Swara Beach Fonte da Telha — Restaurant in Almada

I chose this restaurant after a day at the beach to celebrate my birthday with a group of friends. I made a reservation the day before via WhatsApp, and the process was quick and easy. However, when we arrived, there seemed to be some confusion about our booking, and we had to speak with three different people before it was sorted out. Fortunately, the issue was resolved quickly, and we were given a table. It wasn’t the ideal start, but we did arrive about 25 minutes before our reservation time, and they kindly allowed us to sit down, which we appreciated.

We also arrived with our beach bags, umbrellas, and other items from the day, and the restaurant was very accommodating about this, which we were grateful for.

The restaurant is very well located, with a great vibe and a really nice view — definitely one of its highlights.

The food was good, and the portion sizes were average. Some friends who ordered steak sandwiches and pasta dishes felt that the portions could have been a bit larger. We did wait quite a while for the food, and unfortunately, it arrived cold. We also, ordered starters (gyozas and panko shrimp), but no plates were provided for them. Some items on the menu (such as dishes with octopus) were unavailable, and certain dishes could only be prepared after 8 p.m., possibly when the kitchen opened. The main dishes didn’t all come out at the same time, which meant some of us had finished while others were just starting. One of the dishes took around 45 minutes to arrive; the server explained that they didn’t like how the first one looked, so they sent it back and asked the kitchen for a new one. However, this felt more like an excuse, as we had just reminded them that a dish was missing.

Overall, we still had a pleasant dinner, but the service was slow, and the staff didn’t seem particularly friendly, helpful, or energetic.

After dinner, we moved to the hammock area and tried to order some drinks. The waitress told us that a colleague would come over to take our order since that area wasn’t her responsibility. Unfortunately, no one came, even after 30 minutes, and despite our attempts to get someone’s attention. In the end, we decided to leave as the situation had become unacceptable.

Perhaps, after a long day at the beach, we were less patient than usual. We will likely give the restaurant another try in the hope that the experience will be better next time. As I mentioned, the food was good — it was mainly the service that fell short.

In terms of price, it’s what you would expect for a beachside restaurant, maybe a little on the expensive side. Payment by card was...

I have been customer since Swara open doors and I’m afraid they let me down by the rudeness of one employee, a girl waitress with a tattoo in her throat, the customer seat next to us ,close the out door because was very windy and cold , nothing to do with us , she get upsad with him and turn to us and with all arrogance ask us if we cold she can provide blankets, i answer what about provided a menu that’s what we really needed , she get full attitude and trough to us the QR code and said it’s on there , we just literally stand up and get out .the place was very cool and people before was kind , im not generalised I’m sure are a very nice people work there but this girl ruined my evening and I’m not going back there anymore as costa da Caparica and fonte da telha having more options. Shame … also I’m a local from here and also Portuguese , the reason I’m writing in English it’s because I was working in hospitality in London for about 20 years and it’s not my intention ruined Swara I wish you the best of success , but not everyone it’s able to work with and serving people needs as that...

The setting is very beautiful and the service is pleasant, but the prices are very high compared to the portion sizes. My friend had already left a review pointing out that the bifana was really small for the price, and that the Caesar salad was poorly served — mostly sauce and croutons, with very little chicken and almost no parmesan.

The restaurant replied to his review claiming that they don’t serve bifana at their establishment, essentially making him look like a liar in order to justify the 2-star rating. I would like to clarify that during our visit in early August, the menu provided via the QR code on the table did in fact list the bifana (a dish we photographed as proof).

Therefore, the bad faith shown by the establishment unfortunately affects our overall impression and leads us to give an even lower rating than we initially intended. It’s...