DOC - Chef Rui Paula — Restaurant in Armamar

Overpromised - Underdelivered.

Let me start with apologizing for the long review, as this restaurant gets many positive comments and although the restaurant only has 2 forks in the Michelin guide the chef appears to be a local hero, I'd like to thoroughly explain why we came to this conclusion. We've been to many michelin starred restaurants in more than a handful of countries as well as in much more simple, less pretentious (and i.m.o. better!) places in Portugal.

The location looks very promising: very nice architectual building overlooking the Douro, modern interior, probably very good location to sit outside during Lunch (we went for Dinner). If you look at the pricing (70 euro for a 5 courses tasting menu), the reputation of the chef, the quality of the wine list and the size of the black brigade (5 staff for about 20 guests) you'd expect a michelin star experience or at least something in that direction.

Service

The service was very inefficient, at times outright bad, the staff looked uninterested and bored (all except for one young lady who tried to correct part of it), wasn't observing, and made no connection with the guests. With 5 people running around to serve 20 guests you'd expect the service to be tip top. Well, that wasn't the case.

Examples: We were never asked if we wanted to order an aperitif (which is the first question in almost any restaurant), and we would have wanted one, although the water waiter had already opened a bottle of water and refilled our glasses three times before we got the menu. We were unable to make contact with any of the staff for 7-8 minutes after we got the menu and had to ask for the wine list when they came to take the menu orders. The wine (already served too cold) was thrown in a bucket with ice without asking us, so we took it out again.. no contact with the sommelier. When they asked us whether we liked one of the dishes and we said 'well, to be honest, not that much.. because.. and then explaining it', nothing was done with it, just a nod, nothing more. We weren't able to order a dessert wine for dessert, simply because all wine serving staff appeared to have vanished.. simply didn't see anyone or could not make any contact without displaying indecent behaviour. The water waiter was still around but he didn't do wine. When we left and told them this was a very bad experience for us, what followed was apologies without watching you in the eye at all.. no contact, didn't feel like they were interested at all.

Menu

We ordered the tasting menu, 5 courses with an intermezzo. All the plates were beautifully made up and decorated, looked really good!

1st course: foie gras with figues and apple. Foie gras had a nice texture but was virtually tasteless.. I thought it was oxidized at first but that wasn't the case. If you serve Foie Gras, please get better quality. 2nd: Trio from the sea: lobster was tasty and very well cooked (not easy to keep it tender), squid was a bit gummy, sauce and foam surrounding it were there for the looks, not much taste in it (foam was even bitter, destroying part of the flavor of the lobster). 3rd: Sea bass with potato mousseline, sea bass was of good quality and tasting fine, but it was accompanied by hazlenut and small pieces of baked out ham or bacon, completely eradicating any subtleness. the mousseline was a bit chunky, could improve. Intermezzo: apple foam with a caramelized walnut: tasty, pure and well done! 4th, main course: suckling pig with some vegitables and it's sauce.. tasty and well done again. 5th: dessert, large volume, three different tastes (was a lot of tawny port in one of them, so we were in a way still having a dessert wine), nothing special.

To summarize: The quality of the Menu doesn't justify the hefty price tag, and the service and staff attitude is outright appalling. If you want to go out for dinner in the Pinhao area there are many restaurants that are less pretentious but offer good service, have interested and knowledgeable staff and actually give you the feeling they...

Tasting Menu + added Fois Gras + Wine Pairing

I have eaten at a number of Michelin star restaurants and have a high level of expectation. The meal at DOC was a bit of a disappointment. The food was beautiful, but forgettable. None of the dishes had a WOW factor. . The service was good, but the staff could not answer in-depth questions about the food.

They also seemed unsure of the concept of a tasting menu. I added the fois gras to the Essencial tasting menu and then had to argue with both the server and the sommelier as to when this dish should be served. They wanted to serve it first while I argued it should come later in the meal. As it was, they served it before the fish dish, so I ended up with a heavy dish right before an extremely light dish. This should never have been determined by the wait staff or customer but should have been guided by the expeditor. Their response to this early in the meal made me realize that the entire staff was just going through the motions, expediting pre-determined dishes without any real understanding of the flavors or structure of the meal. . The restaurant obviously cater to a lot of tourists with a number of children. They even have a children's menu. Because they rely on tourists, they do not update the menu and the dishes were not seasonal. . A number of dishes had apple or pear accepts. Sense it was June, these fruits offered little flavor. It is the height of cherry season. The fois gras would have been much better with fresh, seasonal cherries vs the tasteless pear sauce. . The robalo was served raw. If you are going to strip a dish down to its essence, then it should be perfect. Some of my fish showed the bloodline. Pieces were not precisely cut. It also needed a touch of salt and more zest to bring out all the fish flavor. . I understand the octapus in olive oil is a traditional português dish, but the dish did not come together. It tasted as if each element was cooked separately then plated with no cohesion. . Both the octopus and the lamb were also underseasoned. Oh for a touch of salt prior to cooking either protein! . The seseme seeds in the brittle were burnt and that flavor overpowered the delicate apple and celery flavors in that dish. . Both dessert courses featured raspberries. Again, it was the height of cherry season and apricots are just starting to ripen. Why no seasonal ingredients? Both dishes could have been easily adapted to feature the fruit of the season. . Chef Rui Paula has two michelin stars and two other restaurants in Portugal. This meal did not compel me to try his other...

A friend made a reservation For Sunday afternoon lunch. After too many days of too much food I elected to go light on my selections and stick to a couple of side dishes and call it a day. The setting of the restaurant is beautiful perched on the shore of Douro River With vineyards come covering the surrounding hills.

First impression of the restaurant was a place many people seek to be seen. Upon examining the menu I confirmed this hunch as I looked at the options. First option was a set menu for a mere €100 unless of course you had wine in the cold for per person tag to €180. The second option was to choose items from the à la cart list.

A friend of mine with me elected to choose an entrée, a pork selection, and a dessert with a glass of wine. I went for the light fare having two vegetable side dishes. Candidly, the two side dishes were somewhat less than one star. The vegetable dish pictured was described as seasonal vegetables prepared in a special way. That special way was boiled – boiled senseless. The second side dish was an on identifiable purée garnished with three types of cauliflower. While my friend seem to be satisfied with his meat selection and his dessert, I will say that I would not of given you a bus token for what I had.

Pretentious food in a pretentious restaurant for pretentious clientele. I should’ve gone with my hunch as I walked in the door and turned...