Taberna do Rio — Restaurant in Alijó

We wanted to have something local to eat after our duoro River cruise . Our hotel recommended this, ..it was shortly before 1pm, so it was at the tail end of the lunch rush. Upon arrival, I asked the waitress if there was a place for 2 people? Since she was taking payment, she said 2 minutes. We waited, with others ahead of us. She went on in solo to clean a big table, serve waiting customers, and seat the others ahead, which was all fine. Then, with the clock ticking for our next appointment, I went to ask again to be clear IF there was a seat for 2. (No idea if they have reservations, hence the need for clarity). She responded that she already answered, but she needs to clean up before etc. I said, "Sorry, I just need to know if we have a table and should wait or not, she snapped.. It's up to you if you want to wait.. I sense the frustration, then she went on dramatically hands in air on head expressing with another 2 ladies behind the bar. This was maybe 15-20 minutes in..so I went tail between legs.. said sorry we must leave, we have a 14:30 appointment. She seemed to finally get our point??, or she was calmer.. then offered us direction to our appointment. We left without eating, but the 1st impression was horrible. Clearly, they were understaffed in the height of the summer. She was alone trying to seat customers, clean up, serve, and she must have been overwhelmed also with the heat. For a tourist hot spot, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. This was the only known place for local food on this side on Pinhão. I'm not sure how good the food was. Haven just spent 4 days in Porto. This was surprising as service in Porto was a DREAM!! Go to Porto for the best of Portugal, excellent...

I really wanted to love this place however it fell short on a few things. One is service, the waitress was really not happy to see or seem to want us there, we would have gone elsewhere however being 3pm it was difficult finding a restaurant in the first place. I wanted to order the octopus however they did not have and really did not have 70% of the menu so I settled for an omelette was ok. Why not just make a smaller menu and focus on the dishes you can really exceed and make everyday easily and pleasing. I hope the owner reads this and takes notice. The food was plain had to add some seasoning to get...

Our group of 6 went for lunch. We felt like we are an imposition and that they didn't really want us there but wanted our money. The one lady seemed to be more interested in being on her phone. If you don't want to serve the customer for whatever reason such as wanting to close or etc.. just say so. Out of the 6 meals one person really didn't enjoy it, two thought there's was "meh" while the other two said there's was "alright". I thought maybe it was just a bad time but other reviews have also commented about the service and food. Seems to...