Portofino At the Square

The pasta is just absolutely amazing… This is a must MIST go place. The lunch special is wonderful.

I’ll admit that I’m a bit at a loss of words for Portofino. Every time I have cruised by the restaurant mid-​day on my way to Whole Foods, it’s been packed. Sure, it’s a small space so it doesn’t take a great deal of people for it to become packed but it really seems to push through good lunch/​mid-​day business.
So when it came to choosing between Pizzeria Rustica and Portofino, I chose Portofino. It was the wrong decision. Well, maybe the wrong decision because we’ve yet to eat at Pizzeria Rustica.
We dined on a Sunday night after a short visit to Kew Gardens for Christmas at Kew. We were frozen and were hoping to warm up but the restaurant was also freezing (I ate with my jacket on). There were zero diners in the restaurant which should have been a clue but, again, I resorted to the fact that it was a cold Sunday night and it was well past family dinner time and the place is always packed during the day.
I ordered the penne arrabiata. The dish included penne and plain tomato sauce. I believe the noodles were precooked and then warmed because it came out of the kitchen faster than what it would have taken for the noodles to cook. And I’m completely omitting the possibility that the noodles were homemade because that notion is just not a possibility.
My husband ordered a pizza. He mentioned Pizza Express is better and that he wouldn’t be returning to Portofino. I then noted that his pizza was better than my pasta. Then we gulped down our wine, paid and left.

Good deal for price and quality! The stuff is really nice and friendly :)
The only problem is the place is really cosy, during summer time there are extra tables outside, which is very nice since is in Richmond.
If you get here for lunch don’t miss the 5.99£ deal which will give you a delicious soup of the day + pasta/​pizza!