Sítio do Forno — Restaurant in Aljezur

Not many restaurants in the region and we decided to treat ourselves to this cliff top restaurant for dinner. Ordered starters - anchovies and sardines. The anchovies straight out of a tin on top of tasteless slice of tomato and chopped up jarred peppers - all likely from Lidl down the road. The sardines were laid on cheap toasted bread with a basic salad. Onto mains - squid and confit cod. The squid came with overcooked vegetables that resembled school dinner slop. The vegetables had a weird taste (surprisingly so as you’d thing they’d been boiled to near death). The squid was big but overcooked. The confit cod (on the chefs recommendation) was even more over cooked, dry and over salted. It was hidden in fried potato slices that were neither chips nor fries and some even a bit raw. The prawns on top of the cod were it’s only saving grace and that’s not because they were anything special, more so they weren’t noticeably awful. Although portions are big (for mains) I’d rather have gone hungry. Left 70 euro lighter and severely disappointed. The view was the only selling point. We are by the sea - you’d think the seafood would be good. In reality the meat steaks others ordered looked better. Haven’t been to such a bad food restaurant in many many years. And to see they were charging so much per plate (more expensive that anywhere I’ve paid in Lisbon or other Algarve regions) made it worse. As soon as we sat down they rushed us in ordering - various waiters came up to ask. One of which just stood there on his phone until he was ready to speak to us. Avoid this tourist trap and save your money and...

The environment is really spectacular.

I ordered one of the "Chef's recommendations" and got disappointed. It was Fried fish fillets. Which fish, was not mentioned. It came with French fries, rice with a few green peas mixed in, a half fried banana (!) and a quarter of a lemon. A small sprinkle of some green leaves was the only vegetable.

The fish was overcooked, tasteless with soft surface. The fries were absolute disaster, soft and mushy. I would have preferred green peas to this, not rice with a few peas mixed in. The sweet fried banana didn't go well with this at all. I'd prefer something more fresh, like a pesto or nice green salad. Lemon juice helped to freshen up the dish a tiny bit, but I had to ask for ketchup and mayo to get it all down.

I can see many very good reviews here, so probably my experience was an exception.

The staff is very friendly and nice. We talked about many things, not the food.

I will absolutely return because of the fantastic views, but choose something else...

The food was ok but not great, the cod was dry and their “sangria” is actually 7up mixed with wine (aka tinto de verano in spain). Overall the prices are fairly high, you will find better and cheaper elsewhere. On a side note, the terrace is extremely noisy and the inside of the restaurant looks like a cave (reminded me of my kayak tour in benagil).

Lets get into the real reason for this rating: the service. Our waiter never gave us a smile. He outright refused our request to change table as ours was located in a very hot area of the terrace despite there being many available around us in the shade (unreserved). Our kind neighbours had to help us move our table to an area with shade. After asking for the drinks menu, we had to wait a good half an hour to be able to get our “sangrias” ordered.

Overrated, overpriced, almost on par with the snacks bar by the...