go ahead and bring that to the table if you believe the pizza is dried up too?I was very disappointed this time around and thats why I am updating my review. I am glad my wife enjoyed her pasta but i don 't anticipate coming back here. Again, Saturday evening, I know its busy but to have this type of experience?Portofinos I KNOW you can do better.

Our favorite local restaurant for Italian food. I have enjoyed every item I have tried. This is the polo caprino with added shrimp.