Castello di Norcia - Ristorante Italiano Pizzeria — Restaurant in Albufeira

The place looks superb and is in a great location overlooking both the Marina and the ocean. Unfortunately, our dining experience was significantly less impressive. We arrived bang on 8pm for our reservation on the terrace and there were quite a few other tables already seated. We only wanted a main course and I ordered the Seafood risotto. It arrived almost exactly 15 minutes later and was pretty tasteless - certainly in terms of seafood. For it to arrive so quickly I assume the risotto is pre-cooked, or at least half cooked. The risotto was of the tomato variety, which is absolutely fine, but it tasted like a cross between Heinz Tomato Soup and Heinz Spaghetti Bolognese. There was hardly any taste of seafood, the few shells they decorated the dish with (mussels, clams, etc.) were mostly empty and there wasn't much seafood in the dish either. The staff were more polite and professional rather than friendly and, going by how fabulous the place looks, it was a thoroughly disappointing experience. We were glad we hadn't saved it for our last night, which we had considered because it looks so nice. My wife had the pork cheek which was tasty but quite small and it was one of the few items on the menu that didn't state if it came with vegetables, etc. A few minutes after ordering, she queried this and was advised it came with nothing else so she ordered some grilled vegetables as a side dish. It was a good job she did as the portion of pork cheek on it's own was rather small. I've given 3 stars and not less because it is still a lovely venue and perhaps we were unlucky. The food wasn't bad per se, it's just that my risotto is probably one of the most tasteless I've had in terms of a seafood flavour and my wife's pork cheek wasn't fantasticlly flavoursome either. And, when you consider we had finished our meals and drinks and walked out the door at 20:35, only 35 minutes after we arrived, you can probably appreciate why we're not giving it more than 3 stars 😬 I'm sure other people have had a great experience here but we can only grade it on our...

I bring the family here every time I visit the area. It didn't feel quite as special on this occasion but I'm going to assume that was a blip. The service was still swift and the food was still good. The view still great and I still love that you can park on the drive at the side of the restaurant.

I had food envy at my wife's salt and chili calamari starter and her beer battered fish and chips. My chicken liver pate was strong and flavorful but ribs weren't as tender as I'd hoped. That's the first time my food's not been outstanding here, so again, a blip.

I wasn't greatly impressed with our waiter this time. When my wife asked whether she could have a side of vegetables with the boys' lasagne, he seemed unsure, turned as if to go and ask, then just turned back and said "no". We are the only people there bar another family of 4 (we came early on purpose) so it wouldn't have taken more than a free second to check. Eventually, we managed to get them some peas. It may just be that our waiter didn't understand us. I'm not judging...it's not like I speak Portuguese. It just didn't feel as attentive as our usual experience. The manager instantly recognised us so that was nice though.

All in all, I'd still recommend it. One so-so experience doesn't cancel out the previous great ones. I'm actually thinking of going back tonight for the fish and chips.

I just have one request. Please add chocaholic's dessert option. Chocolate fudge or chocolate brownie (without nuts) for those of us who only seem to get on with unadulterated chocolate. They almost got me with the Mississippi mud cake but I was put off by all that cream and...

Extremely disappointing Friday evening dinner.

When we arrived the manager was extremely rude when asking us if we had a reservation booked by barging past my father and telling him to get out of the way.

We were seated right next to where the live music was being played and whilst the performance was good and entertaining, it was extremely loud due to the speakers being right next to the table we were given and so made it impossible to have any conversation at all with the person sat next to me.

The restaurant was very busy and there was not enough staff to deal with the amount of guests. We waited 45 minutes after arriving just to be able to place our food order and have our table properly laid as my mother didn't even have any cutlery. There was also a lot of shouting between the staff who were clearly flustered about the slow service that we and other guests in the restaurant experienced.

After waiting for 2 hours one of the waitresses came over and told us that there was an "issue in the kitchen" and we would not be able to have the starters that we had ordered and we would have to go straight to the main courses. When the food finally arrived, the dishes of food served were tiny and nothing like what we have had when visiting previously. We did not have dessert after this.

Had it not been for the live music entertainment we would have left after about an hour.

The mushroom ravioli when it finally came tasted nice, and the view from the restaurant is impeccable but this did not make up for the disappointment of having to wait so long and deal with the...