De Raiz by chef Luís Calei — Restaurant in Almada

I was told about this restaurant by my partner and we finally got a chance to visit in June ‘25. The restaurant is situated very close to the dock, near the ferry and tram stations.

I’ll start with the negatives: the atmosphere inside the restaurant at the time of visit was lacklustre verging on disappointing for an experience which wasn’t cheap. They were playing pop music on their speaker by the door which wasn’t in keeping with the vibe of the rest of the restaurant. For me, the music should complement the vibe and not be a distraction to the food or ambiance. the service was fine but not great; the lack of energy or enthusiasm from our server didn’t make me more excited to order everything on the menu, nor did it mean I walked out of that restaurant blown away by my experience. Add to that a small mistake noting down an order, which we did emphasise, meant an order wasn’t made which messed with the overall dining experience. Mistakes happen and it’s understandable. the lack of choice on cocktails on the day. Two different cocktails weren’t available to order so I had to settle for something else.

The positives: The interior decor is clean, modern and comfortable with outside seating also available. It lives up its aim of being elegant but not being too pretentious. the FOOD! The food completely saved the experience. We started off with the Peruvian ceviche which was light, refreshing and beautifully delicate. Then went onto the mains of which we had two sirloin steaks, (arriving at different times due to the error mentioned above), both perfectly cooked with excellent crispy-on-the-outside but soft and fluffy on the inside fries, the corvina with risotto was outstanding, definitely one of the creamiest most flavourful risotto’s I’ve ever come across and the fish was delicate, fresh and perfectly cooked and had a beautiful crispy skin. Our dessert was the deconstructed pastel de nata which I could see and taste the different components of in chef Luis’ dish but I am happy to stick to the real thing.

Overall a mixed bag for me and I’ve been a little generous with the ratings. Food was excellent but the other components of what I think makes a great dining experience weren’t to the same standard which left it as a whole; lacklustre, especially given the cost of the meal. I hope to give this place another chance and to try out different items on the menu in future. Obrigado to chef Luis Calei and his team for taking care of us, we hope to see you in the...

Please read. First off, we got swayed by the reviews, Chef seemed competent at first, but unfortunately he wasnt as much as i we had thought, i asked slowly and clearly to have a PLAIN CHEESEBURGER (14€) , even clarified that i wanted (bread,meat and cheese, no sauce, no condiments, no other toppings whatsoever) as slowly and clearly as humanly possible, he even repeated my exact order, after a 40min wait, my boiled burger patty finally arrived, it was… all dressed, sauce, condiments everything i had specifically asked for not to be on my simple plain cheeseburger, i didnt even have to ask the waiter when he brought it over, he saw my face and took it back to the kitchen without me even asking. Then 5-10min later (i thought they had at least made the effort to remake my simple 14€ burger) but NO, they tried to juste take off the condiments and reassembled my now stale cold burger. I didnt complain to the waiter but i was disgusted, not only was it a super simple process to juste remake it, but they also left some condiments and sauce on the burger meat and bun, it was worst then a McDonalds burger. Not only that but my brother had ordered a Cheese appetizer, APPETIZER, which is supposed to be BEFORE the main course but yes we asked to have it at the SAME TIME as the main course, IT ONLY CAME WHEN WE WERE ALL FINISHED EATING (with the cheese sticker which wasnt removed before cooking. So we had to stay another 15min while we were finished for him to eat his super late appetizer. My parents plates looked nice visually and my dad loved his Cod and the tartar appetizer. I’ll give them that, but the Salmon was way overcooked . Very very disappointed overall. Do...

Had dinner today at 845. Wasn’t too busy, it was quiet and intimate with limited seating. Our server had limited English and we were communicating with her through Google translate. We tried ordering a pitcher of sangria but she said there was none available. Only the caipirinha was available that evening from the cocktail menu so we tried that. It was good and strong.

Food: We ordered our apps (tuna tataki & loin picapau) and mains (hamburger & cod risotto) The tuna tataki arrived at 9:05. It appeared more pink than pictures seen on other’s reviews. It still tasted good with the nut sauce. We were hungry and still waiting for our second app. By 9:30 we were served our mains and I had to flag the server about the second app. Our mains were taken away and we were handed cold loin picapau which was upsetting. My partner didn’t want to waste the dish and ate it. Rich flavours were present but the temperature was a big let down. I dislike cold food and that ruined the experience for me. The hamburger was okay, served medium rare. Fries was salty but my partner liked it. I ordered the cod risotto and that was our dinner’s highlight. Served hot, with rich, creamy rice and fresh fish.

Our server asked how everything was at the end of our meal and we did say one dish was cold. She apologized and hoped to be better next time. She’s the only server/hostess, etc on the floor so it must be overwhelming.

Location: very close to the...