Il Porto - Speisekarte

"Booked as thought convenient for stop on wqy to Parma and read good reviews. Not impressed, owner rushing us over order as possibly wanting to be ready for his regular 13:00 locals. Young male waiter incapable of answering other than we had to speak to owner. Due to rushed order by owner wrong steak arrived. We had ordered Crudo and PR for 2 for a starter (wishing to support the local specialities) and the plate arrived with 5 small slices of crudo and 3 small chunks of cheese so a bit difficult to devide in 2 even although the owner had taken the order and double checked that the dish was for 2. When the wrong steak arrived I asked young waiter if it was correct and he said yes, his usual answer, owner removed wrong steak and we had a further 10 minute wait with chips and my meal going cold. I had asked if the sausage element on my Capricciosa pizza/pinza could be substituted with fresh mushrooms but as they had no fresh mushrooms the owner offered porcini which he then charged 3eu extra, no sausage reduction, and whilst the fine slivers of porcini were delicious they did not justify a 37.5% unannounced increase on my Capricciosa. We were most dissatisfued by the long wait over the wrong steak as we needed about 5 minutes to get the owner's attention as the boy had already answered yes to my question over whether the steak was al balsamico or not. Yes he said when it clearly wasn't, my husband had ordered it, I had reconfirmed it in Italian with the owner as we were never asked how he wished it cooked, ie rare. Regards wine, only white fizz available on la spina no red in a pasta, pizza, steak restaurant unless you choose to get ripped off over an overcharged bottle of plonk. Overall we were not impressed, more impressed by the ladies in the pasta factory at the side. They may have a good operation there but the restaurant front of house is rank amateur. We will not be revisiting or recommending others and our trip from home in Province of Ferrara to Parma to collect our preordered French Vacherin Mont D'or, Brie de Meaux cheeses and Swiss Gruyere was a little marred by this rather unprofessional lunch experience. Perhaps some staff training on dish recognisation is required. No doubt the owner will blame our foreignnish and therefore inability to communicate as the reason although I have been working, living in and speaking Italian since 1975, off and on, and both living here permanently for almost six years. Next time we'll stop at Autogrill or Sarni."