Restaurante Pena — Restaurant in Amarante

Pena is a beautiful spot with tasty food, friendly staff, and lovely decor and artwork. The ambience is welcoming, and overall we had a good experience, but it felt just a bit unfinished, which is why I’m leaving 4 instead of 5 stars.

We were the first guests to arrive and were seated at a small table, while couples who came in after us were placed at larger four-tops. That didn’t feel great. Service was decent, but small details slipped through: we ordered the garden salad without dressing, yet it arrived dressed.

For mains, I had the beef Wellington. Presentation was strong, but it came rare in the middle despite my request for medium, and it was missing the mustard layer that usually defines a Wellington. On the side, the garlic rice had wonderful flavor and I liked that it was oven-baked, but unfortunately the inside was underdone and crunchy, tricky to pull off, but it needed more time and liquid. There also didn’t seem to be a quality check, as other tables received the same issue.

Also, we assumed the port wine was a welcome drink, but later found it added to the bill. Not a huge deal, but clearer communication would have helped.

That said, I really appreciated the creativity in the menu, the warm service, and the overall atmosphere. With more consistency in execution and transparency, Pena could easily become a...

Beautiful location, with good service and good food. The two port cocktails we ordered were really good, and the mushroom risotto was delicious. The scallops with pureed peas was nice as well. Our mains did fall short of our expectations, the cod was very tough and chewy, and the beef wellington, while very flavourful, was not a true beef wellington. It did not have a layer of pâte or a layer of ham before the puff pastry, it was solely beef tenderloin wrapped in puff pastry. Which was also soggy since the jus was poured overtop and not served on the side. I did recommend serving the jus on the side in the future. The beef was still tasty, just not what I expected and could have been better. The potatoes that came with were a bit greasy and under seasoned. Our desserts were very nice, we had the lime cup with lemon curd and the caramelized apple with goats cheese ice cream. I did not get the espresso I ordered, but that is fine, there was only one waitress for the tables and she was also making all the drinks. I do recommend this restaurant if looking for somewhere good in Amarante for decent prices. Came to 80 euro for...

The experience was a foodies dream! I loved ever second of the evening.

The service was amazing. Both employers were absolutely nice and capable to give us perfect recommendations of which plate and which wine we should take. It was amazing to see that kind of knowledge and professionalism.

The food was spectacular. The duck and the beef were prepared in a perfect way and the taste was incredible. The desert (chocolate cake) was everything you can wish for.

The drinks were also very good, but I want to highlight the 2007 port wine and the red wine for the main course - both were perfection. The taste was divine!

The whole dinner was an incredible experience and I wish I could give more...