À JANELA — Restaurant in Óbidos

Pizza was tasty… but... 1) the service is sooooo slow (there’s only 1 oven that fits only 1 pizza at a time, so you may wait 40 min as we did for 2 pizzas), 2) you can’t pay with a credit card “because the internet is not good and we can’t and and and”, 3) if you pay with cash, you may pay more than you should unless you have the EXACT change (cause the restaurant doesn’t have change from what you pay them), 4) the pizza you’ll get will be tiny for what is a pretty steep price and you’ll be charged for a box (there were no tables to eat in - but to take away and eat liter on the staircase next to the restaurant you will be charged 50c per box). All in all, I had the impression that the place is run by a couple of friends who made nice pizzas for their family and friends in their apartment but have never ever ran a restaurant in their lives - and serving more than 5 pizzas per hour was just totally over their heads. If you’re there in the off season, no lines, have time to spare, cash on you, lots of coins for exact change, maybe it’s worth it but definitely do NOT...

Heard good things about A Janela in Obidos - next to Avocado. Lynda and I are huge fans of Neapolitan style pizza and have favorites in several locations through Portugal - one in Santarém, one in Porto and one in Sagres in the Algarve.

When I walked up to order a couple of pizzas the other day and saw their miniature pizza oven I thought - no way this is going to be great. Boy was I wrong! The pizza here compares favorably to any I have had in Portugal and I didn’t even order my typical favorites.

Last night we had the pesto and burrata cheese - I’m not even a huge pesto fan and it was amazing! Tonight we had a margherita pizza that sat overnight in the fridge and was heated up in our oven. I’ve always thought margheritas were a bit boring in flavor - but not this one!

Crust, sauce, cheese - all was great on both and we will...

Really liked the taste and artisanal quality of the pizza. Note that it's NOT a usual, typical pizza from a chain pizzeria... It's sourdough (a slow fermentation dough), which makes it both healthier and original in taste. I liked the rustic feel of it. The toppings were top quality, generous and very well balanced in taste. We had the burrata & pistachio pizzas and both were really good. They seemed relatively small, but we left the place literally stuffed.

The place itself is secluded from the main street, making it a really pleasant food court/ corner, a great "escape" to recharge after visiting the Óbidos castle. The choice of drinks is somewhat limited (but it's OK). Also you can bring drinks from a neighbouring place in the same courtyard,...